LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 398, 30 August 1856, Page 2

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

July 15. Present:—The Speaker, the Attorney General, Messrs. Tancred, Ilichmoud, Salmon, Gilfillan, Richardson, Seymour, and Sir S. Osborue Gibbes, Bart. The Speaker took the Chair at 20 minutes past 2 o'clock, and read prayers. SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. Dr. Richardson rose to move, That a Committee be appointed to enquire into and report to the Council as to the best inodo of dealing with the question as to the position of the seat of Government of the colony, and the place of meeting of the General Assembly, and especially as to the practicability of holdiug meetings of the General Assembly at other places than at the seat of Government. That the Committee consist of the Honbl. Mr Tancred, the Honbl. Mr. Gilfillan, the Honbl. Major Richmond, the Honbl. Mr Seymour, and the mover. That the Committee be authorised to conduct its proceedings in conjunction with a Committee of the House of .Rnpresentatives, and to make either a joint or a separate report. Dr. Richardson said he had no wish to interfere with the Government, but as this notice ■was on the paper for some days, he was desirous of saying a few words on the subject, ! hough he should vote against the motion. Had not his motives and arguments during the last debate on this subject been misinterpreted by the lion gentlemen who had then brought the subject under the .consideration of the Council , he would not have proposed to say a thing further at the present time, but us he feared that many of the hon. members residing in Auckland did not even yet perceive the true bearing of the question, he should be grateful to the Council if hon. members would extend to him the. indul= gence of their attention for a few minutes. It was upon the point of the convenience of members attending the.-General;;Assembly that he wished to make a few remarks. He thought his hon. friend said that he made a greater fuss about the annoyances suffered by hon. members in their attendance here than from his ordinary good sense he would have expected. Now in the observations he made on that occasion be did not mean to assert, as he was surprised any lion, gentleman supposed he did mean to assert that the Jgreat and grievous annoyances, undoubtedly suffered, afforded a.sufficient excuse for any neglect of duties voluntarily undertaken. He trusted that the Southern members had been enabled to give sufficient proof of zeal and selfdenial in performing what appeared to him a duty to repel any such .insinuation, and had the annoyances consequent upon the attendance here been still more excessive, his determination to perform his duty would not have been diminished. When he alluded to the sacrifice exacted from the Southern members in leaving their homes for so long a time and living in miserable lodgings in Auckland, it was not to the privation of comforts in this good town that he referred, but to the annoyance of leaving their families for so long a period every year. For, in all seriousness, what was expected "from them ? Nothing less than to. spend onetiiird of their lives absent from their families, their occupations, and their homes. Now he repeated that although such privations ought • not to induce public men to shrink from the performance of a aecesr-ary public duty, it would be useless to expect that any large number.of men would submit to so.great a sacrifice, only rendered needful by a pitiful economy. If hon. gentlemen supposed that Southern Members would be contented year after year to leave their families behind them, and' come up to Auckland in a wretched little steamboat, they would assuredly be mistaken. It was perfectly useless to expect that any set of men would sacrifice, not only their prospects of emolument, but the education of their children, the supervision of their families, and; the comforts of Itmne, to, maintain the seat oi" Government in Auckland. But if the seat.of Government were transferred to Wellington, was it .curUiiu ilmt these discomforts would be remedied ? He odievcd they \sould. He believed the people of Wellington would be more wise and less exacting; that they would provide a comfortable steamer able to curry their households ; that they would secure decent aceomodatfon for them on their arrival, and prepare a well .jirrapge.il public building, where business could -proceed i» the most satisfactory and expeditious .manner. When he asked ibr decent accommodations, he did not ask the Goveniliifcujto pay one !'ar>hing for such acconnuoda- , l.iyn. but he did say it was unreasonable to

which there was notii single furnished house to be had. He had listened carefully to all the arguments adduced here and elsewhere in favor ofthe removal of the seat of Government, and to his mind there were but two valid ones, he did not say they were conclusive on the subject; Inn as far as they went they were unanswerable. First, that it would enable his hon. friends, who reside in Aucklaud, to appreciate the sacrifices entailed byfan annual absence from home for so long a time. The second, that the same hon. members would then see the great political advantage it was to any province for its capital to be the seat of Government.

The motion not having been seconded, fell, to the ground.