very
sure that the testimony of the clergy of all denominations was more to
be relied upon than the opinion of a man like Dr Weakling. (Hear,
hear.)

Dr Weakling said that if some of the clergymen referred to or some of
the members of the council had to exist and toil amid the same sordid
surroundings, overcrowding and ignorance as some of the working
classes, they would probably seek to secure some share of pleasure and
forgetfulness in drink themselves! (Great uproar and shouts of
'Order', 'Withdraw', 'Apologize'.)

Councillor Grinder said that even if it was true that the haverage
lives of the working classes was twenty years shorter than those of the
better classes, he could not see what it had got to do with Dr
Weakling. (Hear, hear.) So long as the working class was contented to
die twenty years before their time, he failed to see what it had got to
do with other people. They was not runnin' short of workers, was they?
There was still plenty of 'em left. (Laughter.) So long as the
workin' class was satisfied to die orf--let 'em die orf! It was a free
country. (Applause.) The workin' class adn't arst Dr Weakling to
stick up for them, had they? If they wasn't satisfied, they would
stick up for theirselves! The working men didn't want the likes of Dr
Weakling to stick up for them, and they would let 'im know it when the
next election came round. If he (Grinder) was a wordly man, he would
not mind betting that the workin' men of Dr Weakling's ward would give
him 'the dirty kick out' next November. (Applause.)

Councillor Weakling, who knew that this was probably true, made no
further protest. Rushton's proposition was carried, and then the Clerk
announced that the next item was the resolution Mr Didlum had given
notice of at the last meeting, and the Mayor accordingly called upon
that gentleman.

Councillor Didlum, who was received with loud cheers, said that
unfortunately a certain member of that Council seemed to think he had a
right to oppose nearly everything that was brought forward.

(The majority of the members of the Band glared malignantly at
Weakling.)

He hoped that for once the individual he referred to would have the
decency to restrain himself, because the resolution he (Didlum) was
about to have the honour of proposing was one that he believed no
right-minded man--no matter what his politics or religious
opinions--could possibly object to; and he trusted that for the credit
of th