GREYMOUTH HARBOR- WORKS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1281, 6 September 1872, Page 2

GREYMOUTH HARBOR- WORKS.

The Hon. Mr Miller, moved,., in ! the Legislative" Council^ the second reading of the Grey month Harbor Works Validation Bill, explaining its object at some length.-, The Hon.. Mr Waterhouse wished to know out of what fund the ! suin pfflLi4!)oo had been, paid; whether ...out' of the' 'general revenue' or b'uVof litie public works fond. „ „,.....„ * !' r The Hon. Mr Hall" understood that it had been advanced out of the fund for „th£ railway that t was to be made. [The! works were to protect an embankment ihat. would Jorm-aparLof-railway-worjcs.' The Hon., Mr Waterhouse would ; ask whether the coal' reserve was the property of the Municipal Corporation or the. property of the General ; G6vernrae'riK ? * ; The Hon.- Mr 'Miller.r-It is the pro. perty of the County, .of, Wfestland', and, the County authorities had agreed to mbrtgage the : reserve at once, if it'were necessary .tO ClO, SO. >- „..-../, „.:...;,,.- ) —The Hon. ,Mr , Waterhouse said Ithe schedule- to, th§ .Bill -appeared to bie-a mortgage by Edmund Wickes, Mayor, and John A. Whali, Town Clerk, of Greymouth, of: certain property, some i of which did not belong to them. TJi|«cohsent of the County, pfjW.estland ought to have been shown, in the mortgage., jHe did riot intend to bppose'the Bill^ but at the same t time he did not feel altogether satisfied with it. He feared that if ,tkey" gave' assistanice '.to one r municipality^ it could not be well refused to others, and in p.ther parts ofr the; country there wfere" rivera that were threatehing v to^ra|ure townships. Proper precautions had not been taken by -the 1 local authorities, and *Ke~wasnT)rquite~sW"thm~thT^overnmentshoijld! advanced money to remedy evils that they had, to sotne extent, brought upon themselves. \He 'had s4en it stated in the newspapers that tns iinhabitanta of^Greymoiith were warned against building upon the land, but they didso in defiance of the warning, and ,the result was that Government had made' an advance which .might be made a precedent for other towns. ; knowledge j } that ithe. t^wn. ; of Greymouth was built to a 'large' extent* on the Native reserve.. . B«cently there was ; a. yeiy se^" vere flood,' wliich swept away tKe^ embankments ,of the town, , The, protection of the township was of importance to the Colony, for Greymouth was; bue of the most valuable of ' the few available har,bors on the' West Coast. Its preservation'was ' necessary from a colonial point pf. view, inc onsequence of the coal mines in the district, " It'mujt not; be considered that' the works were matter of purely JO-QSiißi ß^^-, M§. PQUy^ftttHink;. ''that" blame could be attached .to the Government'for as'sistliig ; m 'the' work of restoring the embankments. The money should ■nht be taken out of the fconsblida^d revenue, bu<! blight to be i: in someday or another madp a local charge, whether in connection with, the railway that had been undertaken to develop the coal mines, or in' some other way; At ' aHeverits the Colony, a,t.large"ought not tpjbe liable for it.' Thai question, hp\yever^ did not so much belong to the ' Council as to the., other House. The coal reserve ,had originally been made by the CahterWry ptbvhlciat authorities, and w,'as at present vested in the Ctouhty "of Westland;. Spirie ; transactions appeared to have taken;place under which tlie present security h|ad been authorised , to beigiyen for the purpose mentioned in the. Bill. The transaction seemed to be one of a doubtful character, but . explanations ! might be introduced when the Bill was in Committee The Hon. Mr Hall, 'said the Hon. Mr Waterhouse hdft asked whether, the 1 : County Couh6il 'of; Westland had, agreed to the mortgage of the reserve. It ,wa3 true that the Bill did not recite that, but papery laid upon the table gave full information on the subject. '.-•: The Hou, Mr, Waterhouse had read through the papers, but could not findanything authorising the Mayor and Totra , Clerk to .borrow from the General Government the sum of L4OOO for the cotur pletiori of ; tl:e \v4rks, to be' Becured by a

mortgage of th.c coal reserve. His question was whether they had authority to give that mortgage. ifoja^Mr Hall said it was quite true that the coal reserve was originally made by the Province of Canterbury, but upon the separation of Westland, it wpasßed~to»the»€)ounty«»ftiithpnl|ieß, and. it was a question whether it had or not passfcd Iffom them toi the Corporation of Grey mouth. He read^a letter from the -Bremiei«-fo»the-?Maybr 6PBriymwith and a resolution, jfyyj^be Westland County Council. tJpon that, and the undertaking of the Corporation^ give a security, the money wa^ and the Bill proprosed to^aUjlatMifne advance and the security also^^^w regard to the propriety, of . the proceeding, which his hon. frifend had qflestiop^a, ;'fif'[JXf\ Hall) thVtoalbt6Vhad. r 6be^ ,«yl.raost suffi'cieAtlv,ieip)ame'd;bywe!no^' r w > %well. and he would say, it his honorable friend could- have seen the ttiwn'tiuring the flood he would not have dpvibted,,thi} r propriety of the'acfci^n taken. r .;Thje'jq^6'd j( *»iS of a i character without^rededent in^the^memory of the ! oldest'inhabitarit;jfoMer protective works were washed- ivv'ay/atida'gre'ait part of the tpvvn would ; h^ve , been deptroyesj, to the aenpns joss np^ jOiiiypfjitijpfinhabitants, but' of the Colony, by interfering with the-supply of coalfrom'the ßrunner mine, which, they expected ->wpuld be a source of 'great wealth'lp^ the, Colony, The subject was onethat had to be dealt with almost instantly, and^it was. a fortunate circumstance that the Premier, was ,pn the , sppt, ; and could mak^ , the ; necessary arrangements with the: local 1 authorities. The. result ,waa very satisfactory, and the wprlc done would pc/a contrfSutionfto the pp^anent :to jcpnftt^cted for opening up.iheifaUw^y^tp^eTißrjinner coal mines. iThe Attorney-General was of opinion, that the question! asito who had the right to mprtgage the coal reserve was "rin do\\bt ; vand- ihe^bb'stf ltky was tor the County^C6uri'cil 6i Westland and the Cor.poration! pfi Grey mouth to agree, itnd they had jthe agreementsVbfe both/iitfle- hoped there would be r.o opposition to reading j. the ,B,ill a second :time. „ T ■ , j- Q^ () } ,