SECRET PUBLIC MEETINGS (sic).

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 580, 3 February 1882, Page 2

SECRET PUBLIC MEETINGS (sic).

To the Editor

Sik, —I notice in your advertising columns an advertisement convening a meeting of those who have signed a requisition Slaving for its object the abolition of the Akaroa and Wainiii Road Board, anl the question naturally suggests itself, Why is such a meeting called in an obscure public-house outside of tho Road Board District, and for those who have signed such requisition on I) , ? Does not this savour of the machinations of some secret society? Why was not a public meeting colled of tho ratepayers of the district, where the subject might have been discussed in an open and impartial manner? One cannot but wonder that such veteran politicians as Messrs Knight, Piper, and tiax:on should have condescended to allow themselves to be mixed up with such a hole-and-corner business, and I for one should like to know tho reasons which have influenced these gentlemen in adopting such an unusual course of action. Having been one of those who would net sign the petition in question, on principle, I can see no other object than my ejectment, should I be foolish enough to iincl myself present at such a meeting. Can any one blame the ratepayers for not trusting men of this description when they seem so anxious to conduct public business in such a manner? —Yours, etc.,

B. SUADBOLT.