LAST NIGHT'S COUNCIL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 118, 19 May 1874, Page 2

LAST NIGHT'S COUNCIL.

The Council met at five o'clock. Present: Ail the members but Messrs Sharp, Tarrant, and O' Conor. In. reply to a question from Mr B'aigknt as to " what steps the Government are going to adopt for the preservation of tbe Wairoa bridge, and securing the Bafety of the traffic passing over the same," tho Provincial Secretary stated that the Provincial Engineer had reported against any expenditure upon repairing it, in consequence of which the Government had decided to close it against ort traffic, of which notice would at once be given. — Mr Ivess moved, That in the opinion of this Council, (he powers which the Governor is authorised under ".The Goldfields Act, 1866," and Amendments of said Act, to delegate to Superintendents of Provinces ought, in the case of tho Province of Nelson, to be delegated to the Superintendent and his Executive. That a respectful address signed by tbe Speaker, be presented to his Honor requesting him to give eflact to this resolution, as provided for in section 2 of an Act to amend the Gold fields Act, 1866, passed in the General Assembly, 1867. The Provincial Secretary opposed, and Mr Shapter supported the resolution, the debae upoa which was on tho motion of Mr Donne postponed until Wednesday. — On the motion of Mr Kelltng it was resolved, " That the Superintendent be requested to p!ac9 on the supplementary estimates the sum. of £40 for the purpose of extinguishing the burning coal seam at the fen Mile Creek."— The Council then went into Committee on the Gas and Waterworks Transfer Bill, when on the motion of the Provincial Solicitor, the following amendments were agreed to : — Amendment to clause 3 —To strike out all the words after the word " upon " in the 36th line, and to insert the following words, " the terms and conditions following that is to say: — (1.) Upon payment by the Corporation to the Provincial Government of any such sum of money if any us shall be mutually agreed upon by the Superintendent and Corporation in respect of such transfer. (2.) Upon the Corporation entering into and executing a deed or other instrument of indemnity to the satisfaction of the Superintendent providing for the indemnity of the Provincial Government of tbe Province of Nelson p.n<l of the revenue of the Province of Nelson against all debts and liabilities chargeable upon such gasworks and waterworks. — Clause 6— To strike out the word " section " in Hue 15, and insert " sections 3 and." — Mr Pitt moved the second reading of the Harbor Board Bill Since the introduction of the Bill the question bad assumed a new phase, as the City Council had passed a resolution ogaiost it on the ground that double management of the town reserves was undesirable. Evidently they were desirous of obtaining the reserve?, but were not disposed to take" over the expenditure. (Mr Pitt here explained the provisions of the Bill, but as we have already published an abstract of it, it is not necessary to repeat what he said on that head.) The principle was one which had already been acted upou in pasaiDg the Marine Act and in constituting Road Boards. Were the Bill passed it would relieve the Government of the trouble and responsibility of dealing with tbe port nfluqrs and vee( them in the baqds of a local body of men well versed in marine matters. Another important consideration was tbe power proposed to be given to the Board to raise money for the improvements that would very Boon be necessary at the port. He did not believe that the £15,000 set down in the Loan Bill would be sufficient lor all (he required works, as in addition to the construction of a wharf there would be the expense of dredging, as many persons who bad a knowledge of these matters were of opinion that the harbor was gradually filling up. The ' City Council appeared to look upon tbe reserves as exclusively town property, but that was not so, as the Act atatod that they were granted to the Superintendent in trust for tbe public service of the province. Thereforo, they were purely provincial reserves, and as such might be applied to what was most certainly a provincial work, namely, the improvement of the only real harbor the province possessed. The duties of the Board were already laid down in the Colonial Act, and the Bill of which he now moved the second reading merely provided for its conBtitution. Mr Adams opposed the second reading on the ground that it would be better to vest all the powers in tbe Corporation. The city was entirely dependent upon the port for its growth and prosperity, and if the interests of the two were confided to one body there would be no such conflict as was sure to take place if the management of both was handed over to the Council and a Board, besides which there would be a considerable saving in the management, as one set of offices and officers would do for both. There was every probability that in a short time Nelson would become the coal depot . for the Australian and interprovincial steamers. It should therefore be made as attractive as possible to shipping, and this could only be done by borrowed money, which could be obtained much, more cheaply and readily on the security oj the City and Port together than on the latter separately. It might be argued that the people specially interested in the port could manage its affairs better than the City Council, but he

felt sure tbt out of the nine Councillors the port would be able to secure a good proportion who would be pledged to look after its interests, besides which the city was too largely interested in the welfare of tho port to neglect it. And, again, wfM lko two combined, the position of the City Council would bo much improved, and with increased revenues and property to manage, the offices of Mayor nnd Councillors would become objects of greater ambition. Mr Gibbs opposed the Bill, aud would oppose banding the powers over to the Corporation, as he thought that by either the provincial revenue would be decreased. The Provincial Secretary regretted that ho felt compelled to oppose the Bill, particularly as he knew that many of his constituents were in favor of it, but he thought that no reason whatever had been shown for changing the mauagemeut. .Local government, he thought, might be overdone and there might be too many governments, and there was every probability of the Board clashing with the City Council. Auckland was the only province that had tried a Harbor Board, and there it had given satisfaction neither to the people the Government or tho Board itself. The establishment of a Board here would give rise lo increased expenditure, and lead, he felt sure, to increased harbor dues, a thing that certainly ought to be avoided. He might say that it was tho intention of the Government to introduce a Bill this session empowering ihem to raise a Bum of money for the construction of a wharf, and the reclamation of land at the port. The Corporation, it should be remembered, had not yet expressed its willingness to take over the management of the harbor but simply protested against the establishment of a Board. Mr Maclean would support the Bill. Tho condition of die harbor was in itself sufficient proof that a change was required in the management. A Board would have the power at once of laising a loan whereas the City Council would have to wait for a special Act authorising it to do so. The Provincial Council appeared to bo in favor of the system of responsibility to itsslf, and this would be secured by passing the Bill which provided for the nomination of four members by that body whereaß they could not look for it in the City Council, Mr Park.br would oppose the Bill as affecting the Provincial revenue. He should like to know, if the town revenues were handed over to the City Council, whether that body would be prepared to undertake the maintenance of the police, port, and hospital. Mr Donne thought that the debate upon the Becond reading Bhould he postponed until the City Council had got into working order. In the next session of tho Provincial Council they might be in a position to say whether or not they were prepared to take over the management of the harbor with all itß responsibilities. The port had dragged along in some sort of fashion for so long that ho theqght it might do so for another year without detriment to the public interests. Mr Rout was of opiuion that tho second reading of the Bill might advantageously bo postponed for a w( ek in order to give time to the City Council to state their intentions clearly. Ho would therefore move the adjournment of the debate until next Monday. This was carried on a division by 10 to 8. For ihe adjournment, the Provincial Solicitor, Messrß Maclean; Maguire, Rout. Boase, Ivoss, Shapter, Corbett, Adams, Kerr. Against: The Provincial Secretary, Provincial Treasurer, Messrs Baigent, Wastney, Gibbs, Parker, Keliing, Donne. The Council then adjourned until this evening. We (Otago Times) are not prepared with an exact definition of " rowdy." If, however, swearing and cursing, fighting and screaming, yelling and disorder, do not constitute a condition of things sufficient to justify the use of the term, we think some of the immigrants by the Asia hardly used, and we are willing to gratify the SurgeonSuperintendent by substituting the above words for the obnoxious term " rowdy." The Cooktown Herald notes with regret that numbers of mi a era continue to rush to the Palmer. For the last four months there has only been at the very outside a yield of 17,0000z5. Says the Herald: — How, we ask any miner, is this a fair return for the privation and misery which has to be endured in obtaining it, when rations are at famine price and difficult to be got even at that? We unhesitatingly assert it is not, bat is sufficient to deter any man from rushing to the field. It is our duty as journalists to be plain and speak out, in order to warn men from rushing into the lion's mouth, and we trust that our remarks will have the desired effect of stopping that which, if not nipped in the bud, will end ia a dire disaster." Charles Orton's Statements. — The Globe evening newspaper has published the following extraordinary announcement : — We have received, in the usual way, the following letter, which purports to be an avowal by Charles Orton, the brother of the " Claimant," of the fraud for which the latter stands condemned, and an identification of the prisoner. We have no means of verifying the authority of the letter, but give it for what it is worth:- — March 7, 1874.— 5 ir — will you insert this letter and you will do me a favor as Brother of the person stiled the Claimant & make this oonfession being no longer able to keep within my breast such a weight I hereby state that all the proceedings carried on for the last

ten months in the Courfc of Queen's Bench by a Person calling himself Sir K. D. C. Tichborne is no other a person thau your Humble Servants Brother. Charles Orton, 14 George-street, Wapping" Tho rext dny the same paper gave the following :— Charles Orton called at our office yesterday afternoon and made the following etaternent:—Tho Claimant U my brother. I recognise him by tho close resemblance of his features to those of my father aDd mother. He was very stout when he went to sea in 1848, and he is still like what he was then. When he came home in 1851 he was a tall, fine young man about sft 9£in. I recognise his writing, It is the same as when the Claimant used to send me mo icy. I am the third, and he was the youngest, of a family of twelve. I was born in 1822, and he in 1834. I have only two sisters and throe brothers alive — Mrs Elizabeth Jury, Mrs Mary Anne Tredgett ; Captain George Orton, of Singapore ; Edmond Ortou, New Mexico ; and Arthur Ortoo, the Claimant. I never took an affidavit that he was my brother, but I little thought the affair would end in a criminal trul, or I should not have had anything to do with it. Tho prosecution diJ not call me as a witness; I suppose because they did not like to put one brother in the witness-box against another. I have nev.er had relations of any kind with the*Claimaot's counsel either during this trial or tho former. — (Signed) Charles Orton. A book canvasser recently invaded a snug cottage, where he found a bright-looking little woman sewing by the window ; so ho began to descant volubly on the merits of the book which he had for sale. This he kept up for half-an-hour, and as the little woman made uo answer, he concluded that he had found a customer. He handed her/ the pen which he had f ready for her t(/ make her subscription ; whereupon, instead of putting her autograph to the list, eho wrote upon a. scrap of paper from her work-box, "line defe and dum." It was too much for the disappointed rain. He retreated from the cottage without saying another word. ; The Americans talk of the limbs of a table or the bosom of a chicken. A young woman was hurt in a railway accident and taken to the hospital, when the doctor asked what was the matter with her. One of her limbs, she said, was injured. "Well," he returned, " but which limb ?" "Oh ! I can't tell you, doctor ; but it's one of my limbs." " Oh, nonßenee," cried the doctor, out of all patience, " which is it — the limb you thread a needle with ?'' "No, sir," she answered with a sigh, " the limb I wear a garter an."