NELSON PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 19, 23 January 1867, Page 2

NELSON PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

OPENING SPEECH. mr. sreaker, and gentlemen op the Provincial Council — 1. My first duty in meeting you on the present occasion will be to lay before you a full statement of the causes which have compelled me to ask your attendance at so short a notice, and at such a highly inconvenient season ; as, had the circumstances been such as to leave me any choice on the subject, you would naturally and justly feel dissatisfied that I had not incurred any amount of personal responsibility rather than have called upon the members of theis Council to leave their homes in tbe height of harvest, and without any sufficieut notice, for the mere purpose of voting money to carry on public works, about the most important of which a great majority of members have already expressed their opinions, and sanctioned the necessary expenditure, without, however, giving that sanction the form of law. By the 10th, Ilth, and 12th clauses of the new Provincial Audit Act, whicli came into operation on the Ist of this month, the Provincial Treasurer is forbidden to pay, and the Auditor aud Superintendent are forbidden to sign Avarrauts for the payment of, any public money "unless the sums therein mentioned are legally available for the services therein specified, by virtue of an Actor Ordinance of the Superintendent and Provincial Council of the Province." By rendering himself " liable to a penalty of one hundred pounds" for each signature " to be recovered in the Supreme Court at the suit of the Provincial Auditor," the Superintendent is, however, permitted to sign " special orders directing the Provincial Auditor to certify warrants " for the payment of money not authorised by Act, or in excess of any sum so authorised ; but even this power is limited to a total amount during the whole of any financial year, not exceeding one-twentieth part of the amount of the ordinary provincial revenue of the preceding year, amounting this year to £278 lis. 4d., beyond which sum no discretionary power whatever is left to the Executive or to the Auditor. On receiving a copy of this Act some considerable time after it was passed, and without the slighest previous intimation from any quarter that such an important alteration was to be made in the discretionary powers of the Provincial Executive, I still hoped that the liberal sum of £18,000 voted by you last session, and made available for almost any want that could arise on our Westland territory would enable me to meet all the urgent demands of the migratory population of our expanding gold-fields ; but on the 12th instant I received information from Mr. Commissioner Kynnersley thatt he anticipated large influx of miners south of the Buller had been so greatly in excess of the number that could be located on the payable ground discovered" that, in accordance with instructions received from me, he had been able to let the whole of the road between the Buller and the completed road seventeen miles from the Grey in single mile contracts, upon very advantageous terms, and to be completed, and consequently paid for, by the middle of next month. The presence of thousands of men who were at

THE NELSON EVENING itASL

one time wandering unemployed and dissatisfied in the neighborhood of Brighton, offered a most favorable opportunity for the execution of this much-needed road through an exceedingly rough country, whilst the employment of so many of them was a most important auxiliary to the maintenance of peace, although it did not altogether obviate the necessity of a very considerable addition to the police force, a precaution rendered more necessary by the presence of some gangs of desperate ruffians known to be in possession of fire-arms. It also has been found necessary to establish a fortnightly escort between Brighton and the Buller, consisting of five mounted constables.

The necessary appointment of another Resident Magistrate and Warden, the appointment of Surveyors, Harbor Masters, and Signalmen, the erection of Court-houses, Gaols, Customs-houses, and Signal-stations, have all added to the demands on the vote for " South- West gold-fields ; " and although the increased gold-fields revenue has been more than sufficient to meet such additional demands, the inelastic provisions of the new Audit Act have left me no alternative but to put you fo the inconvienence of meeting at the present time to give legal sanction to an expenditure so obviously necessary, as well as consistent with your often and clearly expressed wishes. 2. A Supplementary Appropriation Bill has been prepared, which proposes to add fifty per cent, to the amounts you last year voted for the West Coast Roads South West Gold-fields. Your sanction will also be asked to other sums, several of which have been already expended. I have considered it prudent, under existing and anticipated circumstances, to ask you to extend the operation of both appropriation Acts to the end of May. 3. Two other short Bills will be submitted to you. The "Auctioneers' Licensing Amendment Bill," which is intended to withdraw the 3rd clause of the "Auctioneer's Licensing Act 1562" from operation in the Gold-fields, where it has been found to work badly.

4. The "Publicans Licensing! Bill" has been rendered necessary by the General Assembly having failed to make any provision for the issue of publicans' licenses on the Gold.fields in the " Gold-fields Act of 1866."

5. By clause 40 of that Act, it is provided that the seven immediately preceeding clauses " relating to Agricultural Leases shall have no force or effect upon any Gold-field until after the Governor shall by Proclamation in the New Zealand Gazette have proclaimed and extended the operation [of the said sections to the province wherein such Gold-field shall be situate ; and such proclamation shall only be made upon | the application of the Superintendent and Provincial Council of a Province." As these clauses, taken in connection with Clauses 52 and 109 of the same* Act, practically confer a most important power on the Superintendent, being nothing less than a limited application of the power so often asked for by the Nelson Provincial Council of selling land to actual cultivators, and improvers on deferred payment, I shall ask you to lose no time in joining me in the necessary application to the Governor for the purpose of bringing them into operation on the Gold-fields of this Province.

6. My Estimates of the Revenue for the current Financial year will, I trust, be realised on almost every item, and, upon the whole, considerably exceeded. Presuming, that the three last months will correspond with the nine that have been completed, the Customs Revenue estimated at £22,000, would realise £22,590 ; the Pilotage estimated at £2,000, would be £2,187 ; whilst the Land revenue, instead of £10,000, would realise £16,017 14s. lOd. With regard to the receipts from the Gold-fields, my information even for the nine months is not complete; but so far as it goes appears to indicate that, whilst the sum whicli I estimated for gold duty will be barely realised, the amount of Gold-fields revenue will be exceeded by nearly five thousand pounds. 7. In October last the General Government appointed the Commissioners Sale and Kynnerslev to readjust the apportionment of the Customs duties received at the Grey, but I regret to say that those gentlemen have never yet been able to agree upon any report, and there appears to be little to hope for in that direction, except that the opening of the new ports of entry at Westport and Brighton, will soon give the province the advantage of receiving its own share ot the Customs duties. The large quantity of duty paid goods which have been poured into Brighton and Charleston both from Hokitika and the Grey has hitherto deprived this Province of the duty on most of the articles consumed in those Districts.

8. As I did not anticipate any meeting of this Council until the usual session of this year, I considered that I should best consult the interests and procure the real representation of the rapidly increasing population of the new districts, constituted under the Electoral Districts Act passed last session, by delaying to issue writs until the latest period that would give ample time for the election of new members before they would be called upon to take their seats. I trust that the operation of the leasing clauses of the new Goldfields Act will soon give such a number of settlers a permanent interest on the West as will justify a large addition to the number of its representatives in your Council. \'. 9. The rapid formation of the new, town called Brighton has been remarkable, even ia the annals of gold-fields. Inless than a fortnight aytreetlonger than Bridge-street, Nelson, had been finned with houses on both sides, and seven vesselsVwere lying in a river not so large as the Maitai. \ln recent private letters to me Mr. Kynnersley say^s : — " At Brighton, for a fortnight, there was a large crowd of men outside my tent from daylight to LJark. I used to give them three minutes each, but even then persons used to come in and declare that they had been waiting for eight hours to see me. * * * We have been very successful so far in keeping the peace, although, at one time, at Brighton when there were some 5000 men idle and discontented about the place, there appeared to be a likelihood of a repetition of the Bruce Bay riots. I had for a few days seventeen constables at Brighton, and had a very strong Lockup built in eight and a-half days. * * * The excitement of these rushes has now subsided, and Brighton and Charleston are both in a tolerably orderly and satisfactory state ; the former is quite a considerable township, containing as many

houses as were in Greymouth this time last year. I do not think it will last long, as there is nothing but one good terrace to support it ; but it is very centrally situated between the Grey and Buller, and has in Woodpecker Bay a port which possesses one great advantage over either the Grey or Hokitika, namely, that a steamer can anchor in the Bay, and communicate •with the shore nine days out of ten, without running the vessels herself into any danger by crossing bars or otherwise. There is apparently little or no back country available for settlement, and nothing -else, except, possibly, coal, to support a permanent town; but the present diggings, even if no others should be discovered, are sufficient to support a town of a size large enough to require the services of a Resident Magistrate and Warden for at least a year. * * Whoever is appointed, should be appointed as soon as possible, and, pending the arrival of the necessary appointment from Wellington, might be instructed by telegraph or otherwise to take charge at once. * * * He would of course have no power to decide cases, except by the consent of the parties ; but would in many respects be very useful, and relieve me of much work." * * As to proclaiming Brighton a Port of Entry, he writes : — " I cannot make up my mind whether or not it will be worth while to make Brighton a Port of Entry and Warehousing Port. At first, I thought not, for there are really no other diggings about it but this one terrace, wliich was the cause of the tremendous rush, and the idea of proclaiming a river, not quite so large as the Maitai to be a Port of Entry, seemed to me to be absurd ; but as the case stands at present I am rather inclined to think that it would be worth while to make a Port of Entry, provided that it can be done quickly. Unfortunately, we have in the meantime lost a large amount of Customs Revenue. There is a very good patch on the terrace at Fox's which will keep 500 miners employed for a year or eighteen months. There may be numerous other patches equally extensive in the neighborhood, although I am not at all sanguine about this myself. There is a large township, containing fifty-three public-houses. There is a river or creek, navigable af high water for vessels drawing five feet of water. There is an outer anchorage in Woodpecker Bay, vhere steamers can almost always land goods and passengers. There are extensive coal seams in the neighborhood. It occupies a very central position between the Grey and Buller, and communication may in time be opened between it and the auriferous country of the Little Grey. For all these reasons, and considering the large amount of Customs Revenue that we are losing, I flunk it might be worth while making it a Port of Entry, although there is no certainty whatever that there will be a house left there in two years." On the Bth of this month he writes : — " The Revenue for the last month received in the several Warden's offices amounts to about £3000, of which about £1800 was taken by me at Brighton in a tent in tliree weeks. But the expenditure is also very great. * * * The buildings are clearly necessary. The escort service is, I think, also necessary for the quantities of gold which will in another month, when the claims are fairly in working order, be sold at Fox's and the Pakihi. * * * *

" Sergeant Franklyn will take charge of the escort, and I have selected four thoroughly reliable men to assist him. It is of no use establishing an escort unless it is a thoroughly efficient one, as some of the most notorious ruffians on the West Coast are now at Brighton. One gang of five, especially, was passed on to me by the Canterburry Police, known to have left Waimea, each with a revolver intent on some extensive operations. * * * Even if Fox's were declared a" Port of Entry, I think it would be neccessary to continue the escort, for there would always be some risk in shipping gold at that place and I think the banks would prefer to send it to the Buller. * * All this together with the Grey and Buller road, which is being done all at once, has and will cost a good deal of money, but it has been, I believe, all of it well spent, and there will in a short time be a good deal of revenue from the export duty on the gold from the Buller." He also writes:— " Another good Surveyor is wanted here, there is quite work enough for at least two, as there are applications for many agricultural leases in different parts of the Gold-fields. In the Canterbury Westland they have seven Surveyors besides their Mining Surveyors."

10. By letters, which are ready to be laid on your table, from Messrs. Ransome and Sims, you will see that about half the plant for the Nelson Waterworks, was shipped in November, and the remainder was proposed to be shipped last month and may be expected here during the next two months ; and as all the' debentures have been taken up and the plant prepared, there is nothing to prevent the work being expeditiously completed.

11. The iron-work required for tlie Waimea Bridge, has been ordered through our agent in London, and a sum remitted to pay for it.

12. Much delay has arisen in the construction of the Steam Stone Seperator, ordered from England in July, 1865 ; but the machine is now on its way to the province, and will, I have no doubt, effect a great economy and '.improvement in the metalling of our streets and roads.

13. The excavations and foundations of the New Hospital are in progress. A plan of the proposed building will be laid before you. The entire design would exceed the sum voted for the building, but it is not necessary that the whole should be completed at once ; and it was my intention to have called for tenders omitting the south-west wing, such portion of the design would accomodate 48 male and 14 female patients, under the most favorable conditions for efficient and economical attendance. The proximity of the building to the lunatic asylum, will admit of an interchange of assistance by the female attendants of each establishment, that wili obviate the necessity of objectionable arrangements that have hitherto unavoidable. The demands on the existing City Hospital at the present time are not enormous, and the case generally are not of a serious, and none of them of an epidemic character ; but in the Greymouth Hospital nineteen bad cases are reported, and, whilst the necessary expenses of that esablishmeiit increnne, the voluntary subscriptions are gradually falling off. {To be concluded to-morrow J]