LAST NIGHT'S COUNCIL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 120, 21 May 1872, Page 2

LAST NIGHT'S COUNCIL.

The Council met at 5 o'clock. Mr. O'Conor's resolution recommending the disintegration of the province which was the first on the paper, was postponed until Wednesday evening. Tbe Provincial Solicitor moved the second reading of the Rivers Bill, and in doing so said that its object was to bring into operation an Act passed by the General Assembly in 1868, which provided for the constitution of local Boards with powers to levy rates for the preservation of river banks. The rates were divided into three classes. The first had reference to the lands exposed to actual damage, the second to those which , suffered in a minor degree, and the third to those that were not affected by the rivers. The rates in the first class were double those in No. 2, those in No. 2 half of those fn No. 1, and in No. 3 one-quarter of those in No. 1, but before tho Act could be brought into operation it was necessary that a petition should be signed to that effect by a number of residents representing three-quarters of the acreage in the district to be brought under | its provisions. For his own part he I objected to that portion of ifc which rej quired that the owners of property not affected by floods should be rated, but the Bill must be adopted in its entirety or not at all. The second reading was postponed until Wednesday next. — On the motion of the Provincial Secretary, the Grey Valley Road Bill was read the second time, and referred to a select Committee with a view to extending its application to other districts. — Mr. Girbs moved : — That a Select Committee be appointed to take into consideration and report upon the ; matter of an advance of £250 made by the Superintendent to the Doran's Reef Goldmining Company. His object in doing so was to endeavor to ventilate this i very singular payment, which he looked upon as, to a great extent, an unauthorised expenditure. After some little discussion the motion was agreed to on a division, by 9 to 4. — Mr. Wastney moved :— That his Honor the Superintendent be requited to place on the Supplementary Estimates the sum of £300 for making the road from the Happy Valley to the Rai Valley. The amount necessary for making this road had for four successive years been voted by the Council, and in anticipation of the work bein^ carried out many persons had been induced to purchase and lease land in the Wangamoa. It was not merely a local work, but one that if proceeded with would open up communication with the Province of Marlborough. A lengthy discussion ensued, the majority of the members being opposed to any sum being placed on the supplementary estimates, and others advocating that the work should be paid for iv land as it was proposed to do in the Grey Valley. On the Provincial Secretary stating that the Government considered this an important work, and one that should, if possible, be carried out, • Mr.-. Wastney ■li-litow .WT n°fe- \ Th « CqudcU tban