THE INTENDED BANQUET TO THE POSTAL CONFERENCE DELEGATES.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 1, Issue 15, 15 April 1867, Page 86

THE INTENDED BANQUET TO THE POSTAL CONFERENCE DELEGATES.

(Prom the Argua, 16th March.) . ; Tub people from Sydney, Brisbane, and Adelaide will learn from their journals of , this morningthafc the intercolonial dele* gates have not, after all, had their -dinner , of /welcome. Thetelegraph :has j carried , thb ; news far beyond the bounds of Victoria, and-we can imagine the mingled i surprise, amazernent, and amusement with which the'news will be received’. . Some such-message as this will have passed , along the wires:—After all-the preliminary talk, the proposed banquet has ; fallen , through; petty squabling and blundering , in the sub-committee, arising out of politi- , cal questions, has brought this end about; , a magnificent dinner was placed on the table of the Criterion, and the wines were , excellent; but there was no Mayor in the . chair, no Governor at his right hand, no < Minister present, and no delegate visible , in the room; a number of resolute spirits, j greatly daring, dined ... because they had , paid • for a dinner; and;so ignominiously ■

ended the efforts of a numerous body of citizens on hospitable thoughts intent! But-while this news is read in Sydney, and Adelaide with a smile of quiet entertainment, who shall assure us that the public feeling there, will not exhibit pity and contempt ? Will they not ask how it is that we came to make such egregious fools of ourselves ? And though, wheu a full explanation reaches them, it may help them to understand the height to which political feeling runs here at present, it will not assist us much to escape from the ridicule attached to the position in which we. have wilfully placed ourselves. The best we can say in excuse is, that we contemplated a generous work, to promote a good foiling between the colonies, aud that in doing it we could not hide the raws and wounds of party, but quarrelled like school boys, sulked liked children, and deserve to be put in the corner, capped and belled, like idiots and dunces. It is not difficult for those who are on the spot to understand how all this came about, but it will riot be quite so easy to place this very pretty quarrel intelligibly before our neighbors, ihe committee by whom the banquet was arranged was large, and composed of meu of all shades of politics. It. was understood from the beginning that political questions and leanings were to be entirely laid aside for the time being. The delegates were to be invited because they were the representatives of the neighboring colonies; and the occasion was deemed doubly opportune because the whole of the group were represented, and the work the delegates had come to. do was of common interest.to them all. But the details, the arrangement of the. pro* gramme, and the selection of the speakers, were left to a small sub-committe, and in it the mischief began. The. Mayor of Melbourne, who, though a protectionist, does not tuke an active part in accepted the office of chairman; but instead of inviting the mayors of Ballarat and Sandhurst to take the • vice-chairs, in support of the chief magistrate of the city, the sub-committee made their first great mistake in naming for those offices two members of the Oposition, on no better ground than that one was a member of the Council and the other of the Assembly. To avoid all differences the list of toasts was made as short as possible. The draft list most properly included “the Ministry-of Victoria;” and here from some singularity of view which it was impossible to understand—a stumbling block arose. Some members of the sub-com-mittee would toast the Ministry, and some would not do so. The battle it {appears, ran high, although it is obviova meanest apprehension, that the toast was indispensable, aB a formal recognition of the governing power of the colony, in which the representatives of the other colonies were met. < The toast^was’-first placed on the card, then it was struck'out, and then it was replaced again; arid some fussy and incompetent agent in the business had the singular imprudence to permit a too active printer to issue copies of these different programmes. Then .names of proposers of toaVts were'.'agreed- to, about which their hung an unwise air of nationality, while the personal popularity the gentlemen alluded to was.not in every case suoh as to. entitle him to the distinction,. From some of the published programmes, however, one, at least, of these names was omitted. To the AttorneyGeneral a personal insult was offered, m the. substitution of the name of Mr Ireland as the member of the - profession . who should returirithanks for the toast of “ The Beneh and the Bar.” ; ~.

So uncertain had been the mind of the sub-committee—there bad been so much shilly-shallying in their reaolutioris—that it "was only at a late hour' oh Thursday night that thetoast of the'Ministry was restored to the card 5 while eVeh then no invitations had been sent to the : two Ministers of this colony'who took part in the deliberations of the conference. Wheri the facts became known’ to members of the general committee* every exertion was made to restore to the action of that body the original noh*political aspect 1 which it was intended to preserve.- -:• Very *■ earlyon the following morning efforts were made to overcome the effects of the errors of the sub-committee, and to restore "harmony. Efl’wtr of tb&t nature* indeed, .wtftfewde

by the sub-committee ' themselves. TJn j fortunately, however* the Ministerial cards had gone out, aad they were of-that unlncky edition which had notheen finally revised,and approved. ..They, were .those, in fact', which did hot contain the toast of the Ministry. There were .also;some prying and- unhappy. spirits about, who are. always most'satisfied when making most mischief. These idle individuals busied themselves in widening the breach. < They retailed to Ministers the petty, gossip of the committee* and. they even communicated, it is said, with his Excellency the Governor td prevent his attendance.- ih all this> there are-two things (Which can - command' no sympathy from us.;-The, exclusion of the toast of the Ministry, from the. list, even for a time, wag most unwarranted. ‘ If the Ministry were the worst that had ever held and in'one-respect*-at least, we regard'the M'Gullqch-Cabinet; as the worst for the colony that'has ever held office it—their position was entitled to be recognised in a meeting from which political considerations were to be carefully excluded. But we condemn as unhesitatingly the conduct of the Ministry in refusing to be, present —their course of necessity, affecting that of his Excellency and the delegates. They should have been above ‘ listening to the injurious tittle-tatle retailed to them. .They should permitted themselves to resent ; to ,an . extremity the silly conr duct of two or three members of the subcommitee: or to allow themselves to think that the petty-mindedness exhibited- by by these insignifioent busybodies extended to the general committee, or to the community represented by that body, They should have risen superior to the small jealousies which had beset and annoyed them. The occasion was one of great interest. It was the duty of the Government - to have given it, not jealous citicism from personal points of view, blit hearty support a 9 a body. The eyes of all the colonies were on Melbourne; and surely the people of this city and colony were never before so humiliated in the presence of their neighbors as they are now! , r We,trust the true history of this ridiculous affair—and it would make a ballad as delightfully doleful and d oil as any ever found in the wallet of Autolycus—will remove some of the unfavorable impressions which must have been formed in Sydney and Adelaide on- the reception of the first news of the result. It is some small consolation to find that, after all, ninety-four gentlemen sat down to dinner, under, the presidence of one of the oldest colpnists of Victoria 1 . and the hope is left to us that we have learned a lesson, very sharp though'it is, as to whom we shall trust on auy similar occasion in the future to set oar house in order for our dinner guests.