PUBLIC MEETING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XII, Issue 825, 1 February 1868, Page 2

PUBLIC MEETING

PROPOSED DINNER TO MR. FOX. A meeting of the inhabitants of Wanganui, convened by placard, was held last night in the Odd Fellow.s’ Hall. By half-past eight, a considerable number were gathered and continued to arrive during the remainder of the meeting. Mr Watt proposed and Mr Hacket seconded the appointment of Mr Beaven to the chair. The Chairman explained the purpose of the meeting to be —to consider the best means of giving a suitable welcome to Mr Fox in Wanganui ; he. expressed his concurrence with the object of the meeting. Mr H. B. Roberts rose, and in the course of his speech acknowledged having been the anonymous means of calling the meeting ; and proceeded, after introducing a lengriiy panegyric on Mr Fox, to state that the reason of taking such a course was to prevent a few gentlemen from giving a dinner which ought propei'ly to come from the mass of the people. Fie did not approve for various reasons of a select private dinner party —an amorphorodite dinner, he termed it—given to represent the feeling of the public of Wanganui. It had been said that this select few—the Forty—intended their entertainment as a meeting of private friends, and yet, he knew there were many

among the number who would not know Mr Fox if they met him in the street. He denounced the thing as a farce and unworthy of the people of Wanganui. Again, he had heard that it was a social meeting of those who had received favours and offices from Mr Fox when in power. He recommended both parties to amalgamate and pay a tribute of respect to one who had so well deserved it, by his efforts in England on behalf of the colonists. Mr H. B. Roberts then continued, in a vein of pleasantry, to blame Mr Watt for having neglected his duty in not having made suitable arrangements for the reception of Mr Fox, after inviting the people of Wanganui to a promised dinner, in town On the suggestion of Mr H. B. Roberts, the Chairman called upon Mr George Roberts, of Rangitikei, who had been a prime mover in the dinner to Mr Fox in that district, to come forward and lay his views before the meeting. Mr George Roberts advocated a public demonstration in which the public and not “ the few” would be represented ; Mr Fox did not defend “ the forty” in England, but all the settlers, and it was for them as a body to give him a suitable reception—by which to pay a tribute of respect to the abilities he had exercised for the good of them all. Mr Watt confessed to being a little embarrassed on addressing the meeting, as he believed he was liable to some censure, although none more than Mr Roberts had laid to his charge. He excused himself from taking a prominent part because of his own views perhaps not insuring for the dinner that success which he should like to see attend it. He thought it would not come so well from his hands as it would do from Mr Roberts’. In considering the dinner at Rangitikei, Mr Watt wished to speak plainly ia saying that it was amisnomer to call it a non-political dinner—he was astonished to find the sensible and sober-living people of Rangitikei insist on having it so called. He believed it would have come off as well if it had not been called so. But still, he hoped, whatever was done in Wanganui would be as successful as that was. _ He did not wish to appear to have a prominent part in any demonstration, because it might appear too much of a political character. Mr Watt in speaking of Mr Fox said, that he had sound sentiments, and the best feelings towards the working classes, although in his political career he had been imprudent sometimes, and liis friends had often some difficulty to push him through. In casting odium on the private dinner that was spoken of, he (Mr Watt) thought too much blame had been cast on the promoters of it, many of whom were Government officials, whose positions would prevent them from taking part in a public demonstration. He was not prepared to move any resolution but would offer a couple of suggestions. He would suggest that they should choose a committee and that this committee should provide a respectable dinner, such as any man could sit down to, not too expensive, but at a price which few could object to pay, and yet protect the publican. He would also suggest that a petition be drawn up, recording Mr Fox’s past services, that could he signed by all, and presented at an open meeting held in the forenoon of the day the dinner was to take place. A speaker at this stage of the proceedings rose in the body of the hall, and amidst cheers and uproar proceeded to discuss the weighty points before the meeting. His name we were unable to ascertain, but from the felicious illustrations he drew we presume he was of the class of the “ Lofer,” from whose experiences, as published, he drew so largely. This speaker was in favour of a Free Banquet ! to be raised by voluntary subscriptions, where rich and poor, young and old, short and tall, should attend and get their bellies full ! These sentiments t eemed to meet with universal approval, and might be supposed to have passed by acclamation.

Mr Walter Taylor proposed and Mr J. Campbell seconded, that a dinner be given to Mr Fox in Wanganui and a committee appointed to carry out the arrangements, which was carried. Dr. Samuels then proposed and Mr Roberts seconded the appointment of the following committee (with power to add to their number) : Messrs H. B. Roberts, W. H. Watt, D. Bell, A. Williamson, D. Nathan, G. Howe, R. Aitkeii, G. McCaul, H. Nathan, H. Burley, J. A. Burnett, W. R. G. Samuels, John Campbell, George Beaven, Thomas Bamber, and J. W. Robinson. After a vote of thanks to the chairman he meeting dispersed.