LAST NIGHT'S COUNCIL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 110, 8 May 1872, Page 2

LAST NIGHT'S COUNCIL.

The Council met at 5 o'clock. Mr. Gotness, the newly-elected member for the Grey Valley, was introduced by Mr. Donnk. The Provincial Treasurer presented a petition from Mr. Thomas Tunnicliff, praying for compensation for damages sustained by a road being taken through his property at Spring Grove. On the motion of the Provincial Secretary the Superintendent was authorised to expend a sum not exceeding .£750 in repairing the Hurunui bridge. Mr. Gibbs moved, " That, as the altered state of the Provincial finances makes it imperative that all unnecessary expenditure should be dispensed with, this Council is of opinion that, without injury to the public service, the duties of Provincial Secretary and Treasurer may be performed by one person. He had been in the habit of moving a similar resolution for some years, but had hoped that it would have been rendered unnecessary upon this occasion by the Superintendent suggesting some such reduction in the departmental expenditure in his opening address, as it was in the Executive and possibly in the Harbor departments only, that the Council could effect a saving, the G-eneral Government having taken upon themselves to decide upon the salaries to be paid to the Goldfields officers. He trusted to receive the support of Mr. Luckie on this occasion, as he noticed that j in a recent speech to the electors he had expressed his approval of the consolidation of offices by the Colonial Government. A large part of the Treasurer's work was done in the Provincial Secretary's office, where the accounts were examined by the clerk, who passed them on to the Superintendent, who, after approval, transmitted them to the Treasurer for payment. Considering the small amount of money to be i disbursed he thought too many officers were ! engaged. Mr. Baigest would second the reso- ' lution, though he felt that it was almost a matter of form, as the people would never trouble themselves about a reduction of the Provincial expenditure until they were called upon \ to pay directly. The Provincial Secretary ] would oppose the motion on the ground that since the establishment of the Province the services of a Treasurer had never been more requisite than at the preseut time, as the accounts hau become much more complicated owing to the arrangements of the Colonial Government, and the dealing with the revenue derived from the goldfields where there were five receivers, all of whom had to send in their accounts to the Treasurer for examination prior to their being submitted to the Superintendent. The development of the Inangahun. goldfield had largely increased the work, in addition to which there were the mineral and agricultural leases, besides the loans, waterworks,, and district roads acccounts. He objected to the wording of the resolution as being offensive in its style, as the salaries of the Treasurer and Secretary could not be characterised as unnecessary expenditure, the Council having last year decided that they were required. Mr. P. Iyellixg thought that Mr. Gibbs had made out no case at all, and that he had not | adduced any convincing argument to prove that j the proposed alteration was necessary, Mr. j Luckie had fully expected that stronger arguments would have been brought forward in support of a motion of such, importance. He should have allowed the question to go to a division in silence, but that he happened to know that t there was more beneath it than at first met the j eye, that there was something in it which might affect something else outside the Couuncil. He then referred ; ,to the Executive Act and to the I laxity which existed in the system of keeping the accoimts at the time of Harris' defalcations at which time Mr. Sharp was receiving £200, and Mr. Harris £350 a year besides travelling expenses, whereas at present the work was done | for £400, and in a manner that entirely precluded any such peculations as those by which the province had been robbed of over £1,900, in addition ! to which there was the advantage of having an ' able person to assist in the Executive If the J proposed alteration were made, it certainly would J result in an injury to the public. Mr. Gibbs in reply said that he denied having been actuated by any ulterior motives in moving the resolution. The arguments advanced by the Provincial Secretary, he considered, were deprived of any weight by the fact that the Treasurer was able to go to ! Wellington for three months and leave his work ' to be done by the clerk. If Ms duties could be j performed satisfactorily in his absence for three mouths, surely they might be as well carried on without Mia for the other nine months in the year. The resolution was then put, and lost by twelve to four. Ayes : Messrs. Gibbs, Collins, I Kynnersley, and Baigent. Noes : Messrs. j Macmahon, Wastney, F. Kelling, C. Helling, Donne, Tarrant, Eeid, Luckie, O'Couor, the Provincial Solicitor, the Provincial Treasurer, and the Provincial Secretary. — Tiie Provincial Treasurer moved " That a Select Committee be appomted t to take into consideration paragraph No. 11, of bis Honor the Superintendent's address, such Committee to consist of Mr. Collins, Mr. Guinness, Mr. IT. Kelling, Mr. Macmahon, Mr. Eeid, Mr. Donne, and the mover, with power to call for persons and papers." He looked upon it that the opening of fresh ' districts for settlement should be the main j object of a Government, who in the establishment | of a colony should look to the land as the great natural fund "by which settlements were to be extended from the particular spot first peopled, and thence made to radiate all over the country. In New Zealand this principle had been too much lost sight of, and lands of great value that would have furnished homes for tens of thousands of people had been sold at very low prices for mere.pastoral purposes, while the funds accruing from their sale had been dissipated instead of being kept sacred as capital to be used only for the extension of colonisation. Every inducement should be offered to people to go into the interior and form homes where they could bring up their families in decency and comfort, and the Government _ proposed to take the first step in this direction in the Buller Valley, where there were at least 30,000 acres available for settlement. Of course the difficulty of communication at first would prevent single families from going into the wilds and settling down miles away from all the appliances of civilised life, and therefore it was proposed to establish villages and centres of population, which he believed was to be done with the assistance of the Colonial and Provincial Governments. Some employment must be found for a time for such settlers, in order to supply them with the means of living until they 'had" their land cleared and brought into cultivation, .and it was therefore proposed that the General Government shonld purchase the land from the Provincial Government, the money to be expended by the latter in employing the settlers at a moderate rate of wages for, say, three days in

I while those who took up the land should be ; enabled to purchase it on a system of deferred payments. There were gold workings in the neighborhood which might be largely extended were provisions to be obtained at moderate rates, and this would be effected by planting in the midst of them small coloniesof producers, who, when not engaged on their farms, might earn a small amount ot money by gold digg'ng. By the formation of such settlements the long dreary line that now existc d between Nelson and the West Coast would be broken, and a, main line of road would shortly be made from one side of the province to the other which would bring the goldfields and the agricultural and pastoral districts into closer communication to the great advantage of both of them. There was one strong point upon which the Provincial Government would insist, i amely, that those already in the country should enjoy equal advantages with immigrants imported from elsewhere. He was unable to tee why the sons of old settlers who had brought the land in the districts already settled into cultivation, and had endured all the trials and hardships of a colonist's life should not be placed on at least an equal footing with newly-arrived immigrants. There were plenty of young men in this province who were quite able to hold their own with any others, let them come from where they might. It was not intended to confine these settlements to the Buller Valley, but merely to commence them there as being a district eminently adapted to the experiment. Mr. F. Kelling seconded the resolution which was carried. On the motion of Mr. Donne the report of the Select Committee appointed to prepare a reply to the address of the Superintendent was adopted. Mr. O'Conok moved " That the sitting-days of the Council during this session shall be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and that unless otherwise ordered, the Speaker shail tako the Chair in the morning at 10 o'clock on each sitting-day, and in the aiternoon at 7 o'clock on each sitting-day, except Saturday." There being no seconder, the resolution fell to the ground. Mr O'Conor moved " Th.v the Honorarium payable to members of this Council during the present session be limited to twenty days' pay, according to the established scale." After the fate of the last resolution he feared a similar one was in store for this, still he would move it as he believed that 20 days' pay was quite sufficient for the amount of work done. The st'ite of the Provincial finances was not such that extravagance and waste of money should be encouraged, and he trusted that the members would show this to be their opinion by reducing the total amount of honorarium to be paid to them He was convinced that payment by the day did not conduce to expedition in the transaction of the business before them, and he felt sure that the members would frequently be puzzled to say what they had done for their money. Were the resolution carried, it would have the effect of lessening the number of orations to which they were at present compelled to listen. No seconder was found, and consequently the resolution was not put. In reply to a question from Mr. OTonor, the Provincial Secretary said that it was the intention of the Government to introduce a Bill to empower the Superintendent to make a road up the Grey Valley, the labor to be paid lor in land. To this, clauses might, if necessary, be added providing for any other special work. Ihe Council then went into committee on the Towns Improvement Bill, and after sitting for some time, adjourned until this evening, at 5 o'clock.