THE Grey River Argus. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1 , 1867.

Grey River Argus, Volume III, Issue 170, 14 February 1867, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1 , 1867.

Greymouth public meetings have geno r rally been remarkable for the apathy and indifference evinced by the iuhabi. tauts concerning public matters, but until Tuesday evening last they have escaped being wholly ridiculous. The most ingenious imagination could hardly picture a higher climax of absurdity as applied to a public meeting than was reached the other evening. As usual there was only a meagre attendance although the business for which the inhabitants had been summoned related to the important subject of their own municipal interests, but as it happened it was perhaps better that it was so, and that only a few of the citizens had to take part in proceedings so glaringly ridiculous as. to bo almost below ceu. sure.. According to the advertisement purporting to be issued, under theauthority of the Improvement Committe the meeting was called to receive the Committe's Report for the past year, and to elect a fresh Committee for the, ensuing one, the term of office of the existing . body haviug terminated by eifluxtion of time. After the chairman had taken i his seat, Mr Maclean, one of the members of the Committee handed to him a voluminous looking docuinentjwhich Mr Maclean stated was the Secretary's Report, but as neither lie' nor any, of the Committee had seen it> aud he "was not inclined to : wade through seventeen pages of the Secretary's manuscript, it might be as well for the meet ing to accept the report without the. usual formality of knowiug its contents.;: From the tone of levity in which these extraordinary rejrunks were uttered, it appeared as if a joke was intended, but the subsequent proceedings proved tlie contrary. It actually turned out asMr Maclean had said — -the .report' purport, ing to. be that of the Committee had j never been read by any member of -that • body, but had in, fact been , -written at j the discretion of ihe late honorary secretary, and sent down by him from Brighton! This- explanation begot another, namely that the meeting itself had been called on the personal -responsibility of some of ; the members' of the Coniuiittee, and unknown to others belonging to the same body, When this unsatisfactory state of things became khowu it was judiciously suggested that the meeting should be adjourned to enable the Committee to prepare and submit a proper report to the public,: but this wise step was opposed by Mr Maclean,, Ayho took upon himself to say that the Coin mittee were willing _to confirm the Secretary's report. It would have Ulu forlunate for the repu-

tation of the Committee j.f the adjourn, meut Lad been accepted, but as it was a report AyßS reaf] aboundirig iv absurdi. ties, and >vhat is oi more consequence, inajem-ate statements. Tlie houoraiy secretary certainly, -dp/sorves credit fpr the ingenious manner iv which he had collated the various achievements of the Committee, -jvhich according tp his re. port include everything that has, been done in the to^n fro in the establishlnent of a Custom Hpn,se to tlie extension of the Resident Magistrates Juris" diction— (which last, however, the report speajes of as only "iv futuro.") Eut his fanpy took the further flight of stating that the Committee, had. ordered a fine engine .from Melbourne, which' was daily expected to arrive, and that through the -steps taken-. by the Committee it was expected that the township would, yery shortly be gazetted a Municipality under the Ordinance for that .purpose, It turned out, however, that the ordering of the lire-engine was a myth of the Secretary's imagination, the Committee having proceeded no further in this matter than making en. quines as to the cost of one. No information was volunteered, although it was asked for, as to the reasons for expecting the town to be immediately proclaimed a Municipality, but we know sufficiently of the matter to enable us to assure the Committee that there- is not the slightest probability of such an event— at least for some time to come. "Why such is the case it should have been the duty pf the meeting to ascertain, and still move should it have been the duty of Mr Whall to explain/ The inhabitants showed a sufficient anxiety for a .legally constituted local government, by the steps they took in the matter, and one would have thought the local member iv the Council would have felt it his duty to second the efforts of his constituents. But the culmination pf irregularity was the "Treasurer's lleport" —or rather as tlie Treasurer naively described it— his notes ; for it appeared that in reality there ay;is no Treasurer's lleporlj aud all that Mr Macfarland could do was to read a-romjh "balance sheet," as it was facetiously culled, simply giving an account of the money that had passed through his hands. It tmn. spired that the secretary had also acted for some time as treasurer, and that there were various item^ concerning whieli. he alone could give information. Will it be believed that there were persons present who were prepared to accept reports of the character we have described, yet such was the case, and it was not their fault that the meeting was saved from' the ignominy of endorsing documents which as emanating from a public body of business men were a positive disgrace.. It is not a pleasant thing to censuve the proceedings of a public body of citizens, the members of which have devoted a good- deal Of time and attention to the interests of the town, and who have done a great, deal of good. But it is one of the privileges of citizenship to be entrusted with the public concerns, and when this trust is assumed the public have a right to the mosfi complete information as to how it has been fulfilled. The Improvement Committee summoned the public to receive reperts which were in the last degree irregular and informal, and which if they h,ad been adopted would have most seriously damaged the citizens generally as.: well, as that of the reputation of the Committee itself. We; trust that at the next meeting the Committee will be prepared with, reports which they can with confidence ask their fellow citizens to. adopt. "