TOWN EDITION. PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Evening Star, Issue 3803, 3 May 1875, Page 3

TOWN EDITION. PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Ihe thirty-fourth sesdou of the Provincial Council was opened at noon to day. The attendance of hou. members was above the average, but the ladies’, Speaker's, and public galleries were indifferently patronised. Only tlnee of the fair sex had the hardihood to face the weather, and it would be a stretch of imagination to put down the attendance of the general public at more than twenty. Before Mr Speaker was announced half-a-dozen lion gentlemen had the hall almost to themselves and when the chair was taken Mr Held and Mr umsden were the only occupants of the Government benches. By-and-by Messrs Turnbull, M‘Kel!ar, and Stout found their places and completed the list of the Executive. The altered arrangements of the hall have caused considerable alterations of seats. Mr Fish now close t0 the Government benches ; Mr M Glashan is relegated to a seat immediately behind the member for Dunedin; Mr Tolime and Mr Davie are bracketed together; Mr Mills sits in solitary state in the seat that prcvioiirfly knew Mr Green ; Mr de Latour and iVLr Mollison (tlie latter occupying the seat nearest the door) are transferred to Opposition side of the house ; Mr M'Dermid is favorably placed for catching the Speaker’s eye, while Mr Curton is mostadvantageously situated foi entering and leaving the hall with ease ; and the Southland members arc mostly lumped together on the cross benches. To-day when the proceedings began there were in their places Messrs Tolmie, Daniel, Mollison, J. 0. Brown, Green, Clark, M‘Dermid, Tolmie, , Llimi : len - De Latour, Pish, Bastings, M Glashan Davie, Turton, Wilson, Allan, Kinross, Mills Sumpter, Ireland, and subsequently Mr Driver. • he alterations to the Chamber, which have been effected during the recess, have been sketched by the Speaker thus: Towards the close of last session the roof of the hall manifested signs of weakness, and on the recommendation of the Ifouse Committee, it was remitted to the Government and Mr speaker to take what measures they might deem best to strengthen and render it secure, and at the same time to make such alterations in the internal arrangements of the hall as would be calculated to improve its acoustic properties _ and add to the comfort and convenience of members. The work having been entrusted to Mr Lawson, architect, plans were submitted which, after due cons id era! ion, ueie approved, and these have been carried on very satisfactorily by Mr Gore, the contractor, under Mr Lawson’s supervisi. n. The roof has been well strengthened and made thoiou'hly secure. By removing the Speaker’s gallery from Hie place it occupied formerly and placing it in the body of the hall with the entrance to it from the front door’ members seats have been brought much nearer the chair ; and the door entering from the suite of apar: ments will now only he used by members, thus securing greater freedom of ingress and egress, and more privacy in the committee and other rooms. More extended acconri odation has also been secured in the Speaker’s gallery without curtailing that set apart asthe strangers’ gallery. The lobby extending round the back of theseats wall euablehon. members tomoveabout from one side to the other without crossing the floor of the House—a practice which formerly often proved very annoying and distractin'* to some speakers The reporters’ gallery has been lowered and enlarged as much as possible. Uhe reporters acknowledge their indebtedness to Mr Speaker for procuring them better accommoaatiou and a healthier atmosphere to work on than previously obtained in the ■gallery.] Tim new arrangements will necessitate an alteration in themodeof taking divisions, and Mr Speaker has suggested that it should be agreed that the tellers take their places at the first desk on each side of the Clerk’s desk, and that members in coming to a division proceed by the lobbies behind the seats to the space in the rear of the Speaker’s chair— the ayes passsing to the right and the mes to the left of the chair into the body of the hall. Business to-day was commenced after formal matters had been passed over by Messrs DeLatour and J. C. Brown inti oduciug Mr John Armstrong, who took his seat alongside of his first-mentioned sponsor, who is his colleague in the representation of Mount Ida. Imme diately afterwards his Honor the Superinten dent was announced, and delivered a lengthy address. [Although the Speech was delivered shortlv after noon, not a copy of it was procurable at a quarter to 5 p.m. We are, therefore, compelled to go to press without it.] The reading of tiie address was followed by some formal business; and then Mr Speaker read the following memo and explanation of his own position in reference to the Harbor Board ;

“Duiingthe recess, the papers connected with the proceedings of the Council of the late Province of Southland, selected by a committee of this Council for publication, have been examined classified, printed, and bound up in a volume now laid upon i.he table. This work has only been completed a week or two ago, and I consider it due to the Clerk of tire Council (Mr Sessions), by whom the bulk of the work hj is been performed, that I khould testify to the great amount of intelligence and assiduity he lias displayed in carrying out the remit of the Council. I am the better able to do so as my residence in Dunedin during tire last seven m..nths has enabled me to be in daily consultation with him. I think it is my duly to explain that, in classifying the heterogeneous mass of papers that hail to be dealt with, they had all to be read over carefully. Many of them had to be re- copied beforebeing placed in the printer’s hands, and diligent search made for missingpapers amongst those not intended to be printed” and in the case of correspondence, reply letters had to be hunted up in letter books and copied out. When it is considered that these papi r > related to matters dealt with during the existence of Southland as a Pr ovince from 1861 to 1869, and that neither myself nor Mr Sessions had any special knowledge of many of the details, it will be under stood that the work was of considerable magnitude and responsibility. I regret to say that in some cases so mmv documents were amissing, tint those to hand gave no intelligible idea of the matter d>alt with. Such have not been printed, but in all cases,_ even where documents were evidently amissing, but where tlro.c remaining gave a general idea of the subject treated, they have liccn printed with notes drawing attention to the missing jink or links. No efforts have been spared during the recesses of the last two sessions to compile from the documents placed rn the hands of the Department as complete a record as possible of the Votes Proceedings, and Papers of the late Province of Southland during the years already mentioned viz , from 1861 to 1869. As this has been a special work, and a very onerous one, in addition to the ordinary duties of the Clerk of Council I feel in expressing the hope that the Council will in some way mark its appreciation of the services which, I am happy to say have not only been faithfully but willin-ly and cheerfully rendered by Mr Sessions. ° “ Having thus given an account, and I trust a satisfactory one, of my stewardship ui those matters confided to me as Speaker, I have only now to allude, and that briefly, to a matter of a personal character. Since last meeting of the Council 1 have accepted the office of Secretary to the Harbor Hoard, and this by sonic is held to be incompatible with my holding the ollico of Speaker—the Speaker being at pre-cut an ex officio member of the Board. Although I am aware that an alteration of the constitution of the Board will be proposed, for reasons entirely outside of the question affeciii «■ my position, ami although by cause 19 of the exi.-t----ing Ordinance it is implied that a member'of the Board may ho an officer of the Board still under the altered eirc run stances, and knowinnthat _ differences of opinion exist on £ question, I think it is my duty to give honorable members an opportunity of electing another Speaker if they so wish. I have, therefore, to intimate that, oil the do:e of the sitting, I intend to forward rny resigna iron to his Horror the Superintendent, believing that an ear ly decision on the matter will conduce most to the upholding of the dignity of the office, and greater decorum he secured in the subsequent proceedings of the Counc 1. I have only further to add that some time u-o I acquainted the Government with the course I intended to pursue. Highly as I prize the

honorable position of being Speaker of this House, the honor of it can only be upheld, and it can only be honorable to me when I know that I hold it with the hearty goodwill, concurrence, and support of its members.” x Members of the Government next laid on the table various papers, including correspondence with the Home Agent; departmental reports (Education, Industrial School, Lands and Hospital), and the Provincial Solicitor introduced a batch of Pills. A House Committee was appointed. Mr Armstrong gave notice, amidst some applause, of his intention to move to-morrow the reply to the Address, and the C ouncil, as the clock struck one, a Ijournol.