WELLINGTON SAVINGS BANK.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 363, 24 January 1849, Page 2

WELLINGTON SAVINGS BANK.

An adjourned meeting of the Managers. ,of this Institution' was held on Saturday Signing last at Barrett's Hotel, for* the purpose of electing the Superintending Committee for tke ' >eurfent, fVear. ' ' t , On the, motion of Mr. Hort, seconded by Mr. Hunter, Mr. M'Donald, Manager of the Union Bank of Australia, Was called to the chair. ', ' The Chairman, in opening the -business of the evenipg, explained that the meeting had been adjourned from t*he previous ' Moiiday, owing to the small attendance on that occasion, and that the list of Managers had been published in the meantime in the local- Journals, for the information of the managers,- and to secure a more numerous attendance. After the minutes of the previous meeting had been read, Mr. Fitzherbert said it would be misplaced,delicacy on his part,, if he did not state to the meeting the plain grounds uhich induced him to submit the following* list for their consideration. He^had bestowed&msiderable pains himself, and had availed himself of the assistance of others, in the selection of the names, and had prepared his'ljst, with the view of including those,persons ,who were most competent to fulfil the duties of the committee. He had carefully excluded from the list the names of, the nominees, of those gentlemen. who had obtained the honorable distinction of a .seat in the Legislative Council. „In doing "this, he would .yi^dica^v himself from the'suspjciori of' acting on personal grounds, or of being influenccid by those feelings of personal acrimony,^ which he was, sorry to find had disturbed the. settlement during his absence. There was one grand-r eason which appeared' to, Kirn to justify this step, and that was, that it was'-nece^ssary to exclude those gentlemen from the Committee of the Savings Bank, in, order that 1 they should not have an interest in an institution for which, as legislators, they would have to frame, laws. He then moved a list of twelve persons, iogjudjng six of last year's committee; and omitting the names of Messrs. Hickson* and Moore. t , - „ , , The resolution' was seconded by CanUin Rho&£. /f^y ; <r ;••' %f& MX' Hob^ I ,' in moving the amendment, deprecated in forcible terms, thjs introduction of politics into private life, and especially of questions connected with difference* of religion ; such « course must have the worst possible effect, in a small community. andintfl|rge community would not be tolerated.' ~ He concluded by moving as an; amendment " ""»"' That the Committee of the previous year &e re-elected. •>

The amendment was seconded by Mr. P. M. Hervey. ' , Mr. Moore was glad to hear the grounds of the motion, excluding certain, names from the , Superintending Committee, at length frankly and openly avowed, he thought it would have been better if such had been the case on previous occasions, as he for one was always glad and ready to meet any question on fair and open grounds, and he begged to congratulate Mr. Fitzherbert at least on his sincerity, he would simply make one other observation on what had fallen from that gentleman, and confess, himself surprised at the reason advanced by him for his exclusive motion, " that because certain gentlemen were supposed to have an interest in the conduct of ,the affairs of v the Savings' Bank that therefore' ,tbere were unfit to legislate for it." The yery reverse of this appeared to him to be the case, for, whether nominated or elected, such persons as were believed to have the interests of, the colony most at heart, and such as held .the greatest stake in the colony, \?ould he conceived be considered as" those best fitted to legislate on the affairs of jthe. colony, and until Mr. Fitzherbert,could answer how thesame reason would not apply to the question before them, he would contend that the objection stated was not a good or valid one. Mr. Bell would vote for the amendment, because he entirely disagreed with the remark of Mr. , Fitzherbet t, that a member of the Legislative Council ought not to be on the .Savings' Bank committee, lest he might be .called 1 to legislate in' a matter in which he was interested. In his v!ew, such a position was quite unjust, even if it applied at, all {to the present case. In every other instance of the kind he was acquainted with, the very men -were placed upon committees on particular subjects, who, from their practical acquaintance with them, were best able to legislate upon them,— for instance, in the House of Commons, those,,^embers held leading positions op the railway committees who were most engaged in railway affairs. But in point of fact a manager of the Savings Bank had no pecuniary interest whatever in the concern — he was associated with it merely to show that the gentlemen of the settlement took a personal pleasure in assisting institutions especially founded for the benefit of the working classes, and not because they were in any^ay^ither contributors or depositors themselves. Mr. Fitzherbert's objection was therefore quite untenable.- But he (Mr. Bell) called upon them to take higher ground ; he called upon them to quash the attempt now made to introduce political differences into a matter entirely , foreign from political discussion. He begged them to do so to night, that the determination of the setttlers should be expressed not to allow political opinion to creep into simply social institutions. Moreover the way in which political opinion was being declared here had degenerated from fair public opposition to personal abuse and the violation of the courtesies and even the decencies of private life, and would, if allowed to be persisted in, sap the foundations of all social comfort and happiness. No one who had read what had lately been written in one of the papers, — that is, no one who desired that the private intercourse of the settlors should not be sullied by indecent personality,— but would agree with him that party, feeling was being carried to a pitch that admitted of no defence. He called on them therefore to show by their votes tonight, since the mover of the resolution had himself (declared he had no ground of complaint against those members of the committee who were in the Council, save their having taken seats there, that they disapproved of this fomenting of divisions among the settlers in a matter where union was so desirable, and where the social and not the political welfare, of the community was at stake. >■ Mr. Fiizhjsrbert begged that the meeting would not be led away by the flowery pcTjods.ofjhe last speaker, he wished to denude his statements of their speciousness and to lay bare the sophistries they contained. Any attempt to institute a comparison between the social institutions of this settlement and the magnificent railway system, of Great Britainwas absurd. If Mr. Hudson, the railway king, had obtained admittance into the House of Commons as member for Gatton ox; Old Sarum under the rotten/ borough system which prevailed some twenty years ago, . a comparison between such a system and the Nominees would hold good, but he, had been returned to Parliament in the way in which every English gentleman would desire to obtain a seat in the legislature, by the 'independent suffrages of the people., The amendment was then pu^q" the aie&lS-, ing when the numbers appeared^- to be equal, twenty one being for the amendment andtwenty one against it. A scrutiny was demanded by Mr. Moore and several persons, but Mr. M'Donald left, the chair, holding, up' both hands agtin«t the amendment. -• A rote of censure^ on the Chairman's .conduct was pro-

posed by Mr. Hort, and seconded by Mr. Moore, but tbere being no Chairman the proceedings terminated abruptly amidst the noise and clamour of the opposite party.' The tollowing is the list of Managers- who voted on the occasion :—: — For the Amendment. J Against the Amendment. C. E. Yon Alzdorf Mess. K. Bethune Mesa. W. M. Bannatyne i . . . . A. D. Brandon. F. D. Bell i E. Davis. .... J. Blyth .... J.Dorset - .... W. F. Christian .... W. Dorset .... B. J. Duncan .... I. E. Featherston .... P. M. Hervey .... W. Fitzherbert W. Hickson . . . . , T. Hoggard .... P. D. Hogg Major Hornbrdok .... A. Hort Mess. J. Johnston. G. Hunter W. S. Loxlej, W. Inglis W. Lyon .... N. Levin .... John M'Beth " G.Moore E. Park .... H. Boss .... W. B. Bhodes . Capt. Sharp O. W. Schultze Mess. H. St. Hill v . . "J. Smith .... E. Stokes ' ..GlD.Lardner,D.A.c.G. ..'..' J. M. Taylor . . J^MJ'M. Sutherland, Bey. J. Watkin »,a.c.g. >•' . Mr. J. Woodward i . . J. Wallace , . . J. H. Wallace