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| Jackson: | I want read the minutes of the last meeting. |
| Coral: | (reading) The Town Council of Cromwell met in the Town Hall on Thursday the 8th of June 1865. In the chair was Councillor Matthews, Mayor Barry being in Clyde with the Governor. |
| Jackson: | Get on with it. |
| Coral: | The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. |
| Jackson: | Get on with it. |
| Coral: | (hesitantly) A motion of censure was passed against Mayor Jackson Barry requesting his immediate resignation. Councillors were generally unhappy with the tyrannical approach followed by the Mayor in and out of Council, and the embarrassing incident over Sir George Grey and the pigs. It was felt... |
| Jackson: | (seething) Who moved the motion? |
Silence. Discomfort.
| Jackson: | I asked, who moved the motion? |
Silence. Discomfort.
| Amethyst: | I did, Your Worship. |
| Jackson: | Who? |
| Amethyst: | I did, Your Worship. |
Slowly, Jackson approaches Amethyst. He takes hold of him and carries him to Stage One where he throws him violently off stage. He slowly returns, brushing his hands.
| Jackson: | And who seconded the motion? |
Silence. Discomfort.
| Jackson: | I said, who seconded the motion? |
There is a long silence.
| Jackson: | Then if no one seconded the motion, the motion lapses. |
Jackson looks around, pleased.
| Jackson: | Anyone disagree? |
Silence. Discomfort.
| Jackson: | We will continue with the meeting. And I wish to bring to the attention of all the matter of the school committee. The school committee refuses to investigate my charge that the school teacher used unbecoming language towards me. (Becoming angry) Towards me. The Mayor. They refuse to investigate it. They refuse to investigate it. |
| Jade: | What did they say? |
| Jackson: | I could not bear to say it at a public meeting. Indeed, I could not bring myself to say it in the privacy of my own home. |
| Emerald: | Then if we don't know what it is, we cannot judge, can we? |
| Jackson: | You can't judge? What do you mean you can't judge? Don't you take my word on it? |
| Sapphire: | Without knowledge, we cannot judge. |
| Jackson: | Sack them! Sack the school committee! Sack the teacher! Sack the whole damned lot! I won't be crossed. I am the Mayor of Cromwell. Don't you know I have had enough on my plate without insults from the teacher? While driving to Clyde lately on a dark night, we made a turn where the road wound round a gully and were capsized. Whetter was thrown down the gully about 100 feet and landed under a big rock. Whetter was nearly killed and I was much bruised and cut about the head. The report reached Cromwell that we were killed, and my wife was in a terrible state. Not long before, my son was not well, and I took him to Dunedin Hospital, leaving my wife to care for the five other children. Then there were the heavy rain storms, and some water races on the hillside, at the back of my farm, used for carrying water for mining purposes, had broken away, torn up and carried off the soil with five acres of potatoes, destroyed all the fences, and drowned a lot of my pigs. (Totally enraged) I am four times elected Mayor. Do you think I will tolerate some limp-wristed school teacher insulting me as Lord Mayor of Cromwell? |
Silence.
| Jackson: | Well? |
Silence.
| Jackson: | Well? |
Silence of disbelief as the lights fade.