NELSON PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1181, 11 May 1872, Page 2

NELSON PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

We have received pur files of Nelson papers, by which we are enabled to give in extenso such portions of the Superintendent's opening speech as relate to the West Coast. A telegraphic summary has previously appeared, but .fuller details will be of interest. /' After stating that the estimated revenue had not been realised, the blame of which the Superintendent lays on the repeal by the Assembly of the Payment to Provinces Act and the falling off in the gold revenue, he saya— " The resolutions you passed in favor of the construction of lines of railroad from the Brunher mines to Cobden, from Nelson to. Fox Hill, and from Mount Rochfort to Westport, were duly forwarded, accompanied by my recommendation, to the Colonial Government, with the suggestion on my part in reference to the last-named work that it should be preceded by a scientific examination of the Mount Rochfort coal field, and by a more complete exploration of the intervening country, in order that the best route to the port should be decided upon. "The Colonial Government had previously, at my request, instructed the Acting Engineer-in-Chief and the Colonial Geologist to examine the country between the Brunner mines and the mouth of the Grey, and had also given directions for a Parliamentary survey of the line from Nelson to Foxhill.

"The construction of the latter line was subsequently authorised by Act of the General Assembly, and the working survey being now in progress, I have no reason io doubt that the work will shortly be begun.

" The Brunner line, with the substitution of Greymouth for Oobden as the terminus, was also authorised to be constructed, subject to the conditions of the fourth part of the Immigration and Public Works Act, 1871 ;. and the preliminaries of agreement in accordance with those conditions have since been arranged between the Colonial Government and myself, subject to your approval. The draft agreement will be submitted to you, in the hope that you will assent to its execution by me on behalf of the Province, after it has re-^ ceived such modifications in,- the details as may appear to you to be desirable. "The resolutions you agreed to, in respect to Water Supply on the Gold Fields, were also forwarded by me to the Colonial Government, supported by my recommendation that they should be carried into effect. " In the meantime, the alteration in the law upon the subject, made by the Gere^al Assembly, has resulted in inaction. I have, however, recently pressed upon the' Government the importance <jf at once

authorising the expenditure of L3o,oooin the construction of a water-race from Lake Hochstetter to Nelson Ureek, on the River Grey, and have reason to hope that the application will be complied with. The interest and sinking fund upon this sum will have to be provided from Provincial fund 5 ....... ... „_......,,..• "A line of wires is also now in progress from Greymoxith to Ahaura and Reefton, the completion of which may also be looked for in a few months. • ■ Referring to the Highways Act, an outline of which has already appeared in our columns, he states that it is not intended to make it apply to Gold Field districts, unless encouraged to do so by the general wish of the inhabitants themselves ' He proceeds—" The. Legislature having enacted in . the second part of the Immigration and Public Works Amendment Act, 1871, that a sum not exceeding fourelevenths of the share of this Province in the Middle Island Railway Fund may be expended upon roads within that part of the South-West Gold Fields south of the northern boundary of the Buller Electoral District, and the sum thus available being about L 24,000, I recommend /that it should be appropriated in the following manner :— L16,000 in roads connecting the Inangahua reefs with the ports of the Buller and Grey ; L6OOO in roads in the central part of the Buller Valley tending to connect the reefs with the agricultural and pastoral districts, and also with those of the Province of Canterbury, and LISOO in a road from Brighton to Razorback, completing the Coast road from Weaiport - to Cobden. ' "The Colonial Government, I regret to say, determined upon, spending the Whole sum upon the works first referred to, on grounds which will appear in the correspondence on the subject when placed in your hands. "The discovery of auriferous quartz . reefs in the Valley of the Inangahua has aßsuined an importance which it did not present on the occasion of your last meeting. There is no longer room to doubt that these reefs will afford remunerative employment to a large mining .population, and the fact that they are situated almost in the heart of the Province has a significance to which I need scarcely direct your, attention. The surrounding country, contains a considerable amount of land available for settlet^lt, and I am sure you will agree with me ; that every; facility should be affordeoV for its permanent occupation. • " The survey of a first block of 5000 acres in the Inangahua Valley, into sections of 50 acres each, is now nearly completed, and instructions have been given for a similar survey of a second block of 1 the same area. . T . ■ " These sections will be offered for sale by public auction in accordance with the •■' land regulations of 1863. "The construction of main lines of road connecting the auriferous districts, both with ports from which supplies from beyond seas may be drawn and with the agricultural and pastoral parts of the country capable of supplying the miner with food at reasonable prices, becomes more than ever a matter of pressing imi portance. "I shall, therefore, recommend to you, ; in the proposals for the expenditure of i the current year, that such money as shall i be available,' after providing for the maintenance of existing means of communication rot new public works, shall- be i devoted almost exclusively to the further- ; ance of these views. " The construction of a dray road from the Arnold to the Ahaura, to complete the communication between Greymouth and Reefton, I hope to see accomplished with your concurrence by means of as large a sum as can be spared for the purpose from current revenue, aided by grants of land under the conditions prescribed in the 41st section of the Waßte Lands Act of 1863. A Bill to empower me to make the necessary contracts, and to grant land in payment, will be submitted to you. . " Provision will be made in the Esti-T mates for the completion of a road sufficient for the purpose of stock-driving between the Ahaura and the Amuri, so as to connect the Grey and the Inangahua Valleys with the stock producing districts of the Amuri, and also of Canterbury . "Proposals will be submitted to -you, having for their object the formation of a special settlement in the central part of the Buller Valleyj combined vitb the completion' of a road available for stockdriving between the Owen and the Lyell, connecting the Inangahua reefs with the stock producing districts in the northern part of the Province, and with those of the Province of Marlborough. "The rising importance of the Inangahua Valley appears to me to establish a just claim to its formation into a separate electoral district. A bill will therefore be presented to you making provision for theelection of a member of the Provincial Council for the Inangahua, including the adjacent parts or the Buller Valley ■'■ now forming part of the electoral district of the Buller." On Thursday, May 2, in the Council, Mr Donne asked the Government— " Whether his Honor the Superintendent, rathe exercised of his delegated power, m making the reductions of area of the twenty gold-mining leases applied for at Inangahua, and advertised in the Gazette No. 12, dated April 24, 1872, was guided by the" recommendation of the Warden, in each case ; and also, whether the eighteen applications for similar leases that were refused (vide Gazette of. same number and date), were so refused on the recommendatioa of the Warden ?" ■ ' The Provincial Secretary, in reply, said it was not the duty of the Warden to decide upon applications for leases, but only to inquire and report upon them. The Government had given every weight to the recommendations of the Warden, but they had exercised their own judgment after having done so. The area to be granted under lease in such a case as that of the Inangahua Reefs was a question of policy, upon which the decision rested with the Government, and for that decision they were alone responsible. The average area granted in leases for quartzmining at the Inangahua was rather over" e.igbt acres,, and on the Thames Gold Field rather under five acres. Leases had been refused, when the applications had been obviously of a speculative character, l and where granting of them would only have the effect of locking up the land from the bona fide miner; Leases had also been refused where applications were made for several large blocks of ground by the same person. Mr Donne said he had not been properly answered, and that a plain yes or no ought to have been given.