CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 207, 7 September 1901, Page 4

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

A »peci.u. meeting was held last night, there being present : Messrs A. F. , Matthews (President), ,T. R. i Redstone. J. Brown. W • Webb, M . Pettie, 1 C. H. Ambridge. W. J. Ilennessy. Town- | lev. Luna (Secretary).

Replies i:'. regard, to the proposed con iereiice as to suggesting a person for notui nation to the Regulative Council, wen received. The Harbor Board refused it

take action, the County Council had not replied, and the Borough Council lift it tc the Chamber to suggest a time tor the

eoiueieuce. Mr Ambridge moved that the President. ; Secretary, and Mr Morgan be delegates 1 to tiie conference. He was surprised that j sticli ail important matter should have ! been treated so coolly by some. What j was every one's business was no one s j business, and he thought it desirable to j continue with the matter. W hen an j appointment was made there would be | plenty of correspondence. j Mr ilennessy pointed out that it had j already been decided to leave the matter to tbe Committee to attend the conference. The President : Then it remains to appoint a day. It was agreed to leave that matter to the Committee to decide. Various general communications were read: As to the copies of Bills sent by the Government. the President suggested that they might be placed on record in the Library, so that all who eared to see the j important proposals made should have an I opportunity of seeing the Bills. ! Mr Redstone : Are there any particular Bills there that we should discuss '! : The President pointed out that many i ! I them were of much importance. ; Mr Morgan said tiiat the Bills might be | filed in the otlice for reference. People ! who were not members of the Library | would feel out of place in going there. Mr Bedstone : It is a public library. Mr Morgan : At some times. ; In reply to Mr Townley, the President i said that he had been mh.rmed that the | Library did not get the Bills. Mr Townley said at one time they were ! sent to the Library : it would be de-sir-i able to have them there. ; Mr Pettie said that it would nut be j right to come interrupting the business of j the Council. > The Secretary said that if they had a ; solicitor a member of the Chamber tie ! might give them a precis of the different i measures. j Mr Townley : They are only Bills, some , pass and a great many do not. It was agreed to place the Bills in the ! Council’s ante-room. The President moved: " That this I Chamber, while thanking the Government j for pushing on the construction of the ! line to ihejlvaraku, now respectfully urges I the immediate continuation of the survey, j so that by the completion of the railway to the Motu the valuable timber in that locality may be profitably dealt with.” The proper way to get anything was to approach people properly, and to thank them for what, had been done in the past. The line here had been pushed on as fast as any other like work that he knew of in the colony. We had only one member, and there were many pulling for theii ’ own districts. The fault in Mew Zealand j I was that there was too much parochialism 1 j in dealing with public works. He went on to refer to the line country to be opened up. A recent visitor to the Motu had told him that it was vandalism k 3 destroy the beautiful timber that he saw there- At the same time, we had to pay highly for timber and coal. Just now. stock in Auckland was at a very | high price, and they ought to be able tc I get some benefit from that market. Ii j speaking to Mr Carroll the other day, that | gentleman had said they* ought to keep | spurring the Government on. He believed j in doing that, let them be called agitators ] or whatever they liked. Mr Pettie seconded the motion. Mr Ambridge endorsed the President! remarks. The Government was to bi thanked for the work so far done. A 1 though they would like it to be pushed or more rapidly what the President had sate was true that it was progressing as fairly as works in other districts. They heard : great deal about the timber, and tin sooner it was got at the better. The motion was carried unanimously. The President then moved : “ That this Chamber respectfully requosts the Govern luent to reserve 7000 acres of tli6 waste lands in the Motu district as an endow ment for manual and technical cdueatior in this colony.’ All over the civilisec world, he said, there was a great feeling seeing the progress that had been made ii: America and elsewhere, that we were lagging in regard to technical education There were large endowments in this district, but the great proportion of it wenl to Auckland, l'n the South they had huge educational endowments, and they ! should have some further assistance in this district. He had made tracings from j information lie had received from tin surveyor, and proposed sending that on to Wellington. Ire was sure that they would get the hearty assistance of Mr I-lall, M.H.R.. who was also a member of the Education Board and of the Waste Lands Board. Sir lledstoue seconded the motion, and , said that if there was any chance of get- , ting such an endowment they should do their best to get it. Mr Morgan would have pleasure in seconding the motion, but doubted whether the Chamber was the right body to take up tbe matter. Last y*ear the Commissioners had got a reply that the Government were not then making reserves. They had an allowance from the reserves for primary education, but it was of no help because for each pound obtained in that way a pound was deducted. Of course technical education proposals altered the position of tilings. He rather thought that this application should go through the Education Board. The President said that for primary education Mr Morgan's idea would be all right, but for technical education he thought that body a very proper place to bring the matter forward. If tbe Board got it they would probably want to keep it. Mr Ambridge said that there was one point to consider, whether any revenue so obtained would not be deducted from the capitation allowance. If they could receive revenue from both sources they should certainly try and get it, but it would be wise to obtain information as to ! whether they would not he usurping the functions ot bon.c other body. The President said that the Board of , Governors would have considered that before they applied : in any ease a refusal : lasi year would not necessarily mean a ; refusal now. Mr Morgan explained away the n 's« j conception that existed in some minds, I that the revenues from the reserves ak [ went to Auckland'. He did not think they 1 I would have a chance, and there would lie ! I similar applications from one end of N> w j Zealand to the other. Mr Lunn held that the matter was puite within the province of the Chamber: | the London Chamber of Commerce dealt j with technical education direct. The motion was then put and carried, Mr Ambridge dissenting. The President said that there ought to be some method in regard to the dates of meeting. They ought to try and make it a real live Chamber. Tbo Secretary said that at present a meeting was usually held about once in three months, with the result that when meetings did take place important correspondence that should have been promptly dealt with becamo too stale to be worth bringing forward. Mr Pettie said that ho had previously urged that monthly meetings of the Committee be held. The matter was left to the Executive to deal with. Mr Springall was elected a member of the Chamber. I