THE Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 1894. THE TIMARU A. & P. ASSOCIATION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2672, 14 June 1894, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 1894. THE TIMARU A. & P. ASSOCIATION.

Mr P. W, Stubbs has resigned his position as secretary to the Tiniaru Agricultural and Pastoral Association, owing to the unmannerly attacks made upon him by one of the members, named Mr McLaren. This, wo believe, is the same Mr McLaren whose rolinement of moanness and cheesesparing in dispensing charitable aW» very frequently has made the blush shatflo rise to the cheek of every decent man J^ d woman in South Canterbury. He left the A^ 0 »<=o b ut we feel sure he has returneu, Uit "' * 9 * U1 ~ possible that there could bo Wii - McLarens capable of the samo doi/roo of meanness. The charges which were made against Mr Stubbs were formulated in such a way that anyone listening would : " f er that Mr Stubbs was guilty of dishonesty. ZZ Mr K»Ko«r,the treasurer, regarded thorn as a rettevi'l?" on h«nself,aud lie also resigned. Wo congratulate him on his manliness ami spirit, Liis action is the only redeeming feature of last Saturday's meeting. Such incapable muddling, and such disregard of decency as regards the way Mr Stubbs was treated was, wo venture to think, feldom witnessed before. It is roally a rejection ou the whole community that men so incapable should occupy such positions. . Tho charges which that bucolic orator, Mr McLaren, formulated against Mr Stubbs wore, after setting a»ido tho insinuation of dishonesty—(J.) that ho had failed to collect subscription■; from members; (2) that he had mad.; some mistake about inbrod sheop; (■->) that ho had made some mistake about a horse; (-1) that ho had not, supplied some information to tho Agricultural Ooni ferouco; (y) that ho had dolayod tho

annual meeting. These were the charges, but there ought to have been another—the real, true cause of the whole thing—and % is “ that Mr Stubbs has neglected to worship lhat illustrious, bucolic orator, the great Mr McLaren, and that even he was so forgetful of his duties as to. omit cleaning Mr McLaren’s hobnail boots.” Mr Stubbs is civil and obliging, polite, pleasant-manneredj .and good-tempered, but possessed of two much self-respect to allow anyone to treat him as a lackey, and herein lies his offence. Now let us take the list of charges made against Mr Stubbs, and let us suppose them all to be true, any man of any self-respect censure severely the' meanest of his personal servants twicb on account of them? Certainly not. They are the most paltry that could..possibly bo conceived, and no higher tribute can be paid to Mr Stubbs’s efficiency than that this; is all his spitefully ffialicious traducer could rake up against him after some 14 years’ service. : We shall put the suggestion of dishonesty aside. The man who made it found it so scornfully received that he disavowed it. We shall leave it at that. It is ridiculous. For £SO a year Mr Stubbs is expected to act the part of a rate collector, and compel subscribers to pay up. The subscriptions are voluntary ; people* can pay or not pay as they like. Tet Mr Stubbs is blamed for not making them pay. Mr McLaren thinks that he is too well paid, and ought to do it. Well paid I Why it is worth twice the money to have to bear with bucolic orator MoLaren’s verbal dysentery. Many a man wOuld rather live on one meal a day than bear such an infliction. However, we know that Mr Stubbs has done his best; we know how difficult it is to make men pay their lawful debts these times, and we know that if Mr Stubbs had been too pressing many of the members would ceasc.to subscribe. Mr McLaren thinks Mr Stubbs ought to have hunted them through the sale yards. It is is certainly none of his duty, but had he done so he would have done more harm than good. As regards the mistake about “inbred sheep” there can be no doubt that the crime is a villainous one. For any mistake concerning sheep Mr Stubbs deserves to be hanged. We should not bo so severe on him for making a mistake about a horse. Common people own horses, so the crime of making a mistake about a horse once in about 14 years is not very grievous, but sheep belong to men of the McLaren calibre, and it is certainly the height of rascality for any one to make any mistake about them. The only thing which could possibly save Mr Stubbs from the consequences of making one mistake in 14 years about sheep is that he did not mhke it. ' With regard to the charge that he did not supply the conference with certain suggestions, the position is this : A meeting was held in Timaru at which the great Mr McLaren consented to honor the association by representing it at the Agricultural Conference on condition that his expenses should be paid. Believing that he was cheap at the prices, the meeting jumped at snch a chance, and he was appointed. At the meeting several persons made suggestions as to what the conference should discuss. Some suggested noxious weeds, some small birds nuisance, some rabbits, and so on, but no one gave the suggestions the definite shape of a resolution. Mr Stubbs crystalised the eccentricities of the meeting into a list of subjects to be discussed at the conference and sent them to the delegates. His crime was that he omitted some things, and that instead of sending the list to the delegates he ought to have sent it to the secretary of the conference. Now can any sane man say that it was Mr Stubbs’s duty to do more than he did '( Dean Swift tells of a philosopher who tried to extract moonbeams from turnips. Supposing that philosopher had been at the meeting and made such a suggestion, what would have been thought of Mr Stubbs if he had forwarded it to the conference 1 We should indeed say he was as mad as the philosopher. It was not Mr Stubbs’s duty to say what was, or what was not the proper thing to send to the Conference. It was the duty of the committee to have put in the shape of a resolution the subjects they thought it desirable to discuss, and to instruct the secretary to forward it. if Mr Stubbs neglected to do this then there would have been room to complain of him. Instead of having dune this the committee muddled its business, and then threw the blame on Mr Stubbs. This is the most disgraceful thing we have ever heard of. However, it is worthy of note that even this was not one of the original charges against Mr Stubbs, and that it was only seized on by Mr McLaren as a Godsend to prove the negligence of the secretary Now as regards delaying the annual meeting, the charge was that Mr Stubbs did so because he was too busy with the licensing election. Even if this were true, should Mr Stubbs have been driven to resign on account of it ? The beauty of the whole thing, however, was that it was not true. The judges of the drill trial failed to send in their award in time, and consequently the meeting was delayed, not by Mr Stubbs, but by the president of the society. Looking at the whole thing calmly and dispassionately it appears to us that the whole thing is very discreditable to the committee. With Mr McLaren we feel inclined to sympathise. A cruel fate has launched hi m on this world equipped with a superabundance of egotism and meanspiritedness, and he is deserving more of pity than of auger. The leopard cannot change its spots, neither can Mr McLaren help being what he is, but he ought to bo kept out of tho way of making everybody associated with him ridiculous. There is not a man on the committee who has not suffered through having been associated with him in persecuting Mr Stubbs, and for tho sake of their own reputations they ought to keep him in tho background. Messrs Balfour and Stubbs came out of the affair honourably, and we congratulate them on tlje rpsult of tho imbroglio. We know for certain of our own kiunyleilgo that there are many who will never I 'again t? the fnuda of tho association - ... ~ '-a 'Hm feeling created the illtreatim ut Mr has been subjected to is intense. -° r or 14 years lie has been secretary, and it is certainly a very difficult position to lill on show day. Wo have soon him surrounded by dozens calling his namo at the came moment, and each receiving a civil answer as fast ns possible. No man ever saw lain out, of temper or unwilling to oblige; his politeness and pleasantness of manner never varied, while tho promptness with which ho despatched business proved him to bo a man of great executive power.). The people who are interested in the association, and know Mr .Stubbs a value, are not likely to stand by tamely and see him so scandalously ill treated. The committee has neither secretary nor treasurer now; they have got themselves lot.) a mess, and it they were men of manly instincts (hey would send for Mr Stubbs, offer him an apology, and re-in-sale him in Ids position. 'lhisisthe o.iiv course left to them to reinstate themselves in tho good opinion of the public.