LAST NIGHT'S COUNCIL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 115, 15 May 1874, Page 2

LAST NIGHT'S COUNCIL.

Y The Council met at 5 o'clock— Mc Ivfsi vipoTed^'f That in tli3 opinion of this Council, ; : ine number of police stationed' at Reefton is insufficient for the duties imposed upon them, and that the addition of a confctab'e is desirable in order to preferve the efficiency of the force aud the preservation of order." Negatived by 10 to 7 — On the motion of Mr Boase it was re.so.vcd, ." Tbat a Select Co.mimt'.C3 he appointed, wlth-power to call for persons and papers' to enquire into the 1 amount paid by the Government to the Ballarat Company for mining plant and ma'erial when that Company relinquished their right to the BrunnerMine, and what amount the Government received from the present, hssei 8;, aho, the amount paid for valuation of said plant; the committee to consist of Mr Acton Adams, Mr 'Kerr j "Mr Wastney, the Provincial Secretary -Mr Parker, Mr Gibbs, and the.: moyer ."— Mr Gibbs asked the Provincial Secretary, What measures had been taken to give effect to a . resolution of the Counclkgnssed on tlie sth of February, that ihe Superintendent - be requested to collect all the data obtainable in reference to the iron and coal deposits of the Collingwood district; $c. lhe Pbovi>-cial' St cbetabt replied that the Superin tenden t had consulted Dr. Hector with a,.view to obtaining some competent person to make the necessary examination, and he had recommended ' that it should stand over until the result <f tbe works at the Collingwood coal-mine had been a«cirtained, as the value ot the iron deposits depended almost entirely on the facilities lor obtaining coal. — The Gas and Waterworks Transfer Bill was committed and .. reported with amendments. — Oh the adjourned ""debate on going iato Committee on the Estimates being resumed, Mr Rout withdrew his amendment. Mr Donkb movel as an amendment, " That it 1b the opinion of this C'ouncifthe Estiaiatea submitted to it are not framed iriv accordance with the pres.nfc circumßtanceß.and requirements ol the province, that the prppoted txecutive pnl general departmental expenditure is in excess of what it properly should be iu view of the anticipated ordinary revenue, an insufficient sum being released lor..e.penditUie upon puhlic .woi'kp; and that this Council in reltrring the back to Li is Honor the Superintendent for further consideration and for amendment, would respectfully advise and reoomoaend His Homr to cause them to be amended in the directions indicated." He was aware that he was pursuing an extreme and unusual course in proposing that the estimates be sent back to the Superintendent, and probably the Executive would treat it'^s a-vote of no-confidence, but still he fclc it his duty to bring it forward. The financial statement showed that tho ordinary .revenue was £53,750, and out of this it was proposed to expend £43,715 upon the Executive and other departments, and the maintenance of the institutions of the province, to which might be added the sum of £ '500 for surveys; tents, &c, which might also be cal.ed depart--1 mental expenditure, while the amount for public works included £62U0 for the Lunatic Asylum. Part of this latter sum was raised by loan, and the balance was proposed to be obtained by a further loan, tor which it would be necessary to legislate, and even supposing the General Asembly to refuse to sanction tbe bill, the amount migho still be ex. pended upon it by tbe Government if the Council were to appropriate it. ixclueive of this £6200, . there were only £19,995 available for public works. Among the estimated receipts too were £7COO for liquor licenses which he thought was altogether an over estimate The coat of administering the Road Boards might also be fairly set down a<« part of the expenditure upon the administration of the affairs of the province, and this amounted to a further .urn of £1715, which was for the performance of functions that really belonged to the Provincial Government, Taking all these items into consideration it appeared that only £15,780 was left for public works. No reference was made in the Estimates to tbe advance of £20, . 00 from the General Government for public works, and as tlfe revenue was pie Iged for this, he thought the Cjruo6il ought to have been consulted with regard to it. It, was intolerable, . he thought, that so small a sum should be available for public works, and he was not prepared to go into Committee on the Estimates as sent down, for the unpleasant duty of cutting down here and there ehould not devolve on tho Council but |on the Supe*.ntendent. . They had to ask themselves whether the Etimates were prepared satisfactorily, and the requirements of the various districts attended to as tliey should be. There was no avoiding supple . mentary estimatis so long aB the wants of many districts were overlooked. Roads and bridges were said to be the lungs of' a country, and for want of tbem the province was fairly dying of consumption. It was all very well to say . that there was no money, but his reply was that it might be pbtatned by reducing the departmental expenditure. Mrßour seconded the amendment.' There was a mistake to begin with in the estimated receipt* in theiteov capitat'on allowance £13i000, as £5000. of that had already been advanced and had to be repaid in monthly instalments ot £500. Of the loan for the Lunatic Asylum, too; a large, proportion had already beep received, bo that the whole sum ot £6200 should rot appear in the estimated receipts for the year. The overdraft of £7009 for last year was in no way proved for, and as the recent failure 1 of which they all knew had been ! brought about by continuous overdrafts so would it ho with the province, as they would soon find the Bank putting the screw br The whole estimates were based on a false foundation, and they had no business to be appropriating over £70,000 when they actually only had £62,000 to deal with. Tbe Provincial TaKisi^Kß would first notice Mr Bout's statement with regard to the estimated revenue. He objected to the item £13,000 capitation allowance because the General Government had already advanced £5000 which was to be deducted during the year, but the estimate before them was one of lhe probable • revenue whereas tho £5000 formed part of the debt. The true overdraft was £15,200, and he believed it was right to reduce that as soon as possible but at the s,ame time keeping in view the interests of the province. When the roads were made, as he hoped they soon would be by means . of the proposed loan, there would be a more, prosperous state of affairs, and the province would then be in a position to pay the overdraft, but at present he, was not prepared, nor did he think the Council were prepared to arrest the public wcrks and close the departments for the purpose of standing in a better point with their bankers. In the comparative statement of receipts and expenditure before them they would find that the votes in many instances exceeded the expenditure thus leaving some margin to come or go upon, and though he did not expect thus to meet the whole of the £5000 in one year he did hope to pay off portion of it in that way. Mr Rout's view with regard to overdraft was no doubt correct as a matter Of account but not as one of government. It wes objected that the £3200 for the Lunatic Asylum was placed in the ordlhary revenue but it must be so in order to enable theni to operate upon i l -. Mr Donne had^sftted that the money could not bo raised without the assent of .the General Assembly but he\had reason to beJfeve that it coull be- obtained 1 ns soon aB the Council had passed the necessary Act. Reference had been made to the " falling revenue " but ihis was not a fair statement aa last year's receipts showed an increase of £1,500 which though very trifling

was'quite. sufficient tn contradict the state ment that the revenue was faliiag. -With regard to the L'quor Licenses the largeness of ihe, amount was attributable to the fact that hit.fci.rtib the license f- e3 on the goldflelds had been .includo I : in .iho goldflelds revenue, whereas 'this year tho licenses throughout the whole province lmd been classed under one head. The attempt to include the coßt of administrating the revenue of the Hoad Boards ii th-t of the administration of the affairs of the Province he looked upon as most unjustifiable. The objection, that/the a .vencc .of ; £20,000 had not teen placed on the Estimates was met by the statement that it had already been before the ( ouncil which had sanctioned ... .the. expenditure ,in its last session. Mr Dome had complained of the number" of the Executive but he must hive forgotten that in the recent election of Superintendent the cry had been raised that he should surround himself with a stroug Fxe- . cutive, and that lhe Council had in its late Session refused by a very large majority to reduce " the number by amalgamating .tbe.-offl.es of Treasurer, and fcejretary. ,;lt swas scarcely fair than to call out that the - Executive was ibo,. strong.That surely was an admission of weakness .on the other side such as no Englishman cared to -make.— Mr Gibbs was of opinion that, the departmental expenditure waa a!- --• together too largd and absorbed a considerable portion of the revenue that shout- s be devoted , to public works.— The Provincial Solicitor said that Mr Donne had commenced by stating ■ ' that the rxecutive would probably look upon his amendment in the light of a no-uonfidence motion, but why whould they, seeing that the Estimates-- were frame I, with one single exception in the Executive Department, in accordance with the views of the Council es expressed lor several years past? Discussto ■: on these BuKjects was doubtless beneficial, but he thought it whs a wa«te of time to be constantly debating the smie subject. It was a curious coincidence that on th»t very day twdveu-onths Mr O'Conor had brought forward a motion for a Select Committee to enquire imo the departmental expenditure with a view to reducing ic. $The revenue, be it remembered, had then fallen. q{ £11,000, whereas this year it showed a slight increase. The Committee met, and the result of its deliberations was that- a .. reduction of to nettling over £3,000 was recommended, £1,900 of which was' in Contingencies, £400 in travelling expenses, £100 in Council expenses, and about £600 in departmental expenditure, principally in the directioa of striking off a clerk and lowering , the salaries of one or two others. The clerk I was got rid of, but 1 - additional clerical assistance had frequently, had to be obtained in consequence. Th re was really nothing to justify the amendment before thena. The Government should be given credit for a -" desire to. promote public works, but they could not do it without having the means at their disposal, and no reduction that could possibly be made in tha departmental expenditure could ever set at liberty a sufficient amount to be productive of \ much good in that direction. Mr Ivess took special objection to the votes set down for tiis ..particular district, which had produced £1600 in gold, alone, while if was prop sed to give it the; miserable sum of £50 for a horse track. Hfe would remind the Provincial Treasurer that when the cry was raised tint there shouWbe • a strong Executive it was not proposer/ to remedy numerical weakness, but weakness in ability to resist attacks, and to conduct the government of tho province /The Provincial Secretary thought it was most disingenuous to try to show that ail the! items, except these under the head of '/Public ; Works and purposes," werg to meet IdepartY mental expends ure. Education, one ot* the greatest of public, works,, could scaicely be called such, nor could the 'M? .cell; neous.'^ The proposed departmental expendit ure ior the current year was but pery little i a excess of that of the Inst. Mr Donne did no ; appear lothave taken into consideration that the loan would probably be raised before the Council met again, an -J, therefore, that it we 3 necessary to keep up the departments, and especially the survey staff. He hofced the Council would nofc agree to go to such an. extreme as\that proposed by the amermment. Mr WASTxfesr did not tlr'nk that anyAgreat practical result wqiild follow the pasnlo^of the amendment, but still he would support' it. There was a proposed increase of £600 under the first head of the estimates, £353 uncte^ the second, and various smaller sums under~ the others, instead of which he thought there v should be a reduction —The original motion, being, " That the' Counoil do now resolve it\pelf into Committee for the consideration of ■ tho Estimates," and an amendment having been proposed, the question was that all the Words a.^er " That " be struck out, and a division was taken with the following result : —Ayes, 10 : Messrs Donne, Adams, Rout, Gibbs, Wastney, Parker, Ivess, Baigent, Tarrant, Kerr; Noes, 9 : The Provincial Secretary, Prpviticial Sojici^or, Provincial Tr easurer, Mes-rs Corbett, Maguire, Maclean, Shapfer, Boase, Kelling. On the amendment being- put, Mr Tarrant proposed that all the words after *' public works '* be struck out. This: was seconded by Mr Baigent. and opposed by Mv Donne, but carried on the voices. — Tho Council then adjourned until This Morning. The Municipal Corporations Acts Bill and the Cruelty to Animals Bjll were read tho third time, and the Counoil adjourned until Mqnday evening.