New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Saturday, January 27, 1849.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 364, 27 January 1849, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Saturday, January 27, 1849.

Wb have, until very recently, abstained from noticing even the existence of .the Independent ; its gross and personal scurrilities directed against ourselves have ever treated with silent contempt, for. we can afford to live them down. ( If we have, on a late^ opcasion, broken through our rule in commenting on some* of its' statements, it is because it now appears 1 as the ' avowed organ' o'fi^he Faction, although but a few months since it exulted in its refusal to be influenced by -certain individuals belonging to it, and gloried in its' rejection of their overtures ; (designating them as " Quirk, Gammons and -Snap"), and in its determination to uphold the. real, interests..bf. the settlers. It Js for this reason we return to the subject of the

recent proceedings connected with the Savings Bank, which we partly discusied <in our last /pumber. If there. is an institution in the colony whose, security and .prosperity ought not to be risked, hut t& be 'promoted by 1 all, -which 'should' be considered as neutral ground whereon all nrght meet with one. common object, it is that one ";waich is intended to protect the hard earned savings of the working.man. But, notwithstanding the*disgraceful proceedings at the late meeting 1 , tending so palpably to impair the secu- * rity and efficiency of that Institution, if not altogether to, subvert and destroy it,' that paper to regard those' proceedings with satisfaction, and reckons these effects a trifle, provided its' new allies be assisted to " raise their heads again, after the,, disgrace they have suffered in the estimation of all respectable persons, by their late pitiable attempt to thwart the Governor-in- Chief in bis-Wise' desir6 to obtain the assistance of, of experienced persons in these 'settlements to' aid in .supplying that information and advice which is so necessary - a preliminary _to the speedy introduction of representation. " ' We .therefore feel bound to point out and " expose the gross misrepresentation contained in the Independent, in order that the wording man^ may, see how his interest will Jb'e attended to by that Journal. A committee^ is to <b ( e^appointed to look after the earnings of the working man-, vbut Mr. M'Donald, the chairman of the meeting, altogether forgetting the diitiea : pf an office which,' as is proved on this occasion, ,he is evidently most unfit to u fill, left the, chair, as. we have shewn in our last number, after an amendment to the proposed list for a new committee had been negatived, and before the original motion for the appointment of that committee had been put to "the vote and decided, thereby breaking up the meeting before the object for which it was convened had been 'attained, that is, before a committee had been appointed ; and yet the Independent has the audacity to attempt to salve over this informality, and in utter defiance of truth and honesty to represent to its readers, that the original motion was put and carried, and that a committee was appointed ; whereas, if the question were left as it now rests, there would be no responsi- ■ ble committee, in fact no committee at all. Such an utter perversion of a matter of fact, rriore especially one affecting the interest of many of the least informed portion of the community^ such a gross dereliction of duty, on the part of a public journal, for the sake of furthering, .the ends of its new allies, calls for the most severe animadversion; but we shall presently have'tnpre to say on this head in noticing an advertisement "by order of the, Trustees," which has evidently been put forward jto bolster up this glaring perversion. The Independent has also had the impudence to suggest that.the officers of the Goyernment should be prohibited by the Lieu-tenant-Governor from being connected with the social institutions of the colony. It is really disgusting to witness the tergiversation, the entire want of principle and con« sistency so constantly manifested by. { that contemptible apology for a Journal, at one time affecting to advocate liberal principles, at another the most despicable despotism, an arbitrary, coercive influence on the part of the Governor over the subordinate members of tlhe Government in matters solely relating to the social interests of the settlers. But we contend, in opposition to this "advocate of arbitrary power, that all managers of the Savings Bank, however.they may )iave abstained on ordinary occasions from taking any part in its proceedings, when its affairs were conducted and ib/a business like manner, have no other alternative them, — when its very existence ,is placed.' in jeopardy, by making it an arena for political squabbles, and by undermining the broad basis on.which. it^has hitherto rested by an endeavour to exclude two of its most effici-. ent and trustworthy members, ..solely^aSnl! avowedly because they have deemed it rig'tit* to comply with the Governor-in-Chief's re- ! quest that they should become members of the Legislative Council, — but either' to attend anVjkvote against such an attempt; or

to withdraw their names from the list of managers, that depositors may not be deceived and , led to believe that the institution rests on a firmer basis than it really does. "And since the question has been raised by the Independent, we are led to inquire how the attendance at that meeting can be justified of two gentlemen, connected with the military service, Mr. Lardner and Mr. Sutherland, for the express purpose, as would appear by their votes, of supporting Mr. Fitzherbert' s openly avowed object, the exclusion of two persons from the Committee for no other reason than because the Gover-nor-in-Chief had been pleased to give them seats in the Legislative Council ? But the local military authorities will best be able to give an answer to this question. Having disposed of the Independent we will proceed to make a few further observations on the part taken by Mr. Fitzherbert at the meeting. His attempt to parry the force of Mr. Bell's reply to his objection, (that their being members of the Legislative Council disqualified them from being in the committee of such an institution as the Savings Bank), which showed that members of Parliament were not considered disqualified by that office for the management of railways and aJairs of a similar nature, was frivolous and weak in the extreme, and could scarcely have elicited applause except at a meeting held after dinner. For if the management of such business were not inconsistent with the higher office, how could it be so with the lower ? If a member of the Imperial Parliament, a representative, who is' called upon to legislate for railways, might be an active manager of these ; why might not a member of a subordinate Legislative Council be an active manager of a Savings Bank ?. But the case, as put by Mi. Bell, was unnecessarily strong ; for if the member of Parliament may legislate for that in which he has a pecuniary interest, why may not the member of a Legislative Council legislate for that in which he has no pecuniary interest whatever ? But Mr. Bell did not institute any comparison between a member of Parliament and a member of Council, nor between a railway and a Savings Bank, and it argues gross ignorance, or no small amount of assurance on the part of his opponent to assert that he did. When such an illustration is drawn from analogous circumstances it is not requisite that a perfect resemblance should exist between the things themselves, if there be one in their relations. But as Mr. Fitzherbert, as well as Mr. M'Donald, is probably more conversant with figures of arithmetic than figures «f rhetoric, we will explain by that medium our meaning, and render it obvious to the lowest capacity. If we assert that as 2 is to 4, so is 10 to 20, we do not therefore say tbat 2 equals 10, or 4 equals 20 ; in like manner, as a member of Parliament is to a railway company, so is a member of Council to a Savings .Bank (with this advantage, previously adverted to, in* favour of Mr. Bell's illustration, that in the latter case he is quite disinterested) ; but no comparison is hereby made between a member of Parliament and a member of Council, and he must be stupidly ignorant or wilfully perverse who could be guilty of such a misrepresentation. . But Mr. Fitzherbert's motion carries faction on the very face of - it, for what' is his " grand reason/* his avowed object for making it ? Not that members of Council are, [ as such, disqualified for acting on the committee of the Savings Bank, and therefore should be excluded, which would have been an abjection so manifestly frivolous as to be utterly 'devoid of meaning, but that they are disqualified for -legislating on the subject;. ! To. attain, his object therefore, , he should havei'endeavoured to eiclude them, not from the Savings Bank committee, 1 but from the Council; because though excluded from the i former, th^y 9 will still continue to legislate , for it. . But . why the unpaid member of ! Qpuncil ~should-.be disqualified , for, such legislation, while the paid one, suchas^the Attorney General or ■ Colonial Treasurer should not be, Mr." Fitzherbert did not attempt to show. Nothing, therefore^ could be more palpable , than the gross absurdity

and thorough factiousness of his motion. It remains for us to say a few words on the advertisement sent for publication " by order of the Trustees." In it Mr. M'Donald states that, as Chairman " having put the amendment to the meeting, it appeared there were— -for the original motion 22 //" It is impossible to produce, in so small a compass, such a mixture of blundering ignorance and absurdity, ' as is to be found in this statement. As there was only one division, the question must have been put — for and against. If not, Mr. M 'Donald must either mean to say that the amendment was not negatived, or that his party voted for two questions, — against the amendment and for the original motion, — nt the same time! which is a manifest absurdity. The statement that this advertisement is " by order of the Trustees" only three out of the" six Trustees (viz., Messrs Feathers ton, Fitzherbert, and M'Donald, who voted against the amendment) having had anyhandJnthe matter, shows that this advertisement is intended by them to bear out the statements advanced in the article in Wednesday's Independent on which we have been animadverting, and leaves little doubt that its authorship may be safely ascribed to one whose writings we aptly characterized in Saturday's Spectator, and who seems determined to drug the public, usque ad nauseam, with his compositions.

Coroner's Inquest. — On Thursday last an inquest was held at the Aglionby Arm's, River Hutt before Dr. Fitzgerald, cbroner, and a respectable jury, on view of the body of John Gavanagh, who was in the employment of Mr. Barton. It appears that the deceased with two other men were employed in cutting down timber ; they had cut down a large tree, which in falling tore up another of considerable size, and both fell against a large branch of a third tree ; while they were engaged in cutting this branch it gave way sooner than was expected, and in falling struck the deceased on the head, causing a large wound and fracturing the skull. The deceased lived one hour and a half after the accident. The jury returned a verdict of " Accidental Death."

The following 1 requisition signed by twentythree managers of the Savings Bank has been forwarded to the Secretary of the Institution. Besides those who have signed the requisition, several others, constituting a clear majority of the managers in the settlement, have expressed their determination to attend the meeting and by their votes, prevent the attempt of the Faction to introduce politics into our social Institutions from being successful : — Wellington, 26th January, 1849. Sir. — An adjourned meeting of the Managers of the Wellington Savings Bank, called ,for the purpose of electing a Superintending Committee for the curren: year, held on the 20th instant at Barrett's Hotel, having separated without making such election, we the undersigned Managers hereby request that you will call a General-Meeting of Managers for that purpose pursuant to the rules of the Institution. We remain, Sir, Your obedient servants, (Signed) William Hickson F. D. Bell George Hunter N. Levin P. M. Hervey William Inglis Wm. F. Christian Kobert Stokes W. M. Bannatyne Eobert Hart Abraham Hort, Sen. W. Waring Taylor George Moore James Blyth R. J. Duncan James Watkin H. Ross Samuel Ironside Alfred Ludlam Chas. E. Yon Alzdorf James M'Beth Geo. P. Wallace Henry St. Hill Mr. J. Woodward, Hon. Secretary.