Provincial Council.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 358, 9 April 1856, Page 6

Provincial Council.

Friday, April 4. The speaker went to prayers at 4 p.m. Mr. Dampiir asked leave of the house to withdraw Sidey's Impro\emeiit Bill. The Provincial tf£Ci4ETARY seconded the motion The Bill was withdrawn. Mr. Dampier also asked leave to withdraw the Beach and River Road Reserve* bill for this session : he would trust to the government at some future time to take the matter up, and would be happy to place the bill in their hands for their consideration at leisure. The Provincial Secretary said that the government had not I.ad that time they could have wished to devote to such an important measure, or to consult the professional adviser of government on it ; he (the Provincial .Secretary) should feel a difficulty in going on with the bill at present under the circumstances, considering the late correspondence with the 'Colonial Secretary at Auckland respecting waste lands of the Crown. Me would 'hank the hon. gentleman for withdrawing the bill, the government would take it. during t'lff recess, and see what they could make of itThe Bill was then withdrawn. , Mr. Blakiston drew the attention of the house to the state of the drainage on eacU side of the Ferry road, and the vast amount of wa'ei" which was forced down the road by these diiebes. On the south side of the roiul were upwards of 1000 acres of land adjoining the town reserves which formerly had a natural drainage outlet down a crt'ek i ll*° the ileatiicole. Tin; creek bad now beconv; stopped up, and tin; water forced into i'i<J road ditches. On Hie north side of the road there were 200 a civs of land and llw

town reserves, the water" from which was forced down the unfortunate road ditcher, which were thus doing" the drauvige work of the whole of the district. The consequence was that the ditches not having a sufficient capacity for carrying off the water, the lands adjoining the road became in • undated, and under the present aspect of things the cultivation of the laud became a matter of risk and perhaps ruin. A meeting of the occupiers of the farms had met and drawn up a petition, which he had that day presented. Mis Honor the Superintendent, when he saw the state of the road during the Hoods, had felt the .urgent necessity of the case. The lion. Provincial Secretary had mentioned that the government had no funds, hut he (Mr. Blakistou) thought that a work of this urgent nature, a work of self preset"-, vation, as it 'were, could not be too much for them. He would not say how the work was to be done, that must be left for the Provincial lilnarineer, but wan Id move that his Honor the Superintendent be requested to place on the estimates a sum sufficient to execute the works for the relieving the ditches of the Ferry road . froinj the surplus water now forced into them.

Mr. Dampieii seconded the. motion, as he thought it would be the first commencement of obtaining ;i main drainage of the coimtry ; it had been a truly melancholy thing to see the destruction of the crops after the late rains, owing to the imperfect state of the drainage. The Pkov. Secretary would hear testimony to the truth of all that had been said by the two last lion, gentlemen. He had only one bald and painful answer to all such appeals, the state of impecuuiosity under which the Government labours. The question of this particular case had not been overlooked. The district had been surveyed to see how the wafer could be got rid of. No ditch can be made on the Ferry road sufficiently capacious to take oft" the water. The proposition submitted was to make a cross drain jusf. on the boundary of the Town Reserves to cut off the water, ai)d to lead it into the Avon, so that the Ferry road ditches would only be liable to take their own water. He would be sorry to be thought to oppose the present motion, but it was really a want of money only. The matter was seriously under Ihe consideration of the Government. He would suggest the motion were withdrawn, as if it appeared on the Estimates it might mislead the petitioneis as to the work being undertaken. We had now on our estimates an excess of £5.000 or £6,000 over income. Mr. Blakiston explained that he did not wish this work to take precedence of all others, but to press it. on the attention of the Government. We may yet have a large sale of land this year, and in that case he wished.some sort of assurance that this work shall be undertaken. As regarded the expense, he had heard a person had offered to undertake the work for £100. The motion was carried. Mr. Oxt.ivihk took up a motion in the absence of Mr. Davis, and moved that the sum of £9. for the carriage of certain spars from Riccaiton to Sunnier, for the purpose of raising the " Alma," be paid to the contractors.— Carried. Mr. Hamilton bivught in the Appropriation Bill, which was read a first time. The Puov. Skcuiotaiiy moved the house into committee on the Roads Bill, to take again the clauses that require discussion in order to make the Bill as complete as possible. _. Tin; Speaker then left the chair, and the house went into committee. A clause to enable the districts to be subdivided was introduced by the Provincial Secretary and passed. On Mr- Dampiek's motion that the party

to be incorporated be the rate payers and not the way warden, tbe house divided, when the numbers were, fo; Mr. "Dampier's motion, 3 ; against it, 7. The motion was lost. In answer to a question, the Prov. Sechktauy thought that it was not a good principle to allow the agents of absentee proprietors a power to vote, as one agent might represent 20 or 30 absentees, and would, therefore, be able to exercise in some instances a prejudicial influence over a district. Mr. Dampihh said that the power was not now required as the confiscation clause had not passed. The schedule for defining the districts was then read and passed, together with tbe Preamble and Ti«le. The Speaker resumed the chair, and the chairman brought up the report onsthe hill. The Prov. Skcretary said that owing to the heavy business of the session, and the shortness of the time remaining, he would withdraw Ibr this Session the Offences on Roads Bill. The Bill was withdrawn. The house then went into Committee on the Public House Biil. The clauses were finally discussed. The Speaker resumed the chair. The Chairman reported the bill. The house then adjourned to Thursday, April 10, 5 p.m.