THE POVERTY BAY TRESS ON CAPTAIN MORRIS.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume VI, Issue 549, 19 December 1877, Page 3

THE POVERTY BAY TRESS ON CAPTAIN MORRIS.

From the Poverty Pay Herald.

The result of the meeting convened by f Captain Morris or. Monday night, was, to say the least, somewhat" unexpected. Immediately that he had- made known. his inten- > tion of rendering an account- of his steward- | ship to the electors of this constitutenoy, a very general opinion was expressed 'that -the reception Captain Morris would meet,, with would be the direct reverse of satisfactory or agreeable, to himself. All kinds of awkward questions were to be propounded, every form of withering denunciation was to be heaped upon his devoted head ; he was to be iuformed" that he was a tra'tor and a turncoat, he was to be hissed off the platform after a strong vote of censure had been passed. Such was the programme sketched by those who were most vehement in condemning the conduct of their member. Another more tolerant, an infinitely more numerous section of the community, were opposed to such extreme measures. They did not believe in Captain Morris as a hard-working, conscientious, influential member for the East Coast, they did not approve of his mode, of representing the district, and they were quite willing that he should be made acquainted with their estimate of his merits — that a certain amount of censure should be reflected on him. In fact, their only fear was that the censurers and the censure would be too abundant and too forcible. They thought it quite possible that Captain Morris would he insulted as well ag blamed, that a certain section of the electors would conduct themselves in a manner the reverse of creditable to the whole community. These predictions, however, proved to be utterly groundless. There was a very good attendance and the Mayor was in the chair. Captain Morris at once took possession of the platform, and delivered a fluent, plausible, carefully prepared sketch of his sayings and doings as our representative. His narative concluded, he announnced his willingness to answer any and every question that might be asked of him, and the few which were propounded he answered apparently to the satisfaction of the meeting. Immediately that the questions appeared to flag, a vote of confidmce was proposed, a counter vote in the shape of an amendment being brought forward by one who evidently possessed the will if he did not possess the ability to render Captain Morris's position unpleasant. Both motion and amendment were regarded "in the light of a farce, however ; the meeting did not believe in Mr McDonald's vote of confidence, because they did not consider that Captain Morris had proved to them that he was the right man in the right place, the no confidence motion was equally unacceptable owing to the fact that Captain Morris had more that held his own against those who . had endeavoured to catch him tripping. The ' result was that nine out of ten did not trouble to vote for either proposition or amendment. If Captain Morris imagines that' he achieved a success, he is certainly satisfied Avith extremely moderate results. His address displayed great tact, it was delivered in a manner eminently calculated to conciliate and to please his hearers, while he ingeniously avoided the task he had voluntarily imposed upon himself, and threw the work upon the electors. The meeting Avas convened by Captain Morris, and it rested with him, therefore, to demonstrate to his c nstituents that he had done his duty towards the district. In place of this, however, he gave a free and easy resume of his own line of policy, and left the rest to the meeting. He failed entirely to slioav that he had been up to the mark throughout : he merely called upon the meeting to prove that he had done wrong. This no one was prepared to do, and the case fell through. The absence- of any defined opposition to Captain Morris on Monday evening, Avas . attributable,, to another fact which is well worthy of notice. During the period which ■ intervened between the moment that Captain - Morris first announced his intention of addressing the Poverty Bay electors and the night of the meeting, it appeared to be generally understood that two much condemnation, not two little, would constitute the principal feature of the proceedings. On all sides were heard dire threats of the strings of awkward questions which were to be asked him, of the severe flagellation which he was to receive: it was publicly announced that he would be made to regret having shown his face in Poverty Bay. As a natural consequence many Avho would have made it their business to take Captain Morris to task in a matter of fact, but courteous way, determined on holding aloof, under the belief that the list of those who had laid themselves out to hold him up to condemnation and ridicule was already sufficiently large, that it would be rather their duty to endeavour to restrain the feelings of the meeting within decent hounds than to augment the number of his opponents. The result has already- been recorded. All those who had been the Ibudest 1 in their threats of what theywould'do to the member for the East Coast, held ' aloof ,' or kept in the background; those who attempted the task had neglected' to provide themselves Avith dates, figures, and defined charges, consequently it wasp an easy Av^lk over for the member.-