NELSON PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 20, 24 January 1867, Page 2

NELSON PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

opening speech— Concluded 14 The Nelson Gaol requires enlargement, and such alteration as will better provide for the complete separation of female prisoners. 15. A correspondence will be forwarded to you that has passed between the Immigration Commissioners and Mr. J. Morrison, in which you will see, that Bishop Suter, has proposed to procure and accompany on their voyage, some carefully selected immigrants ; and the Commissioners have authorised the free passage of 50 single females, and consented to advance the passage money of 25 young married couples, to come out under the care of his Lordship and Mrs. Suter. 16. In accordance with a series of . resolutions passed by you on the Ist day of May last, requesting me to bring "under the attention of the Government of the Colony/ the subject of granting a large portion of the Territory of the Province in payment for the construction of a Kailway between Nelson and Cobden, I took an early opportunity of -waiting upon the Colonial Secretary, and obtained a promise from him that the subject should receive the attention of the Government, and that a Bill should be introduced in accordance with your resolution. A Bill was, however, introduced by the other honorable member for this

'jj.ji.j.j'city (Mr. Curtis) and became law, authorising '. ;!t',i the Governor in Council to reserve the necessary ,s^,! land from sale, and the Superintendent to make :5'. : • a contract with any person for the construction of ■5J a railway, " pursuant to any act or ordinance of ■;-\i the Superintendent and Provincial Council of , .i,;j this Province, Avhich may hereafter be passed." '| Having seen the country through which this !' railway would have to be constructed, and the y'%: land it is in our power to offer as payment, honesty '.$ compels me to say that I cannot entertain the j;t.| smallest hope that a work of such magnitude will ■ •:'.■ ever be completed on the terms proposed, or in- ,;■ deed on any terms which the Province could % prudently offer. But as I feel that it is of great ■ importance to set so large and interesting a quesi; tion at rest, I have placed on the Appropriation w Bill to be submitted to you, a sum of £1000 under ;.; the head of Railway Report, which sum I should >i propose to expend in the engagement, if possible, f of a thoroughly competent practical man, entirely j: unconnected with local politics and prejudices, to ■; travel over the proposed line of railway, and furnish the Government with a report both on the probable cost and practicability of the railway, and the apparent value of the land through which it is to pat>s. This idea is suggested to me by the course that is now being adopted by the Auckland Provincial Government. After having expended an almost incredible sum, and yet having entirely failed to complete even the five or six miles of railway required to connect Auckland with Onehuriga, across a narrow neck of land in which no rivers, mountains, or any other engineering difficulties are apparent, Mr. Russell had been authorised by the Superintendent to consult with Mr. Brassey, a well known English engineer, on the subject, and the result of their consultation was, that at Mr. EusselFs urgent request, Mr. Brassey " agreed that Mr. Ogilive should pay a visit to the Province for the purpose of inspecting the line and reporting to him upon the nature of the works to be undertaken, ans of the security which the Province could give." Mr. Russell is also reported as having stated to the Auckland Provincial Council that "he was sure that Mr. Ogilvie was in Mr. Brassey's closest confidence, and he was a man of known ability. His actual salary was £200 per month and Mr. Brassy had consented that the amount to be paid should not exceed what he himself paid Mm." I cannot of course say that Mr. Ogilvie could be induced to visit the Province or to report on the Nelson and Cobden Railway ; but it does appear to me that if the question of that railway is to be entertained at all, an effort should be made to obtain the opinion of such an authority, an authority that would be respected amongst foreign capitalists, as well as being placed above suspicion in this province. This comparatively small outlay would probably be the means of saving this province from those great and expensive Railway mistakes which have impoverished, and destroyed the steady progress of several sister provinces and injured the credit and added to the burdens of the whole colony. 17. It is perhaps unnecessary for me to remind you that under the new Audit Act a Superintendent cannot act on the resolution passed by you on the 3rd of May last authorising him "to take such steps as he shall think best calculated to bring the Railway scheme under the notice of capitalists," and pledging the Council "to cover by vote any expense the Government may incur in endeavouring to carry the resolution into effect," as the Provincial Auditor cannot now sign a. warrant even on the authority of a resolution of the Provincial Council. 18. If Mr. Ogilvie can be induced to devote some little time to the work, the opportunity should not be lost of getting his attention, and through him the attention of British capitalists called to the really practicable work of connecting our vast and excellent coal mines with the Buller Port, by means of a short railway, a work that could probably be completed for a smaller sum than the Colony now annually pays to subsidize steamers, and which would add far more to the real wealth and steady progress of New Zealand, than all the artificial assistance of its subsidized steamers will ever do. I trust that the fleet of steamers employed by the West Coast Gold-field, and the increased population that is being attracted to the neighborhood of the Buller, will soon render it impossible that this evident source of wealth and permanent prosperity should be any longer neglected. 19. In addition to the forty or fifty miles of road already mentioned as in progress, and to be completed next month, a packing track for horses has been completed from Cobden to the end of the Seventeen-Mile Beach , northward. From Cobden, up the Grey to the Twelve-Mile, the old foot track has been improved by making sidecuttings round the rocky spurs, and metalling the places that required it, making a useful road for horses and stock. In connection with this road a substantial cart bridge is being erected across the Coal Creek at Cobden. From the junction of the Little Grey, up that river to the saddle, into the Inangahua, and down the Inangahua to the Buller, a good horse-track has been made in length about forty miles; An important improvement has been effected in the communication with the upper Buller district, in that portion of road which had always been most liable to get out of repair.- Several miles, commencing at the entrance of the Big Bush, and extending over the saddle at the head of the Black Valley, have been well metalled, and the various bridges, culverts, and fords, have been thoroughly repaired. A road party is now completing the North Buller Road, from the Lyell to the termination of the old horse-track below the Maruia, a very rough and rocky piece of work formerly left unfinished. On the track below the Inangahua, along the south bank of the Buller, a party is also at work engaged in finishing, for horse traffic, those difficult and rocky portions along which only a foot track was formerly carried. The vote of £1000 passed^last Session of the Council, for the improvement of the Dove Dale road was intended to have been expended in making the existing bridle-tracks into dray roads. This has been done, but at a cost considerably in excess of the estimate. The importance of the object to be gained that of settling familes permanently in the locality, seemed, however, to / justify^an extra expenditure, and the district is bow easily "e^cessible for dray traffic from Waimea West, .and also from the Moutere by a con-

fcinuous line of road, of which about sixteen or seventeen miles have been improved as intended besides a further portion nearly completed on another line of road leading into Dove Dale, giving access to Orinoco Valley from the WaiWero road for a distance of nearly three miles. 20. The past year has been rendered memorable by the atrocious murders within the borders of this province of no less than five Marlborough settlers. These murders were not committed by our own settlers, nor do they indicate any deterioration in that high moral position of which the settled portion of our population has bo long been able to boast. On the contrary the outburst of well-founded indignation which so simultaneously moved the whole population to a determined search for the concealed bodies of the unfortunate victims, and preluded thepossibility of shelter to the four hardened criminals who had so long perpetrated their deeds of blood in other, localities, has afforded the strongest proof of that healthy moral condition which has long rendered life aid property so proverbially secure amongst us. The search for these bodies, the arrest, secure retention, conviction, and execution of the murderers have cost this province nearly .£2OOO, irrespective of private subscriptions and volunteered labor ; but it is impossible to estimate the service that has thus been rendered to the whole colony, or to overvalue such an expression of the heroic spirit which animates the population of Nelson. In compliance with the recommendation of the ! Judge, at the couclnsion of these trials, and which, was quite in accordance with the convictions of myself and the Executive Council, the steady, intelligent, and painstaking conduct of the principal police officers has been rewarded by promotion and some increase of salary. It also became my duty to acknowledge and reward the great assiduity and efficiency of the acting Gaoler. 21. The large fire which occurred on the morning of the 7th August last forced the attention of the inhabitants of the city to the great need of some organisation to arrest the ravages of that element on any similar occasion, and also to the desirability of giving the power to some proper officer to order the destruction or removal of any buildings or other property whenever such action may appear to him the most practicable means to stay the progress of a fire. The former want was at once supplied by the formation of a well organised and active brigade, which will, I trust, receive the necessary support from the City Board of Works and the agents of the various insurance offices established ia this city ; but as the Board will probably need some additional power to authorise it to pay money for such a legitimate purpose, and the agents of the insurance offices required to consult their principals on the subject, I took upon myself the responsibility of meeting the earliest requirements of the brigade by paying the sum of £200 from the provincial revenue, on behalf of the city. The want of a duly authorised officer is still urprovided for, and the whole subject is one that will probably claim your attention at your first regular business session. 22. As it is my intention to resign my present office at the conclusion of this probably short session, it would be manifestly improper for me to indicate any further policy. The voluminous, and I fear rather hasty, legislation of the last session of the General Assembly, will probably call for 6ome attention from my successor, and some action from you at your next session. But there is one of its Acts — the Audit Act — upon which my present position particularly qualifies me to offer an impartial criticism, and upon which I may therefore be permitted to place my opinion on record. lam convinced that public accounts can only be effectually, and therefore usefully, audited by a competent officer daily in attendance for that purpose, and he should, of course, be entirely removed from the control of, or the slightest dependence on any public officer, whose accounts he has to check; and should have no voice whatever in the direction of any expenditure. Nor should he even be appointed by any other paid officer or officers, but by the representatives of the people, the expenditure of whose money he is employed to watch. Besides the guarantee which such an officer affords the public as to the honest application of public money, he earns his salary by relieving the responsible head of a large establishment from that laborious investigation of each account, which would otherwise form a necessary part of his duty, and, which could not fail to injuriously 'distract his attention from his more legitimate work. By the Provincial Audit Act, which has been in operation in this Colony for the last five years the Superintendent could expend money without the authority of the Council, provided the expenditure were called for by unforeseen circumstances, and so evidently desirable as to leave no doubt that the Council would sanction it after being put in possession of all the facts, and carefully enquiring into all the circumstances. This enabled a Superintendent to act himself, and even to authorise his sometimes better informed subordinates to act, in those sudden emergencies which are constantly arising, especially on Goldfields, with that promptitude which is often so very important, although with that wholesome caution, which a knowledge of possible fines and penalties could not fail to impart. The stringent provisions of the new Act, like most other extreme measures, will defeat the intentions of its promoters, as it is not to be supposed that the majority of any Council having the slightest confidence in the Provincial Executive, would entirely destroy its efficiency by giving it no power to meet unforseen demands ; and the only alternative will be that of placing large sums at its disposal for possible contingencies, and thus losing the power they ought to have of effectually calling the Superintendent to account for all uncontemplated expenditure after having [h&i an opportunity to make themselves acquainted with all the circumstances which may or may not have justified his proceedings. 23. It would be improper for me to conclude my last opening address to you without a grateful acknowledgment of the unreserved and very able assistance I have continued to receive from Mr. Commissioner Kynnersley, to whom I have been able to entrust an increasing amount of discretionary power— a trust which he has never failed to justify. The amount of harassing and exhausting work which he has sometimes under-

taken for fifteen hours a day to meet the demands of sudden rushes, has obviated the necessity of some costly appointments, which could not always have been terminated with the circumstances that had called for them, and it is no mean evidence of his capacity to find that he has been able to command the uninterrupted respect and obedience of the large and ejerchanging tody of miners, amongst •whom his uuties heve been performed. 24. There are other officers of the Government;, who are personally too well known to yea to require any mention from me, whoes valuable services have rendered my task an easy one, whilst you, gentlemen, have made it a truly pleasant one, that liberal support you have "tver accorded to each humble effort I have made p promote the welfare and the progress of the province, over which I have thus had the pleasure, as well as the honor to preside. ALFRED SAUNDERS, Superintendent.