PROVINCIAL COUNCIL. YESTERDAY.

Evening Post, Issue 158, 10 August 1865, Page 2

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL. YESTERDAY.

The Speaker took the chair at five o'clock. The Clerk read the minutes of the previous sitting. T Mr. LUDLAM asked the Provincial Secretary whether it was the intention of the Government to reclaim a further portion of the land below high water mark on Lambton j quay. \ The PROVINCIAL SECRETARY replied in the afflrmative/*7 Mr. HICKSOiTtfor Mr. Wallace) moved that the petition of Henry Morrow, praying the Council to amend the Licensing Ordinance, should be taken into consideration at the next sitting. Mr. BORLASE seconded the motion, which was carried. Mr. BUNNY aaid that owing to the severe illness of his colleague, Mr. Welch, the motions standing in his name relative to the better management of schools, &c, would have to lapse. Mr. HICKSON (for Mr. Turnbull) moved that the report of the Audit Committee be adopted, which was carried. Mr. HICKSON obtained leave to bring in a bill to amend the law at present in force in respect to granting publican's licenses in the province, The bill was read a first time, and the second reading fixed for next day. Leave of absence was granted (o Mr. Watt on account of urgent business, I

The SPEAKER read a mess ige from his Honor the Superintendent, replacing on Hie estimates the item £1000, for miscellaneous contingencies. The house went into committee of supply on the message, when the item was passed. On the item Police— 20 privates, six at 6s 6d per diem, and fourteen at 6s — being read, Mr. DRANSFJELD moved an amendment —20 privates at 6s 6d. On the question being out, the Rouse divided, and the amendment was lost by a majority of 3. Under the head, "Charitable," Mr JOHNSTON moved, as an amendment', that the item " Contineencie-', .£50," should be increrised by £450, and stand as £50D. Ho stated that his reason for moving the amendment was thp want of proper accommodation for females in the Hospital. The amendment was carried. On the item, "Assisted Female Immigration, £4000," being read, Mr. BUNNY moved, aa an amendment, that the item should stand tit £2000. The PROVINCIAL SECRETARY said that if the amendment were withdrawn, and the £4000 not spent in the way proposed, it should be devoted to the special votes. On this understanding Mr. Bunny withdrew his amendment, and the item £4000 was passed. flsMr. DRANSFIELD moved that the House reccommend a site for the erection of Provincial Buildings between the Oddfellows' Hall and Kumutoto street, on land to be reclaimed from the sen. The House divided on the question, and the motion was finally carried by a majority ThWROVINCIAL SOLICITOR moved certain proposed alterations in the Land Regulations, which were carried. The House went into Committee on the Land Regulations, which were passed. The Bill to repeal clause 27 of "The Market Act 1854," was read a third time and passed. The House then adjourned.

The New Zealand Gazette of the Bth inst, contains two proclamations by his Excellency the Governor, dissolving the Provincial Councils of Marlborough and Taranaki. Sir George Grey has appointed additional polling places for the election of Superintendent and members of the Provincial Council for the province of Taranaki : —For the districts of Grey and Bell, Tikorangi Redoubt; for the Omata district, the Oinata Stockade. We regret to hear that his Honor the Superintendent has been suffering irom illness for the last few days, and hope for a speedy return of health to permit him to discharge the onerous duties of his office. The Canterbury Press says, " The steamer Egmont has been laid on as a regular trader between Dunedin, Lyttelton, and Hokitika. This steamer bears a first-class character as a good sea-boat, and no doubt will prove a great acquisition to the trade. In connection with the Egmont, the river steamer Bruce will be despatched to the Hokitika, for the purpose of lightering, and special inducements to Canterbury shippers are held forth in the shape of low storage and shipping charges at the port. The agents for the Egmont aro Messrs. Miles and Co. The s.s.Albion, Captain E. Kidney, arrived in port at half-past eleven this day, from Melbourne, via Dunedin and Lyttelton. faA murderous assault was committed on Tuesday last, by one of the hard labour gang working in Sydney street, on Constable Carter, an overseer. The man Alfred was reprimanded by Carter for idling, when lie took up a pick with which he was working and aimed a deadly blow at the head of Carter, which fortunatelj missed the aim, but wounded his ann.^> / A correspondent of the Dunedin Herald, writing from Port Chalmers, says that much amusement was caused on Saturday by the sailing of Messrs. Macandrew and Vogel by the same steamer to Wellington. It is not often that two such staunch antagonists are orowded within so narrow a space ; and curiosity was raised as to how they would spend their time on the voyage — whether they would fight their battles o'er again, play bo-peep with each other out of their cabin doors, or whether one or both would be shut up in impenetrable sullenness till they set foot on land again. The following is from the correspondent of the Lyttelton Times :—": — " The debate on the address was opened by the junior member of

the House, Mr. Robert Pharnssyn, who has succeeded to the seat for liangitikei, made famous by its recent possessor, Mr. Fox. Mr. Pharozyn is a model ' Mover of the Address j ' it would be hard to distinguish his photograph fro'n that of any performer of the same operation in the House of Commons, as reproduced in the Illustrated News. There is enough of the ' swell ' about him to make ths timidity which belongs to a younjj member a very ludicrous contrast ; and on the other hand thuae is eeoutfh of the Mulitican's turn of mind apparent in h,iui to make the House tolerate and even applaud a speech, whioh like all such speeches, was necessarily short matter an.l hard to deliver."