POLITICAL MEETING.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 139, 23 May 1884, Page 2

POLITICAL MEETING.

MR. REES ADDRESSES THE ELECTORS. A public meeting convened, by Mr. Rees for the purpose of him addressing the electors of the East Coast district, and explaining his views with regard to public matters, was held last night at McFarlane’s Hall. There were about 500 present. Mr. Smith occupied the chair, and opened the proceedings as follows :—Gentlemen, the last time I addressed you, it was to advocate the election of Sir Julius Vogel, that was in the event of the three local candidates retiring, but it has since been decided that that shall not be the case, and of course I bow to your decision. We have now got three candidates before us, and one of them, Mr. Rees, puts himself before you to-night. I think we ought to elect one whom we believe will do the greatest, amount of good for the district of Poverty Bay. I think the gentleman who is going to address you will put before you a scheme in such a manner as will satisfy you that he honestly intends to make a hard fight to get what you have never had before. We have three local questions. The first is the harbor question. The party to which Mr. Rees belongs have pledged themselves to support that scheme. (Voice: Leave that to Rosie. — Laughter.) The second question is the opening up of the country, either by good roads or railways. Mr. Rees will touch upon that. The other question is that of Native Lands, in regard to which the conduct of the present Government has not been what we required. (Applause.) After further remarks regarding the Government’s resolution of the pre-emtive right, and condemning its effects, he introduced Mr. Rees to the meeting. Mr. Rees, who was received with claps, stamping, and general applause—Mr. Chairman and fellow electors, —I need not say that I have great pleasure in appearing before you to-night as a candidate for the suffrages of this electorate, and as one who wishes to represent this district in the ensuing session of Parliament. I never had any idea until within the last two or three months of representing this district in the Parliament of New Zealand. It was through my solicitation that Mr. McDonald contested this seat when he first did so, and it never struck me that he would at any future time go away and leave the seat vacant for other persons to contest it. However, this circumstance has occurred. I may at once say that I would sooner represent this district in which I live, in which I am interested, in which all my future hopes are bound up, than any other in the Colony of New Zealand. (Stamping and applause.) Now, before I commence speaking to you as to the political platform upon which I stand, or in regard to those subjects which will interest you locally, I may say a s ibject has been touched upon, about the resignation of McDonald, which has caused so much excitement not only in this electorate out all over the colony. (Oh I —Hear, hear.) You will remember that after McDonald’s departure a silence not broken except by the tax you put upon him through the newspapers, which asked what he had done. Nobody knew what he had done as to his resignation prior to his departure. I must say I was puzzled, for I knew that McDonald had promised. I was present on one occasion when he promised that his resignation should be left by him in sufficient time for a successor to be appointed when the Parliament opened. Now I will tell you what took place. A short time ago I was in Auckland, when I met Mr. Whitaker and another gentleman. The former asked me what I thought of McDonald’s resignation, and began laughing as if a clever joke had been performed. I replied I knew nothing about it* He said that McDonald had left his resignation with him, and that he had held it over. But I said, “ You have done a foolish thing; you have alarmed a number of people, and you have done no good.” (Claps, and applause). He replied he did not care anything about that, he thought it would be a capital thing to excite the people, and have a laugh throughout the colony. Now as a matter of fact McDonald left his resignation in Mr. Whitaker’s hands to be forwarded to the Speaker, with another message to Sir George Grey. Mr. Whitaker thought it would be a good joke to keep it silent, and he did so and the first intimation Sir George Grey had of it was a telegram which he received at this place. That was the first official information he had of the affair. It will only be a week or ten days which will separate the election of his (McDonald’s) successor from the opening of the House. If the resignation had been handed in at once his successor would have been elected almost by the time the House met, as the nomination will take place on the tenth or eleventh of next month, and the election about the sixteenth, and the House meets on the fifth, that is Thursday. It will then be opened, and after the Governor’s speech, the Members will adjourn until the Tuesday following, which will be the day of nomination here. If McDonalds wishes had been carried out all would have now been well. (Cries and applause*) I mention this because we all dislike to speak of a man behind his back, therefore in his defence I tell you this : Mr. McDonald’s resignation should have been annaunced seven or eight days before it was. I trust, therefore, that any feeling of irritation which might reasonably be caused by this apparent negligence will be removed by the statement which I have made. Now I went to Auckland some short time since, and when there I received numerous telegrams, the substance of which was that a requisition had been prepared asking Sir Julius Vogel to stand for the East Coast District as a representative, without any election. I was telegraphed to by various persons, notably I received a telegram from Captain Porter, the purport of which was this, that an informal meeting of the town and County Councils, and several leading men of this district, had been held at which it was resolved that all the local candidates should be asked to retire in order that Sir Julius Vogel might be returned unopposed. Now, gentlemen, I am always suspicious when persons who style them ■'elves representative men take upon themselves the conduct of public business. If they are elected then they represent the will and the wish of the people, but if they take upon themselves to say what shall be done, to give away a constituency or to do anything of that sort, I say that every < ’ector has a right to object to any such proceeding until it has been made public, and the public voice taken on it. (Hear, hear). And I knew this also, and some of those who took part in the meeting were also aware of the fact, that I could not retire if Vogel was proposed, and that I could not give up the contest. So it placed me in such a position that other gentlemen might say “ Oh yes, we will give way and stand on one side, if Mr. Rees docs so,” because knowing I could not do so it was a very cheap way for them to show their patriotism. (Hear, hear and noise) But I desired first of all to know, what were the grounds on which it was requested that I

with others, should stand aside, to allow him to enter political life, as the representative of this district. Those grounds I learned when I returned, I was asked then to attend a meeting at the Council office, which I attended on being informfed it was a public meeting. I listened patiently for about an hour to the various persons, who urged the advisability of the present local candidates retiring in order that Sir Julius Vogel might be returned unopposed. Their reasons amounted to this “That the election would be delayed, as it was alleged no local representative could be returned for a considerable time after the meeting of Parliament, and, secondly, Sir Julius Vogel’s position in the political and financial world would enable him within the walls of Parliament to assert our rights with a vigorous hand and with vigorous intellect, and afterwards would enable us to obtain sufficient money for public works here on advantageous terms on the money market at home.” Those were the two reasons. In the first place, gentlemen, the election need not be delayed, it is clear that your representative can take his seat within a week or ten days of the real commencement of the business of the House, that is certain. Irrespective of that, the colony looks with great suspicion unon any one outside the ordinary coursi of political lite, and political help and support, and if ' his thing bad been done and you had induced your local men who live amongst you, who know your wants, and your wishes, if you had tossed them on one side in order io avail yourselves of the more efficient aid of an outsider, you would have armed both I

sides of the house against yourselves. (Hear, hear.) Not only is Sir Julius Vogel opposed to a very large proportion of the political thought of New Zealand, but he has come out expressly for the purpose of urging against the Government a very old claim for monetary recompense in relation to his floating one of the loans at home. (Voices —Quite right too—certainly.) The gentleman who says “ Quite right too” is quite right. If he has a just claim he has a right to enforce it; but this is the question—lf you gain his assistance for your ends, and give him your assistance to put him into the house to satisfy that claim, then you have everybody against you. (Hear, hear.) This is what they say, and I have it from members on both sides of the House, that if you help Sir Julius Vogel, as the price of his support they will put you both—Vogel and yourselves—out in the cold very soon. I don’t doubt Sir Julius Vogel’s ability, and I believe within the walls of Parliament he would have honestly asserted your claims, but to no avail, and he would at the same time make use of the position you gave him to advance his own interests. [The speaker now explained at length how he became opposed to Sir Julius Vogel in Auckland, and had sworn to fight him for any constituency if ever they came face to face, and having sworn to do so he would have now to fight it out, and therefore could not well retire from the field.] I thought to myself that the scheme for deepening the river would not be successful, neither would Sir Julius Vogel’s candidature, in both cases the prospects would not be very Rosie. (Continued laughter). The chairman suggests to me that in fact the prospect would be too harrowing. Having dismissed those preliminary questions we will turn to more important ones. You have now to decide who is to represent you in the coming Parliament, and I have no doubt of this that the person whom you elect now for that Parliament, being the last session, will most likely represent you in the New Parliament. Don’t forget that. It is most likely, because, mind, a man does not lose favor in his first session or so, as you have not got time to find fault with him. The consequence is that, more than likely, the man whom you return on this occasion, you will return on the next, and this should add additional gravity and force to the election which is now pending. The candidates are Mr. Locke, Mr. Gannon and myself. (Voice: A-hera.) I have been a long time, as you know, somewhat antagonistic to one of the candidates. I mean Mr. Gannon. Therfore I shall not say much of him. He has been put up by a section of the community to split the votes. (Loud hoots, with slight claps and cries of No! no!) That is my opinion, some of the gentlemen with good lungs don’t think so. He is running between the two representatives of the two distinct parties—the Liberals and Conservatives, because he is not particularly pledged to any party in the State. He is a man for many reasons I respect as regards his talents, and there is not the slightest doubt that his day will come, when he has given satisfactory evidences to the public, so that they can trust him with political power, and I say he will be able to give as good an account of himself as anyone else. (Loud applause, with stamping. Voice: He can speak sixteen hours against time.) At the present time I shall take up the dispute absolutely as between those who represent the different political parties in the State. Those who, on the one side, uphold Mr. Locke, who has ever been an adherent of the present Government, and those on the other, who stand by the colors which I represent, which are of a Grey tendency. Now I will ask you to consider what the parties represent. (Voice: three parties.) Three parties ! Well, perhaps the third party will represent the third wish. Now the great question in this district of ours is the settlement of the lands, the throwing open and general settlement of the lands you have around Gisborne. A certain amount of land is opened already for settlement, but you have behind you, away up to the East Cape large tracts of country which are very fertile, and through which you can travel without meeting with a single human habitation, without seeing an acre of land under cultivation. There are only a few sheep here and there. The land will support thousands of people, and it is lying absolutely idle. (Hear, hear, and disorder.) The opening up of this land for the district is the great question, and there must always be questions in localities such as these which are confined in interest to the places themselves, and which have only to do with the great interests of the Colony at large. Now what are the prevailing opinions and principles in relation to the settlement of this land, as between the parties represented by us. I will tell you. I represent the Liberal party, whose leader is Sir George Grey. (Claps and applause.) Mr. Locke represents the party which has for its leader Major Atkinson, the Conservative party. One party is founded upon one set of principles and the other upon another set, and I allude to these lands to illustrate what I mean- On the East Coast at present an effort is being made to swallow up the whole of these lands, and get tnem in the hands of a few individuals. Money has been spent there, agents and others have been employed, and from the East Cape down to Gisborne, or rather Tologa Bay, an effort is being made to retain the whole of those lands, which are as fertile as any in the colony of New Zealand. A few monied men want to get them, and they have a right to if they can. But I would ask you, gentlemen, is it for your interest, for the public interest that this should take place ? (No, no, and confusion). Is it right that hundreds of thousands of acres of good land should be swallowed up by a few persons? They can get the land for a mere figure and then retail it to you at immense prices which they put into their pockets. (Voice —They will never get it.) I don’t think that gentleman knows much about it. (Laughter.) They are getting it rapidly, and the only hope the people here have of keeping these lands open is by an alteration of the laws, and by supporting such institutions as was alluded to by the Chairman—the New Zealand Native Land Settlement Company. (Applause, hoots, and some hisses.—Voice— I will employ you when Sheehan comes.) Mr. Locke is the representative of that class of monied people. He himself is heavily engaged in these purchases. He has purchased for Mr. Rhodes shares and interests in immense blocks up the coast. I say he is a representative of that principle which seeks to lock up the whole of the land, and if that goes on the bulk of the population will be debarred from obtaining any interests in land except at exhorbitant prices. (Hoots, claps, and disorder.) Now what is done with large areas which are obtained in that way ? A few sheep are put upon the land. (Voice: Thousands of sheep.) I say the person you ought to support is the person who will put thousands of sheep on the land. That is the difference, Mr. Locke represents sheep, and I represent men. (Applause, and deafening yells and hisses.) You will remember a number of gentlemen came here (disorder) hoping , to found a settlement on the Pouawa block (Disturbance.) If the law had been at that time as it ought to have been they would have been enabled to settle there. I state this that the laws have been altered and titles to land obtained by this Land Settlement Company. Another thing you must have if you wish to advance the in-erests of the district, that is a local man. Mr. Locke is not a local man. (Applause, and interruption). He hails from Napier, if it becomes a question of your harbor and the Napier harbor, he will support the latter. In the expenditure, of monev, etc., you will find that his interests are in Napier and not in Gisborne. (Great disorder and disturbance). If you want a man to look after your district you must have a man who is bound up with you in the prosperity of the district, and who will use his best endeavours for you. (Voise: I prefer Gannon.—Disorder.) In all contests like this, people should judge for themselves what is right for the candidates to do. You should be able to examine their claims on you. Supposing the interests of capital came against the interests of the people generally, what side do you think Mr. Locke would take ? I say he will only represent money as against the interests of the many, because his interests are with them. (No, no ; hear, hear, and disorder.) Another thing of importance is * his : the Franchise has been largely extended. Every man, as a rule, has a vote. Now they ought to consider that they have no right to do what they like with their votes. (Voice—Why not?) Because it is a public trust imposed in them. You can give away a shilling or a pound note if you like because it belongs to you. (Voice—How many can yon give away ?) But a man has no right to pledge his vote. (Voice —Why do you ask < for votes privately?) I ask for no votes ;

privately. I say that a person who does so as a candidate is acting in a politically dishonest manner. (Voice —Wait till they do it.) I. say you have no right to promise a vote until you have heard the candidates’ opinions. (Voice —That is not a touch down.) It is about six years since I came to the district and I have always been pretty prominent in it. (Voice : No doubt.) I think you will allow that (Laughter) and for a long time what was my position ? (Continued laughter.) I came here and I was delighted with the place. (Voice : Dear me.) I saw that it was a great district, and if properly managed was bound to progress. The more I saw of it the more I liked it. (Voice : You ought to.) I don’t believe there is a finer district in the Australasian Colonies than the East Coast. (Applause, hear, hear.) As you all know I was intimately mixed up in Native matters, and they were in rather a tangled skein, which required undoing, and I came here for that purpose. Those of you who have been here ever since I have (Voice : Heard you preach.) I trust they hoard me preach well. (Voice : Give us a sermon.) Now I was opposed to almost all the persons . who were engaged in obtaining Native lands, to the Press, and to the Courts of Justice. I was opposed to all, and worst of all to the public mind, which was poisioned by the continual slanders against and those who were working with me. Newspapers have been established for the express purpose of slandering me and those working with me. (Voice: Is there not a reporter of the Press present ?) Those were the influences brought against me, though I have not done so badly after all. (Voice : I should say not. Laughter.) I have settled nearly every Maori dispute upon the East Coast. (Voice: You made them.) I defy anyone to drive out of Gisborne without passing through lands which were the subject of disputes, and which would not have been settled for a generation, They are all now settled. (Voice: Facts don’t say so.) I have been enabled to open lands which you would not have been able to throw open perhaps for twenty years to come. (Hear, hear.) There are other things that I have had some hand in. (Interruption and disorder.) Gentlemen, I appeal to you whether I have not been watched. If any chance word that I happened to utter in a moment of irritation has not been immediately put down and published all over the colony to my detriment. (Claps and calls.) Everything that could be magnified has been used against me for the purpose of damaging me in the public eyes. I have not failed in my duty to this constituency, though I have not been its representative. The rails and metal that have been brougt into your streets, were obtained by me. I got you the services of Sir John Coode in making plans and estimates for a breakwater here. I got the opening of the telegraph office here, and the sittings of the Supreme Court with other things. I did my best to get the laws altered for throwing open the native lands, I did more than that, I obtained the pledge of my political party, the Grey party, to that when they were in power again the first public harbor work would be a harbor for Gisborne. (Stamping, cries, and clapping). I will tell you what I did further than this. When I was in the House, seeing that there was public money. I put a motion upon the table of the House that £50,000 should be voted to the road boards in councils in the province of Auckland, as that province had not received its fair share of money. I was asked to withdraw the notice of motion, and the the amount would be placed on the estimates. (Voice : Mac said he did all this.) He never i said so. (Voice : Yes, he did.) He was not in the house at the time. Well, after consideration, I withdrew the motion, as they , said they put the amount on the estimates. But I found it was not done. I therefore said I would resign, and handed in my resig- ! nation to the Speaker, who tore it up, advising me not be so rash. Then the money was put down, and your Councils and Road Boards ! had two or three thousand pounds of it. (Applause.) So much for that. Now, gentle- , men, what is the position as far as Native Lands are concerned. I have obtained from Natives an expression that they are willing to hand their lands over to the settlement of the Europeans. I went up the coast about three weeks ago and held about eight meet- . ings. I saw about 800 of the Natives, and the decision they gave was unanimous that in- , stead of allowing one or two to swallow up the whole of the country they would let it all go for the settlement of the Europeans on the fairest terms. I have also seen the most powerful monetary institutions of New Zealand coming round to my side of the question believing it to be right, and for the public good, because the institutions such as these are built upon public support. That which tends to increase the population, wealth, manufacturers and productions must benefit them. I have therefore dealt with the Natives and monetary influencies. I have not seen the press come round. The press is not in that state to go beyond this. It will sell itself to the highest bidder. (Applause.) I am sorry to say so, but that is my conviction —whether that bidder be right or wrong. As a matter of business it may be right, but considering the public responsibilities it has, it is a shame to the community in which we dwell. I say public opinion throughout the Colony is rapidly changing, and I see the Government is attempting to play fast and loose, simply to keep itself in power. I say they are trembling on the verge of destruction, and the public opinion and the voice of the people throughout the Colony are hailing the day which is coming when that Government will pass away, and a more just one takes its place. The mere possibility of the alteration of the law in regard to the native lands, is becoming more and more likely to be accomplished. What is the case now ? None of you except you possess considerable property can attempt to get a block of land. You have to employ agents and interpreters and you are always at their mercy. You have to lay out of your money till titles are obtained. Numbers of people would like to get portions of Kaiti, but the laws are in such a position that you must deal with the whole block, you cannot now get an acre or ten acres. You have to go for the whole block. (Applause). A law can be passed in a few clauses which would enable natives to deal with their lands, as easily as any man here deals with his lands. It has suited certain persons to keep these things back, but if a new Government conies into power we may depend upon it that the combined expression of the people will have sufficient power to influence the minds of the Government to make the transactions in land fairer. I believe if such a law were proposed so manifestly just and safe to all, that this native bugbear and difficulty would vanish, like shadows. We pay £lOO,OOO for constabulary, what for? Why just to keep Mr. Bryce in power. Now the matters which effect this district more than they effect the rest of the colony are the public works which have or ought to be done. If the district is to go ahead, if its population is to increase by inviting people to settle upon the lands by means of immigration and the export of merchantable goods. These arc contained mainly in the erection of harbor works and railways. Now, I hear some gentlemen are laughing at the idea of railways. There are always fools in every district, and in addition to fools there are sometimes knaves. There are other persons also who are behind time; who don’t sea beyond the length of their noses, however long that organ may be. I put it to you : the district lying between here and Opotiki, which is one of the finest that ever could be wished for, would carry the whole of the present population of New Zealand with ease and comfort, if it were cultivated. The people want this place advanced. You want money to be circulated—to be brought here, and a railway will do that. Without a harbor, your products are no good, because you cannot ship, them away. The main thing is the erection of a harbor ; but that is only one part of the scheme. It is incomplete without the railway. These two must go together. But it will be said, how arc you to I pay for these. In this district there are 800,000 acres of Government Land lying idle, because there are no roads through them. I believe as so much has been taken from this district by taxes, and as it has been greatly neglected, that if proper representation were made to Parliament, wo would get 100 per cent, on that land, given us for the expenditure of a harbor and railway. The remaining 50 per cent, would be more than they would now get for it all. Debentures could be obtained easily, and we could undertake, if endowments could be obtained, to get any money that was required at 5 per cent. If debentures could be issued, secured upon the Government lands 1

in this way, I believe that the whole of these works could be constructed without a penny being taken from the people. A proper system of immigration might be gone into by which the lands themselves could be made to pay for these things. I may say this, that large owners of land have consented that their lands should also bear a portion of theie costs. I am convinced that by the Government lands, and by a rate being levied upon Maori lands, these works can be paid for. And these are not subjects to be scoffed and laughed at. Now the next question is that of Native lands. They are lands held by “ tribal” people, called hapus, and they deal with their lands tribally. Now these tribal Natives are willing for this. Let them be empowered to appoint among themselves a committee, whose names shall be enrolled in the Native Lands Court, having the power of dealing with these lands—but always with the consent and knowledge of the people. The Natives object to individuals being allowed to sign deeds. They say—Let us get all together and consider; let us see what you propose; let us all decide. If that were done the Natives would adhere to the contract, and they would never be able to say that they did not know such and such a thing, and then the difficulty of obtaining Native titles would vanish and everybody could have their titles. That law being brought into effect would disarm all Native hostilities, and then we could disband the Constabulary. More than that, you would do away with that discredit in our dealing in Native land and put a stop to the continual cry of injustice which is always flying about. The next question is Local Self-government. That is wanted now, for everything has to go to Wellington, money and all. Each district should have a power of governing itself. We ought to have a Waste Lands Board here for Crown Lands, and a Native Lands Court, the Judge going to and fro settling titles. We ought to have power of government in the County Councils, and I believe that with a tolerable amount of care, that power could be so elaborated that a scheme might be passed into law which would provide local self-government for the districts throughout the colony. I am opposed to Federation. I think we are quite able to govern ourselves. The employment of Chinese labor in Australia is ascending, and they will most likely soon become voters, as also will the blacks. Are we prepared to give away the right to make laws for taxation <fcc.? Are we prepared to give up that which we possess of freedom ? No. (No, no.) Therefore, gentlemen, the pledge given by Major Atkinson that he would introduce this, is a blow aimed absolutely at the members of the people. It is a blow aimed at the self-control and self-government which we< thank God, possess. I say, gentlemen, I ani entitled to your confidence after what I have done. People say the Natives will not work with us. (Voice: They will not work.) I say they will if properly gone about. Get mens’ minds and mens’ hearts with you in a cause, instead of pushing the point of the sword into them, and you will get them to work with you. It has been stated about myself that it is a personal ambition that decided me not to stand aside for Sir Julius Vogel* Personal ambition! Has not every man a right to a personal ambition if he chooses to indulge in that ambition. 1 say no man has a right to come before you, and ask for your support, unless he has some personal ambition. There are questions, such as finance, but I will not touch upon that. lam sure I know the wants of the district, and its capabilities, to some extent. Once more I remind you that all private pledges which you may make to candidates before you hear their views are politically dishonest. (Voice: I will sell mine for a fiver.) It is only in public that a man ought to give his vote. If you return me I will do my best to vindicate the trust you repose in me (noise). If lam not returned then I shall still do the best I can for the advancement of the place. For success or failure I care but little; but I care for this, the district in which I live shall advance so far as I can lend it any assistance. (Applause, and cries for Locke and Gannon.)

Mr. Boylan—Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I would like to ask Mr. Rees who is the'other gentleman who assisted Mr. Whitaker in playing the joke he speaks of. Mr. Rees—l don’t think that that is a fair and proper question to ask. Mr. Whitaker authorized me to mention his name and did so, but I am not authorized to mention the other. Mr. Boylan—(Voice: Give us a song Boylan, clapping and much noise). I thought we were to have a fair hearing. Mr. Rees said he would answer any questions relative to his remarks, therefore I put my question to him. (Voice : What do you want to know for). It might have a great deal to do with this election. The gentleman might have been Mr. Seymour George. (Voice: What about the hall ?) I will tell you about the hall. (Voice : Come down. Great yells and disorder. Voice ; Where is the captain of the football club. Great laughter.) Mr. Tucker now rose and addressed the meeting as to Mr. Rees’ candidature, and proposed a vote of confidence in him. Mr. Harper here rose in the body of the hall and said he seconded it. Mr. Wm. Walsh—l have much pleasure in seconding the proposition. Mr. Ratcliffe—(Amidst claps, hoots, yells, hisses, and stamping.) Gentlemen, I propose as an amendment that it is manifestly unfair that this meeting pledge itself tto Mr. Rees until they have an opportunity of hearing the other candidates. (Great and deafening applause, and continued stamping.) Mr. Rees’ own argument proves it to be unfair to do such a thing. Mr. Boylan — Gentlemen, I have much pleasure in seconding Mr. Ratcliffe’s amendment. (Applause and laughter. Great disturbance and uproar here ensued, Mr. Boylan defying the meeting and attempting to speak, whilst the meeting shouted, yelled, stamped, and applauded at each attempt.) At last the row slightly abated and Mr. Boylan could be heard but not understood. Mr. Tucker then went up and was literally howled down and soon retired amidst great confusion. The Chairman—Mr. Tucker wishes me to (continued yells and bursts of anger, and cries of Let him speak for himself.) Mr. Tucker, in his seat —D— you ! He is quite I’eady to speak, but you will not let him. The Chairman (the confusion and uproar still continuing, some hooting and applauding)—l will put the amendment first. The amendment was then put: “ That this meeting does not pledge itself until the other candidates are heard,” and was carried by a large majority. The Chairman then said there seems to be some mistake about it, I will put the resolution. (At this the uproar increased, and only a few hands were put up. The Chairman did not ask for hands against it, but wrongly declared it carried). The announcement was received with deafening uproar, and the meeting broke up in confusion.