Original Correspondence

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 451, 16 November 1880, Page 3

Original Correspondence

MEETING AT LITTLE AKALOA To the Editor.

Sib,—On the look out for a job, and at ithe same time taking a tour through this (beautiful Peninsula, I had the satisfaction •of attending'a pubfic meeting 5n tlvie bay i A bay that for its picturesqueness surpasses ■a great many of its less populated neighbors. The evening I refer to was during ithe past week, and the subject ■of the .meeting seemed to be the airing of a fair ■amount of animosity on the part of some ■of the speakers, ani the discharging of a vast amount of wind on the part of all..

On entering the room I observed a table •on which was placed a candle, and behind which—in Into p&t-house fashion—presided ■an individual of a cadaverous and balfetnrved aspect, who eeemed to bear on his Tiarrow forehead the weight of some past •dire calamity. Soon this individual {who I found out was chairman) opened the meeting with as solemn a face as was ever worn by Mr Stdggfine of Pickwick celebrity ■and a gravity that would have tickled the mind of a Chinese idol. He said that the meeting was a public «»e, and had met to ■consider some serious facts that had very recently transpired in reference to school anatters, and asked somo ef tko present company to unburden their minds before the sympathising crowd of about a dozen .persons. These poor victims told a tale •of woe, bewailing their unhappy fate in lieing subjected to certain indignities on the part of two or three individuals, who must .(according to their accounts) be villains of the deepest dye. The whole proceedings seemed to be under the charge of a person whose broad dialect pronounced Jiim to be a fellow countryman of mine, and 'reminded me of a puppet show with my friend as chief actor. He commenced by distributing some slips of paper, all of which I saw were in the same handwriting! and which I found out were propositions ■emanating from the one fertile brain. These valuable instructions, unfortunately ill-deciphered by their recipients, were put on the table, where the said Chairman, perhaps being better educated, or doubtless better acquainted with the handwriting, read them to the vast assembly. It was surprising to see a knot of apparently outeiders who took part in tho discussion and signified their disapproval by voting against all the resolutions. How in the name of wonder they gained admission to the meeting that was evidently not meant for any of the opposition to attend I cannot understand, as none but those who were likely to agree with the clique weie informed that the meeting was to be held. One extremely enthusiastic member, who seemed to be Buffering from some species of galvanic shock or perhaps St Vitus' Dance, almost jumped over me in his endeavors to record his vote. His springs must have been wonderfully grefised,as he made frantic efforts to be seen—he being ■ Q-LtZaccheus-like stature—and I might digest that in a future emergency he should stand on a box or a chair, and not endanger the pet corns ef his neighbors. I struggled hard to recoid my vote, but it

was "no go," as a venerable gentleman

held me down, informing me that I wasn't a ratepayer, and could not vote. Powerless and defeated, I protested that I simply \ took the ordinary liberty of breathing, though as a loyal subject of the Crown I must submit to tho dictates of the nondes- ■ cript Ohairuian. The gods being against mo, I waa content to " dry up," or rather " wet up," at the first opportunity. Poor schoolmaster, you have not a bed of roses to lio upon, but do your best to instil into the minds of your juvenile charges that "True hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood." Goon and prosper; the pen is mightier than the sword-—I am, etc., VOYAGEUR. Little Akaloa, Nov. 10.