MANAWATU.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 17, 20 May 1871, Page 3

MANAWATU.

(From our own Correspondent.) THE PERMISSIVE BILL.

The Hon. Mr Fox and Mrs Fox have been staying at Foxton for the last few days, and on Saturday evening he kindly gave an address upon the Permissive Bill to a large audience in the schoolroom. From the hon. gentleman’s statements, he appears to have given an explanation of this bill at most of the settlements on the West Coast, and has always been well received. There seems to be no doubt but that it is by far the most satisfactory way of legislating to give direct power to the persons most concerned, as is proposed by this bill, and one would imagine that the magistrates would only be too happy to dispense with the not altogether pleasant duty of granting the application for licenses, particularly when (as pointed out by the speaker) they one day (say the 18th of April) sit upon the Bench and lawfully sanction the establishment of houses for the sale of liquor, and upon the next day, still lawfully, punish a man for imbibing too much of the same. There is also another important point in this new measure, and an extremely proper one, too, viz., the giving a voice to the women in a matter which so much concerns them. Mr Fox told us that his opponents had started the question, that by permitting women to vote, you would be raising discord between husband and wife if they should not be pleased to vote in a similar way. He answered that you certainly might do so, but would it be such discord as is now raised by the man having it all his own way, getting drunk, and having all the pleasure that is possible to be gained to himself, whilst perhaps his wife and children are starving and ill at home. It is impossible for me to do justice to the hon. gentleman’s address in these notes, as he introduced so many figures, facts, and examples (that unless a shorthand reporter were present) by attemptingto follow it all through,you might be damaging the argument of the whole. I will, therefore, briefly state that by figures he proved to his audience that they swallowed annually £1,400,000, and that the taxation for liquor upon every inhabitant of New Zealand, man, woman, and child, amounted to something like £0 per head, Therefore, if

this vice of excessive drinking could only be cured, there would be enough money in the country to carry out all the public works proposed by the present Ministry, without going outside to borrow. It was also pointed out that the country could well afford to lose its revenue derived from Customs duty, if drinking was to cease, as a less number of police would have to be maintained, and fewer lunatic asylums, gaols, and paupers. He would not ask at the conclusion of the address for any resolution or expression of feeling, as he desired his audience to calmly consider the matter over, so that when the time came they would be prepared to act. Mr Thynne proposed a vote of thanks for the interesting address, and stated as his reason for thus doing so, in the place of older settlers in the room, to be for the purpose of explaining to the hon. gentleman that the inhabitants of the Manawatu had expressed their wish for the introduction of a Permissive Bill, he having received (unfortunately on the last day of the last session of the Council) a very numerously signed petition, requesting him to support the introduction of such a bill in that Assembly. Mr Kebbell seconded it. The meeting then dispersed, and there seemed to be much satisfaction expressed, from the fact of this being the first political meeting to which the ladies of the place had been invited to attend, and they (the ladies) seem to think it augurs a new period in their existence—and that the time is very quickly approaching when they will be able to teach mankind that they are able to adopt sterner and more decisive measures, to rectify their wrongs, than to sit over a miserable fire weeping, and to dispatch their daughter to the door of a public house, with such a woeful appeal as

“ Father, dear Father, come home with me now, The clock in the steeple strikes three The house is so lonely, the hours so long For poor weeping Mother and me, &c.” The Hon. Mr and Mrs Fox left Foxton for Wellington by last Tuesday’s coach. SAW MILL. Mr Bartholomew and partners are about getting up a steam saw mill, which they intend erecting near Palmerston, and they have obtained the contract for supplying the wooden rails for the tramway. Great anxiety has been expressed as to how they will manage to convey their plant up the Palmerston road, as owing to the new formation and the wet weather, the road is in a frightfully muddy condition. THE ATHENiEUM. Last Monday week a meeting was held to consider what steps should be taken to popularize the above institution, and a good many of the settlers attended. As however it was necessary before commencing matters, to have a statement of the accounts, and as the hon treasurer thought fit to detain the meeting an hour, and then appeared without a proper balance sheet, a feeling of considerable annoyance was expressed, and a resolution was put, for the old committee to retire, which was carried. The treasurer and secretary then resigned, and new office-bearers and committee were elected. After the new secretary was elected, a feeling of opposition was displayed by the late one, and he argued that by the rules no proceedings just taken were valid. The chairman pointed out to him, that as all the old committee and office-bearers had resigned it was imperatively necessary that some body should be elected to carry on the Athenaeum. He then stated that he should not resign, and would act up to the 2 6th of June, the time of the general half-yearly meeting. The chairman had again to point out to him that he could not act without a treasurer, upon which he appealed to his late coadjutator, who refused,upon the grounds that his services had not been properly recognised. After this the meeting was not conducted in the order that the chairman desired, as many gentlemen insisted upon speaking at exactly the same time, thereby causing some confusion to that worthy gentleman, who at last, in the extremity of despair, had to vacate the chair and building. I am glad to state that the next day an arrangement to obviate this dead-lock was effected by the chairman of the evening, in which he consents to act as treasurer, and to see that the building is properly lighted up, and papers obtained till the half-yearly meeting. He then expressed a wish

that an attempt should be made to conduct that meeting somewhat in accordance with the rules of the Provincial Council, believing that matters would be expedited. All I can say is, that the hon. gentleman takes a more favorable view of the proceedings of that august assembly than many do—and it is to be devoutly wished that the rules would expedite matters quicker for the future, than they have been in the habit of doing.