Indignation Meeting.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 1447, 5 September 1885, Page 3

Indignation Meeting.

The Theatre Royal was well filled last evening, the occasion being a meeting held to express indignation over ihe result of the Graff-Park case just decided m the R.M. Court, and also to pass resolutions praying the Government to alter the Act relative to Borough Councillors. His Worship the Mayor opened the meeting by addressing the audience, and B aid he supposed be might look on the meeting ac an indignation meeting m the true sense of the word. He never had had occasion to call a meeting of the kind before. The Council meetings had previously been carried on- heartily and straightforwardly to all concerned until an outside man bad taken upon himself to inform against one of the Crs under the Municipal Corporation Act. This Act 'was a good one all through, one of the best measures ever produced m ; the shape of logal" guidance for local government— but the longer they lived tho more they learned. One or two clauses m this Act were very unfair, and not calculated to work well m New Zealand. It might have suited m England hnudreda of years age. r There wor* similar .'jaws jri .'existence m, Russia find England;. arid had .been tor a considerable period, • , but. tli<v people of these countries ,h*id- been .unable to get rid of the injustice ; but* not so m Nmv Zealand* If tho ; peopla agitato for a reasonable repeal of any Act, they would if unanimous gain their end. A man living amongst them was yesterday sev.-rely punished for; doing what any man m New Z*»land ; Won I'd do, and notthink he was doing wrong. Th«y : we're; ;told by the Court . yesterday that any person being a Borough Conncilloj rendered liimself liable' to: fines of hundreds of pounds for supplying the Council with even a box of pens or a packet, of en--1 veldpes; and an informer might come from anywhere and sun him for damages. This .state of things was to bo deplored i: /aridshoiiid be at oui:e altered or recti-, tied. He knew tin- Local Governments of this country could not be. carripil oii^ without the assistance of the; busi ueSs? = men of tlie Colony. There' wquld ,l>e a great difficulty in.constitiitii)g.a ( Co.iincir' without the help. of tlie business. jueu o!f ; the community. Hitherto such meu<hail :. worked willingly hud spent .their tmi^, aye aud money on behalf of the to^ns they represented, but it would nbw-'be found a 'difficult thing to get a man m business to undertake the risk of swell a position. It was unfair that' "."'*' man << should be liable to be pounced upon by. any unscrupulous individual m order to obtain a sum of £50 -or more. Thine were many. men m this community 'who may be callod on at any^nomeiit to pay not £50 but th*usahds. It was not a rice tiling to know that our r prcseiitatives inisrht be attacked m this way, by auy ruffianly \ill;iii who might , think fit to cbnie along and endeavour to make money out of them. It was not a nice thing for a man to ,kn«w that bis name was entered on the books of the R. M; Court for -an offence ; it was not a. rice thing either for bis wife and family to know this. If anything could be done, that evKiiing which would have thja-ef-i feet of altering the prwseut Aft so as t«> render it impossible, for an iuformerto. make a profit out of men who did their dntj' simply and straightforwardly/ If; they could do this then he bdievcdtli^y; will have done a good . act to the muni-, cipal bodies tlirouglioul New Zealand. He saw an account m that evenin«'s. paper of the Waiiganui convictions, but he was thankful to say that a friendly lia'rid had undertaken the task there m order to prevent the informer from carrying oat bis nefarious work. There were others m tlie country waiting to participate m ihe blood money, a name he used advisedly as no other term so well defined its meaning. Ho would propose the first resolution as follows :— - Resolved tliat m the opinion of this meeting-it is highly necessary that any clauses affecting Crs. by way of fines should be made clear by the Legislatwre, so as to remove the danger of misinterpretation by Resident Magistrates whose decisions aro in* a great many instances considered highly rratic. Mr Ferguson rose to second the resolntion and said he had thought that he was done with public speaking until tonight, but believed he was justified m speaking that evening. In the Old Couutry there were plenty of independent men to befound to fill the position of Crs. Men not m business. In New Zealand it was different. It was a young country aud could not possibly do without the assistance of such^ men. There are those who have the time at their disposal, and the necessary brains to fill positions of the kind, and it was their duty to come forward and use them on behalf of the community. In the past this Had been done and if it were not for meu like those, Pahnerstoii would not be m the position it how was. And for men coming forward and doing their duty straightforward, they had yesterday "a specimen of the* result -to be attained by "such disinterested action. If business men' wer« to be m the Conneil should not the "Act protect them as long as they acted fairly, honorably and ■traightforwardly. He had always heard the law was a praise and a protection to those who do well, and a terror, to evildoers, but now it was seen that this maxim was reversed. It has been widely talked of throughout New Zealand how the business men of this town have pushed the place ahead, and made it the thriving place it now is,,and-what is the result ? 'Yesterday's R.M. Court gives the answer. lie saw m that night's STANDARD that the Act had been more defiantly set at nought m Palineretpn than anywhere else. Well, lie always acted straightforwardly whtn he sat m the Borough Council, he had not absented himself six times from its sittings. He had no axe to grind. There was nothing the Council . could give him. He had hot to knuckle to any clique and he always took an independent stand; ■ The StAndaed says the Act has been defied m Palmsrston ; well I never knowingly broke that Act and I have broke it frequently. (Disturbance m the Sail).' I never knew. l was set-^ ting' the Act at nought. The , accusation is that we have defiantly set at nought the law regarding this- matter. Now there is one person who succeeded m getting: £3 from the Council, and for doing so he is now liable to a penalty of 16 30. He broke the Act m ignorance as hundreds have done beforehand if that ignorance can be reasonably construed as meaning a defiaat breaking of the law thefrthe accusation is a just one, and as I have broken the law frequently the result is that now an action is pending m the Supreme Court against me. Re r f erring to the "Wanganui cases, is it possible that these Councillors . committed themselves knowingly, arid the same thing has been done everywhere m New Zealand. When I first became a Councillor I read over the Act to see how far I might be liable. I took the word "contract" m that Act to mean an engagement entered into m writing. If as it would now appear, by the R.Ms. ruling it meant the supplj ing of a box of pens or a package of envelopes then they did not know, what to do, and it was scarcely safe to» breathe. It might be all very well to say this had been a test Pftse. I don't know if an appeal will be made. But it is not fair that men should he liable to he hauled qp and have their names appear as defendants on the bpoUs of tlie R.M, Court. The law should protect men who volunteered their services on behalf of the pnb.Hc "We have heard of brigands m Italy, and elsewhere who make * livelihood by pouncitig upon travellers and robbing them of ther money ,aM jewels, Hari m Pal^erstpn

North they are worse oft than that. What about our wives and children when we have m our midst men of such unscrupulous character as will attack us m t lie manner of the informer m the case just heard. Tlie Act certainly should he amended and altered. Otherwise men will not be found to represent them m the Council, and the law will have tho effect of deterring good settlers from coining and living m the country for fear of being entrapped as m the case heard yesterday. In all places it is expected that if people act honorably the law will protect them. It this Act however it is different, for hare men may be attacked by scoundrels for tiie pure object of making money out of them. I have nothing more to say and move the resolution read with pleasure. Cr West rose to second the motion, and said he felt particularly called on to do so as a reference had been made by the last speaker to a Cr who had obtained £3 from the Council and who was for that action subjected to a penalty of £600. As a matter of fact the amount is £4 10s and' was for construction of three chains of footpath m 1883 when I was not aCr but applied . to have the path constructed' -.offering to pay half the cost. The resolution wa* passed m the Council and I did the work m April or March ; m tho September of the same year I became a Cr and the account was not passed tor ..payment till the following April. Therefore-: for the 'crime-- of waiting 12 : months for my money' I have became liable for the sum of £600 and I now am possessed of a demand for £300. I think you will agree with me that the Act as it is now, is an absurd one and should be at once -rectified. F have the pleasure of seconding the resolution. The Mayor then piit his motion to the . meeting which was carried nhaniinou -ty . (At'tliis i juncture ";W person who. had been interrupting £lie m'eetmg' was; taken, particular h'oticc of l by tlieliudience who isolated himleii^nga.jcle^sppe round .about his'per.sonV) •.-,:•; •""'■]... ,',;■ •' •.,-; •• l -V-. Tlie second resolution was" then read .by the ijvraytt&'as.. follows {p-r ; : j/' v- r '-- '- ■ .. v .;Ri^oiMeith*t- f i-'in;tJJßJr',.aiHaJon : o€?thismei.t:ng Clause 61 pt. 4 Municipal Corporati(Mfc*Ac^%htfnld:&£ aifteJ^6:l- ' i! 'iis-re- :f Xl,cf-the.sajd.Act;,oix.^s,an t -jilb3igiij:fiKe,.--.patipigfjsi'e ;o£ -the; Qlaus.j*;so! ; fur as regardV sub-section 4 of Clause 61. -—- Mr J. Jessop. '■ ' .„...,... - „c jCr,Gjr^jB f an^^^4:h?, ; r^Bqil.»Mog-fci-;*nd ; rerred 'to were read by the Town Clerk. The mover said th.it 11 out of -every 12 (Jrs. m ijf^f f «gfittjttridt-.}ti.rt^ri-f^--tifeo meaning of tho Act altogether different decision of the Magistrate to mean. Men who had means'} faqd Irj-Ji.i&l fro for' business, did not care to come fonyard-, and it was seen how holdings a^^ositioii of^Jlio^ind^n fleets J bjisiuyHSH^en^ Is ii.fa if thai <U|B(§)i|h<fre| $'ofn |I|iin.tmctoo,;V orjiiit of "Vhe shuns* b peiviittud by the law to coinu to this country^. m.TJVfV.a; vtW.tuno „ out, ofj.,t,he : acting., as an iiffdViliefj^i'iri^unVbome" made wealthy atj.}lJ4V,«xp^nsa. UarjtAvojkjnjt's slraightforivArd busin- ps mnn who had l.p jit: -himself m a--.i\ osition -to si-rye lift* country. They should get ;the-Jaw filtered ' and at once. He heartily moved the repoluti on as read. „.■:.] r ; , •....,):.— ...< . This yv^s secpndpd.by ,M-uJ Jessop and. ; carried uniiniinp,u'siy! " j ",' ]\ '. ' ..... The person' referred % before as iriterrupting the ineeting here i rose to speak, and a scene followed of his.ses and : groans, &c. Mr .Hawkins asked that .whoever, the man was he was entitled to a hearing and hoped that those present would refrain from making a disorderly row until they had some good reason. The Mayor invited the man referred to to come forward and ' express himself which he did but was not. long allowed to address the meeting. After making several statements, one of the audience came on the platform and informed the meeting that the person. before them was not. speaking the truth- The meeting then became most disorderly — egg throwing and noise of. every description being indulged, m. The offending. stranger was pretty well pulled about m the melee and • it was with difficulty that the Mayor succeeded m 'putting the following resolutions. ". [ ' ' Resolved — That m the opinion of this meeting, clause 63 ought to be amended, so that the person choosing to act as an informer should be a burgess of the Borough where the information is hud, and not any person who may through the reward of £50 be tempted to proceed against any Cr. Proposod by Mr T. King, seconded by M. Anderson. That the resolution passed at tin's meeting be at once forwarded to our member m Wellington, and that he be requested to make immediate action thereon. Proposed by Mr Woodroofe, se-. cpnded by Mr King,, That this meeting prays that the House of Representatives now m session will immediately -take these resolutions into consideration and take such steps as will remove the difficulties and dangers complained of. Proposed by Mr Larcomb, seconded by Mr Mowlem. These having been carried, an attempt was made to clear the Hall. This, however,. was not effected for a considerable time. Such a disorderly termination to a meeting has, we believe, never before taken place m Palmerston North.