MASTERTON.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume 5, Issue 412, 11 April 1876, Page 2

MASTERTON.

[from our own correspondent] Aprils, 1876. A meeting was held in the Library at the Town Hall on Friday for the purpose of electing two trustees in the room of those retiring by rotation. Mr R. G. Williams having been called to the chair made certain explanations, and read the various clauses of the Town Lands Act relative to elections. The following candidates were then brought forward;— H. Bannister, proposed by J. Walker, and seconded by D. Dixon. • H. Crayne, proposed by E. Feist, and seconded by 6. Hodgkins. R. 6. Woodroofe proposed by J. Har. ns, seconded by H. Crayne. The Chairman alluded to the present condition of the Trusts. About £l5O had been wiped off the debt besides paying all expenses. There would be but a small debt remaining, if any. by the end of the year. The balance sheet would be made up and published during the present month. Various questions having been asked and answered, Mr Crayne rose and commenced a vigorous attack upon the Trustees during the course of which he called them a ‘ clique, ring,* and ‘ family eucle,’ at the same time stating that they were men of ability, and he did not for a moment question their honesty and integrity, in fact he used the words clique and '

ring not in the sense they were generally used but in a sense which none but himself could understand.

The Chairman called Mr Crayne to order, and ably defended the trustee* from the insinuations of Mr Craync. After a war of words Mr Crayne alluded to certain waste and unfenced lands, which he said should bo cut up and let to workingmen for building purposes. ‘

The Chairman explained what the trustees had done in the matter, and said that the laud alluded to was actually let and rent paid for it, upon which Mr Crayne said that he really did not t.hinlr there were such fools in the world as to pay for unfenced land, whereupon the Chairman informed him that one of the candidates, that Mr Crayne had brought forward (but who was not ellegible) wasone that had paid such rent (Laughter! Some further conversation ensued during which Mr Crayne retracted any offensive remarks he had made and said he would not for his part contest the election, but would like to see new blood introduced, and thought the intention of the Act pointed that way, and that it would be more graceful on the part of the retiring trustees not to seek re-elec-tion.

The retiring trustees, Mean B*nnister & Woodroofe explained that they were only anxious to see the debt extinguished, (especially since the trustees had made themselves personally responsible,) when they would be glad to retire an d see ‘ new blood’ introduced. The following was the result of the show of hands

H- . Mr G. Woodroofe 13 ; Mr H. Crayne 3. Tl »e Chairman declared Messrs Bannister & Woodroofe duly elected, and Mr Crayne declined a poll Other matters were then spoken of by different people, and replied to by the Chairman, and a vote os thanks to the latter closed the election proceeding*. Mr McGregor spoke of the wantof . public reading room in a central part of M the township with a library Mr Crayne thought the trustees were to blame but Mr Willi*™ informed him that the library was in the hands of a committee duly appointed at a public meetmg, and the room had been given to them to use for a public library, and therefore the much-abused trustees were not to Marne as the matter was not in their hands at all.

On the recommendation of Mr McGregor it was proposed by Mr J. Russell and seconded by Mr Crayne—- ‘ That the library trustees be instructed to confer with the Masterton Town lands trustees, re a site for a library. ’ Carried unanimously.

The meeting was well attended and great interest was manifested in the proceed mgs. Messrs F. Gray. J. Harris, and J. Russell were proposed in addition to the other candidates, but the two first declined to stand, and the latter lived out of the boundary. H was very generally felt that the present boundaries were unjust, and should be enlarged to include KumpnnL It would be wise to petition parliament to amend the boundaries in the direction indicated.

Dr Carr s seances on Friday and Saturday evenings were well attended, although they deserved to be even bettor patronised. The Doctor’s lecture on phrenology was exceedingly good, allusion was made to many of the learned and great men of olden time, statesmen, philantrophists, artists, inventors, and scientific men, and their powers expatiated upon. The lecturer also spoke of the great men of the present day, their ‘ bumps’ and the corresponding faculties, and combatted the arguments used by the opponents of phrenology. The second part of the entertainment commenced with a brief introduction from the Doctor on the subject of mesmerism, calling attention to cures effected by the agency of mesmerism, aad appealing to some gentleman present who had been an eye-wit-ness of these cures. After saying that mesmerism gave one man a power over the volition of the other, the doctor proceeded to place some of those present under the influence, and then put «.—» through a variety of attitudes that could not possibly have been attempted in any other way. Mr Wyeth jun. was mesmerised on Friday, and he vowed he would not go near the Doctor «g*»n ( but Saturday night found him in the front scat endeavoring to refrain from looking at the Doctor, but the latter spotted him and threatened to have him on the stage Mr Wyeth hid his face but the Doctor came off the stage and then the victim tried to bolt, but after running round the Hall was brought to bay, and mesmerised in a trice. He was pat through m all sorts of queer attitudes, and was evidently a good subject Some of the subjects were given their coats which they nursed as babies, and fed out of a glass with a walking stick in true orthodox style ! A pin was put through the ear and into the hand of one of them, and a gentleman from the audience palled them out again, there was no blood, however, and the young fellow knew nothing of what had been done, two wen started laughing, and very soon aet the sntHenoe roaring too, one aat in a chair and imagined it red-hot but could not get up from it, one chased an imaginary fly, Ac. On Monday the Doctor gives his last entertainment here, and on Wednesday you Qreytown folks had better prepare for a treat

A registered dog stated to belong to the Provincial Engineer hie been ‘ locked up’ for killing a number of Mr Cockburn’s sheep. Speaking of dogs, I should think it would be a good job if the owners thereof were compelled to pay license feea to the Local Boards. At present we are swarming with all sorts and conditions of the dog tribe, and are possessed of some of the ugliest specimens since tht time of the Egyptians ; they are barking all day and howling all night.