THE COMMITTEE OF THE BENEVOLENT SOCIETY AND MR. GIBBS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1034, 13 August 1879, Page 2

THE COMMITTEE OF THE BENEVOLENT SOCIETY AND MR. GIBBS.

An adjourned special meeting of the Committee of the Benevolent Society, for the purpose of dealing with matters contained in the letter from Mr. Gibbs read at the last meeting was held last evening, when there were present—Messrs. Falconer (President), N. Fleming, Mollison, Greenfield, Ronayne, Allen, and Hardy (Secretary). Mr. Gibbs had been invited to attend and explain the matters contained in his letter, but he did not do so, and after waiting a quarter of an hour, it was decided to proceed with the business.

Mr. Greenfield said that a copy of the resolution had not been sent to Mr. Gibbs.

The Secretary explained that it had been an omission on his part, the minutes of the meeting not having been posted up until the day previous. He had, however, that day sent a notice to Mr. Gibbs at three o'clock. The Chairman said the question before the meeting wr.'i the consideration of Mr. Gibbs' resignation. They had waited lone enough, and if Mr. Gibbs did not think it in accordance with courtesy to riienu, they should proceed to consider his resignation. Mr. Greenfield remarked that the letter had become public property. Mr. Gibbs had cast a slur upon Mr. Allen and the Committee.

Mr. Mollison said Mr. Gibbs had only received very short notice, and it was possible that he might have another appointment, and not be able to attend the meeting. Mr. Greenfield asked why the meeting called for the previous evening had been allowed to lapse..

TheSecretarysaid the fact of the meeting having been fixed for the previous evening had escaped his memory all the week. It was only on Monday that he remembered anything about it, and being aware that Mr. Gibbs would not be present, he spoke to one or two members about it, and they had concurred with his opinion that it would not be necessary to hold the meeting. He was extremely sorry that any; members of Committee should have been put to inconvenience.

The letter previously received from Mr. Gibbs, forwarding his resignation, was then read.

Tho Chairman said he supposed there were only two courses open to them. They must either accept the resignation and let the matter drop, or, while accepting it, add that tho Committee did not agree with the charges contained in the letter. With reference to Mr. Mollison's remark, he might say that Mr. Gibbs had been fully aware that his attendance was desired, and he had been as fully determined not to attend. 111 proof of this he had a communication from Mr. Gibbs which lie received tho previous day.

The Secretary then read the letter, which was couched in such terms as to render it impossible for us to publish it without rendering ourselves liable to the penalties of the law of libel. The writer, amongst other things, said he regretted not having endeavored to get six or seven members of the Committee who had, with himself, endeavored to effect a reformation in the management of the Society, to resign in a body. He did not care whether his resignation remained on the table or was thrown into the fire, as the object ho intended to serve —making the matter public—had been accomplished. " He'd rather be a dog and bay the moon than be sat on by the Treasurer." He hoped the whole circumstances of the case wonld be inquired into at the annual meeting, and that the Treasurer would bo called upon to resign. The writer concluded by forwarding some notices of motions he intended moving at the annual meeting of subscribers, with a view to altering the rules. The Chairman thought Mr. Gibbs might have sent in his notices of motion without letting out his anger. It was quite evident Mr. Gibbs did not intend to give any explanation of the matters contained in his first letter. He had even made things worse by the letter that had just been read. If the Committee thought the statements made in the letters were not true, it was now certainly their place to say so, Mr. Fleming said, as the mover of the resolution fixing the special meeting, he might as well open the ball. He thought it would be doing a very grave wrong to the Society to allow Mr. Gibbs' letter to go uncontradicted. Mr. Gibbs had referred to the "unwarrantable assumptions " of the Treasurer, but he (Mr. Fleming) thought the assumptions contained in his letter were the most unwarrantable he had ever heard. There was 110 truth in Mr. Gibbs' letter, which was full of assumption from beginning to end. Mr. Gibbs said " his mind could not swallow the Treasurer's assumptions." It could be fancied that Mr. Gibbs' mind was not the most enlarged in the world ; but, notwith- | standing, he was capable of swallowing ! much worse things than he had referred to. He had accused the Treasurer of muddling the books. Now, if the books were muddled, it was the fault of tho Secretary-, against whom they had a remedy. They could dismiss him, and the sooner they got rid of him the better. The Secretary : Yau are guilty of an unwarrantable assumption, there, Sir. Fleming.

Mr. Fleming repeated that, if the books were muddled, it was the Secretary who muddled them, and they had a remedy against him. Mr. Gibbs said the Treasurer threw dust in the eyes of the Committee. iNow, Mr. Gibbs was a very dusty customer, and went about with dust in his eyes looking at the moon. He (Mr. Gibbs) had wished to turn the Society into a poorhouse, but the Committee had declared against him, and very rightly so. This had caused him dissatisfaction, for ho thought no system but his own was the right one. Mr. Gibbs could see nothing in this sublunary sphere but the moon. If he had stopped with the letter sent in the other night it would not have been so bad, and they might have forgiven liim, if he even thought what he stated was true. But, after seeing his first letter in print, and having hau time to reflect over it, lie now came forward and made bad worse by heaping injury upon insult. Mr. Gibbs was a man who could not see the truth. The fact was that they had the best Treasurer that could bo obtained. The only fault Mr. Allan had was that lie was too correct. If all similar Societies had treasurers like him, their books would not have been in such a muddle, nor their accounts in such a mess, as for instance were those of some Societies in Dunedin and elsewhere. Mr. Allen was a man whose books would stand auditing by the best auditor in the world. Mr. Fleming then related an instance ill which, after an account had been passed for payment by himself and his brother Visiting Committeeman, Mr. Allen had discovered an error, and had been the means of saving the Society 17s. It was for exercising this care that Mr. Allen had been accused of dictating to the Committee. Mr. Gibbs had not adduced a single fact in support of his statements, and he defied him to do so. Mr, Gibbs' letter was full of assumptions and braggadocio. Mr. Ronayne said there was no doubt that Mr. Gibbs' statements were most unwarrantable. When lie made the charge against Mr. Allen of muddling the books, he was throwing out accusations against the whole Committee, and it was a pity that a man holding the position in the town Mr. Gibbs did should have written such a letter and then refuse to attend and prove his assertions to be correct, or apologise for such language. It was a very strange thing Mr. Gibbs was the only member of the Committee who could see that the books were muddled.

The Chairman said, if the Treasurer hacl, as stated by Mr. Gibbs, muddled the books, it could not bo so serious a matter, as it was not long since they were audited, and they w<jre then in proper order. If Mr, Gibbs thought the books were not being properly kept, he should have remained on the Committee, and have endeavored to rectify them. Mr. Greenfield said they should know if the books were muddled; but the public might be of a different opinion to them, a,hd it might be well to consider whether or not it would be well to have the books audited at onoe, in order to set the public mind at ease. The Chairman said the Committee had every confidence in the Treasurer, and he did not see the necessity for auditing the books.

Mr. Greenfield : It is not to satisfy the Committee, but the public. Mr. Ronayne : The books will have to be audited in six weeks, at any rate. Mr. Greenfield : That will do ; the public will then see for themselves. Mr. Mollison said that when Mr. Gibbs' first letter was read, he thought there was something in it, for there was no doubt that many tradesmen complained of the delay in paying accounts, and he had been prepared to make some allowance for the wannness of Mr. Gibbs' letter, on the ground that lie might have written on the spur of the moment. Lut as Mr. Gibbs had not given any explanation to support his assertion, and his second letter was still more bitter, he could not side with him any longer in the matter.

Mr. Allen said Mr. Gibbs had almost put himself out of consideration by the manner in which he had ' brought the matter up. He started with an assump-

tion that everything was wrong. Nothing seemed to be according to Mr. Gibbs* idea of what the Society should be lik e Mr. Allen then proceeded to deal with tho various questions of reform in tho Society that had been brought forward b v Mr. Gibbs, and rejected by the Committee. Mr. Gibbs was only a now member of tho Committee, and as many other members had been on (he Committee for three years they should certainly know equally as much about the working of the Society as Mr. Gibbs who had sought to upset many of their rules, and frame the Society 011 the basisprobably of some poorhouso lie had been connected with at Home. He had, in fact., endeavored to turn the Society into a poor-house, but the Committee refused to agree to tho proposition. Ho had purposely avoided saying much on that matier, because lie knew that Mr. Gibbs was not very friendly towards him. Because they as a Committee had refused to make a radical change in the constitution of the Society, Mr. Gibbs lost his temper, and made accusations without caring who he hit. Referring to tho accounts, he said that there had been a long examination into them by Messrs. Gibbs and lion ay ne, at which lie (Mr. Allen) was present, and they had not pointed out anything wrong with them. Mr. Gibbs had not even sent in a report from tho Sub-Committee on the matter, and it. might be well to point this out to him. It was true that there had been some delay in passing accounts. Ho was not going to say whether it was the fault of the Treasurer, the Committee, or the people who sent in the accounts. Many people did not send in their accounts for months, and they could not then get them passed readily, as Visiting Committees were averse to passing accounts for payment when tho amounts were not incurred during their term of office. Sometimes the Committees could not be got together to certify to the correctness of the accounts, while very often they were not sent in at a proper time. When the accounts had been passed for payment, the cheques had to be made out and signed, and it was often the middle of the month before this could be done. Then again an account for one month would be sent in with " account rendered " for the previous month. These could not, of course, be paid until the account was tendered in full, and the items checked. He then dealt with some other matters of detail, in order to show that I delays were unavoidable. On the motion of Mr. Fleming, seconded by Mr. Greenfield, Mr. Gibbs' resignation ' was accepted. Mr. Fleming moved, and Mr. Ronaync seconded, "That this Committee is of opinion that the accusations contained in Mr. Gibbs' letter of the 4tli inst. are contrary to truth, and have no foundations in fact."—Carried. After some discussion as to whether or not Mr. Gibbs' second letter should be I published, it was resolved that the mattershould be left to the discretion of the newspapers. A vote of thanks to the chair terminated the proceedings.