THE SOUP KITCHEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2215, 13 August 1896, Page 11

THE SOUP KITCHEN.

The following contributions have been received since our lait announcement :— Cash.— Mn C. Bowden, Mornington, 10s; Mr W. Fenwick, Hiffh etreat, 10i 6d; Mr R. N. Adams (for posts), 10s 6(1 ; balance from Morning, ton Soup Kitoheft fund from last year, 03 : Mrs Treieder, sa ; Mr Myers, Ootafton, 6s { "Mr W. A. W. Wathen, 6s; Mrs Wynn, St. Andrew street, 2s 6d: Mrs Tilly, Noxth-fcirtt V»lley, 2s 64i A Wellwisher, 2s 6d ; Mr OUrk, "Union ritf\, 2s tid; Mr Drummond, George street, 2e; Mrs Shirtcliff, 2s. Clothing. Food, &c— Mrs Alexander, Elm row*; Mrs Dick, Tork place ; Mrs Clarke, Vfornlngton (quilt); Mrs H. Oavies, Mornington (quilt); Mr Hankln, King street; Mn Wost. King atre«t; Mre Hancock, St. Olair; Mrs M'Kay, St. Clair.; Miss Aitchisou, Arthur Btreot ; Mrs Thomas Dick (pieces from Moagiel Factory) ; Messrs Fleming, Krlnces street; Croft, Hanover street: Pryor, Piiuces street ; Joe Say, George street : Bdwardf, Princea street; Morft«sou and Hopkin, Jetty street; Harvey, Highcliff; Bidhop, Peninsul*; Mrs Mo itswon, Normanby ; Me»?ra DiAe, OtsorM stre«t; Wright, Cargffl road; Raonle, Cargill road; Kenny, Hanover rtreet; Irvine and Stevenson, George street ; Patrick, Princes street; Mercer, Princes street; Bandell, Maclanan street; Bottlng, Georce street; Alexander, Geonro street : Bethune, Kin* street ; Griffiths; Caversbam ; F. H. Bottin*, King itreet ; Mrs Johnston, Albany street; Mils Miller, King street; Messrs Sheppard, Boslyn; B. N. Adams, Cargill street; Wood, Battray street :> Booth, George street; George Esther (61b tea); David Baxter and Co.

Nine bankrnptcies were gazetted lut week— a railway employee, a blacksmith, a farmer, a hairdresser, a labourer, two storekeeper*, and two contractors.

. NATIONAL ASSOCIATiOX. A meeting of the OUgo section of the National ! Association of New Zealand • was held ia Choral Hall on Thursday evening. The president (Mr A.'Sligo) occupied the ohair, and there Were about. 70 present, amongst whom were a number of ladies. Apologies were received for khe non-attendance of Messrs D. E. Theomin, James Gore, P. Isaacs, John Reid, and Miss Btath&m. *The Chaibman, in his opening remarks, referred to the objeota of -the menting: Ho stated that the couucil of the Otago section of the National Association decided that it would be advisable that the members should be oalled together, in crde* that an opportunity might te afforded for the expression ot opinions ou political subjects and events, so that the members might be thereby drawn .together, and the council be aided and directed in some degree in respect to the conduct of the business of the association. The council appointed a committee to arrange time, place, and proceedings. That oommittee decided that a brief report of the proceedings of the council sinoe its appointmeet should be submitted to the members, but that the business otherwise should be mainly of an informal nature, leavirg it open to members &f bring forward any business and submit any resolutions they might see fit. . -, '. The-, Chairman* then "read/* report of4he council, [which seMortb.. what had been done jince.tho formation.of .a .branch of .the asiocia;tion in Dunedio. • ,'' The report then' went'on to, •state' that 'Messrs flayhef -and " P*rk ; were 'appointed delegate > to a conference of delegates .from, the vadQiis. sections, of the association,, 'whioh assembled in Wellington in Much last, at whioh the, constitution was revised and the. by-laws- for the constitution of branches were adopted. The report then went on :—

At the constitution, of course, provides for the enrolment of women as members of the association, and a desire was intimated to the council for information on this point, a circular was sent to a few ladies iv town appc inting a meeting and requenting them to attend, accompanied- by.ahy friends who might feel interested. The meeting was held on June 10, and was attended by over 30 ladies. Information was submitted a?, to the objects and constitution of tbe'association. .This has resulted in a considerable increase of membership, there having now b:en enrolled between 400 and COS members.'

previous to the appointment of the council eight meetings of the,Provision«l Committee were held; while the council has held eight meeting', and .there has been various Meetings of subcommittees. All these meetings have been well attended, the meabers thu-i evincing their intirest in the preliminary work of the association.

Amongst the matters discussed by the council that of the selection of candidates for parliamentary honours has been under consideration. No retolution has been arrived at on this head, but the opinion - finding most favour is that the candidates to be supported by the association hould be left to the decision of a general meeting of memb- vs. Your council think this a fit subject for consideration by this meeting and invite discussion thereon.

Respecting finance, your council beg io state that there has been received in 'entrance fees, subscription?, &c. the sum of £6't> 2s 6d, and expendtd £6i 19a lOd, leaving a Bniall balance in , . hand of £1 2s Bd. The expenditure is made up of .printing, stationery, and advertising, hire of, meeting places; postages, telegrams. •' c.-, CcniraU .Council, Welliuj:ton,(finuun\ contribution of £10, , -payable by . paclr section of' the as ociatu»i). ' Kccretary'a salary, expenses 1 ! f delegates, Ac. , As sum will be required if th a work iof the afisqctalioii is to be t-ffe'-tivaly cam-.-d on, your council . 'deejre? to.submit .to 4he" members of thft atscciation that something more, will bo required than can be obtained from the shilling entrance fees and subscriptions, and respectfully requests that members asbist the council with their contributions and those of their friends w ho nay be willing to render assistance. 'The council trust that tbis section of the National Association may bo instrumental in securing in large measure the carrying into effect the general objects of the associa* ion, aud especially tbe particular object stated in the last chuse of the primed itatement of " objects— viz. : "To return to Parliament capable and honourable men, who will uphold the public credit^ and whose end willnot be individual gaia, but the welfare of the whole colony." '- . Id moving the adoption of the "report, the, Chairman said that the objects of the association were framed before the 'section was organised, and they were liberal and broad enough to embrace all classes of the community. The members of the association were •ware that the members of the Ministry end many of their supporter were determined that the National Association and its branches throughout the colony should be treated in the mo»t bitter and hostile spirit, and denounced in every possible way and at every opportunity. At the Wellington Conference Mr Batgee nrged that party politics should 'ba avoided .as muoh as possible. He (the speaker) could assure the meeting that many of the original promoters of that section of the association strongly desired ;fchat there ahould be as little, as possible of the junporfcation of a mere partisan spirit into the pffaira*iifJ conduct of the' association— that the Association should endeavour, to keep f ceo of party .trammels, and strive to aid in the further-, juice of . (he prosperity, welfare, atd good government; of the whole community., The practical way of doing this would no doubt be, a» ttated iii the report, to secure the attainment pf the last-stated item for the programme of the jwsociation— viz., "to return to Parliament capable and honourable men who will uphold ihe public credit, aod irhcM dim will not be

individual gain, bat the welfare' of the whole I colony,"- He did not.kuow whether Miuistera ' took this. particular object of the aswsUtion to be a suggestion that they did not Mflll the bill " and satisfy these requirements, but of their hostility to the association there could be no doubt, and he supposed they must accept that with fortitude. It must be admitted, he thought, that whatever the feelings of members of the association might have been at the initiation of this sec' ion, there had been a good deal of cause to beget hostility and disapproval of the acts and conduct of individual Ministers. He did not speak for the association — did not even claim to speak tor the oouncil of the astosiation He spoke for himself alone. When, be aiked, what oould be more unseemly, what mora reprehensible, what more objectionable from any and every pomt 1 of viewthan the actions of some members of the Ministry in connection with recent events. , The Premier on £he public platform at Caristchurch condemning and vilifying the pres* of the colony for doing what the public expected it to do— fulfilling iti duties by reporting the proceedings of the Supreme Court in connection with the Colonial Btnkliqutdation proceedings;. (Applause.) Could anything be more reprehensible ? Could anything be more reprehensible than a Minister in Wellington rising in his place in Parliament and vilify'mgan honoured and respected judge of the Supreme Oourb.?— YAppUusfyand a VoTCB: * Disgraotf ul.") A Minister who made such statements could j qoarceJj bj said to be fitted for the position jwhicb he- held.— (Applause,) -There were aUitL. points -, which, had *• reference to the policy of the. Government whioh he would speak of. For itwtaooe, their doings i in eoncection with co - operative works had- been' bl*z)ned throughout the world* as ■ftoraWiing4o-.be' commended. * So. far as his knowledge of the oarrytog on of the works of the colony on the co-operative principle went, he said that system was to be condemned, although it might have some good points about it. He had ascertained from those who' had been engaged on these public , co • operative works .of, the colony ~nolably on the t Obago 'Central and Catlins railways I—thab1 — thab they were in reality nurseries for political objects, and 'they were doing the workersrno goo I whatever. ' (Applause.) ' There was this in connection with the co-operative system of public works. Young men might fairly expect to be able in the days of their youth and strength to do something to earn that which in after life would go to make a borne for themselves, but instead they were being merely kept on as "hangers on "of the> Government bounty. He had spoken t? contractors with regard to such co-operaiive wo ks as the building of the gaol, r Ail way 8. &c, and they- had informed him that they cjuld hare done tho3e works in less time, " they could huve clone them far draper, they could have bettered themselves and have bf ttered .the men who did the practical work — (Appliiu-e.) Thcu, again, the administration of the pubic service of the colony wai such that it was packed by the " hangers-on " and dependenfsof *.he Ministry. Scarcely a day passed that they did not see illustrations of this Taey saw men who were compelled to resign positions which they were quite as c&pable of filling as ever they were iv order to make a vacaioy •which - the < Ministry mfsrhb ' fill with subw&Vrvienb followers'. Numerous itrstancfl's I occucred'to his mind where men ware comI pelted to reiiK" fof no other, assignable reason than, that their billets Were, wanted by some .other .persons. It had been argued that other .Ministries were, jasfc aa bad -He .utterly denied that. If other Ministries had acted as reprehenßibly ia that direction they would have heard FomeiihiDg more abou 1 ; it. Former Governments had passed a Civil Serrice Acb, but this Government had set that law'totalty at defiance. He said, agftiu, that while the present Government had done a let they must be controlled by representatives in whom they had confidence — men who would study the interests of the colony as a whole instead of studying their own particular advantages.— (Applause.) - Mr H. E. Siucklogk seconded the motion for, the adoption of the report;.

,Mr Scobie Mackenzie, who was then called Upon' by the ohairmsn to address the meeting, said : I almost feel impelled to offer an apology for my presence at your meeting to-night. . I would certainly feel myself an intruder— for so far as I know I am not a member of the association, — but for the fftcb that I have a soit of informal invitation to come. That is to say, that some members, acfciog as I understand on behalf of o l hers, were kind enough and flattering enough to think that a few words from me would be appreciated by the association. I am not at all sure that I will be able to justify their kindness. lam not sure indeed but that some of yon may be inclined to think that some of my opinions about organisations of this f orb are rather d^couragicg than otherwise, but I don't myself think they should be so regarded. First -of' all, then, let- me say that I think ' the effect, of organisation in politics is very much misconceived and' a good deal- exaggerated; There are people who keep on continually urging their neighbours ti organise, organise, organis?, bub' when you come to. probe them a little as to their Views 'of what organisation is to do when it U formed and what plan of action it is to pursue, you will often find their opinions of the cloudiest possible kind. The consequenoe generally is that people get together to form an organisation with t, took, thOM to a

g)od deal of enthusiasm about the business at the beginning, and then the entku*ia«tn, as i 9 its nature, diei away, and the organisation begins to fall to pieces. That is, I think, the life history of moist of the political organisation? I have seen in this city. Aud when you see one set of circumstance* constantly happening, the same thing repea'ing itself over and over again, you may depeid there ia some reason for it. Well, now, what c»n be the r^Jsoa of it ? I tbi-jk you will find i*; to lie pi'afety muoh iri this, that humm nature is so constituted thit ib will not g^t enthusiastic ovar an abstraction. What I myan is that you cannot get men to continue working vigoromly for an absti'icfcien, for a more idea or a political principle, and without s>me definite aim t) be accomplished or tangible objecb to ba attsniaei. For instance, suppose that th? grind objeot you h%ve in view is lo get good,-B.iqnd, houeit government. That is a very good and a very pra'seworthy objecb, bub ib is so very abstract and nebilou3 in its uature tbab people will very soon tire of getting togftther to forward it. They will be all there at the first go off, they will set up the oonsSitution with sons vigour, and they will draw up tha programme and •appo'nt the offioers. The reason is becu^e, so far, there "was some aobiv*a positive *w3rk for thim to do ; b'-ifc after they have done ib their energies begin to evaporate. Now, ib appears • to me that there are tm eondit : ons under whioh organisation is more or Jts?,., effective.. iThe" ficst 4i ., where ,th?re ate naaterial objecfes to gain, alvantag«B of a practical and pDsifciva kind' to be obtained Trades unions, for instmce, can main 1 am their organisations well. .Tliey see that orgitiiaatiou gives miterial power, and that the power can be .used for their material advantage. Uahajppily the power may.be sometimes abused, bub it is * power, and ib c\n be made a uieful and advantageous one. jt you here ciu'd hope to increase yo'tir bu-inessjor.your' trade profits oc youf iacoraas by organisation, you may depend upon ib the organisation would flourish and la<t. Organisation, therefore, can ba effected aod sustained where there i>. a material a I vantage to'be gotcby it. The* other condition tinder which organisation can ba made most effective is- a condition' of "gehet&l'i excitement. People don't require a material object then ; oq the contrary, V.hey will b3 perfeobly prepared to lose time and money in organisation and work. Suppose for instance that someone laid it down as a general proposition that the French or the Russians were nations so 'hostile to Great Britain that we should set up an organisation to continually work against these nat'ons in a general way, What would b3 the ieß'ilb? You might possibly get a committee set up and a programme drawn oat, but when that was done everyone would pronounce the French or the Russians to be a nuisance, and wjuld cease attending the meetings. A good many of you, I am afraid, would simply swear at the foreigners and consider you bad done your duty in doing so. Bit if the Fceucb. or the Ruß*i»n fleet was reportel to be oulsile the head* you would fijd a very different state of »ff *irs. There would be firsb' of all intersa excitement, and real genuine organisation for defence would very quickly follow. When the danger was gone and the ex;itement over the organisations would fall to pfcees. The skeletons might perhaps remain, bufc afc taasb the life and motion would be gone. No .v, if; would be'very natural for you to Bay''to me, To what doea all this tend? Wall, I'il endeavour to explain. You are, lam told, disappointed with your organisation ; you think ib a failure because everyone is apathetic about it, and you think that what is wanted is a biisk movement of some sort to galvanise it into life. If what I have said w true, that opinion of yours wovjld be a great raietske. The reason the association seems to languish is: First, because there is no material advantage tj bo gob out of membership ; and secondly, because the blood is cold. There is no excitement to evoke or maintain efforb. Well, now, you never want to gei any material personal advant a|e, out of the association : it was, riot formed with thab view. You must therefore be content to sea it in qu'e l ; times an unobtrusive and slow-moving organisation enough. But when the blood gets up, when • the general election or some public movement of a similar kind ia ou, or even a great cilamiby suah as the Brnnner explosion takes plac?, voa will find that there is any amount of work to do and plenty of people willing to join and do it. I have known members of Parliament who had won their saats by the a's'sfcince of faosls of friends, and who had been carried shoulderhigh in the hour of succtss — I have known them to be thrown icto a s L abe of depression and despair the very first iime they went to address these same constituents during the recess. Nobody cared very much to hear them. Nobody wbb enthusiastic about them. It seemed as i£ they had scarcely a real friend ia 1 the whole district. That was when the blood was cold. When the nexb general eltcbion caoie r> uad the enthusiasm of the friends would -all bi> cil'e.r ib.th ou'! of the excitement of'lho fi^h';. What the representative has get to do is to work quietly ioi the g"ood of his constituents, and nob be discouraged by their apathy towards him. What you have got to do is to work quietly in the same circumstances and not ba discouraged by them. When the general election comes on, or some other public movement, you will have plenty to do, and plonty of sympathy and .encouragement— tkafc. to* of *wttsi il jour objeotr is »

worthy oae ' and yo'ir methods comoi'tnd' pablic esteem. Bub. very likely you'll ' tell me that general apathy means the. laok.of money, and that nothing in this world can be done without mosey. Well, now thareis some consolation for you out of even tha very poverty of the association. -There was a vague notion in ioran quarters— l don' 6 think it was really held, bub it wa» ab least pretended to be believed — that youw wa<* what they called a " Tory organisation " with a loag purse babind ib. Well, your actual condi ioa will at least knook thab idea on the head. If the " Toryism " people £tupidly talk about mean* money, you with your 2i per head membership— l believe thab is the amount— are at least not Tories. You are very great Radicals indeed. lam sure I am, quite apirb from my polifc-'cjil opinions, whioh i am pre'ty sure ar3 as truly Liberal ai those of most people in this oolony. Bufc let mi teU you this: I believe that the need of nnney for work such as you have- on hand and the power of ib for making that work effective are very greatly exaggerated ; and thab brings me to bhe question of what your work really is. There i« one grand faofcor ia it— something rouad which everything else turn?.' That something is what is oalled public opinioD. If you as!r me what publ'c opinion is and how it is formed, I am not sure that I can tell yoa ; bub I can tell you that there- is suoh a thing, and that i<; is the main factor to be dealt with in a political associati >n. The public 'is -nude up of a great number of ibdiyjd^uald, eaoh of whom holds , opinions which, ave^liff itenb fronvhis neighbours'.- F^om tha individual /opinion .' you', can't , possibly .tell what the gener.il opinion is. Bub -when these thousand? of individual opinions

are brought into conflict a process of combustion tikes place, and a residuum, as ib were, "falls to the battim. ' That* residuum is'publie opinion. Now, the important point to obsorfe is that no amount of money c»n 6 tier mike or , ma'erially influence that publio op;n"on — thank God for it. It is the outoome of aj^rojess that | goes on in the minds of men andlwdnien. The grand work of a politioal assg^jiiop;-" theret fore, is to influence the minds of men and women. , Well, now, there may.be all sorts of opinions held as to how that is to bV'done. Bub for' my own part I pin my faibn abs jlutely to reason and truth as the weapons that sooner or later never fail to influence public opinion tffdotively. Whatyou haya gob to do,ther3fore,in ordinary times is to mseb and intelligently &tady and discuss public que -lions and then let the resolutions or opinion! at which you arrive be j known. It doesn't folio ff tbab you must necessarily reveal the process of reasoning by whioh you arrive ab your opinion!). A good d?al of non-Bense-is mostly uttered before what appears to be the truth is arrived at. Note the prjcc3ding3 ! of the Banking Committee .and tike warning. Then, you 'have an important; area of- work before yon in taking care that every on o within the scopa of your knowledge' is p*ovidei with the means of recording his or her po'iticiL opinions. In other words, there is a vast deal to do in seeing that all the persons you know of are on the electoral roll. Then you have to endeivjur toinflae.ice desirable candidates ro com) out into tb.9 political field. You hive to select! suoh as you think it bast to support,., and you have an - immense scope of work in youc efforts to support them. You can really do no mo;e. , Tha mun work is to endeavour, no matter, jn , how small anil modj'sb a way, to rightly influence pablic opinion. Poula of course will blame you foj "nob doing anything," and allthib sorb of thin/?, bub you need p>iy small attention, to them. The world ii full of people -who mistake fuss for activity, and who think thatthe noisiest man is tbe man who i< doing the j most. I think you will find, however, lb.it; the world's most useful work is done by the quiet people. I don'c kaoty that all this is worth vsrv niucb, bu»; I give ib to you for whit it is worth. You may think perhaps that I underrate the value of organisation. Th\t is nob the case. I am merely impressing on you the fact that it is only of value wbe c i b ' honestly affects- the pablic mind. No organisation was ever really needed ou the side Mr Gladstone was on. Hii speeches did all the work of organ's itioD, which show* that the public mind -was tbe thing to get at. And although public opiuioa is subject; lo violent perturbations, it always, you will fi id, Jeans to reason, trutb, and common sense in the end When these fail in the flist instance sad experience generally com".s in to powerfully assitt thtm. lam afraid" we ara suffering thab experience now, I hear ptopla talk aboub returning^ prosperity ; and we ought to hava it, for there are millions of money, one would suppose, now pouring into the country for the development of, oiu 1 mines. Bub my experience ,of the poiition is a very sad one. I have never known more distress than there is ab present, and 1 have never known a time when it was so

j difficult ti get work for anyone, man or bsy. I j have been trjing for weeks bick fco get work for , men who are «adly in went of it, r.ul have

quite failed. I don't whb. to touch on party politics, for it would be oab of place ; bub I think there can be "no doubt the digicom ~ialargely due to the fact that tha legislation of past years ha 3 been calculated ti disturb a.ll sense of security and discourage thi employment of labour. — (Applau - o ) Mr H. Baron said he thought tbab a great ! deal might be done by the association in the. | way of influencing public opinion if they held 1 meetings aud disouised questions in whioh

The regular meeting of the Lund Board, lield on .Thursday, was attended by Messrs .Duncan (in the chair), Clark, and WKevtow. i-

Fkan'kton.— Mr J. Gardner applied for a license to occupy about an- acre and two roods of land opposite section 8 f block XXX, Frankton, as a ' Site for wool- washing. —Granted forsaven years at 4 rental' of -203 pefa'onum'/Vith licans'a fee-2ls; ' TurRDS and Fourths - Ilw Cufchd and Tuleri County Councils f rwardad statement* of, proposed expedditura of thirds and fourths for a period from November 28, 1893f\td May 2jd.896.— Apnro.vedi v „-; <v- : v\ , i-tT KfNLOClt.— Mr'H. Birley wrote In' regarifto a liciwe granted to him over 70 acres of bush land at Kinloch — Terrhs of license tp extent to •February 1898;

Maungatcja.— Raneer Atkinson reported upou the application by Mr D. Heemu for access to section 10, bl->ck XIV, Mauu^atua dijtrict, through bush reserve, section 41.— One-h^lf chain to be reserved along the south-west edge of the creek and along the south boundary of section 41. Rock and Pillar— Mr T. Creighton wrote 'withdrawing hia -application for a license over sections 51, 52, 54, 57, 53. and 5!), block Vfl Rock :»ni Pillar district —License to bo rescin led, and I'cense to be issued to. Mr William Currie'for the whole area.— Rental 20j per annum, wit*i license fee 2ls.

Education Rkservb.— The manager of the Hyde and Find Gold Company (L-'mUcd) wrote stating that the company had apnli d Fora license holding ovor part of sectnn 7, block XIII, Rock and Pillar district, at present a temp >rary education reserve.— A.B the section wa not required for pchojl purposes it wat resolved to witfehold it fioni sale on account of 'he mining. •

Wakajtipu.— Mins J. M. B'raser's offer of £7 per annum for the area sown down in grass on thd frontage of hsr Run 417, Wakatipu, waa conaidorcd and accepte.l. The area of *he run was increased by abiut 400 acres thereby.— Term tp commancefromlstSetitembefhejcb. ' ' Moeraki. T-Jlr J. Carnegy wrotecoucerning the valuation for fencing at toe end of'hia term of l'caafe ovest section 76, block VIII, Moeraki"Tdis-' triefc (MaVareao estate).— Valuation t6 b"e~ allowed for fencing if the land was otherwise dealt with. • JUir 0. . Craig .applied for a license to cut tiinVer over six acres of. section 11, block XIII, Moeraki d.str'c.li —Ranger <o report,- ~" St. Bathans — Mr T..D. M'Levi wrote requesting to be allowed to substitute an area of 100 acres on the south side of Stuavt'n creek, on run 226 a, St Bathans, for tha arei of sioos iOO hcvab granta-i to him under occupation leasa.— Defencl for further consideratiou.

Ramklebuun.— the Under-secretary fov Lands wrota vegirding Mr W. Sheath's application to surrender hi* temporary pastoral license over sections 2 and 3, block 11, Uankleburn 'listricK— Surrender was accepted as from Ist September nexb, the section! to )ja opeued as> a small gr-izing fuo, at a rental of 0.1 per acre per annum ; valuation for improvement?, £1124 13 Od. Ak.vtokk.— The Buwe County Couur.U requested that portion of sentions II an<l 12, block I, Akatora district, ba renewed for quarry p-jrposes. — In plac3 of linking the reserve, it wms decided to increase the width of the road by a chain, so as to inc'iile the laml ieferred to. Ai>PLiCATiONS.--The followinsr applicJt : ons to transfer were approved:— Mr Thomas Taylor to Mr P. M'Atnmney of small grazing run 201 c. Rock airl J'illar district ; Air A. Lees to Mr* R L. M'l.ji f chie of occupation with right of purchase license, section 17, block IT, Catlins district; Me | J. 11. Lory to Mr J. Lwy of lease in perpetuity, section 12, block VII. Gimmerburn ; und Mr R. 11. Lwy to Mr J. H. Lory of lease in perpetuity, section 19, block XIII, Rimu district. The following applicitions to exchange from perpetual lea3a ! to lea'e in perpetuity were approved : Mr L.' D. ■ MansoD, section 15,- block 111, .Kawarau district ; ; I and Mr P. Nolan, sections 13 and 14, block.Xlll, ! Strath-Taieri district. Consideration of Mrs J. Law's application to surrender perrotual i<-nie ovev section 12, block" I, Ma'niototo district, was deferred. The application to complete -purchase of dt-fevxed payments by-Mr M. Hunt of teotion 19, Mock 11, Tuapeka West district, wasapprovad.

Abolitioa of all overtime is one of~ ; she p'auks of the Chrbtcburch FrogresgiVa Liberal League. ' NiMsro & Blair's "Lsxton's Noble" Straw* bebwes are considered by growere the flaeal aud largest isver introduced. Grow them, Uf 6s per dozM&xid 4fr pec 100.

I people were takiog au interest, and had reports; ■ I of the meetings appearing in the newspaper?. ' ' The motion for the adoption of the report was then put and carried. Mr Thornton moved that the selection of candidates be deferred until after the nominal 'tions took place, when a meeting of the mem* bers of the association should tike plaae and the decision of the awoeiation as to whom it should support should be arrived at by ballot. -' Professor Sale said suitable o*nd!date3 might negleob to come forward unless encouraged by the association, and if the counoil took no steps to encourage such candidates he thought they would certainly ba neglecting part of their functions. The Chairman said one of the matters th»6 would give the oounoil some aaxiety was tha!i of oons'dering the desirability ac all events of sounding good men and inducing them to coni9 forward without pledgiog the association as a body to s ipporfc them until after they were ac'iully nominitiad.— (Applause.) Mr W. Owen sai J ha wai very much afraid if they left the matter till after the nomination fchf y would lose the servioas of some of tha best men. . . „

Me Hastings moved as an amendment— "That consideration of the matter be deferred until tha nex 1 ; masting of the association." - Professor Sale secouded the amendment^ whioh was carried.