PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Evening Star, Issue 3503, 15 May 1874, Page 2

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Thursday, May 14. Mr Reeves’s motion, “That it i? desir able that the services of an experienced mining engineer or inspector be secured for the Province,” was opposed by the Provincial boLiciTOR, who said, if it were carried, other industries might ask for skilled assistance, and supported by Messrs Brown, Clahke, and Maokellar. The latter ad : vanned as a {reason for a mining engineer being appointed, the serious loss of gold that attended the operations of quartz mining companies. He said assays of tailings from the principal quartz companies at Cromwell proved that twice as much gold was lost as was obtained from the stone. For instance, stone from the Cromwell Company’s claim yielded at the rate of six ouucos to the ton, while delicate tests by assay showed the tailings yielded at the rate of twelve ounces to the ton, A 'mining engineer should he obtained, but regulations should be framed making the expenses of the officer fall on the companies employing hia services. The Provincial Secretary opposed the motion, as a preliminary step to another Government staff being appointed. If, however, the mining companies agreed to pay his expenses, the Government would send for an engineer. Mr Olives said the motion pointed to the necessity for the establishment *f a School of Mines in connection with thu University. The motion was carried on the voices. THE NO-CONFIDENCE DEBATE. Mr Bastings, in moving his motion, “That the composition of the present Executive, and the land policy enunciated by it, do net command the confidence of the Council”—said he been requested to do so by a large section of the Council If carried, he was prepared to take the responsibility; if not, he would not follow it up by factious opposition. He denied he was actuated by personal pique towards his late colleagues, though he did not think he had been fairly treated by them, having made great personal and pecuniary sacrifices to - go into Wade;'and having while in office endeavored to a bis Ability to support his colleagues faithfully, honestly, and loyally. He had been accused , of having during his admtni&tration of ,% 9 £ u v Works Department favored the goldfields,.but,this assertion he most emphatically denied. Until he took office the goldfields had never received anything like a fair share of revenue. He objected to the construction of the Government, because his late colleagues went into it as representing those who thought it conducive to the prosperity of the country to sell large blocks of land, and because the head of the Government would-be • obliged to leave the Province for thrse or four mouths, leavin'g the busines" of the province ■ to take care of Itself. Coming to the' land question, he agreed with the Provincial Secretary that the present sige of the deferred payment sections was not sufficient to support an industrious man, and would bp in favor of extending the area of sections to' 400 to 350 acres. But he disagreed with selling intervening blocks between the deferred payment blocks at L2 per acre. It seemed an anomaly that settlers should be allowed to take up land on deferred at 14s IQd per acre—for that was really the price to bo paid—and that they should have to pay in ready money L2‘per acre for land alongside of that which was sold oh deferred paymeats. Such a proposal was unreasonable and illogical on the face of it. There could be but one opinion in reference to selling large blocks under the 150 th section of the Land Act. He was sure a large majority of the Council would ypte against the policy of selling large blocks of pastoi’al jand. > If the Provincial Secretary, the Provincial Solicitor, and Mr Lumsden acted in accordance -with their public utterances, they must oppose any policy having for its obiept the alienation of large blocks of pastoral Hud-—or rather land which might be considered pastoral now, but which five years hence weulohg Son.sidered very good agricultural land. It would no doubt b® argued that it was not intended to sell these blocks qf land, but that they, the Government, only wanted the power to do so if driven to an extremity, But if the Government were invested with this power it would bp used as a very good argument by the members of Assembly against granting the Provincial Government pojver to borrow for public works. The member# of the late Government might take to themselves the credit of haying shown to the •ountry that they had a very large valuable estate in the Province in their present pastoral lands. They had shown this by the sale of the Wakatipruns and the Tuapeka commonage# It was thgir duty to watch guardedly the public estate in order that none of it might slip through their fingers, except what was absolutely required for bona fide, settlement. The policy he would propose Ju reference to the waste lauds of the Province was, that as the runs fell jn they should be cut up into small runs as at Wakatip—juto 2,000 or 2,500 acres bo that instoad of having o&e man occupymg a frontage _ of twenty - eight miles, they would have living on the same quantity of land thirty or forty settlers. A , reyenjie of 1j204,166 would then be returned to the Province. If they were to continue sell--ID 9 Gie public lands, what they do to :

carry on public works ? The remarks he had made in reference to pastoral lands applied to the sale of Hundreds at the present time. If they placed their Hundreds in the market at the present time they could not control the power of capital, whatever the intentions of the Government might be. The land would be bought up in large blocks, and in a few yeaw they would find they had been constructing large public works and incurring a heavy debt for the purpose of enhancing the value of the land in private hands—to the extent of perhaps L 5 per acre. It would be far wiser to borrow money to carry on necessary public works, and retain the land until it increased in value. He saw no difficulty in the w °f borrowing money to carry on those works. A loan had been granted to the northern part of the Province, and he saw no reason why the same privilege should not be granted to the southern and western parts of the Province. He believed L 200.000 would meet all their wants for bridges, main roads, &c. With reference to the construction of light railways, he could see no difficulty in the way. They had plenty of capital and contractors here to make the lines on private terms, and it would be far more advantageous for the Province to guarantee a certain interest on the money spent by the contractors than to sacrifice the public estate and make the country a comparative wilderness by selling the land. If the Government sbld_ the quantity of laud they proposed to put in the market, and if they were allowed to cany out the policy of selling large blocks of pastoral laud, it would be fouud that in twelve or eighteen'mohths the Province would be deficient of 200,000 or 300,000 acres of tho public territory. To prevent such a policy as the Government proposed being carried out, he was prepared to unsheath the sword and fight out the battle to the bitter end. Mr Mackenzie seconded the motion. The Provincial Secretary could not call the speech of the mover of the resolution any. thing else than a homily on the defects of big Honor’s opening address, for which he (Mr Bastings) was responsible,—(Hear,, from the Treasury Benches ) He was at a loss to know what to reply to. With the question as to whether the hon. members had been fairly treated by his late colleagues he (Mr Reid) had nothing to do; but if the Council thought that the Government should retire in order that the hen. member should be reinstated they would bow to that decision. With reference to what had been said about large blocks, he contended that no Government that professed to give effect' to the large policy of which the hon. member spoke could do so without selling large blocks of land, unless they got a loan. The hon. member did not intend to sell land between the deferred payment blocks, and he did not intend to sell laud under the 150 th section. Would he tell the House how he was to get half a million sterling, in order to cany out the most necessary works in the Province? It was true they might get a loan to pay the contractors for the contracts entered into, and the works now going on. But if they did not get a loan, did the hon. member mean to tell those contractors that their just claims would not be satisfied; because the General Assembly would not consent to allow the Province a loan ? As to this outcry against selling blocks of laud under the 150 th section, was it not the fact that no land could be sold under that section without the whole matter coming before the members of the Council ? And if it proved to be necessary to ask the Council to agree to the sale of land under this section, he would ask the Council who placed them iu that position ? They would be placed m that position by the action of the hon. member himself, in having accepted tenders for works to the extent of LUO,OOO after the financial year had closed, and when it was illegal to do so. He defied the hon. member to carry out the policy he had advocated with°ut having recourse to the 150 th section. He (Mr Reid) told the Council in |his speech that he would propose the sale of land under the 150 th section only as a last resource ; and the proper time for delivering that portion of the hon. member’s speech referring to large blocks would be when a resolution for selling the land under the 150tli section was before the House. And how came it, if the hon. member had such an objection against the sale of land under the 150 th section, that during last session his Government proposed, and he himself moved resolutions for the sale of large blocks under that very section, in order to construct radways: one resolution moved by the honor member proposing the sale of no less than 000.000 acres under the 150 th section—[Mr Bastings: But we never sold it.]— That was not the point. The hon. member seemed to have altered his opinion as to the 150 th clause -[Mr Bastings ; Yes.]-Well, what the Council and epuntry wanted to know was, when j alteration of opinion was brought about'/ Did this alteration of opinion take place before those contracts were let which bound the Province, to so large an expenditure? If so, the action of the honorable member was worthy of the severest reprobation. He ought to have come down to tho House as an. honest representative, and said;“l cannot agree to.the initiation of those works until I see by what means they are to be paid for. ■ I cannot agree to their being constructed out of money obtained by the sale of land under the 150 th section/ Instead of doing so, ho had committed the Province to this large expenditure, and they could not recode, from it. The hon. member objected to the sale of pastoral land; and to the sale of land between the, deferred payment blocks at ,L2 per acre—in fact, he objected to revenue from any source. But ®Vbu if they sold this land at L2 an acre, not ft penny <jf (he proceeds would go towards the construction of branch Every fraction of it would be required for- ordinary expenses—for education and their other institutions, for interest and sinking fund, &c. He charged Mr Bastings and Mr Fish with having changed their views on the land quesGon. But his (Mr Reid’s) views were the same. bad always contended that if it was necessary to sell the land to obtain revenue, it was far better to sell it under tjie 150 th section than to sell land-thvt might become valuable for setWPfhWk He did , not think the ’land at this elevation would be ’ suitable for ‘ settlement. Then the hqn. xpenffier stated that fie was justefied m assuming thqt his late colleagues and' himself {Mr Reid) came together fpr the purpose of toUihg Jargehiocks He djdnot know what grounds the hon, member had for this assumption. He and the late colleagues of the lion, member never came together on any 1 The Conditions upon which they did come together were very precisely put m writing, and tyere these:—lf they had not the means to pay their way, they were to sell the pastoral land in' preference' to the agricultural land. As .to' the affairs of the Provinces suffering during his -(Mr Reid’s) absence in . Wellington, he thought it quite, possible for a man 'qf his limited to Pnt thg pub]ie works in train aq that there would be no injury while he was absent. There were few questions of very grave importance to be decided by the Executive, for “any of them were decided at Wellington. Ihe Government were quite indifferent as to the result of this vote. When the Governnient was formed, their desire was to effect a coalition of parties m 'that Council, to carry cut a wand policy that He had advanced for years. He was thape to give effect'to that and nothing else. They would regret the carrying of the motion, not upon account of themselves —not on account of the positions in which they yrare ■ then placed—but because it » potion bought forward at a time when there" was' a' prospect qf past differences being removed ‘satisfactorily. To renew these differences was “prejudicial to the interests of the Province. The ban-yin? of the motion would be the beginning of what miqht be party strife. It would be better for the Government, even if they had a majority on this vote, unless the majority was large enough to aUow them to carry on'the business of the Council, to retire and leave the honorable members the task of constructing another Executive that would give greater satisfaction, ifie Government were not going to waste the time of the country. Every member skmld record his vote and the Government would receive tfio result with satisfaction, whether for or agamst them. Mr De Latour would rather see the Council ngntmg for a month than a repetition of the blunders of the past, and public works suspended, than submit to the sale of another block of land, unless the Province was shown to be m real distress. He referred to,the absqncq

of a mining representative on the Government benches, and expressed his intention of supporting the motion. Mr M‘Dermid, and |r r Sumpter spoio in support of the’motbu ; the Provincial Solicitor, Mr Kinross, Mr Henderson, Mr Lumsden, and Mr M'Kellar-against iw* The Provincial Treasureb: I have been very unwilling to be dragged into this discussion at all, and had it not been for the indiscretion of my late colleague's matt Friday, Mr Fish, the member for Port Chalmers; and the member for somewhere else, I should have held my tongue. It has been insinuated that the late Secretary for Goldfields and Works has been treated badly ; that there were reasons why he retired from office, and that I am not treating him fairly in withholding those reasons. In the first place I have to thank the hon. member for Tuapeka for the temperate way in which he introduced his motion, and had those who followed him acted in the same way, I should have been spared the remarks I am about to make. At the same time I must refer to a matter which Mr Fish has brought up again, viz., the Tapanui sections : and in justice to myself I shall now state, on informa* turn from an undoubted source, how the matter stands. On reading the newspaper report the day after the hon. member for Tuapeka made reflections upon mo which I thought were per* sonal, I sent a note to the Under-Secretary, calling his attention to the statement, and asking to be furnished with the whole particulars. I will now read his memo:— _“® Purchase of sections 12,13, and 16, block T, Glenkemch.—On the 27th February the Government, finding that the sections could not be reserved from sale, upon the recommendation of the Secretary for Goldfields agreed to purchase them; and,, on the 28th, a telegram was sent by the Secretary to Warden Carew, to the following effect ‘ Buy in sections 12,13. and 16. Mock 7, Glenkenich. When purchased, show this telegram to auctioneer.’ On the 3rd March Warden Carew reported having made the purchase, and on the 6th a voucher for the Amount to be paid was prepared. Nothing was said to Mr Carew about paying a deposit; neither does he mention it. in his letter. As there were, however, no funds available, and a special order could not then be given, the matter was allowed to stand over, with the knowledge of the Secretary Goldfields, until too late—Captain Mackenzie having in the interval, by inspection of the books m Lawrence office, discovered that’ no deposit bad been made, and lodged an application for the land.—A. Willis. ’ Will the non. member for the City (Mr Fish) now say that lam specially to blame for this.—[Mr Fish; Certainly.]— But I don’t think any other hqn. member will say, certainly, so I think the matter is disposed of. I showed this .memo? rand uni to the late Secretary for Works, and asked him to mention in fairness that'he had made a. mistake in putting so much blame upon me. I though hewasgoingtodo so, buthehasnot, therefore I have done so to clear myself of blame. With regard to the reasons which led to the: dissolution of the late Government. Une was that I had really no time to conduct the arduous duties of head of the Government and Provincial Treasurer. Then we differed in opinion entirely in regard to administration. I had demurred to the extent to which my late colleague went iu overriding the votes of this' uounoiL Ido not want to say anything in ah unfair spmt, and will only mention one in* stance, which will in a day or two appear in the balance sheet. The one which I protested agamst was the transfer of LI, 200 voted for the Teviot road to the road from Tuapeka to Lawreuce. v j i een personally over this rqad,’ and believed the transfer was a most improper one. It was simply taking money from a road that wanted it badly, and giving it to a road which was not only rapidly becoming the best in the Province, but had a railway making alongside of it. When the question of transfer I proposed that its consideration should be delayed until the next Executive meetmg, which was agreed to. At that meeting there were present Mr Bastings, Mr Turton, the Superintendent, and myself. u - nej ? time we met » Mr Turton being absent, the matter was brought up again. . I had made up my mind to dissent from the transfer as illegal and improper. I thought so then, and I think so still. But my colleague urged strongly upon the Superintendent that it was no use ; the money had been ispent, and that we were liable to the contractor for Sts' payment. I determined to retire from the Govemment at that time, and put myself in communication with the Superintendent with regard to the transfer, and received from his Honor a memo., of which the following is an extract:— * e “With regard to the L 1,200 transferred from the road, ‘Tuapeka to Teviot’ to ‘ Tbkbmainro to Lawrence,’ it is due to myself personally to state that my authority to the transfer and to the payment was fqr some time wjthr held; and it was only after the matter had been the subject of repeated discussions in the Executive, and as being led to understand -that the money had actually been paid, that my official sanction was reluctantly given—on the prinmilk’i’ 18 * Wa * ÜBe^*ss ‘cry over spilt I intimated to his Honor before this took place that, as he had taken the side of the Secretary for Works as agamst me as head of the Exeoutiye, I thought I occupied a* anomolous position, and thought it to be my duty to retire.' Tim was got over by persuasion on the part of all parties, and I stuck on. But that ‘was not the worst part of the affair. In the hst of expenditure you will find addl: tional liability on this very road of L 3.500. Ihere was voted by the Council last year for this road L 5.000; there was L 6.400 actually spent, and we have incurred amiability of L 3.500. ipakmga total of LIO,OOO, where only L5,C03 was voted. _ This i§ ftn instance of WhatT objected to m the Executive. I consider I was bound to protect the public money and the votes sanctioned by the Council—(Hear.) There are numerous other instances of a similar nature, and I gave instructions to the Secretary of the .treasury to scrutinise every voucher, and if he considered there was the slightest reason to think the money had not been legally authortsed, not to present it to me for signature, AntW di awing my attention to the matter! I have on sacral occasions sent back vouchers to the Under-Secrbtafy,- with iuStrucrions'to : fu£ nishnje withthq date of theautbbrisationdf'the payments. Some of theqo came v Up before thg Lxecutive while the Secretary of »Work# was up.country- I believe he did it with the beat intentions, but X say while I was responsible lor t tJ io money, I was bound to respect the votes of the Council and see they were carried out in a legaujnanner. Another point we ditferodon was making appointments in an illegal i , em not of a creditable character their ever being submitted to the ffuß was another reason why I made up my mma, with the concurrence of two of my late colleigrfes,’ that' wd shohia relltb from the Government as soon as the Cpuffoil mot, and to lea v$ the Superintendent te do ad he pleased. If he conCqrred in the course fouqiVpd by tlfo Ijoh. member ‘for Tuapek», be WQUId n ft tui- ft Uype n d % Jiliß.- Imp probably eutitied to a bortaiu amount of blame fornot being abie to devote sufficient time to the duties of the offices I undertook, but I am bound to say this: I never authorised any proceeding which would not stand the full light of this Connoi).—(Hear.) J am «qt going to say that my late colleague'is hqt to be trusted-; he holdiiig ;U1 the mitter qf spending money,: think he is suitable and eligible a gentleman as I know for Secretary for Goldfields and I am authorised to say that I suggested to tho Provincial Secretary, when forming his Government that Mr Bastings should occupy that position. It bus b?ea said by W member fpv Bort Chalmers that J waa rcalfe the framer of the present Government That is totally untrue. I had nothing t6 do with tho formation of the '.present Government' HG “f, el ? orta > and i-eoammendfid that'Mr'Eeid tri EWSrsitS i«ta

dertaken to preserve, and I felt certain that no member ef the Council would aid in throwing aside the votes of the Council. If any member did do such a thing, I do not believe that he would bo supported for five asinutes. As long as the Council voted money, we were hound to spend it as voted, and no transfer should be made from one district to another, unless by the authonty of a full meeting of the Executive. With regai dto the railway contracts, if pressed I will go into the whole thing. The non. nrnmber for Dunedin (Mr Fish) save we lost L 2,000 on one contract. I will tell him the reason why, if he likes. At the time the tenders were opened, a proposal was before the Executive whether we should adhere to the conditions or not. We decided, after full discussion, to adhere to the conditions. I proposed what I thought was a fair course for saving the publio money, that if anyone was lowest had not adhered to It C -iT i n 1 10n8 ’ we should present hia cheque to the Bank and get cash for it. Dr Webster supported that view, and my late colleague urged strongly that people had made anangements by which they locked up a certain amount of money; and it would be a great shame not to adhere to the conditions as advertised. It was carried that that should be done. The tenders were then opened, and there waa a difference of L 2.000 between the lowest' and successful one—Mr Morrison, of Blue Spur. That was the reason why his tender was accepted ; but I don’t consider it helps my friend anything, except that he and the engineer knew previously what the tenders were. They had analyzed the tenders. They were opened in the engineer’s office before the Executive decided on them. That is exactly how the matter stands. I hope I make no reflection. Mr Bastings : I would like to ask the hon. member if l aid not propose that none of the tenders should be accepted, as being too high ? (Gheers.) The Provincial Treasurer : I don’t recollect. Mr Bastings : But I did. The Provincial Treasurer: I am quite P r ?P? re< * kolieve that he may have done so. (Cheers.) It does not help nay friend’s case one iota; but my late colleague has been attacking my position, and I am defending myself, I have no intention of saying there was the slightest thing wrong about the con,l ma y certainly say there waa not. Still, there was the fact. I say, whatever Government is upon. these benches, their proper eburse must be to respect the votes of the Council A majority of the late Executive submitted to the Superintendent a memo,. Which concluded in these words “The undersigned in submitting the above to ms Honor, desire to assure him that they are not actuated by any unfriendly spirit either towards himself or the Secretary for Works ; blit they feel that in the interests of the public, find keeping in view the position in which they have been placed by a majority of the Provincial Gpuncal, and their own self-respect, they must respectfplly, but decidedly decline to continue members of any Executive where the ordinary r wks of responsible Government are hot strictly aanerea xo t ® lB Bohor replied that he concurred in what we did, and promised he would insist on everything being done in proper form for the future. Weil, thmgs went better afterwards ; —still, when the Council met our only course was to resign. There has been ho unfriendly feeling between Mr Bastings and us. We have always personally worked smoothly. Our only difficulty was we could not hold him in. He spent votes with out the necessary legal authority and made appointments the Executive neverheard of. Mr Tolmie would reserve his decision until he heard Mr Bastings’ reply, as he felt a strong case had been made out against him. When he was in office, he put his finger on this very vote for the Lawrence road, as one that should be properly expended. Mr Daniel said that until he heard the statement of the Treasurer he had determined to vote against the Go vernment, but nowie was of a different opinion, and weuld wait anxiously for the reply of the mover ef the motion. Dr Webster had never taken a part in politics until late in life, end it was an ill becoming thing that he should he attacked by those vriho had been talking stump oratory for many long years.—(Laughter and applause.) lie denied emphatically that he had ever neglected the duties of his office; he had done much useful work, notwithstanding the peculiar position he was placed in owing to the fact that another member of the Government was in the Waste Land Board. Mr Haggitt said he Intended to vote with the Govenihient, because he was confident they nmheat Government that could be formed iu the Council. Ihid Opposition, now got up the most faction's that* could be offered to any Government. It was a course to be strongly deprecated that the disputes of the Executive should have been so publicly paraded before the Council After remarks by the Hon, Dr Menzies, Mr Ireland (who said his vote depended upon Mr Bastings’s explanations). ‘Mr Wood, and Mr Reeves, Mr Bastings replied to the charges made against him, and spoke as follows :-Sir, I think my late colleague has gone a little too far In what he has said in reference to myself. It was not so much what he said as his manner of saying it, and the insinuations he made against myself. I say, if I had been guilty of what he B *ys l was. I had no right to continue in office With him up to the present time.—(Hear.) I deny most emphatically that any money has been expended on this Tuapeka road but what has been authorised by the Executive. I may state—and no doubt honorable members are aware—that during last session there were two or three sets of Estimates owing to the different changes in the Government, hud thgre’■ was q, large liability on this road— Jiut only on the road itself, but there was due to one Hefferroan L 2,800 on a contract for metamng the road from the tollgate to the junction of the Woolsked road. A previous Provincial Treasury or Provincial Secretary in making out the estimates for the road, .lost sight r o an( i there had been always this deficient upon this road. The contract had been publicly tendered for, laid before the Executive, accepted by ifc, and the money was fafrjy dpe, Bp-thafc I was in no Way responsible for it. There have been a gr,eat many shqifporaings in the conduct of business by the late Government, and it appears to met am to be tap victipx pf them all, and pu jny Shoulders they wffi be all placed. Now, I say, ao ßitatiHgly, the late Provincial Secretary and .Treasurer has never devoted time enough to the business of the country—not so much as would be given by a member of a parish vestry- (Cheers). I don’t believe ne has been in his office six hours a week during the time I heln office. Instead of him coming to my office, and talking over the affairs of the proving; I have had to'run round tp his office, f* though I were a clerk instead of a colleague and even then I <?ould nqt get biffi to pettle the business pfthe cpunjry. He would gay, UOh *t must wait oyer until the next regular meeting of the Executive. ’ f have hepn proypkgd into the perspnM dispuHsipn, bqt I will admit the remarks of the Treasurer were extracted from him by members on my side of the House. At the same time I must complain of the manner in which he spoke. Some months ago there was a difference between the Tre^urer. and ffiysetf. shall go into fW We thing now. . A resolution was masgd fiy the Council last that apmetmng should be done towards effecting a change »n the management of the Dunedin Hospital, and it will bo in the minds of hon. members that I got up in my place here and said would undertake to dp something in the Now, at an Executive meeting it was Agreed that I should do so. ’ I intended to call jStohc l meeting ip Dunedin tp test the feeling tpo. citizens in reference to a voluntary support of the institution by them. I admit that xn this 1 was guilty of a breach of etiquette, WWlwrote tg tljp president pf theMelbpurne Hospital asking for some information. ' T 7[ ai ?t®d upon this matter. 1 also wrote some letters to Wellington. I admit I was ignorant of office etiquette, and wrong in sending letters out of the Province. It should have been done by the Superintendent or Provincial Secretary. ■My late league s«ut me a note stating that he did not like this sort of thing, and tuat he wo«ld tender his resignation. I came down and saw the hon. gentleman, and told him there was no occasion for him to resign, in fact I was disgusted myself with the condition of things. He was jWW to be Been, while X was in my Qffi ge

or nine hours a-day, and had to take work home at night, besides having to see sixty or seventy people a-day, because there was no other member of the Government to he seen : in a word, that I was full of it, and quite content to give np governing the country, and to get back to my business. He would not receive my resignation that time, and we went on again for a considerable time. Then came the memorandum lie has referred to. I believe it was agreed to in my absence. Wasthatmanly or straightforward? They asked me to reply in writing, but I refused to do so. I said, “No; if you don’t approve of my conduct I will resign and I sent in my resignation, but it was again refused. Now with regard to railways. The hon member in saying that the Provincial Engineer and I analysed the tenders before they went to toe Executive, has stated what is absolutely The Speaker ; I call the hon. member to order. Mr Bastings : Where my character is at stake, whether it is permitted or not, I must be privileged to say what I have to say. The Speaker : The hon. member, on reflection, will at once see the expression is one that ought not to have been used, and must be withdrawn. , Mr Bastings : I will withdraw the expression, and trust hon. members will forgive me in the injured state of my feelings at the present time for having lost my temper for a minute and given way to it. With reference to these railways. What was their position ? The fact of the matter is, we called for tenders amounting to LI4JOOO. I may state one of these railways is a pet scheme of the hon. member for Oamaru country, in fact I heard that member, when a change in a previous adminiatratirn was being made, make it a condition that this railway should be made, or he would not support the party. It has been said by the Treasurer that I knew about these tenders. I never saw them from the time they were opened by the Treasurer, ms Honor the Superintendent, and myself, and they went in the ordinary manner to the Enpneer upstairs. I know nothing about analysing tenders, and am not competent to do it I did not see them again until they were settled. • J The Provincial Treasurer : After that statement I beg to apologise for what I have said. _ I understood the engineer and himself examined the tenders before they came to the Executive, As that was not so, lam sorry for my remarks, and regret having made them. Mr Bastings : So far, that is satisfactory to me. With reference to the road, my statement can be substantiated by the Executive minutes, i shall refer to the railway tenders as showing the indecent haste in which business is done in the Province. The member for Oamaru country eame down on the Monday, and we had to settle the whole of {those tenders for the railways in about one and a-half hours. About that one I protested, and pro posed we should call for fresh tenders for all the lines, because I considered the price too uigh, and that in the present state of the labor market we had better postpone the tenders for some time.-(Cheers.) I only refer to this matter to justify myself. There is another little matter. The hon. member and the hon. member for Oamaru country agreed to a vote for L2,50t0 make a road through the town of Oamaru. I disagreed with that. .The Provincial Treasurer ; It was a previous arrangement made by a previous Government. . Mr Bastings : The Provincial Engineer sent in a report that LISOO was enough money. This was not one of the sins I was guilty of. I objected to voting more than L 1,500, because our own engineer said that was all the Municipality was legally entitled to.- (Cheers) So that the treasurer has his little sins to. With referenence to the Tokomairiro-Lawrcnce road. I have to explain that money was wanted for the road, and on the suggestion of the Provincial Engineer, the L 1,200 was transferred from a road which was not in need of it. In the one case the works were not in progress in the other they were required to be constructed before winter sets in, because there were heavy cuttings, and the money would come out of the r votes. It is, often done. It was done on the Mam North Road the other day. 12,009 for that road appeared on the supplementary estimates, and a portion of it was expended on a road at Shag Yallay. Mr Fish : Perfectly satisfactory. A division was taken, giving the Government a majority of seven. The motion was declared lost, Ihe following is the list:— Ayes, 17.—-Bastings (teller), J. C. Brown, Y‘ L- Browne, H. Clark, R. Clarke, De Batour. Pish (teller). Green, Hazlett, Ireland, M. Dermid, M‘(xla'shan, JVl‘Kenzie. Oliver Keeves, Sumpter, Tmtom Noes, 24.- Allan, Daniel, Davie, Haggitt, Henderson, Kinross, Lumsden, Menzies, Molhson’ Mackellar, M‘Lean, M’Neil, Reid (teUer) Reynolds, Roberts, Rogers, Shand, otout (teller), iesehemaker, Tolmie, Turnbull, Webster, Wilson, Wood,