PUBLIC MEETING AT FOXTON.

Manawatu Herald, Volume I, Issue 32, 13 December 1878, Page 2

PUBLIC MEETING AT FOXTON.

* A public meeting Was held at the Public Hall) FoXtd'n, on Wednesduy erouing 1a.4. ■ The placards called the meet'iig for 7 3U p m., but it was not till after 8 that the proceedings bcg:in. j Air Blake took the chair, nml paid propositions were (o be bromjht forward regarding Mr Ilii,U"»mlje^ uciioa in the Council, He had reflected grc.it discredit on the electors j of the Awahou, by proposing a resolution regarding their worthy member, Ah 1 London Mr H:il combs had insulted the elcctore. If Mr London could vindicate himself, well and good ; that was not the business of the inci!li:ig ; which was to express ' idignation j against Mr II "combe. Lot bygones be byj gones. ! Tlie chairmim then rat down. Mi 1 Lou- | don went and spoke to Mr Membery, ai.d j that gentlenv.m Walked up to the platform j and whispered to the Chairman. The Chairman rose, and said he had forgotten to sixy that only electors of Awahou would be allowed to address the meeting. Mr Maearthur asked whether Mr llalcoinbj and himself would not be allowed to apeak A meeting was called to condemn them, and surely those present would hear I them before doing so. The Chairman said Mr Halcombe could make a defence after the business wa3 don.\ but lv ccul 1 not address the meeting. I Mi- ilembevy said it devolved on him to ! more the first resolution, which he believed i would meet with the views of tiie msij-jrvty of the electors. They, as a b \v, had carried the election by a large majority, and no J one had any right to bar their opinion. Mr Haicombe's resolution was out of place, i With the b-Hot, any elector could vo'.o as !he pleased without consulting anyone, lie proposed, " That the resolution proposed by Mr ILileombe, and seconded by Mr Mteavtlnii-, regarding Mr London in the Cjunty Council, on the 27th day of November, can 1 , ot but. ba regarded as au insult to the electors of the Awahou liidir.g." Mr Fry seconded the motion: The Chairman wis about to put the motion when Mr Ualcombe rose to spo.ik, bub was howled down by some dozju persons who sat in tiio front seat. However, Mr llalcombe emu forward, but the Chairman refused to allow him to speak, and the meet* ing howled him down again. Dv B )ckslrow came ibrwar.l and said ho felt ashamed at witnessing such a scene. Mr tltilcoinbo should in fairness be allowed to speak. A complete scene ensued, and th<! whole meeting wont into a utate of uproar. The chairman refused to allow Dr liookstrow to speak, but that gentleman said " whether the chairman will allow me or not, I intend to address the meeting." Dr Rockstroiv said he had no intention when he came of addressing the meeting. He had known nothing of it, until he saw the placards. But when he saw a stranger treated as Mr ltaleombo had been, he felt it i liis duty to come forwrrd. Excepting in | the Council, he knew but little of Mr llalcombe. That gentleman had proposed a resolution •' l the Council, but that resolution j was illegal. By right, ho (the spoaker), ] should have walked out ; but all the members i were taken aback 5 insomuch that Hlr Loudon himself did not say " No," when put to the vote. No business should havo been done while Mr Thynno was in the chair. He did not say " No," when the question was put, because, had he done so, he would havo recognised the legality of the proceedings. Yet he was blackguarded next day by Mr London's friends because he had not done so, he had not fought his battle. No matter who Mr Loudon was, Mr Halcombe had no right to propose suck a resolution. Ho had never defended Mr Loudo.i; he never would, lie determined to leave the electors to decide who was better — Mr j Thynne, or Mr Loudon. The electors c-uiid elect who they liked, and no one clso had any righ\ to say a word about it. TI-e people could elect a man to Council or Parliiment, but could not make him a gentleman. Dr Keuoalcy, and a political crimiu .1 had both been returned to tho English Parliament, and no one could prevent it, nor could the Council refuse to receive Mr Loudon. It had nothing to do with his misdeeds in the previous Council. The electors knew all about them, Four candidates had been bt'foro the electors, and only 22 persons had voted ior Mr Thynne. Three- fourlbs of tho whole had voted for Mr London. No one should therefore question the right of i the electors to put in whoever they pleased. It was bad taste on Mr Tliynno's part to sit and hear the resolution discussed. The Counties Act sajs a chairman ahull be electel at the annual meeting, but is not explicit as to tho old chairman's position. He i&terprcled it that no business could be done until the new chairman was elected He could not blume Mr llalcombo for proposing the resolution, as he was quite justified in doing so ; but he should have waited until tho new Chairman was elected. He intendod to have the question re-openad before the minutes were confirmed ut next meeting. Mr Halcombe said it was not a pleasant position ho held. In fact, us he had said in the Council, it was an extremely i>aiufu) one. He had Vved for 25 yerra in the colony, and in thw neighbourhood aud never had before been compelled to undertake so paiufi' 1 a duty. In coming there ho did expect to hear more arguments brought forward in favor of the resolution proposed. Instead of that it bad been pro. posei and seconded with few words, whilst Dr Rockstrow had expressed himself in a veiy fainthearted way ; he had in fact, argued against the resolution saying, he did not blano him (Mr Halcombe) that he was justified in proposing what ho did, and that he only thought the resolution 1

! in tho Council was iilojjHl. Dv Rockstrow could not blame lr'*n, nor could any one who was a member of tho former Couucil blame him. The present meeting was called he hardly knew what for. Tho pJAoards said, j to express indignation at his resol-itiou. ! Tho Manawj.-tu Times said simply, "a public meeting 1 ." Accepting the statement of tho placards, ho would explain why he ! had moved in the .matter. When, ho mado j his speech in the Council he carefully recog- , nised that the Couucil could not interfere I with tho choice of the electors, but ho also said that ho thought the electors had made their choio without full knowledge. (Loud cries of no.no). He would say " yes," for one of their members (Dr Eockstrow) had said he knew of the affair as a member of the Counc 11 , but not as an outsider, and had blamed tlie Council for not making the whole aflVr known at the time. Therefore he would say he was right in asserting the electors had not fr". knowledge of tl^e affair Ho did not dictate to the electors who they, shori'd retiirn. ( Cries, You have done so.) Dr Rockstrow says ho cannot but condemn Mr Loudon's conduct. He would ask, have not the oilier members a riyht to express their opinion. (Or Rockstrow — as private j men.) Yes, and as public men t"O; Any ; genllemauha-.l a perfect right to say that i because of ;i man's oavh confession and action, he was not fit to be associated with him in public atfa'vs. He would put Mr j j London himself iv the jury box, for he had j i declared if he had done what he waschargoJ j ; with, and what he had since; confessed to, !he AVas no longer fit to be a m-.-m- ; ber of the Council. (A voice, that's in the past). What Air Loudon had done was j akin to forger}- and had placed him on tho | j Verge of a felon's eel!. [MrHalcombe was i proceeding to state what Mr Luudon had ] done, but was howled down. Tlu iuterrupI tions, scie.ims, yells, hooting-;, cat -calls, im-.l ! stamping, nt this stage of the meet ng were ', i disgraceful.] Ho moved, "That Mr Hal- i combe's resolution w.ib justified by the ! ' cii'cihristances." ' I Mr Thynns seconded the i>ropOoal. He; | said this was .Mr Loudon's mooting. He j [ had had ;ho placards put up, and had pail ; for the hall. l»ut he had tiio.l to keep it | secret to prevent Mr Haleombe being p:-e- --| sent. The placards wcro only stuck up the : day before, and iv tho Palmerston Times a notice was given simply that " a public ■ mooting" would bo hold. (Mr Uunjjan— i Head tiie paragraph. 1 ) Mr Lju.loii was a I coward, and liad ttied to h-jodwiuk Mr I j Halcombe. lie charged him to his lace ; ; before that mcetiug with bciug a . . . . ; i and a lie could take him to i j Court for libel, and ho dared him to do it j He had challenged Mr Loudon to accept a I so-called ''fail and impartial " report in the i Palmerston paper, find hid threatened him ! with an auiou if he acknowledged that | report to be truo. But he was a coward, j and was afraid to accept; .Unit report. Hlwhs by law compelled to sit as Chairman until his successor was appointed, and | could not dictate the order of business. j Mr Dr igan explained that tha order was receivtd at I'al ucrston to have au adveri tisement put in the Times the counterpart of the placards; but tho object of the meeting was omitted from the advertisement. He had, however, written a para graph explaining the object of the injcting. i Mr Maearihur said he would say a few ! wovdg. Since leaving Feilding iv the morning ho had changed his opinion. He . had expected to iiud in Eoxton what he ■ found iv other plac&s — a love of fair play j and justico, aud a desire not to condemn a ! man unheard. A fte-r wiuit he had seen that I night, he could only say ho thought Mr ! i Loudoa a very lit represent itive for Kox'on. j A pause ensued, and the Ciniinuau called I j on Mr Dry, who came forward and pro- j posed a oinmitfee consisting of Messrs ' JK'aylou, Fry, Perreau, and AL-jiuijery, ba appo"ited to draw up a petition asking the Covicil to rescind the rojolutioii j).issed i apon Mr L Jiuloii. j This was seconded by Mr Cox. ; ; Mr Loudon theu came forward, find ! i seized the resolutions, and w.is proceeding ! to pu*. them t.> the meeting, when a slight I scene ensued batweou him and tho Chair- j j man. A question w.:s asked from the body j of the hall, who was to vote, j Mr Loudou replied everybody, whether electors or not, as all were aifjetod by his ! position. I The resolutions were not put c.t that ' j point, bufc Mr Luudon prjcejJed to address \ ! the meeting, lie charge i Air Tiiyaue with . I committing a w llful and knowing swindle ' , upju people iv tho distiict. Tiie eljjtor.s ; knew what they had doao, and had ii'jt i voted ignorautly. lie would not lieap in^ ' i vective upon .\Jr llalcombe, as he would i | not reduce himself to Air Haicombe's level, j ' by doing what he had done. Mr Halcombj's j own character was not pure and iinmacuI late, aud the degrees of comparison were j | nob between good aud bad, Out between ! j bad and worse. Ho had sat i.i judgment j j on himself in his confession, dated the ;3th i I of August, wh.ch he read. Tho other si Jo i ' had fought the election out on one ground | alone. There was no for^iveues-, with Mr Halcombo ; he was no geutlemau ; he did not know what the word means ; v gentleman would forgive a wrong, when it was I confessed. (Mr Halcombe — You never confessed it until you were found out.) The word Christian had also boon used in a very ' flippant manner (a voice — l'f>u used it lirst ' yourself, in a letter to the Manawatu Times) | but the Uible said if a man confessed his j sins he should bj forgiven. Tiie Press had given opiuion;; in iiis favor, and against Air j Halcombe, who was n very proud and i egotistical man. ISo far as Ur Kockstrow ' was coucerne.l, ho (Air Loudon) was a gen- j tlcinuu ei|iud to him, both by birth and | education, lie intended at next mooting to divide tho Council upon the question, and J find out who were ou his side aud who were ! uot. I Tho first resjlution was then put, and j between 2J and SJ hands wero held up in j favor of it; and G against it. Mr Hal- ; combe's amendment was nob put. ill- JLoudou theu tuikod tJi-j chairman for " Nil. 2." A piece of paper was brought j up from the body of the hall, and was read, j ■ ulrirming that "Mr Loudou was a iit and i j proper representative." This was put to j | tho meeting, and ueclared to bo carried. | I But it was jioiuted out lit once it had never i i been proposed. Mr Loudou at once called j ! on two gentlemen by name to propose and j i second it. They having dono so, the ro.so- j lution was again put, and. declared unani- ; mously curried, Messrs llaleomiie, Maear- : thur, Thynue, and others voting for it j j ironically. j l Resolution "No 3 " was theu put, rc>- ! | garding tho Committee to draw up tho petition, and carried. A vote of thanks to the t hairman con- j eluded tlie iJroceedingp, and so ended a most bitter and disorderly mooting. ! ========== i