GREY COUNTY COUNCIL.

Kumara Times, Issue 262, 7 February 1885, Page 2

GREY COUNTY COUNCIL.

APPLICATION FOR REWARD FOR GOLD DISCOVERY. The adjourned meeting of the Grey Couuty Council was held at the County Chambers, Greymouth, on Wednesday at 2 p.m.; present—Councillors Clifford (chairman), M'Kechnie, Warren, Foley, Marshall, Parfitt, and Ryall. The Argus reports : The Council proceeded to deal with the report of the committee appointed to inquire into the application of Skinuer and party for a reward for the discovery of gold at Cape Terrace. The report was read. Its purport was that the claim is good, and that the applicants be awarded £3OO in full satisfaction of all claims. A number of certi lie ites from clnimholders slill on tl™ gmii-id as lo (ho anouut of gold their claims lim<l yi«---];r I we.v pieseiitol along with the report. The couioiitte*i

inspected the ground and conversed with many of the patties, and according to the report they had very little doubt as to the enormous amount of work done. Mr Guinness, who was present, was asked to state to the Council anything he knew of the subject. He said that in 1881, when the Cape Terrace rush was in full swing, Skinner aud paity told hira they intended to apply for a reward. He told them that owing to the then financial position of the Council the time was very inopportune to make such an application, and also that any reward they might become entitled to must necessarily depend to a great extent upon the yield of gold, and the number of miners and the period they were employed in profitable work on the ground. He could not of course say what intepretation Skinner and party put upon what he told them. They may have construed it to mean that they should keep their claim in abeyance until such time as the Council was iu a better financial position than it was at the present time. Cr. Warren strongly advocated the claim, and read a leading article that appeared in the Kumara Times in support of the claim. He also instanced recent claims for rewards made by Mr Hargreaves and Mr Hunt, of the Thames, in neither of which case had any technical objections been raised against the applicants. Cr. Foley and Cr. M'Kechnie said that the applicants had rather understated the case than otherwise. The Chairman suggested that further consideration of the case be postponed. He would not like to see so important a matter dealt with while there was not a full attendance of the Council present. Cr Warren moved that the report be received and adopted. The Chairman moved as an amendment that condideration of the matter be deferred until a later period of the sitting. A division was token on the point, and the amendment whs carried by 4 against 3, the committee who brought up the report upon the claim all voting for going on with the discussion, while the Chairman, Crs. Marshall, Ryall, and Parfitt opposed it. Cr. Taylor was absent, owing to illness in his family. At 2.40 p.m. the Council adjourned till 7.30 p.m. to proceed with othpr business, after which, the application of Skinner and party was again brought under consideration. The Chairman reviewed the evidence given by Mr Guinness. He regretted that the late Chairman had advised the applicants to postpone their application, which was a most unwise course. The discovery was made five ye.irs ago, or in 1880. As there was a full attendance of the Council, Cr. Taylor now present he thought the matter should be at once disposed of. Cr. Taylor said it was a very serious thing to do to grant a reward for a discovery so long ago, especially when a neighboring county had reaped most of the advantage from the gold found at Cape Terrace. But what he most objected to was the bad precedeut they would establish in acceding to the application. Let them give way in this instance and he would ask them where it was going to stop; and what they would do with all the applications of a similar nature that would be likely to pour in upon them by persons professing to have made discoveries years ago. The Chairman regretted exceedingly that the application had not been made years ago, or at the time when the party spoke to Mr Guinness. Cr. Warren said there was very little doubt that the rush had maintained a population of from 200 to 250 for at least two or three years. Cr. Taylor moved that the matter be laid before Government, and that they ask that some assistance be granted to Skinner and party ; that, in the meantime no action be taken by Council in the matter. The motion was seconded by Cr. Marshall. Cr. Foley moved that £l5O be granted to applicants. They were the means of drawing a large population to the district, and they were the worst remunerated men on the ground. Cr. Warren seconded. The Chairman said this was an extraordinary piece of stultification. The committee recommended a payment of .£3OO in the first instance, and immediately afterwards they proposed £l5O. Cr. Ryall suggested that they should not deal with the matter until such time as they laid it before Government. The amendment was then rejected by five against three, and the motion put and adopted. LAKE BRUNNER TRACK. Cr. Foley_presented a petition from the ratepayers iu the neighborhood of

Luke Brunner, praying for the widening and construction of a dray road in order to enable them to take produce to markets; otherwise they would have no inducement to cultivate their ground. The petition was signed by 81 persons, a great many of them being residents of Greenstone.—The petition was received. SPECIAL KATE. It was ordered that a special meeting of the Council be held on the 16th March, at 7 p.m., for the purpose of striking a special rate of -£d in the £.

The ordinary meeting was fixed for the 19th March next, at 7.30 p.m. The Council then adjourned.