Provincial Council.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IV, Issue 172, 22 April 1854, Page 13 (Supplement)

Provincial Council.

WEDNESDAY, April 12. Members present —Messrs. Tancrecl, Bo wen, Dampier, Cass, Rhodes, Cookson, Bealey, Hall, Packer, and the Speaker. Prayers were read by Rev. O. Mathias. LYTTELTON ROADS. Mr. Dampier said it was hardly needful after the subject had been so fully gone into yesterday, to say much in reference to the state of Lyttelton. We are on the eve of winter ; the Council is about being prorogued, and Lyttelton and all its highways will be literally impassable. The ways at present used are through gullies and over spurs: now it happens that the spurs generally are private property, and as they are about to be enclosed—in fact, some already are enclosed—it "is hardly practicable, even now, to get from one end of Lvttelton to the other, while in winter, the roadway along these gullies will be much worse. The roads up these gullies were badly set out in the first place, but they never had been made; and as there was no choice left for other ways, he considered it the duty of the Government to make these roads. Those who had purchased property at Lyttelton, had a right to expect a practicable way to such property; when a man sells an estate, a practicable way is implied, and if it were not so in this case, who would buy sections in Lyttelton? The Canterbury Association at first was answerable, and now the Government standing in its shoes, is equally so. He thought Lyttelton should not be the only place where one half of the town could riot o-et to the other half, except by a footpath, which*is often impassable, and cannot be called a hi^h.. way ; some expenditure must be incurred to have a carriage road, that carts may be able to go from one part of the town to the other. Look at that list of J2O persons, whose signatures are appended to the memorial, and you will find it hard to name any householder that has not signed it. The memorial was signed at a public meeting called by the Colonists' Society, and if you will look at the number, and the value that number represents, perhaps it will be found that if not one-half, at least one-third of all the householders in the colony, have attached their names to it. The motion is made at a moment when if it is not carried, the people of Lyttelton must be without roads ; this would be most di> graceful to the colony. The main Ligh wav that of Oxford street, is in a most dangerous state. Some efforts have been made by means of the hard labour prisoners; they have made a deep perpendicular cutting into the spur, and then their labours were transferred to some other locality. He could not conceive that the application iould be denied, if the Council have a consideration for right or wi*mg,- for justice or injustice. The petitioners have made out a case, and he trusted the Government would take upon itself to expend the money sought for, He would therefore move :— '"That the petition be referred to the Superintendent, and that His Honor be informed it is the opinion of this house that it is desirable provision be made as in the petition mentioned, for effecting the works referred to, before the approaching winter." Mr. Cookson seconded the motion. Mr. Tancred said although he had not heard all that had fallen from the hon. gentleman, he could imagine the line of argument that would be taken. That the Canterbury Association, first, and now the Government, are pledged, and no doubt they are so, but they are pledged conditional]}', viz., on the sale of a certain quantity of land. The Sumner road and other public works are equally pledged, but these are not done, because the land sales were not equal to their expectations. The people of Lyttelton have had their proportion, and more than their proportion ; something about £20,000 having been expended at the port, and some of the roads have been made. The wording of the petition shews that as long as the new comers see the town of Lyttelton look well, it is of no consequence that the other parts of the Settlement should be without roads. The Lyttelton communication is much better than the communication at Christchurch. If we had more funds it would be fair that Lyttelton should have its share, but the principle on which the Government acts is, that the funds arising from land sales should be expended for the benefit of those who purchase, and not take the proceeds to parts that the purchasers are not interested

in. It is true there has been n departure from this rule in a few instances ; the oki :.n<iio r<>iid has had a grant of £70, ihe-road < -im the Avon £30, and the Papanui Bridge £20 : hut, these sums have been granted ninn-iv m aid ; there is no mention in tlie petition ih'a v is in aid. We have this demand merely (> u ti>e word of persons interested ; it may be very necessary, but we have no report before us on the subject. The argument seems, that because these people think it necessary, then we should vote £200, as if our powers of giving were greater ih;ui theirs of receiving; it would be dealing rather cavalierly with the funds to vote money away because these gentlemen think it necessary. He then moved, " That the petition be referred to the Superintendent, and that His Honor be requested to make such provision as he may think necessary, to meet the object of the petitioners." Mr. Dampier was very glad to meet the wishes of the hon. gentleman who represented the government, and he was sure His Honor the Superintendent would do all he could in the matter ; the money expended on the port referred to by the hon. member opposite, was expended to form a port creditable to the Settlement, and at a place impracticable without such outlay. The persons who took sections would not have taken them unless they were to have a way to them. The money was laid out on about 500 yards; (I don't mean 500 square yards)—it was doubtless a great benefit to persons who took sections just opposite to this place, but how are the other inhabitants of Lyttelton to get to or from their sections? He must contradict the statements of the hon. member: there is not a street in Christchurch that a dray cannot be drawn over, but in Lyttelton there is not a street that a dray can be taken- from one end to the other. "He felt obliged to the hon. gentleman for his proposition, and was for himself satisfied with it. Mr. Packer could not understand how,a member could one day kick down a measure, and on another try to get it together again. The member for Lyttelton and the hon. member next him (Mr. Cookson), voted for throwing out the District Commissioners' Bill. If His Honor is to be empowered to lay out'what money he pleases, be (Mr. Packer) thought they might shut up shop, and leave all to the Superintendent. Mr Halt, though; the present d.scussion shewed the necessity of some such measure as the District Commissioners' Bill. If assistance was to be granted by the Government to local works, a general inquiry should be made for the purpose of ascertaining what cases were most deserving of assistance. At present they were voting money merely as it happened to be petitioned for. There'could be no doubt that if the Session were not about to terminate, they would be overwhelmed with similar petitions ; he was himself acquainted with several localities which could make out quite as strong a case as those which had already been granted. Other Legislative bodies considered this practice so dangerous that their Standing Orders precluded them from receiving any petition praying for a grant of public money. The Council has, however, acceded to similar petitions from the districts adjoining the north bank of the Avon, and between the Heathcote and the Peninsula, and they could not consistently reject the present one. Mr. Hall strongly objected to Mr. Tancred's amendment which would give the Superintendent power to grant any sum he might think proper; this sounded like an unlimited Appropriation Bill, and appeared to him unconstitutional. Before sitting down he must allude to what had fallen from an hon. member respecting the grant to the Lincoln and Ellesinere Ruad. He (Mr. H.) thought the sum voted was extremely moderate, and the number and importance of the settlements in that neighbourhood gave it a strong claim to such assistance. Mr. Bo wen proposed another amendment, that £100 be granted in aid, if the people of Lyttelton would raise an equal sum. Mr. Tanckbd withdrew his amendment and seconded Mr. Bowen's. Mr. Bowen's amendment was then adopted. STEAM NAVIGATION. The Clerk read the correspondence on this subject, extracts from which will be found in another column. Mr. Taxcred said that the object in proposing the following resolution is sufficiently evident, as every gentleman must see the impor-

tance of securing sieam navigation to New Zealand. It is 10 be expected that the General Government will view the matters as others do, Imu should the General Government not undertake the arrangement, then the owners of the steamer will look to the Provinces. The resolution is as follows : " The Council haying read the communication from the Provincial Governments of Nelson and Wellington on the subject of the ' Nel son steamer,' Resolve, That this Council will guarantee the expenditure of a sum not exceeding two thousand pounds to enable His Honor the Superintendent to enter into such terms with the other Provincial Governments as may be found advantageous in order to secure the benefits of steam navigation between the several Provinces." Mr. Packer wished to ask if in any arrangement made Auckland would not join, what power there would be to controul Auckland in any way ? Can the Council withhold the steamer from Auckland ? Mr._ Hall thought the Council ought to be informed before voting this money, whether certain important conditions, such as the adoption of a fair line of route, and a.contribution to the bonus by Auckland, if the steamer ran to that port, would be made a sine quanon to the contribution by Canterbury being paid. If Auckland enjoyed the benefit of steam communication and refused to contribute to its expense, he thought it would be a great injustice for this Province, and Wellington and Nelson, to make up the deficiency. He also considered that the contributions from the various Provinces should be apportioned according to the extent of the services rendered to each, that, for instance, if the steamer called twice at Nelson, and only once at Canterbury, Nelson should contribute twice as much to the bonus as Canterbury. He thought it hardly fair to call upon this Province for so large a contribution, simply because it happened this year to possess a large land revenue, which might not be the case in the following year. Besides they had been repeatedly told that this extraordinary revenue should be applied only to permanent works, and not to the ordinary service of the year, whereas it was now proposed to act upon a different principle. Mr. Tancrbd said the only answer that can be given is a general answer, —why should it be assumed that Auckland will not give her fair share? If Auckland waited to hear what Canterbury would give, and if Canterbury waited to hear what Auckland would contribute, we should never get steam communication at all. The question is, will Canterbury give £2,000 to secure steam communicati >n ? The mind of the Superintendent is sufficiently expressed in his communication with the Superintendent of Wellington, referring to the postal arrangement. He states also, that Otago and Taranaki should pay their portion ; it does not appear that the Superintendent is inclined to place this Province in more disadvantageous circumstances than others. The question is, will this Council empower him to enter into the negociation, and if he finds it necessary, and it would be fair for the Province, to pay £2000 towards the object? It may not come to that —the General Government will probably deal with it—if, however, even Auckland would not deal fair (and we have no right to assume it), we would not be justified in letting the opportunity pass without securing steam navigation. Mr. Dakpiek was of opinion that the proposition was put in the fairest way that it was possible lo put it, and there is no reason to suppose it will not be complied with by Auckland, as well as other provinces ; no communication having been had with Auckland, they had no right "to suppose that Auckland will reject the proposal. Auckland will hardly expect an advantage that would be paid for'by Canterbury and other settlements; but even if Auckland was refractory, and would not join, this Council shoulr! not flinch from its duty. Suppose it not expedient, and even unprofitable, the first year, or even the second and third year, yet they would be justified in speculating (if the expression may be used) in steam communication, which will so materially aid to develope all the resources of the several provinces. The correspondence is most satisfactory, and His Honor the "Superintendent makes the point so clear, so much more clear than it comes down from the other Provinces, that the Council cannot, hesitate to leave the matter in his hands. The vote having been seconded, it passed the Council.

At half-past one His Honor came down to the House, and was received by the members of the Council standing. When the members were seated, he formally prorogued the Provincial Council till the 3rd of October next. [The address will be found in another column.]