PUBLIC MEETING.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 226, 17 June 1915, Page 4

PUBLIC MEETING.

GREAT PATRIOTIC GATHERING.. QUEEN CARNIVAL TO BE HELD. It was a large and enthusiastic gathbring that assembled in the Town Hall last night, In response to an invitation by the Patriotic Committee, to discuss aiid adopt some scheme for raising money in aid of the New Zealand Sick and Wounded Soldiers’ Fund. After tne audience had been treated to a short programme of excellent pictures, the Mayor (Mr A, L, Arrowsmith) who occupied the chair, ann o uu. ced the objects of th e meeting. He said they probably knew the purpose for which they had met It was by united efforts to raise a fund worthy of Taihape for wounded soldiers or any other fund they might decide and the best methods to attain that : end. He was glad to see such a representative meeting, it being much larger than when a previous meeting was called. The smallness of the first meeting might have been due to the war being so far away, but the war had now been brought more under their notice. They could no wsee the casualty lists published In the newspapers, and almost everyone was concerned In the welfare of those brave men who were upholding the British cause In the fighting line. Every man, woman and child should do their little bit. The soldiers were doing their duty and those at home had their duty to by working for the common good. They were all working for the one end, and that was victory. This was no time for little differences and petty jealousies; these should be avoided and they should all work together for the end they all had in view. It was their duty to see that those who were representing them at the front did not suffer for their action when they came back,. 1 and if they did not return their dependents should not lack; and he was ; sure there was not one person in the , hall who was not prepared to do his ; or her little bit towards the object in ; view; no sacrifice was too great, to 1 make for the common good. He might mention that Taihape had. already sent Way £I7OO and the outlying districts had sent 1000 sheep' tor the troops; they had also sent goods to . th e Belgians. They now had In hand £250 towards the wounded fund. He asked: Is this sufficient from a districtlike this? (Cries of No! No! No!) The men had gone to fight our battles, had we given up anything for the war; had we done without anything on account of it? Personally, he believed ho hadn’t done without a tring through the little he had given.. Now the time had come that all should make sacrifices —do without some luxuries. Why should they have luxuries while our brave men were risking their lives in fighting our enemies? What would be the result if our bravo men had not gone to the assistance of the Enipirc? We should go under.. It was not long ago since the Kaiser was advising the colonies to cut the painter, but our answer to that was the sending of our men to fight. We could not do more and we could not do less. He believed there was not a man here who would not like to go. but if we could not all fight we could do somthing' for those who might suffer from the course they had. taken. (Applause). To divert a little he might mention that Mrs Arrow-smith had received a letter from a lady in Wanganui who was a member of what w'as called a “Soldiers’ Gift Club.” To become a ( member of this club one had to pay [threepence, and membership involved the sending of some small thing to men at the front—a packet of cigarettes, tobacco, or, in fact, any small serviceable article. There were soldiers who had left no relations behind-; soldiers looked for the mails, and the object w r as that no man should be allowed to feel neglected, whether he had relations or not. If anyone in Taihape wished to join this club they might give their names in to Mrs Ar-row-smith, and they would be sent on to th e secretary. Continuing, the Mayor said he would like to remind them that a ball was being held in the Town Hall to-morrow-night, the music supper and all other expenses were generously being paid by Mrs Whenuaroa; the w-hole of the gross profits w-ere being given to the sick and wounded fund. (Hear, hear and applause). He hoped that the hall would be well filled. (Applause). j

Mr R. W. Smith, M.P., said his remarks would be few as this was a time for action more than words. He was glad to see this meeting had been brought about. He wished to extend his hearty and sincere sympathy to th e friends and relations of those men whose names were appearing on the casualty lists. This meeting would acknowledge those that had done their duty, a duty it was their privilege to perform. We at home could do our duty allso, we had to arrange for their return. He congratulated the Patriotic CcKmlt'ee on th e work they had already doAp. they had worked well and made vjd s fiSss about;it;; But- Talhape had not had - beys; at; uNf- front; something ta«glWc;\.fiT ar a-t ;t£emeetiTig couid make what febeuid fete : d«(sje sss of gjpetJng- 0 WplUd p?

to carry uot their views, and wrkea the figures came out it would be found that Taihape had done more than its duty. We had this duty to perform and if we did not dp it we were sluggards. Th e men sent r from here ,had put up a magnificent fight for us and we ought to do all we could to , prevent any unnecessary suffering. He would not go with those who say there were not sufficient recruits offering, for there was now 2000 over and above j what the Defence Department could i deal with. It was a lie to say that recruiting was not satisfactory. There were some who thought that all the male population should go, but that was not at all necessary, and those that were not taken could do their duty here. Only this morning a train 1 with 400 troops passed through going to camp. He wanted to say what a good lead Mrs Whenuaroa had set them; she had not stopped to ask what j she should do, sh e was paying all the expenses for the ball here to-morrow j night, and the whole of the money taken was going to the fund. (Applause). He heartily congratulated Mrs Whemiaroa and hoped there would be a bumper house, so many that there would be no room to dance. There were various fnuds and there were many different opinions, but this fund was for relief purposes. A duty—he would say a pleasure had becu placed in their hands. Were they going to take advantage of it? Working unitedly, to do their best would show that they were worthy to live under the protection of the Union Jack, Those who did not do their duty now were not worthy of the protection of that grand old flag. If there was one who would not assist in a cause like this he should be branded as an enemy. (Prolonged applause). He was sure that when the record of the canvas they were instituting was put up they would find there were none who deserved to be branded, as an enemy. If there was such a one he would uot hesitate to tell him what he thought. This course they were now taking would soon show whether they wer e worthy of the sacrifices others were making lor them. The meeting would like to hear opinions and suggestions from anyone present—prolonged applause. The Mayor said the committee asked for any proposal or suggestion that would help- -They wanted the whole community to -work together, to feel that they were all one. Everybody had a right to express their opinions. (Applause.) Mr McLennan said the commitee had decided that something had to be done and done quickly. Following the lead of other towns in holding Queen Carnivals, he thought It would be advisable to hold one here in Taihape, but this would entail a lot of hard work. Various committees would have to be formed to support and run the contests for their respective Queens. He suggested that districts and interests should he defined where it was thought a Queen could be got to stand, and so instead of a single contest and one committee there would be a committee for every Queen nominated, and everyone would work his hardest in trying to get his Queen at the top of the poll. In this they ought to have the support of every one in the district. A lot of money was being raised and he had heard a man offer to bet that the Carnival in Wellington would bring # in £75,000. Of course we could not do anything like that, but we might get two, three four or five thousand, and if they got only £2OOO, it would go a long way. They were lucky in this district in having a prosperous people. They were living: under the British flag, and it was a j flag that they could not do too much j for. (Applause), Absolutely we cannot. (Renewed applause.) Our boys at the front had. been making history; 'some of them were coming home maimed and wounded, but we were going to see that theyy were not neglected when they did come. Everyone was go. ing to werk to see this was done. He moved that a Queen Carnival contest be held in the Taihape district, and that a committee be appointed to arrange details and to place the proposal before the people. A Carnival was a wide reaching affair. The committee should be a large one, he thought they could not have too many on it. (Ap-

plause.) Mr James seconded the proposal, and said it would prove an admirable effort but it was not to be thought there was no reason for any other contests. There was no lack of workers and there should be no lack of contests. Instead of a'Patriotic Committee everybody would be working together, as one for th e one end, and there would be nothing select about it. (Applause.) The Mayor in answer to Mr Cunninghame, said there was now a definite resolution before th© meeting, and it was open'for anyone to suggest any other proposal or speak to the motion.

As there were no other speakers the motion was put, and carried with enthusiastic acclamation. The Mayor pointed out that as they had now decided to make a big effort it should clearly be understood whiat' fund the money was to to* ■ At present thnre were a |u»ds So it wduid^ j -.th& : tiapr deyfitad; rfc® si: fund -(dr ’«!<* ‘.ail'd - wounded soh | dlerg and their .dependents.

Mr James said they should hava some acquaintance with the fund now estabished. He understood there was already a fund for. the' New Zealand wounded, and that this was not to be a separate .fund, but an effort to augment the present fund. It Would b© ,a mistake to work in'air isolated, way. He did not know of any 'other patriotic fund, and in case the resolution, was worded in a way that did not allow the proceeds to go to this fund, it should be understood that the money would go to the fund already established, i

Mr McLennan said the fund was a*, National affair and was admiuistere?) >: from Wellington. T,he Mayor said the resolution was that the money should not be devoted to a district fund but the National fund for sick and wounded soldiers. The resolution was carried unanimously. The Mayor said the next thing, to do to get the ball rolling was to appoint a committee, and he hoped every lady or gentleman proposed would be ready to go on this committee. As the present committee were in touch with what had been done, and of other detail it might be as well to augment this committee, but he "was quite prepared to take any proposal. Some discussion took place over the numerical strength, but it was finally decided that as many good workers of the district were not present a committee should be elected with power to add to their numbers. The Mayor said it 'was a question whether they should have a mixed committee of ladies and gentlemen, or whether they should have a separate ladies’ committee. He thought ladies would prefer a separate committed as the general committee meetings would be held at night when it might not be convenient for ladies to be present.

After a good deal of discussion and resolutions had been moved it was finally decided by a large majority vote of ladies present that a-separate ladies’ committee should be appointed. On the motion of Mr Thurston, seconded by '“Mr R.~W. Smith, M.P., it was resolved that the ladies call a meeting and elect their own committee. with power to add to their number.

The following were then appointed to act in conjunction with members of the present Patriotic Committee: R. W. Smith, M.P., F. McLaughan, J. Evans, S. Peyton Stringer, Thurston, Whenuaroa, Dymock, Cunninghams, Wakeman, J. A. Anderson L, Dixon> Davies, Donovan, De Latour, Forde, D. J. .McLennan, C. Durrant, Peder Petersen, S. Behan, W. Lyall with power to add. Mr McLennan vas pleased that the thing had been launched fairly well. It was now for the people of the district to say how far successful ifc should go. Everyone should go home from the meeting and studyy out where they were going to dig up Queens. As several questions were asked, the Mayor said fie thought the public meeting should not go into details, as that was rather the work of the committee. But as Mr McLennan had stat. ed they should all go hom-e and consider on what was best to be done.

Mr James, moved that a hearty vote of thanks be accorded to Mr Bailey, of the Town Hall Pictures, who had provided a short entertainment before the meeting commenced, Mr Bailey had been animated by the true spirit of patriotism in what he had done. He was making no profit out of it; he had generously offered what lie had done freely and had made no fuss about it He gave up the hall and forewent any profits he might have made. The resolution was carried with acclamation.

After a vote of thanks to the chair, proposed by Mr R. W, Smith, M.P., one of the most representative meetings held In Taihape terminated.