PUBLIC MEETING.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 253, 24 October 1874, Page 2

PUBLIC MEETING.

There was a crowded meeting at the Proi vincial Hall last night, when, on the motion of Mr Maclea", the chair was taken by Mr; A, Bichmond, who said that the adverment calling the meeting did not state for I what purpose they had met, but it was generally understood that ifc was for the purpose of considering the working of the Executive Council Act, and of discussing the actions of the Government, which had been severely commented on by the press and the public, whether rightly or. wrongly it was not for him to say. But those who held ! office as the responsible advisers of the | Superintendent had been invited to attend, and fie "was glad to see" them" there, "fig' »O' doubt they would give a full account of their stewardship, and j. if their explanations ; were . not satisfactory, it was still open to the public to petition the Superintendent to^call the Council together. Mr Levestam said that the first resolution had been placed; in his hands, and as he quite agreed with,, the .spirit if s at; Ke iW m£ch pleasure in moving it. Some people who were disaatisfied with the action of the Executive had in a hole-and corner sort of way got up and sent round for signatures a petition asking?. the .Superintendent to convene the Council, but the authors' of it had onufttei to give any .reasons for such a step. Ho objected to I such a course, on account, of the great expenditure 'ft Would involve,* and ; thought that the Superintendent, who should be beßt acquainted with the proceedings of the Executive, might safely be left to summon | the Council if he considered it necessary. Some people held the opinion, which Mr Curtis seemed to fos er, that the Superintendent w>s thoroughly irresponsible, and that he occupied a position {analogous to th«t of the Governor, but' this was'Wsurd, a? the former was elected by the people to watch their interests, while the latter was appointed by the Queen. He then referred to certain articles that had appeared in the Evening Mat/, and said that it was characteristic. of that paper, th t, after belaboring" the Executive, it had said that judgment ought not to be passed without hearing both sided of the. question. He had heard that one of the City representatives had busitd himself in getting up the memorial to the Superintendent, but he (Mr Levestam) thought that the proper course for him to have pursued wag to call a meeting of his constitnents, and consult them. He would move-r- --** That in thej opinion .of this meetfng it is undesirable to urge upon the Superintendent; either by memorial or otherwise, the necessity of convening a special meeting of the Provincial Council." Mr Waters seconded the resolution. f Bfr T. ;HARi,EY'hjtc( been$ r one pf the Itajfterfj of ihe Reform League, but had not attended its meetings lately, as he found that the,re were growlers enough without him. had been one of Mr O'Conor's staunchest supporters, and had he acted uprightly, up to his professions, and as a mm, he would have continued to be to, but that he had not done. He believed that a great many of those who were then present had come with the express intention of. making, a noise ,_ if, any one ventured to say.janything: against^ -^ie Exequr tive. Amid' groans, cheers, laughter, and ; cries of " Speak up," « Wire in Tom," &c, ■ Mr Harley read the following resolution — ; " That the actions of the Executive Government t^e condemnatory for the public gooff, and it' '-is the; duty jot. the citizens yhb hold any stake in the country to protest against ibarj proceedings.; as no public >man is safe while they are in office." ' " ' '* ' •' ; The amendment not being seconded, fell to the ground. Mr Pitt came forward as a representative of the town. He did not admit the right of ; any one constituency to call in question the ! actions of the Executive, but he did admit \ that the meeting had a right to^aecertain his , opinions as one of their representatiyi s. The ; present Government had only fieeVin office • four months, during a grent part of which : their chief had been abssot in Wellington, therefore they should not be hasty in expressing an opinion as to the working of the Executive Act. They had effected certain reductions and consolidations of offices which in the present state of the revenue were absolutely necessary^ b>t; these bad of course given rise" to a large am<mnt f of dissaftsfaetl&i among the frienda of those who were affected, Notwithstanding the charges that hai been made, he could, state-, distinctly- that n.t,yer- ! before had the Government been carried on more efficiently. Public wockji had certainly , not bean prosecuted with that vigor he should like to see, but they had been to some extent J dependent upon the action ;of the? General Assembly, which bad not" long been pufc o( session. Still, ne believed that ail the workt for which appropriation? had been made, wouljlbe the/time'the Council' met again.' He was glad to tie able to inform them that a letter had that day been received from the General Government that the Loan Act passed in the last session o( the Cou cil had become law, io consequence of which the Provincial Government would be in a position to borrow £27,000 for harbor works,* and £3000 for the Lunatic Asylum, and the construction of a dock would be shorfly. commenced. He was surprised to find that no mention of this fa t had been made in the Mailot that evening. The Executive, had been, taken to task for constructing the road to the Buller by way of the Grip, and it was hinted that it was a -job between them and one or two members of the Council, but the Government had nothing to say in the matter, a« it was settled by an Act of the Assembly. To connect the Grip } would only cost £1440, while to complete the road by way of the Hope would cost at leist £10,000. It had been ! asserted that Mr lO'Conor ; was the ruling spirit of the Executive, and that the others had nothing to say in the management of affairs, but he would wish to state that quite the contrary was the case, that .in* 11 matter- of any moment Mr O'Conor took the advice of his colleagues,' and 'that 'he (Mi Pitt; hadon more than one occasion had cause to complain that he was consulted, too much. No reasons whatever were given for ; the desire to summon the Council, but; it must have arisen from recent events. On one of these matters judicial proceedings -Jwere still pending, while as. to the statement that the propesed removal of the clerk to the; Superintendent was connected with the evidence given by him in Court, he would simply say that it was absolutely untrue. :j;;The actions of the Executive had been misrepresented in many particulars but he felt sure it would be found, whep. the Council met, that they still retained their confidence in them, ,;Mr.RouT corroborated what had fallen from Mr,Pitt, and' said he was sure it'fyouty be found that the Executive Act was working well and satisfactorily. Mr'O^soß had no illea thathe iwkultT.be expected to address the meeting, but he gladly did bo as, ! owing to the position he held, behfcd been' obliged to submit silently 'to -a large amount of slander through the press He had, in the course of his life, been much abuse;!, but until lately, it had never been carried to such a length. : An utte*? disregard for the irutb was shown, and no Bt*?enjen,t was .considered too gross for publication. Some papers in the province w.eje, u^terjVj unscrupulous, and did not hesitate to" make use of eciatJUations of infotdat ion that reached them which they had < r.o business to Jsnow. The reform that the Executive had taken in hand was cure to create dissatisfaction, but it was absolutely requisite, and evfdance; was ; daily accumulating which showed the necessity for the change that bad taken place- When the present Government took office there was a

Ja;ge overdraft and imny debts to pay, and they scarcely knew where to 'find the fuitfk for carrying on, but by reducing the expend^ ture as much aa possible, they had managed to stiuggleion. Hpw .were they met? As soon as they Yamoved ab^fficer, the cry was •> made; that they^were fuiniag&ihe Ypnftince« He was glad td'le able to say that the state-' ment n ade by a high authority, tbst b<- dispensing with one ofthe warde s thiy would lose £2 for every £i that whs caved ha) been completely falsified, and that they were not only , doing their o*n, work in that, djetrict. but also that which ficd been neglected by their predecessors. Tiie Jate Government had not, in their estimates made a fair allowance for contract* thfn existing, and the conee queaee-was that they- now-had- to Hirawupon the revenue to meet expenses they themselves had not incurred. He hoped, however/ver/ soon to be able to undertake all the public works for which appropriations had been made.'"" IS was ndth leginmate'SniT desirable that there should be an opposition as well as a Government, liut -it was a most extraordinary course forjthe party : outof power to get up an' Citation without-stating any grounds for it. It by getting a paper to do their dirty work they thought they were stating a case they certainly had done it amply. He was opposed to calling the Couu cir together, as, it ,w ( apjunneccsß*ry;,;ekoenßfe<r i ana would for two or three niontlis prevent 'i the Executive from/jdqingUi.eir, proper' work, i It was orily'jfisthhatihe newJordeWfrthirgs should be allowed a fair trial before condemning it. Kegarding the statement made in tl.at most respectable journal, the Evening Mai, with regard to Mr Hodgson's removal bein<r consequent upon tke evidence given hy him in Court, he would s»y ihit it was an utter fals.hood, anda gross inault to the intelligence ofthe community... Was it to-be supposed that three gentlemen awhile, possessing the confidence of the Council would ruin their reputation by such aa action? He knew well thht much that took pi ice in the Fxeeu tive that ehould be kept secret, was belled about the town, and hinted atia that respectable journal to which he hsd alluded.? Begarding all their dealings with public officers. , he could- promise that when the Pro yiiici«l Council met they ' shbuld hive " quita as much information &i they wanted, and perhaps more. It had been said thst all the money wa3 to be spent on th= other side of the ranges because he was a West Cosgfc member, but such was not the case, and the Executive fcal agreed to look ,uron the ('Province- as a whole, a" d not to favor one potion at the expense ;';of another He was convinced that "the state of things ,that existed six months ago would uevtr return, for people did not go back novr-a-days, and when everything came out, as it would, in the next Council, {here would be. a sense of ijfejief. that a' change had been ; bro.uglit abbuti\ It was easy to see ihut the Superintendent did .n^beliere in those who now held office, and it 1 was unreasonable to suppose that after trustine in others he should be willing to allow that the new love could bs better than the old, tut he hoped that when his Honor saw that his prophecies were not fulfilled, he would admit that ihe present, Executive were not fo bad as he thought With reference to the Builer road he. might state that arrangements hsd'bten mttde wjijeh! wou^d result in its being carried through both to Westport and Greymouth. Another work of great importance was to be undertaken, namely, the locution of immigrants, and the Government intended to establisha, settlement on the r(voast Jbetween Nelson' 'and .the BullerAHeJ had only one more "remark 'to make, namely^ that he trusted every, fair, and impartial man would ;oppcse any misrepieseniation of the action of the Government. It should be remembered that things were different from what they were, that the term of office of a Government was dependent upon the will of the Council, and that the day of reckon- • ing must come when they were called together. The resolution was then put and carried uniinioiou'ly. . .. . Mr tTojgN Gjraham was surprised not to see the faces of the hole-and-corner party, who had got up the petition for i ailing' the Council together. He would propose. "Tlmt the hearty thanks of this meeting be given to the members of the Executive Council who have addressed us this evening, for the exceedingly satisfactory way in which tliey have explained their action in the Executive, i which this meeting recognises an an act of courtesy on their part; and further, that this meetinr has entire confidence in therii "' : Mr GiB3ON seconded the mo'ion, which whs curried: -«■-■■= —> ■■■■■--• .-:.-.-—. „.. :^, — „, .„«_ ;, Mr T» HABLieT^moved as an amendment, -'••"•Thaf-it'M-- expedient the Council eh uld be called together to take into consideration 'he action of the Provincial Government; the present Executive, in the. opinion of this meeting, bsirig mo better Jthan they should be* Mr Atkinson seconded the nmepdm'en't. £Mr LEvfiit wbulJllikteittfmfive 5 as .^-further amendment, " That the mover and seconder be the two first inmate 3of the new Lunatic Asylum." Mr Levest4m was surprised bo h at Mr Harloyand Mr Atkinson. If they wanted to censure the Executive why were they not prepared with some charge against t'em Mr Atkinson said . that when he snw the course the meeting wan ttkiog, and the way in which- Mr Harley's first resolution was treated, he felt inclined to try to get a hearing for anything that might be said on the op. pasite side to that taken by the rrinciral speakers, and therefore had seconded the amendment, although he <Md not agree 'with the first patt of it.rand: ippked on the neconl more as a joke than" anything else. Ifc appealed to him that whpneyer there was a decided majority! afc a Nelsoa meeting, tjfe minority invariably, went ,• away with their tails between their legs. . He did not believe in that at all. .He had never taken any very active part in Nelson politics, but he would say, if a man i'hafl an opinion Jet him stick to : it, arid not be afraid of expressing it or his reasons for holding Mt Mr Graham's resolution would be carried almost unanimously, although he felt sure if a ballot were taken there would at least be found to be a very large mihorito He would recom'inend theni to : h3>d np their toiji-fs on whichever side the v voted without fears He wss delighted to'fimi'that the Executive were so happy a family, and •as unauimoua as Jonah and, the whale; and had been verg glad to hear jtb'e reasons' theY had given for not having done anything yet, and for what the/ were g^ing to do in tbe'lnture; - He was not sureafterHllthat.it Would not' be the'wise^ plan to uniifewf^ their Mends in serving out to them plenty of rope,'aa it ! would be-perhaps thebestmplhßpf saying t^uble. '' i '•' Mr Gbaham gathered frdta' Mr Atkinson's rambling jremarks_ jthaj he^ objectedto the present Fxecutive He ha3^ however, omittecf to give any reaepnß;t.or B j*"jtofe?£3r) The amendment, having: been., put and lost, the resolution was carried.. .,.,.,.. A vote of thanks to the" ( h&irman terminated the , proceedings. .....

( For remainder of News see 1 fbitrtk page.) ' I