He opened the proceedings by explaining in detail precisely what
the duties of the council were to be, incidentally mentioning the fact
that, in consideration of the onerous and responsible character of those
duties, the members would be absolved from the performance of any and
every other kind of work. He dwelt at some length upon the
qualifications which he considered indispensable for the efficient
discharge of the duties of a member of council, enumerating, among
others, wisdom, discretion, organising ability, and the faculty of
anticipating and providing for the future needs of the community; and
then himself proceeded to propose the six persons whom he considered
best fitted to fill the office, all of them being chosen from among the
emigrants!

At this stage of the proceedings Gurney promptly rose and intervened.
He said that he fully agreed with the chairman both as to the necessity
for extreme care in the choice of persons to fill positions of such
heavy responsibility, and also as to the qualifications required in the
holders of such positions. But, while he had nothing to say against the
persons proposed by the chairman, he was of opinion that there was one
person in the ship who, despite his extreme youth, was at least as fully
qualified as any other individual among them to fill satisfactorily the
position of a member of council, and who, moreover, had fully earned the
distinction by piloting them to this beautiful island. He presumed that
he need not add that he referred to young Mr Troubridge, to whose
exceptional skill as a seaman and a navigator they all owed so much!

These remarks were greeted with so much enthusiasm that it was with the
utmost difficulty I succeeded in making it understood--to Wilde's
manifest relief--that for certain good and sufficient reasons I must
decline to accept the proffered office. But, I continued, it seemed to
me not only a mistake but distinctly invidious that the seamen should be
entirely excluded from the governing body; and I considered that, in
common fairness to them, two at least of their number--to be chosen by
themselves--ought to be included.

This proposal also was loudly applauded; and, after a great deal of
rather heated discussion, Polson and Gurney, as representative of the
officers and crew of the ship, were duly elected members of council; the
other four being William Fell, once a solicitor's clerk; Henry Burgess,
lately a colliery agent; John Mon