THE MAYOR AND THE CITY HALL MEETING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9097, 4 July 1888, Page 3

THE MAYOR AND THE CITY HALL MEETING.

TO THE EDITOR. Sib, —In your issue of this morning you state, in the report of the public meetingheld last night, that" Dr. Wallis, rising to a point of order, objected that , Mr. Cooper had now token up too much time." I never made any objection of the kind. I rose to a point of order, which the Mayor improperly refused me an , opportunity of explaining. -The point was this: The meeting having been called to discuss "that the school age should be raised to seven years, and free education end with the fourth standard." Mr. Reed, who had originated the Proposal, divided it, with the assent of the chairman and audience, into two distinct resolutions, to be separately brought forward. Mr. Reed moved the first resolution, " That the school age should be raised to seven years," and ably argued it, and said that the second resolution about the fourth standard would be moved and considered a little later in the evening, when the first resolution was disposed of. Mr. Cooper moved an amendment, which traversed not only the first resolution which was before the meeting, but also the second resolution, which had not been moved. I saw that the effect of such an amendment would be to put the meeting in the ridiculous position of approving or disapproving the second resolution before it was submitted to the meeting summoned to consider it. The point of order to which I wished to direct the chairman's attention was whether it was right that this unusual way of proceeding should be allowed, and that the meeting should be called on to decide for or against tLe fourth standard being the end of free education, without having the resolution formally moved and debated. I am reluctant to blame the chairmanship of so kindly and amiable a Mayor as Mr. Devore, who has shown himself exceptionally friendly to the Financial Reform Association and to education reformers. Most other associations, when they want to indoctrinate the public with their peculiar beliefs and fads, have to pay out of their own pockets for the rooms or halls to which they invite the public; but the Financial Reform Association, through the kindness of the Mayor, got: the evening's rent of the Lome-street Hall paid by the well-to-do ratepayers of Auckland. And in past times,when education was a more rousing question in Auckland than it is at present, education reformers had to pay for public halls and meeting-places out of "their own pockets. Times have changed to the better, and a truly liberal Mayor, exercising his lawful powers and prerogatives, pays the cost of education meetings out of the city rates. It is truly encouraging to enthusiastic reformers in finance and education that they may be saved £3 or £5 rent for halls whenever they want to hold a meeting to enlighten a public which, according to Dr. Laishley in to-day's paper, is so greatly in need of enlightenment—l am, &c., James Wallis.

July 3, ISBS.