The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, JANUARY 24.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 3, Issue 263, 24 January 1879, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, JANUARY 24.

Mr C. W. Bridge will hold a cattle sale to-day at the Head of the Bay yards. The cattle to bo offered-comprise milch cows, stores, and calves, together with a few hesd of fat stock, and a bull.

The County Council will hold its usual monthly meeting at the Hill Top, on Saturday. The vexed question of the site for the Council offices will presumably have to be settled at this meeting as well as the allocation of funds.

A list of registrars of dogs for the differend ridings of the County of Akaroa appears elsewhere. We understand that these registrars are supplied with collars, and should advise all owners of dogs to procure collars without delay. The registrars are instructed to furnish the police periodically with the names of those who have registered their dogs, and the latter will take proceedings against the defaulters. Registrars are appointed in various localities for the convenience of the public, but dogs may be registered anywhere, irrespective of the residence of their owners. By advertisement elsewhere it will be seen that a meeting of the Peninsula Jockey Club is convened for to-morrow evening at Wascoe's Hotel. Important business has to be considered, and a full attendance is requested.

A notification from the Education Board, which appears in our advertising columns, intimates that the election of school committees in all the Education Districts of North Canterbury will take place on Monday next. In every district which is provided with a schoolhouse the school is to be the place of meeting, and the hour ia seven o'clock in the evening. All householders are eligible both as voters and as members of committee. The number of members is in each case fixed at seven.

The through line of railway to Invercargill was opened on Wednesday. The express train left Dunedin with a large number of visitors on board. The Hon. J. Ballance, Colonial Treasurer, was the only member of the Government present. At Balelutha, which was reached a quarter of an hour late, there was a large number of visitors, and all the leading men of the township joined the excursionists. Clinton was reached considerably behind time. At Gore an unfortunate accident occurred to Mr Confers, Commissioner of Kail ways for the Middle Island. Particulars -of the sad event appear in another column. This occurence had the effect of marring the trip. A banquet was held at Invercargill in the evening, at which Mr Lumsden, Mayor of Invercargill, presided.

The usual fortnightly meeting of the Borough Council should have been held on Wednesday evening, but owing to the absence of a quorum at the appointed time, the Mayor adjourned the meeting till this (Friday) evening. A letter from one o* the councillors, which appears in another column, explains in detail the manner in which the meeting lapsed. In justice to those councillors who were present, we give their names. They were—His Worship the Mayor, Crs Meech, '" Henning, Cullen, and Bruce. These would have been sufficient to form a quorum, but unfortunately, as soon as Cr Cullen put in an appearance, Cr Bruce found it necessary temporarily to retire. On his return, the Mayor had already directed the Clerk to declare the meeting adjourned.

James Bassingthwaito was brought up at the Christchurch R.M Court on Wednesday, charged with frauduleut bankruptcy, and committed for trial.' This is the c;se in which, it will be remembered, the detectives found a considerable sum of money secreted on the person of Mrs Bassingthwaitc shortly after his declaration of insolvency. Over £800 was thus found stowed away.

COMPLIMENTARY DINNER TO W. MONTGOMERY, ESQ., M.H.R., AND THE HON. JOHN HALL, M.L.C.

This dinner took place on Tuesday evening at the Town Hall. Besides the abovenamed- gentlemen, the Hons E. Gray and W. Robinson had been invited, but were unable to attend. Our readers are of course well aware that the object of the dinner was to mark the appreciation felt by Peninsula residents of the services of the gentlemen in question in the matter of-the Akaroa Railway. .Mr E. C. Latter, Chairman of the County Council, was to have occupied the chair, but in his unavoidable absence, the post wss exeellentlyrfUlecl Chairman of dhe Akaroa and Wainni Road Board. His Worship the Mayor of Akaroa was Vice-chairman. On the right of the Chairman were the Hon John Hall and Mr Justin Aylmcr, wnile Mr Montgomery and Mr W. B. Toaswill sat on his left. Mr J. B. Barker, Chairman of the Okain's Road Board, was seated to the left of tlie Vice-Chair, and the rest of the company were disposed " promiscuous like." Over forty were present, and Mr J. Beccher, of Bruce's Hotel, acted as caterer, and provided a most enjoyable repast. : The Chairman regretted the absence of the Hons. E. Gray and W. Robinson. Mr Latter had asked him to apologize for his unavoidable absence, which he was sure they would all regret. (Hear, hear.) . After the customary loyal toasts had been duly honored, the Mayor proposed "The Legislative Council," coupled with the name of the Hon. John Hall. The toast was drunk with musical honors. The Hon. John Hall, on rising to repond was received with cheers.' lie. said he felt very strongly the cordial manner in which they had received the toast. He had never heard it more cordially lesponded to than on the present occasion. The Council had been censured in high quarters, and -he was glad to find that they did not endorse those censures. The second chamber fulfilled an important and necessary duty. It was true'the Council did not derive its authority from the electors, but they desired to be in harmony with the wishes of the people. (Cheers.) They did not-act so much in deference to temporary popular impulse as an elective assembly. If these popular impulses were given effect to at once, much mischief would often ensue. As regarded the other branch of the Legislature, the Council was on a footing of absolute equality, but both were the servants of the people of the colony. When they (the Council) put their veto on any measure it was that it might be referred back to the people. They were not to be intimidated by threats, however high the quarter from which they came. Proposals had lately been made that the Council should be elected. For his part he had no objection to this, but he thought the proposal came with a very bad grace from a Government which had nominated more members during the few months it had been in office, than any previous Government had done in five years. He did not wish to abuse their hospitality by introducing party questions, but when the Council had been attacked at both ends of the colony, he wished to make a few 'remarks. ' They had been told that they had been guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors, and that they should bo improved off the face of the earth. The honorable gentleman here went into a detailed account of the progress of the Electoral Bill through both Houses of the Legislature. He stated that the clause giving the franchise to Natives had been introduced during the passage of the Bill through the House-of Representatives, that it was with the greatest difficulty the Government had succeeded in passing it. There had been weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth among the Government supporters at being compelled to vote for it, and one gentleman had gone so far as to say that it was impossible to be a Government supporter and preserve his self-respect. (Mr Montgomery—" He did not vote for it.") Mr Hall was glad to hear it, but many voted for it who disapproved of it. The Council had simply restored the Bill to its original shape, and for this they were told by members of the Government that they had interfered with the privileges of the people. Members of the Government who so spoke were not in accord with public opinion. The proposal which the Council had rejected would, he felt sure, never come before the Legislature again. He utterly denied that there was any truth in a statement which had been made that the Council threw out the Bill because the Maoris Jielped to carry the Land Tax Bill. In conclusion he considered the Legislative Council had rendered good service, and stood well in the estimation of the people of New Zealand. (Cheers.)

The Mayor proposed " The House , of Bepresentatives, and W. Montgomery I Esq., the member for the District." The toast was received most cordially, and drunk with-cheersand musical honors. Mr Montgomery thanked them for the way in which they had received the toast. He deemed it to be a very high honor to be a representative of the people, to have the confidence of his fellow citizens sufficiently to be entrusted with the making of laws. This was not the place to go into party politics. He would take another opportunity of doing so. His honorable friend, Mr flail, had taken the opportuuity of defending the body to which he belonged where he felt it to have been wronged. Probably this was because he had no constituency to address. He would say nothing on that occasion as to the views Mr Hall had expressed. At another time he would probably do so. He would not inflict a long speech on them, as he saw there was another toast to which he would have to respond. The Chairman, in proposing the toast of " Our GuestS;" said he regretted it had riot fallen into better hands. They were indebted to these gentlemen for a great step in advance for Akaroa. But for the aid of their representative Akaroa would now be in as backward a position as it was twent} 7 years ago. To look upon this railway as merely a local work was a great mistake. It would prove a benefit to all the province, if not to the whole colony, lie would ask them to drink the toast, coupling with it the names of Mr Montgomery, and the lions. J.j Hall, Gray and Robinson. Mr Montgomery said that as one of the guests, and as their representative, he felt much honored by the manner in which the toast had been received. It was always satisfactory for a lvprewjntativo to learn that his constituents he j bad done his.duty. . He wouJd liku to re-

call the steps which had been taken in the matter of this railway. In 1874 he had got the Provincial Government to .set aside a sum of money for the survey of the lakes. That was, the commencement of the movement which had achieved ho considerable a success. In 187G he got'the Government of " Sir. , •Vogel to introduce a Bill constituting a Trust and reserving certain lands. This, Bill passed the Lower House, and;; he had asked his honorable friend Mr Hall'to take charge of it in the Council. That gentle-; man had consented without they might consider themselves fortunate' in having secured the co-operation of a gentleman of such ability and influence. (Cheers.) It was true that this fiz-st Bill did not make,the raihVay; l?utT'it was the thin end of the wedge—-it set,apart land as reserves, and was the foundation for the legislation of last session. Mr Montgomery then alluded to the duties undertaken by the Trust, and paid a high tribute to the zeal, energy, and disinter-: estedness shown by those gentlemen. He greatly regretted the absence of Mr Latter that evening, but was sure that they all appreciated that gentleman's important, services. The speaker, then detailed the history of the Railway Bill of last Session, showing how greatly the district 'was indebted to Messrs /Hall, Gray, and Robinson. Mr Gray had been in favor of another route being ; adopted, ' viz.', by Halswell and Tai Tap'u. Notwithstanding that this route was not adopted by the Trust, he loyally supported the Bill. When the Bill was rejected by the Council, he consulted with Mr Hall as to what was best to -be done. Government had consented to put the railway into the schedule, .of their Railways Bill. At first it was only to be made to Little River, but Mr Macandrew had moved the addition of the important words " thence to Akaroa." He would tell them the position in which the matter then stood. Mr Blair, Mr Latter, Mr Austin and

himself had travelled over the line. He afterwards waited on Mr Blair, and asked him to put him in a position to tell his constituents what he.intended to do. Mr Blair had informed him ih.at the line from Lincoln to Little River wasAvell laid down. The other part would require careful sectional surveys. He intended to put men on this work at once. Tenders would be called to the extent of £30,000 before the 31st March. He (Mr Blair) balieved that the cost of the line between Little' Eiver and Akaroa could be considerably reduced. He (the speaker) would remind them that they would require zeal, and earnestness to overcome the -difficulties that would still intervene. For his part'it gave him great pleasure to think thatiiis constituents were satisfied with what he had done- to further their interests. Mr Hall said that as his name had been associated with the toast, he would like to add a few words of thanks. He read an extract of a letter from Mr Robinson, asking to be excused. He was sure it was no formal excuse that the hon. gentleman was making. Mr Montgomery had re- ' marked that he (Mr Hall) .was "kind" enough to interest himself in this Bill. What he had don* 1 - had not been done out of " kindness," but because he considered it his duty. As the various' districts did not elect representatives to the Council, he considered it the duty of any member who was acquainted with any particular part of the colony to pay special attention to measures affecting that part. Therefore it was not out of kindness that he had acted as he had, but because the case was one deserving support. He was sorry that the success attending their efforts had been rather modified. As to the action of the Legislative Council, he was reminded of an adage which said '• Virtues carried to excess become vices." It was the duty of the Council carefully to scrutinize these little local bills. After the way his hon friend had let them know how these measures were "engineered " through the Assembly, this wouid be still more apparent. In this particular instance no doubt they had been over zealous, but there was no doubt that the close scrutiny these measures received from the hands of the Legislative Council was of great advantage to the colony. Here was a district which hadnot received its fair share of Public Works expenditure. It would have been better if these reserves could have been managed locally, but the majority took a different view. What they had achieved was some thin<7, but he could not conceal from them that he thought their position less favorable than if the control of the reserves had been left in their own hands. After twenty-five years' experience in public matters, he had never known such a gloomy outlook as there was at the present in financial matters. The matter rested now with the other branch of the Legislature, that branch which kept control of the purse-strings. It was for their representative to see that those purse-strings were unloosed for them. As to any little services which he had been able to render, he should never forget the kindness with which they had received him on that occasion. (Applause.) Mr H. Gγ. \Vatkins proposed "The County Council." Mr Coop, in responding, alluded to the questions which have arisen as between County Councils and Road Boards. He thought the latter should be left to work out their destiny. In the future, no doubt, the County Council would bo very useful body. Mr Dalglish proposed "The Corporations of the Borough of Akaroa, and His Worship the Mayor." The Mayor returned thanks. There was no doubt that as yet they were a small borough, but as time went on they would increase. Cr Meech, being called for, ssid he had not come prepared to make a speech. As His Worship had said they were possessed of very limited means, and the worst of it was their expenses were out of all proportion to their income. Some expenses were as heavy as in a large borough. Mr Tosswill said they had met to do honor to two gentlemen who had been doing their best to bring a railway among them, but they must not forget those who had worked to enable them to get about at all. They owed a large debt to those who gave their time and put up with grumbling as all the pay they got. However anxious they might be for a railway, they must have roads and Road Bom ids. He would ask them to drink "The Road Boards of the County,'" coupling the toast with the Chairmen present and Mr Dnxbury. Mr J. Duxbuky did not know why his name should be ' coupied with this toast. He considered it- lhe duty of every man j who had tiiae to spare to do vote a [lariion I of it to the Service of the public. The

ppeaker referred to the action of both their guests in tho matter of the impounded land fund, and likewise as to compensations for lands Taken by the Provincial Government.-.. Mr «LB. Barker, Chairman of the Okaiii'js Bfty Road,-Board", "~also briefly respoiiried. ' i • Mr Piper, in a few humorous remarks, .proposed "The Commercial'and Banking Interests," and Messrs J. D. Garwood, W. Stowe, and H. G. ■ The gentlemen named briefly responded. Mr. Montgomeuy proposed, " The Pastoral* Interests," and Messrs Coop, Hay, and Shadbolt. In doing so, ho dwelt briefly on the great" importance of these interests, and the fact that they were becoming riiofe > atidTnofe intermingled. Mr Coop responded, saying ho hoped to see the runs cut up into small blocks that they might bo able to support children yet to bo born. ■ Mr Shadbolt also thanked them, and referred to the numerous instances they knew,of where men had .achieved a comfortable position through sheer industry. Mr Duxbury proposed "The Press," which was responded to by Mr A. G. Wiggins, of the Mail,, and Messrs Plunkett and Hart, representatives of the Lyttelton Times and Press, respectively. . ' '' The Ladies," proposed by Mr IWhitfield, and responded to by Mr G. J. Black, and " The Chairman," ' proposed by Mr J. Aylmer, E.M., brought the toasts to a conclusion, and after one or two songs, the company separated, having fulfilled a pleasing duty and passing a pleasant' evening in doing so. '