THE CEMETERY.

West Coast Times, Issue 690, 10 December 1867, Page 4

THE CEMETERY.

In consequence of the receipt of a numerously and influentially signed requisition, his Worship the Mayor convened a public meeting of the citizens to be held yesterday afternoon, at the Prince of Wales Opera House, at four o'clock, t> consider the present disgraceful state of the Cemetery. At that hour, his Worship the Mayor, with other citizens numbering about thirty, were present, aud after waiting some time, Mr G. W. Binney came forward and said— Gentlemen, we have consulted together, and have determined not to request his Worship the Mayor to take the chair on this occasion, but to adjourn the meeting sine die. A meeting of this sort ought to be attended by the whole of the respectable portion of the community of Hokitika. I observe amongst those who have signed the requisition the names of our leading merchants, and I say it is a standing disgrace to Hokitika tbat they are not present at this meeting. (Cheers.) A meeting of this character ought to be numerously and influentially attended, and it is far better not to hold it than to enable the Government to say that it was a hole and corner affair. Nothing but money -making appears to go down in Hokitika. For instance, if you had asked each of these men to your office this afternoon at three o'clock to receive money, I will answer for it that the} 7 " would have attended most punctually. (Cheers and laughter.) Perhaps many of those who signed the requisition have at present no relative or friend lying in the Cemetery, and therefore they feel no interest in the matter, but I can tell them that we do not know how soon it may fall to our lot either to be there ourselves or to follow to their last resting place the remains of our nearest and dearest relatives. The present meeting is not numerous enough to carry weight with it, and therefore we have determined to adjourn it sine die, and not ask the Mayor to take the chair, but let the Government see that we do not pay enough credit to ourselves in Hokitika to respect our dead. (Cheers.) Those present then dispersed.