LATEST CABLE.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1719, 6 February 1874, Page 2

LATEST CABLE.

. ; • i,j „, ; LoNpojr,.Jan. 28^ ;• , Great; meetings at St. James and Exeter Halls have been held ,;tq sympathise with the German Emperor, in his conflict with the Ultramontanes. '"''"' The British Government jha ye received a telegram confirming Dr Livingstone's death' at Lobisa. \ The balance of the New iZeaiand' r Loan has been taken at 98. ■ - .' ■■->> NELSON PROVINCIAL COUNCIL. We make a few selections from the printed reports 'in/the Nelson papers of the proceedings; of the Provincial Council: :v ; i ; .; : -":>;;Vh; ' ! ■ ! , i ■< ■ ; Thursday, Januabyj 29. >. Mr Boaae presented a petition from J. M'Archie; praying for ic^mpeiujation on account of river, encroachment.' Petition received. - . >HOOHSTETTER. WATER-iRACE. Mr Cor bett! moved— ''That his: / Honor the Superintendent be respectfully requested to urge upbn the General Government the jiecessity of complebiiigithe two first ' sections of the ' Hbchstetter waterrace with all possible .desp^atph^; asan the completion of the foregoing' work ajlarger area of? country, will be profitably; worked, , and, wiljl give ;an impetus to .mining operationsinjthe]Grey yaUeylf^lt I'y?a1 'y?as i of vital importance to the future pros'pet^^of the Province-that- [this district should receive a . water supply.' Without water, we should soon lose European niiiiers — men whose' niihihg experieface: ; was ! df L from 20 to 30 years'Btanding — and have none left but Mongolians. At -the- present- time there were 300 Chinese on ground which had previously been worked by Europeans, who have; gone up the Valley. The Government^ 'some/ time ,since, advertised for i tenders, /but, by some means, the tenders exceeded the estimate, and the question is virtually in abeyance. He must urge on the Council the necessity for at once: commencing the first two sections of this race ; when that was done the work wouldbe atjbnce .reproductive, enabling the higher ground to be worked. Gold had been found to an extent of over "scores of miles, but it can only be worked by .having water brought on the gfotindi R^was the duty of the Government to assiatreproductive; works, and this was - essentially /one. Jin less than two years 1 it .would pay both principal and interest, it would increase the yield cf gold two-f old] and the 'population and general revenue in proportion. Mr Shapter, Goldfields : Representative, 'seconded the motion, : and rcongratul^ted the Council upon having amongst its ; members a thoroughly practical/ digger such as the Jast, speaker, who," he felt sure, would be ; of invaluable assistance in their deliberations' on these matters, and nibst cordially agreed on the iintportance of the proposed 'works.' ■!;■ '! f i : Mr. Guinness was, sure all, would support; the motion, and he* T^ould request the Government to use the telegraph to urge upon the : General Government to mo ye ; at j once / in , < the y matter.) Action should have been taken earlier.V Mr Boase and Mr 1 D'onde both 1 spoke in favor of the motion, which : "wliß ! carried unanimously. . -r RESERVOIRS ON JTHE GQID-FIBIDS. Mr Corbett moved— *' TEaVTiis Honor the Suptriritendent ( be respectfully requested to make provision for the sum of LII,ddO' v in 'the Nelsbn Provincial Loan Bill, for the construction of reserVoirs to supply theNb Town' portion of the Grey Valley with , water, for, mining purposes ; and .that the '' Distri6t^Engineer be requested to report 1 up6h the best method of appropriating . the; foregoing ,, amount. " To supply, the Grey; Valley water must be brought from thr.ee different points, consequently there must be 1 three 'different works; 'and' the ' wbrt f in ! qU^stioii'is supposed to make available the rioher_,ground, but at present none of the miners are doing well. It is positively that (Water should, be stored up, ihat the miners' inight'.bring it into 1 their ground. _Mr Guinness seconded the motion. H« trusted the Government would be in a position to take the necessary steps, and riot be sostipinei as hitherto. ,The!Pr.ovinciaV^ r J e * 8 l uretl : s ai < i that*© Provincial Government had nothing to do with the :Hochstetter . :watersrace ; the money was raised by the General Government, and-was entirely at- their-disposal. ;There was, no,, delay; ,on, the part of the Provincial Government ;4f! wasjtheir misfortune, and not their fault. He entirely sympathised with! the ,motionj though at present he thought it premature, but hoped at some future time that we should

have money to devote to these purposes. He would be ready to support the motion if it were postponed to the sitting later in the year. MrShapter also urged postponement. Nothing could be gained by carrying the motion till the November sitting. If only L 250,000 was to be borrowed, it would be necessary to equalise the proposed works as far as possible. Mr Sharp was inclined to agree with the Provincial Treasurer. He did not feel justified in voting for a measure which was so indistinct in itself, and would propose an amendment — "That his Honor the Superintendent be requested to direct the Provincial Engineer to report on the best manner of supplying with water the district of No Town, and the probable cost." Mr Rout seconded the amendment, which was carried. RANDALL CREEK WATER-RAGE. Mr Corbett moved — " That his Honor j the Superintendent be respectfully requested to communicate with the General Government with the view of obtaining the services of an officer to effect, the survey of the Randall Creek Water-race at an early date ; and that such officer be instructed to furnish a detailed estimate as to the cost of construction, an 4 the number of Government heads likely to be obtained." Last year an officer was sent to report by the General Government, but no action bad since been taken, the portion of the Grey Valley which this race would supply is a very dry one— the cry is for water — and with water it will become a very flourishing one. Mr Shapter seconded the motion. : Mr Guinness suggested and proposed a slight amendment, to which Mr Corbett had no objection, viz., that the name Randall Creek be omitted, and Napoleon Hill be substituted. The Provincial Treasurer seconded the amendment. : Messrs Donne and Sharp both spoke on the subject. Mr Greenfield mentioned that a resolution was forwarded by the Provincial Government last session. The amendment was carried. BURNING COAL SEA\IS. ; Mr Corbett moved — " That his Honor the Superintendent be respectfully requested to instruct the Provincial Engineer to furnish a report as to the! most efficient and economical plan of extinguishing the burning coal seams at the; TenMile Beach, north of Cobden." He felt considerable surprise that no action had been taken to extinguish this fire long ago. It has now been burning for eight years, an immense quantity of coal has j been lost, and "wilful waste makes woeful want." He was sure it would be greatly regretted in years to come. He did not think it would cost more than Ll3O, and was the duty of the Government to see to it at once. Mr Boase seconded the motion.; He He had heard that a party of men had offered to extinguish the fire for L2O, but he could not vouch for the truth of the statement. . Mr Greenfield had no recollection of any such offer being made to the Government ; he would not be positive, but did not remember it. Messrs Adams, Tarrant, Parker, and the Provincial Solicitor Bpoke on the motion, which was carried unanimously. THE LOAN. The Provincial Treasurer moved — "That in the opinion of this Council it is expedient that public works should be executed to the extent of L 250,000, and that his Honor the Superintendent be requested to take such steps to obtain the necessary funds, under authority of an act of the General Assembly as he may think desirable." He said : Sir, it has fallen to my lot to move one of the most important resolutions ever brought before this Council. lam encouraged in so doing by the belief that th jugh there may be some differences of opinion with Regard to the details, its general principles will •be fully endorsed by the members of the Council, who, I hope, will sink for the time all party differences, and render every assistance in their power to advance the Province as a whole as well as 1 their own individual districts. The. task! that I have undertaken is one that is entirely opposed to the course that' has been . ÜBualy adopted hitherto in Nelson. We : have looked upon it as one of our greatest merits that we have kept our Province out of debt ; and when other Provinces have increased their liabilities and have, perhaps, temporarily hampered ! themselves by so doing, we have been in the habit of pointing at them somewhat reproachfully, and congratulating ourselves that we were much better than they. But a change bas come over the people, and during the late elections there was a unanimous de- ' sire expressed throughout the Province for raising a loan for public works. We may fairly consider and enquire — What is the result of our refusal to borrow ; how far has the Province benefitted by keeping out of debt ? The question is best answered by the smallness of our population and the large portion of our territory that still remains inaccessible. This is not a satisfactory state of things^ and it bas at last dawned upon us that nothing more satisfactory can be expected as long as we rely solely upon the small revenue we have at our disposal. I believe that the whole Council are with me, and that they are one and all of opinion that we cannot hope to improve bur condition unless we can obtain a loan to assist us. This loan will be spent to the greatest • advantage by being spread over a series of years, as to enter, rashly and quickly , upon large works, however great the temporary good that would bo done, would be followed when the expenditure ceased by depression and distress. It will be better to enter upon them steadily but perseveringly, adopting as our motto prudence and progress., How is all this going, to pay ? is a question frequently asked. The land to be given as security is set down at 400,000 acres, and of this a large portion, say fully 200,000 acres, may very fairly be expected to be sold while the works are in progress at LI per acre. The harbor works will be decidedly reproductive, and the increase of population will add considerably to the revenue. What with those proposed to be brought in by the Government and others who will assuredly come to a place that shows signs of progress, added to the natural increase, it is quite reasonable to presume that by the time the works are completed at least 10,000 will be added to our population, and this, even at the pre- . sent low rate of capitation allowance, gives L7500a-year, which at once provides for half the interest on the loan. In this . way, and by large sales of land, funds will be obtained for still further works which

may proceed indefinitely until the whole Province is peopled, mining would be carried on upon a scale th«at can never be the case so long as we remain as we are now, and manufactures spring up in our town providing articles not only for home consumption but for expsrt. It 13 by no means unreasonable to expect that before the loan is spent such effects will have been realised that the pressure will not be felt at all by a population that will be thriving and constantly increasing. Reference has been made to the doubts that exist with regard to our obtaining this money, but I think that the unanimity that prevails on the subject in the Province will go far towards securing it. As railways increase there must be an increased demand for roads as feeders to the main line, and by executing 'works such as are proposed bo the Government, traffic will be provided for the railway for Ihe railway for which we have so Jong been struggling, but which will lose half its usefulness unles? the country through which it passes is intersected by roads. I feel that I have not nearly done this subject justice, It is one that might be spoken, written, and debated upon for weeks, but I have the satisfaction of knowing that it is needless for me to enlarge upon the many advantages to be secured. by a judiciously-expended loan. I know the people are with us heart and soul in our endeavor to secure it, and I am aware that they are looking to this Council to assist them in their endeavor to emerge from a state of stagnation and to enter upon one of progress It is for the Council to pronounce its decision upon our project. I am quite aware that the sum to be asked for might be advantageously increased, but the Government thinks that it will be better to ask for a moderate sum with every chance of obtaining it than to aim at more, and in so doing run the risk of getting nothing. I am of opinion that by the mere facl that our laying out this sum judiciously and economically with a view to opening up fresh country for settlement and increasing our population we shall encourage the General Government to trust us again in the future when we may find it necessary to apply for further means for carrying on the great work. I hope anl believe that Council will be united and pull together in this matter, that they will show to the people of the Provincb and what is more important still, to the General Assembly, to whom we must go, that they are as one on this subject, I that, after due consideration, they have arrived at their decision, which is to leave no stone unturned to obtain the money! and having obtained it to devote it to works that must tend to the advancement and prosperity of the Province whose interest we have deeply at heart. j Mr Guinness seconded the motion, and was glad to see that the Treasurer with others had seen their mistake. He merely wished to say that the initiation of this policy is the only method by Which Nelson can prosper, and it behoved this Council to support it to their utmost. He looked forward to the time when we, like Canterbury, would not know what to do with our nwney. ; Mr Boase supported the motion. He said we must move with the age ; the idea of those gone before, not to borrow, proved to be a fallacy. The depression of the Province was not because we have not an intellectual Council or Executive, but because our revenue is insufficient to develop the country, and this Province was, he was si 1 re, second to none in the Colony. They must stand forth, fearlessly and support this measure, or the consequences would be dreadful. He had every confidence in the Province. He knew the part he represented has alone double and treble the value of what they now seek to borrow.