The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1035, 14 August 1879, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 1879.

Ms. SiitrstCiftts# "went ttpliktiarocket ant! tame down litres.stick. That man under the tntiuence of a warrantable, or an unwarrantable, antipathy fur Mr. At ten. the Trcaaarer of the Benevolent Society, sent a letter to the Comitritfcec r In which he vonutcfl forth abnac wuhottt the slightest admtxUtre of solid accusation. This letter, before the Committee at a period when « general feeling had somehow got abroad that ihere had been vexatious anil unnecessary delay in paying the Society's debts, gatned sympathisers for the writer. Mr. Gibbs virtually said that he could buck up Mr. Familton's charges made through the Press. He blackguarded the whole of the Committee, when it must have been apparent to everybody that th« whole of the Committee were | nnt blameable. But, notwithstanding Mr. Gibbs' rttde conduct, there was i an evident desire on the part of [the Committee to listen to the charges foreshadowed in the letter, and see justice done, whilst tho3o who set their hacks up did so because of Mr. Gibbs' unnecessarily universal slashing. We arc disappointed in Mr. Gibbs. hen we first saw the letter which, amongst other things, contained his resignation, we concluded that the Committee had acted wisely m requesting that he should make some explanation in order that the allegeci grievous mismanagement might be dealt with. But Mr. Gibbs, like moat men of his stamp, thought he saw in the request that lie should meet the Committee and explain, an attempt to interfere with his liberty of conscience and action. In this he was wrong. The Committee took the only course that v,as open to them. People liuve no right to bring such charges custodians of public money and their colleagues, without they are prepared to substantiate them. If matters in connection with the Society arc so bad that Mr. Gibbs' leitor was not a flagrant libel on every member of Committee, then it was his duty to swallow his pride, even it his mind cannot swallow the Treasurer s assumptions." His colleagues and the public have a moral right to demand ihat if a man placed in such a position as ihat which 3lr. Gibbs lias just resigned discovers that crying evils exist, lie shall at once make them public. Mr. Gibbs has no right to discern evils, or, rather, announce that he has discerned them m the forcible language which appears to be peculiar to that gentleman, and then leave the Committee with a cloud resting over them, the public in suspense, and the evils still uneradicated. If Mr. Gibbs was only willing to act as a member of the Committee of the Benevolent Society so loDtr as harmony existed between mm and his colleagues—if he intended to abandon his post just when he, according to bis owu showing, was most required he tea no right to keep another out of the position who would, without doubt, have acted with greater wisdom and more in accordance with the understanding— though, perhaps, only tacit—upon which he was elected. Mr. Gibbs seems not to be want-

inj* in pride, bat his priilc is evidently not of that kind that would cause him to stand his ground and be beaten if beaten at all—with difficulty, in a contest ; nor i 3 it of that kind that would incite him to the least exertion, beyond using his pen, in order to try to gain a point. He acknowledges in his second letter that he regretted not having endeavored to get six or seven members of the Committee, who had with himself endeavored to effect reformation in the management of the Society, to resign in a l>»>d v. 2sij-.v. Mr. (!il>bs virtually says that he c«uld have d->ne this had he tried : and he must therefore h:\ve been confident of having a majority on his side on the {"oiinnittee. Why. then, resign, and thus intr-'iliice quite a new feature in the system of managing public societies, which v..j think will be generally viewed as k-ui._ Mr. (is playing one act in the drama of " Parliament." He has resigned, and intends to "appeal to the country.' That would have been quite correct; but, in the first place, he was not the Premier, and, in the second, it iias not yet been proved that the Parliament to which he belonged was moribund. The fact that : Jlr. Gibbs' second letter was worse than i his first says but little for his judgment. It | was "encrally thought that his first letter I was written under the influence of momentary annoyance, and that reflection would result in, perhaps, no reduction in firmness, but a difference in his mode of action. But he, apparently forgetful fhat he has just been honored with the highest position the townspeople could confer, has displayed the petulance of a shrew, and the inji:diciou?ne?s of a man devoid of worldly experience. He not only refused to meet the Committee, but he wrok' a second letter of such a character that it was unfit for publication. There ' may be something in Mr. Gibbs'complaint. ;We have no doubt that there is. Mr. I Allen has, we arc led to believe, quite as | much as he can do to attend to the calls of duty in another direction in such (Tinea as these. The harassment of his position as head of the Bank of New Zealand h»re may not be conducive to the performance in the best possible manner of the duties of Treasurer to tiie Benevolent Society, or any other public olfice to which no sa'ary is attached, for Mr. Allen is but human, like the rest of us. "When a banker has been worried all day by defaulting and exceedingly hard-up _ constiiuenls — when he has been dealing in overdrafts of thousands of pounds—he cannot pleasantly descend to the consideration of paltry accounts of as many pence, or less. Yet, it is only right that people should be paid when they have earned their money and their accounts have been approved of by the parties appointed for that purpose. The Committee of the Benevolent Society, or the Treasurer, is not conferring a special favor upon those who ask for payment from the Society for value received by acccding to their request. To pay accounis when they are justly due is one of the duties" they accept when they agree to undertake the management of the Society, and if any set of men cannot, from anv cause, fulfil this obligation they should make room for others. We admit that Mr. Allen's position as a banker is a favorable one in some respects for ihe performance of the duties of a Treasurer ; but, in other respects, a banker may be the worst man that could be chosen. Whether Mr. Allen makes a good treasurer or a bad one has not been proved to the satisfaction of the public. True, Mr. Gibbs has inveighed against him, but he has done so in such a manner that it is impossible to toil whether Mr. Gibbs or Mr. Allen is at fault.