PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Evening Star, Issue 3528, 13 June 1874, Page 2

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

The following Bills were read a third time, and passed ; The Appropriation Bill, 1874-5, the Invercargill Reserves Management Ordinance Amendment Bill, Naseby deserves Recreation Management Bill, Gobi Duty Repayment Bill, Lawrence ReserveSale Bill, and the Dunedin Presbyterian Church Laws Bill. The ibjloyring motion, proposed by the Provincial Secretary, \fas carried: “That an Address be presented po ifia Honor the •Superintendent, requesting him to forward to this Councd a reojinmendation to grant a sum of money sufficient to meet the unauthorised expenditure referred to in the letter from the Provincial Auditor laid upon the table by Mr Speaker on the 12th day of Mav. 1874.”

The Provincial Secretary : I have much pleasure in stating that the honorable member for the Kawarau, Mr M‘Kellar, has consented to join the Government, and to I represent the goldfields. I have every con* ■ fi iouce that thst gentleman has knowledge I of the wants of the miners, and that his ! bvisineas capacity will give confidence tfir ughput the goldfields. • 'I have much pleasure in stating that he will take his seat on the Government Benches. In movmv—“ Th%t this Council having had under its consideration his Honor’s Message No. 20, relative to the reserves set aside as endowments for High, Grammar, and District Schools, Hospitals, Benevo ent institutions, and for the Clutha River Trust, concurs in the recommendations therein contained, and in order to secure that grants of the Educational Endowments be issued witbopt further delay, respectfully requests that hia Honor* the Superintendent will take such steps as be may consider necessary to induce the General Government to issue Grown grants for the reserves made for High, Grammar, and District "chools, and that so soon as the grants are issued the reserves for Hospitals. Benevolent Institutions, and Clutha River Trust be abandoned ” —the Provincial Secretary said this step had been proposed on account of the Colonial .Government not having up to this time consented to issue Crown grants for the whole of the reserves, and, there was reason to believe, the Colonial Government would not. The lauds were now tied up. They could not be used for mining or agriculture—he believed only a very small portion was suitable for either of those purposes -—and were in such a position that it was better to have them placed under the management of the Waste Land Board. That course would be a very fair solution of the difficulty* Afc the lapt session of the Assembly the General Government ‘introduced a Bill for doing away with these’ reserves, and leaving it to the Province to create reserves to the extent of 500,000 acres. Many members for the Province did not see their way to this. The measure was carried in the House of Bepresentatives, but was thrown thrown out in the Upper House. The Upper House, he believed, threw it out in order to get an expression of opinion from this Council. He believed the abandonment of the reserves proposed to be abandoned would lead to Crown grants being issued for the others. Besides, the reserving of these lands preveuted pastoral tenants from- getting their pre-emptive rights, and he believed that had something to d« with the opposition shown; and, as a matter of justice, they should, if they desired, be allowed to select their pre-emptives. In the course of the debate that ensued, Mr M‘Glashan stated that 3>n opinion had been given by the Attor-ney-General that tfiesa reserves were illegal Speaking from his own ejepertenoe as a memi bor of the issembly, he informed them ; hat at their caucus meetings the Southern members were unanimously of opinion that they should endeavour to get Crown grants for the whole of the reserves, but they found that they could not succeed. Another meeling was held, when it was decided to take what they could get; otherwise they were afraid that nothing would be got at all. The whole of the North Island members were dead against the reserves being given, Under

the circumstances they should give way a little, and by-and-by they could look for more, _ If they did not do so it was very likely indeed that they would get nothing at all* He had grave doubts about the propriety of so much land being reserved for such purposes. Its effect was to make them leas self-dependent. It would, he thought, be better for them to put their bands in their pockets for the maintenance of benevolent institutions than to have so much land locked up all over the country. They stood in their own light if they did not accept the motion. M Lua.n moved as an amendment—*1 1 hat the Council having had under consideration his Honor’s Message, is of opinion that, while concurring iu his opinion as to the desirability of obtaining Crown grams for the Educational Reserves, it is still of opinion that the other reserves should also be obtained.” The words in the oririnal motion were struck out, on a division, by 21 votes against 14. The following is the diviaion hat on thej question ** that the words of the original motion stand part of the question” : Ayes, 14 : Messrs Allan, Davie, Haggitt, Kinross, Lumsden, M'Dsrmid, M‘Clashan, M'Kellar, Reid (teller), Roberts, Stout (teller). Turnbull, Webster, and Wilson. Hoes, 21; Messys Bastings, J. 0. Brown (teller), G-. F. 0. Browne, H. Clark, R. Clarke, Gumming, Daniel, Fish (teller), Green, Hazlett, Henderson, Ireland, M'Kenzie, M'Lean, M‘NeU Oliver, Reeves, Rogers, Sumpter, Tolmie, and Wood. The amendment was then agreed to on tbs voices. In moving the following resolutions—1. No district railway shall be undertaken or authorised by the Provincial Government to be constructed, until the consent of not less than two-thirds of the owners of property in the district, supposed to be benefited by such railway (the boundaries of such district to be defined by thjs Council) shall have been obtained to a rate being levied from time to time on all property within such district; io a sufficient amount to make up two-fifths of the deficiency (if any) of the interest on the cost of constructing such railway, and the whole of the deficiency (if any) of the cost of working the line over and above the cost of levying and collecting such rate. 2. That for the purpose of ascertaining tfie consent of the owners of property in any district, in farms of the preceding resolution, the votes of su.gh qwnera shall ho calculated in proportion to the property hfld pn a scale similar to that provided ih‘ the 1871 Ordinance, for the purposes, qf tuait. 3. When any District Railway has to be constructed through any district in which there are unsold lands of the drown, sqph lands as shall be included in sugh district shall be rated to the same extent as other lands, and the rate payable in respect of such lands shall be paid

out of Provincial revenues until such lands shall be sold. 4. That special provision shall be made with the owners of mines, or any works of any description, to which any such line is to be constructed, fer contributing towards the payment of working expenses and interest, as may be determined by the Council Por the purposes of these resolutions, a tdistrict Railway shall mean a railway connecting with a main branch or main lino of railway, the Provincial Secretary said it was necessary ti.at there should be a guarantee against losses in constructing the railways. It was intended that wherever railways were constructed through’ if 'district that njigbt be considered to be specially benefited, 1-hat- the persons interested, who have property, mines, or other works which require railway communication, should guarantee the Provincea certain portion of the interest and sinking fund. This would guard the Province from undue demands for the construction of railways where the traffic was insufficient to justify the expenditure. The resolutions were opposed by Mr M‘Lean j Mr M'Kenzik, who considered that the settlers would be unjustly taxed j and by Mr .-ttmpteb, first, cm the ground that they would do au injustice ; second, on account of their impracticability j and, third, because they would deter the construction of lines wjjich would prove valuable feeders to thh main lines. In replying, the Provincial Secretary pointed out that the initiative for' the' c-in-struction of a railway would have to emanate from the district itself. It was not intend to apply the resolutions to the railways agreed po by the Council last session, and now in course qt construction. Had such resolution been brought forward last session, the Green Island branch railway would have been included, and he bad no doubt that if the railway were so included, ’ tbe residents in the district would have gladly submitted to taxation. He had that day received an offer from certain gentlemen of means for the construction of a railway to certain coal pits; and those gentlemen guaranteed the working expenses and interest on the line. A division was taken on the first resolution, with the following result

! _ Ayes, 19Messrs Allan, J. 0. Brown, i Darnel,- Davie, Haggitt, Hallenatein, Henderson, Ireland, Kinross, Lumsden, M'Glashan, Beeves, Eeid (teller), Roberts, 'Stout (fcdlerl Turnbull, \7bbster, Wilton, and Wood. ? Hoes, 15 i Messrs} Rwfcjqtyg, H.' .Clark, R. Vif K r T k ?f Camming, De Lautour, GW (teller), M Neil, Oliver, Rogers, Sumpter, and Tolmie. The other resolutions were then agreed to on the voices. On Mr J. C. Brown moving—“ That Interim Keport No. 5, from the Waste Lands and Immigration Committe in re Shag Valley land sale, be approved. Keport as follows:— ‘ Your Committee are of opinion that the late Government are responsible for a serious lojgs of revenue to the Province and an injustice to intending competitors, by not carrying out the resolution of the Provincial Council passed on the 10th July, 1373—That this Council recommends the Government to grant the prayer of the petition of settlers in the Shag Valley district—the Superintendent having been advised by his responsible advisers on the 31st July, 1873, one day after the session closed, not to exercise his right of reservation, 1 11 Dr Webster expressed surprise that the Committee had not examined any member of the late Executive, which it was now attempted to censure. It was proposed to put up this land at 10s an acre, but it was withdrawn from sale because there was an objection against the land being put up at 10s an acre. The Government said they could not sell the land at 10s, as the Council resolved that no land should be sold at 10s an acre. Therefore the land reyertod to its original position as a Hundred. He was not'lawarp that they could have made a commonage in a Hundred. This land had been in Hundreds for many years, and at the time the Government thought they had no power to withdraw it from the applicants. Any other resident in the district had as much right to purchase the land as the gentleman who did apply tor it. A good price had been obtained for the \ ,and - I he Provincial Solicitor pointed out that the report of the Committee contained no recommendation, and the Speaker therefore ruled the motion out of order. Mr Brown’s motions that report No. 6 from the Waste Land Committee, recommending that the Government should take the necessary steps to secure B. S. Sme'air a Crown grant for his fifty acre section at Martin’s pay, and report iNo. 7, recommending further inquiry into the suitability of two blocks of land on Henderson’s run were agreed to. In moving that the Government' should make arrangements so ns to ensure their employes the full amount of the vouchers given them for work done. Mr J. C. Brown explained that workmen up country had to pay ®£ c hange when they cashed their vouchers at the bank, and the Provincial Secretary piomised that full inquiry would be made into the matter, with a view to remedying the hardship referred to.