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233
be allowed to speak if he was not qualified to do so.
When the res6 lution
moving the adoption of the Annual Report was put , Hall struck again,
declaring that a 1echanics 1
1-1hich a 11holl01Y' form" should be introduced;
Institute \as the last place in the world into
consequently , h:e refused to
acqui esce in a Vote of Thanks to a retiring Committee of which some members ,
especially Bedford, had neglected their duties;
therefore , he asked that
the list of attendances of Committee memb ers at the Institute 's meetings be
laid on the tab le for inspection .
He insisted that on two occasions
neither the President nor a single Vice-President was present to take the
Chair, \'lith the result that the Vice-Presidents received a letter reminding
them of their neglect of duty; unless these facts were known , it was
...
impossible to fill in ballot papers honestly. Hall then asked for the
production of nomination papers of which, one, Henty's, could not even be
found.
come .
By this time, the meeting was a shamb les , but worse was still to
Hal l flatly refused to go on with the ballot until it was certain
Henty was properly nominated; further, he openly accused the Secretary ,
Burgess , of wrongfu lly manipu lating the nomination papers of Henty and
Bedford by having them signed in his own office by two Government clerks
1ho were not eligible to do so.
In short, the Institute had been treated
1rith th greatest contempt , and the who le election was a hollow mockery .
Amidst uproar and confusion, Hall argued that Bedford had not even paid
his subs cription for twelve months .
Would they 1 et the mechanics and men with leather aprons in
l'li thout payment ? Bedford was no more entitled to admission
without payment than they were, and this was nothing but
flunkeyism to persons in high position . 9
The Secretary retorted that Ha ll pandered to the mob - his flunkeyism was
to the mechanics .
When another member, Hami lton, paid Bedford 1 s
subscription, the ballot was held, with Ha ll alone dissenting .
list of Agnew , Bedford, Dobson, Hall, Henty and Hone who nominated as
Vice Pr esidents , Dobson, Henty, Agnew and Bedford were elected.
From the
Hal l
concluded the evening by entering a written protest against the election
of Bedford and Henty.
both parties equally:
In its Leader on March 5, the Mercury condemned the actions of
We kn01 that this system of extol ling those lecturers only
\'lho happen to occupy posit ions of influence has given very
great offence to others whose labors on behalf of the
9
Mercury, March 5, 1860.
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