GAS AGITATION IN CHRSTCHURCH.

Evening Star, Issue 2968, 23 August 1872, Page 4

GAS AGITATION IN CHRSTCHURCH.

The notorious John M‘Laren, disgusted •with the reception he met with in the capital of the sister Province as a political reformer, seeks to excite sympathy there in the new character of gas agitation. In the Lyttelton Times of the 17th we read of a meeting of “a highly amusing nature,” got up by M ‘Lareu, having taking place the night previous. According to the unsigned advertisement convening the meeting, the object was “to consider what steps should be taken to reduce the price of gas,” but it was evident that those who put in an appearance did not, under the circumstances, desire to discuss so important a subject seriously, but to indulge in the fun by which it was anticipated the proceedings would be characterised. The time announced was half-past seven o’clock, but there were so few. present that the opening of the meeting was delayed for about half-an-hour. The impatience of those who were already in the hall ultimately prevailed, and Mr M'Laren found it necessary to mount the platform. He regretted that the me ting was not so large and influential as lie had hoped it would be ; he explained that the Mayor had declined to receive the petition (which, in his opinion, was most uugentlemanly on the part of his Worship) ; and declared that he had no mercenary object in the action ho had taken with respect to the price of gas. He contrasted the price paid in Dunedin and Christchurch, stating that in the former it was 12s 6d per thousand, and in the latter, 18s Bd. It was time, therefore, that the people of Christchurch, and especially the City Council

as large consumers, should take action in the matter, and so far as he was concerned, if he had even the to tight against, he should continue to agitate until the price of gas was reduced, should it take four months even to. accomplish that end. Mr M ‘Laren found some difficulty in getting a chairman. His motives were called in question ; and one individual characterising his action, he being a stranger to the place and a non-consumer, as being “ full of cheek I and impudence,” hostilities were threatened L and only narrowly avoided. A chairman J was got —a gentleman rejoicing in the name

oi nan, wno mmseii maae inree speeches in the course of the evening—and there was talk about gas, and a good deal about other matters. Then, adds the repoi’t, came the climax. The fun had been waxing fast and furious, when after three upheavals from his seat, Mr Leake, the indomitable, stepped forward, and with some difficulty clambered up the narrow steps placed to the platform, and stated that he had a resolution to pro? pose. However, the exertion of getting upon the platform had so completely taken away his breath, that he could not make himself heal’d for some time. At last he submitted this extraordinary resolution : “ That this meeting is surprised at Mr M‘Laron’s cheek and impudence in coming forward to meddle with a matter he has no concern in.” To say this evoked yells of laughter is but a faint description. Some of those in the gallery only imperfectly heard the resolution at first, but when it was read a second time, yells and laughter, mingled with hisses, drowned the voice of the reader. The chairman declined to put the resolution, and a vote of thanks to the promoter of the meeting, Mr M‘Laren, was put, and declared to be carried. A chorus, “ For he’s a jolly good fellow,” with cracker accompaniment —the latter let off by some of the larrikins in attendance—concluded one of the liveliest and most amusing meetings evep held in Christchurch-