PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 269, 25 November 1865, Page 3

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

(from a correspondent.) Dunedin, No? 18. The Council met on the 15th inst, when the proceedings were confined to the delivery of the address of his Honor the Superintendent and a few formal notices. The attendance of members was very scant, the majority not having yet arrived from the country. Mr Haughton, M.H.R., took nis seat for Queenstown, and being a junior member of the Council gave notice that he would on Friday move the reply to his Honor's address. Mr Grant took his seat for Dunedin, but rather disappointed a large gathering of the public by conducting himself in a quiet and unobtrusive manner; we must hope that he will continue to do so, and without doubt he will prove a very useful member. He has some educaton and great natural shrewdness, and if he is successful in running a tilt against some of the Old Identity ideas and prejudices which have so long ruled the Province, he will have done some good in his generation. The Council met on Thursday, but only to adjourn in order to allow members who might be so inclined to accompany the Superintendent on a visit to the Victoria steamsloop then lying at Port Chalmers. Mr Isaacs took his seat for Clyde. He appears a quiet gentlemanly man, and will certainly not discredit his constituents. The other new member, Mr J. C. Brown, should be well known at Queenstown, where he conducted business for some time. He seems a shrewd sensible fellow, and will, no doubt, look keenly after the interests of the storekeeping fraternity. On Friday a great deal of time was taken up in discussing the manner in which it was desirable to bring the Land Question before the Council. The Government proposed that certain resolutions brought down by them should be referred to a select committee; at last, however, it was agreed on both sides that the question should be at once considered in committee of the whole House. The resolutions propose a sweeping change in the whole system, in order to meet the present emergency arising from the New Southland Land Bill which lately passed the General Assembly. The price of land is to be reduced to 20s an acre, and the improvement clauses entirely done away with. Mr Haughton, in a speech which occupied upwards of an hour, moved the adoption of the reply to the address of the Superintendent. On the question of Separation Mr Haughton expressed himself to the effect that the present position of the Province with regard to the General Government was most unsatisfactory, and that although it was out of the power of the Council to legislate upon the subject, yet it was clearly tlieir duty to express a deliberate opinion upon a question in which every thinking man in the colony was deeply [interested. He was personally of opinion that there were three courses open —l. The consolidation of the Provinces of the Middle Island with a federal union with the north. 2. The strengthening of the present Provinces and materially modifying and clearly laying down the function of the General Government. 3. The doing away with Provincial Governments altogether, so that the authority and responsibility may both rest with the General Government. He would not say at present which of these three propositions he would be inclined to support, but he would say most emphatically that he was in favor of such a measure of Separation, financially practicable, which would end the liability of the Middle Island for native wars and native government. His views upon Separation had been misconstrued by portions of the Press in consequeuce of his not supporting Mr Russell's resolution in the Assembly. He opposed them because he saw the evident intentions of Auckland to absorb the other Provinces of the North Island without their consent, and because Mr Russell's scheme presented impracticable financial difficulties. Upon the subject of the Goldfields Mr Haughton spoke at some length, and took a very cheerful view of future prospects. An amendment to the address was moved by Mr Grant, but he did not find a seconder.

A very exciting contest is going on in the Heathcote district. The hon John Hall mentioned is a member of the late Government. The ' Press' says: —" Mr Davis proposed—That the meeting having heard the statements of Messrs Bnckley and Hall, considers Mr Hall to be a fit and proper person to represent them in the House of Representatives. Mr Tribe—Did not think it right to put such a resolution at a meeting called expressly by Mr Buckley. Mr Reeves said that any elector had a perfect right to address the meeting; but still he did not consider it right that one candidate should follow another to every meeting that he called, and then address them for an hour and a-half without asking leave ; he considered it showed a great want of courtesy. Mr Hall said that it was the first time he had ever been accused of discouitesy. At the Lincoln meeting he had obtained Mr Buckley's leave to address the meet, ing, and that night he had been so loudly called on that in his hurry he had omitted to do so. If he had teen discourteous he was sorry for it. Mr Younghusband thought that if Mr Reevis hid any experience in electioneering matteis in England he would never look upon Mr Hall's conduct us discourteous. Mr Reeves thought he had had as much experience as Mr Younghusband."

In his speech to the electors of Bruce County at Tokomairiro, oil Tuesday *ast Mr Macandrew. in referring to the petitions against the Land Bill presented by him from that di>tri<'t, said : ''The two petitions against the Bid had been of great use to him; but he regretted to say that the only individual member who attempted to throw cold water and discredit on them was an Otago member. (Name.) It was the late Post-master-General, who, when the petitions were read, remarked about a strange similarity about the signatures, and insinuated that they were forgeries, saying also that it was easy to get up petitions about anything, and hinting that he (Mr Macandrew) had got them up, when, as the electors knew, he had never seen the petitions till given to hiin for presentation.—'Evening Star.' The « Leader ' says" Hokitika gives every promise of soon possessing a very powerful ' Bar' —using the term in a forensic sense. In addition to the practitioners already located amongst us, Mr Macgregor, of the firm of Macgregor and Harvey of Dunedin, has within the last few days put in an appearance in our locay Courts, and amongst the arrivals by the Albion on Monday was Mr C. S. Button, lately of Invercargill."