COLONISTS' PROTECTION LEAGUE.

Auckland Star, Volume III, Issue 622, 9 January 1872, Page 2

COLONISTS' PROTECTION LEAGUE.

The monthly general meeting of this soceity was held yesterday afternoon at the British Empire Hotel, at half-past two o'clock. Present : —Messrs Albyn Martin (Chairman), E Maclean, Major Walmsley, S Kempthorne, and II S Andrews, Esq., Secretary. Mr Kompthorno, the treasurer, said there was a balance in hand of £2 12s 6d, but the Serald's account of upwards of L 3, was as yet unpaid. Various correspondence was then read, among which was one from Mr John Wallace, expressing his wish of retiring from the Agricultural League. He thought mistakes had

been made, and the loud cry of " protection" was raised before the Society was a sufficiently influential position to support it. Mr Andrews alluded to a .motion made in the House by Mr. Ham bin with A\ie view of preventing the introductiojn of of disease among sheep and cattle,f expressed his astonishment that se of their members should have been ii, v House and not recorded their vote. V . Maclean explained that on the first reading of the motion, Mr. |Hamlin was unavoidably absent. Afterwards it had been again placed on the paper, but the Government appeared te be against it, and it was always put far down on the list. The members present had given up the idea of its possibly coming on the night it did. They were consequently not prepared, and were out of the way when it came on. Mr. Andrews considered they ought to have been present, and that as they had been elected to represent the country they were merely shirking their duty, and the electors ought'to know it. _ After some desultory conversation in regard to the subject of some of the letters which advocated protection, to the state of the funds, and the action of the committee as to the preparation of a programme, which it appeared had been interfered with by the intervention of the Christmas holidays, Mr Andrews observed that he had expected that they would have required suchanaccession of strength in the beginning of 1872 as really to have warranted them in publishing a newspaper to represent the agricultural interests. The local papers seemed to be merely trying to achieve a commercial success. The country correspondents were badly selected, and almost every one of their reports was followed by letters complaining of their inaccuracy. He thought that much of the agricultural depression arose from this.- Mr Maclean said he quite agreed with Mr Andrews. The various suggestions made by some of the papers in regard to the alteration of tactics on the part of the farmers were then commented on unfavourably. Mr Andrews thought that a small weekly periodical might be printed at the office of one of the existing Auckland newspapers. He thought it would be a good. thing to call a large meeting for the purpose of discussing the question of what was really meant by the mythical terms " Free Trade " and " Protection. The meeting then lapsed for want of a quorum.