NELSON PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1488, 12 May 1873, Page 2

NELSON PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

(prom our special correspondent.) The contents of the speech delivered by thi3 Superintendent of Nelson at the opening of the present session «f the Pro" vincial Council, have already been mdi- T cated by telegram. But this was' only 1 done very briefly. The characteristic of the speech itself 4s its considerable' length, and the two circumstances— 4he shortness of the telegram and the length of the speech — justify me in accommodating your readers by making a compromise in the shape of a summary of the Superintendent's utterances. To do this may be au injustice to his Honor as far as concerns his diction, for if exception has often to be taken to his action or inaction, his diction is generally unexceptionable. It cannot, however, be any great injustice to the most intelligent reader to rob the speech of a few of its rounded periods, and to give in simple form that which is necessarily written in the style of a State paper. Moreover, many of its subjects, though they are connected with the Gold Fields, are of little concern to you until there is some promise of action relating to them on the part of the Council. Paragraph 1 commences with the statement that the revenue for the past year was L7OOO less than on the prjvious year, and L 22,000 less than the Superintendent's own — and nobody's but; his own— over-sanguine estimates ; and it ends with the explanation that this is due to the non-realisation of the hopes of the Inangahua district, to the continuance of dry weather, to the reduction of the gold duty, and to the absorption of Provincial revenue by the General Government. It doe 3 not venture to say what the Superintendent erroneously said on the Coast, that it is due to over-voting by the Council. The Special Settlements Act receives reference in the second paragraph. The Bill recommended by the Council contemplated permission being given to present residents of the Province, as well as immigrants, to become special settlers, but the Legislative Council objected to the principle, and the Superintendent seems disposed to retreat from the position. The question, however,, is not yet done with, as I notice that Mr Shephard, the promoter, if not the originator, of the special settlement scheme, has proposed a Committee to again consider the subject. In the succeeding paragraph Mr Curtis' promises to introduce some amendments in the Geld Fields Act for the benefit of agricultural leaseholders, that benefit taking the shape of the extension of the lease for seven years at the same rent. Again on this subject Mr Shephard has tabled a motion, and. his propositions, I understand, are likely to be a shade more favorable to the class interested. Tn connection with this subject, the Superintendent gives some 6gnres contrasting Nelson with Westland, and these I quote, with the simple remark that they seem to me to cut both ways. He says :— " The number of agricultural leases issued from the Nelson Gold Fields up to the 31st March, 1872, was 172, comprising 4447 acres ; in the County of Westland the number at the same date was 17, comprising 157 acres. The number of goldmining leases shows a similar contrast, those issued in Nelson being 196, comprising 1435 acres, against 14; comprising 90 acres, in the County of Westland. The return for the twelve months just ended will show that the number of agricultural leases granted in this Province, and the area comprised in them, now amount to nearly double the figures above quoted, and that nearly the same result has been attained with respect to leases of land for gold- mining." "Finding," says the 4th paragraph, " that the state of the revenue would not justify me in constructing the proposed wooden tramway from the Brunner Coalmine to the port of Cobden," Mr Curtis made application to the General Government, and the General Government declined to accede. The paragraph would have read more correctly had it said that Mr Curtis knew from the first that the revenue did not justify him contemplating the practical construction of auch a political contrivance as the Cobden tramway, and it might also be more correct to speak of Cobden without calling it a port. The paragraph concludes with a sort of chuckle at the fact that the security for half the cost of the Greymouth line had been shifted on to Westland, or, as it really is, on to the Colony — a shift which would never have been effected had there been less of Waterhouse and more of Yogel in the iwsonnel of the Government at the time. ; The fifth paragraph, or series of paragraphs, is a recommendatory notice of the great railway scheme, about which the people of Nelson are at present exercising themselves so extensively. It concludes with an approval of that which has beeh argued for in your columns, and which wa*s formally proposed by Mr Vogel — the connection of Canterbury with the Wes^t Coast by rail ; and this approval finds such hearty response in Nelson that, at the expense of the Governnient-^---always, invariably, at the expense of the Government, in all things — a deputation from the Inland Communication Committee is shortly to be despatched to Canterbury to confer with the Superintendent of that Province, Mr Rolleston. " Then we shall see what we shall see, and if it do not prove that we shall see a change come over the spirit of the dream of the Committee, we shall wonder." Paragraph 6 is one of the political paragraphs of the speech— one of the feelers towards the future Superintendency. It is to this effect : — "ln order to meet, if possible, the frequently expressed wish of the people of the South. West Gold Fields for special legislation, conferring upon each district local control over the expenditure of its contribution to the Province revenue, I have caused a bill to be prepared which provides for the constitution of separate districts upon petition of a majority of the inhabitants, and places one-half of the total gross raised within each district for sales and rents of land, miners' rights, and business licenses at the disposal of a Board to be elected for the purpose, for expenditure upon the construction and maintenance of roads and other public works."y It . is not well to look a gift horse iii the mouth, but, so far as can be judged from a cursory perusal of this Bill, .it is decidedly " bogus." It is, in greater part, a rehash of the present Provincial Road Boards Bill, but one or two clauses are introduced which are of no more consequence than so much blank paper. It seems to be a Bill which .will achieve nothing for the coast except contempt for i

the population if they are content to consider it all calculated to meet their requirements. The seventh clause is important by the suggestion it contains, which simply is that the whole of the L 25.000 accruing to .the Gold Fields nextby ea»«-foF~*f®d*pur- ;- pos'es should be spent. in the Upper Buller i Valley ; and of.£Ukuße JSltlie same may be said by its proposing, or, more properly, suggesting that immediate* -action should* be takeu to secure L7Q,000 set down for the Mount Rochfort Railway, for such a work towards Waimangaroa and Ifgakawhaul / / ' The speech concludes with a most questionable statement, which was followed 7 by equally questionable action on the part of the Superintendent, when unasked for and prematurely he sent down to the Council the correspondence between him and the late Provincial Treasurer. The questionable statement is this ; — "The resignation by Mr Shephard: of the office of Provincial Treasurer, has enabled me te effect a considerable reduction in the expenses of the department, by combining the office with that of the Provincial Secretary, who, although the duties of the two offices will undoubtedly be heavy, will I feel assured be able to perform them without inconvenience resulting to the public service." It would have been infinitely better for Mr Curtis to have established around him some of the intelligence of the Province as an active, energetic Executive, instead of pretending to carry on the work of the Province with a solitary Secretary who should long ago have been superanuated, and if the Council do not express" some opinion on this one , subject of the speech, the members will surely beun- ; worthy of the seats they occupy.