UPPER MOTUEKA ROAD BOARD.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 296, 14 December 1877, Page 4

UPPER MOTUEKA ROAD BOARD.

■-■The Board met on Saturday last. Mr Ac Drummond took his seat (having -, been elected in room of Mr J. Griffith resigned). All the other member^ were present except Mr Phillips. After the minutes of the last meeting ware fread and confirmed, the followingreporfc * by^tbe Secretary, of works being carried -out on the road between Orinioco and Stanley Brook was read ; — ' to instructions received, I offered the men ditching at one shilling „ per cubic yard, and stamping and clearjing at '£s' per acre stumps were re-

moved for ditches, material to be put 6ffi clear of ditoh bat not levelled. All the Nelsoa men gave up pieces-work op Monday last, and have been working as day men since that date. The settlers

ia the neighborhood are completing the ditching at the above rate, and have 'taken 24 chains of road at prices fixed by the Board, taking ditohing, aad forming, breaatciHting and levelling straight on as it .Game. Tha 87. chains of r stTaighV Ypad is nearly completed; by piece* work jit would have cost £90, whereas the actual cost will be £120.

: Resolved — That taen in want of employment be taken on by piece-work only, at the following rates :—Bushfelling; ditching and forming with 2ft ditch, £1 2a per chain ; do., with 3ft ditch, £1 8s per chain ; Sidecutfcing 9i, and breaatoutiing la per cubic yard. Tenders wera received for sidecutttng in Motaeka Valley, also, for levelling and gravelling in Motupiko Valley. The following are the highest and lowest tenders the lowest beiug accepted s — Sidecuttrag » w pQP £e> d . fligheat [ lx - W - PaW ' chain ... 2 18 0 Do., lowest ... W. Newport IS ... 1 5 0 Levelling and Gravelling— Highest ... W, Kobson, lump aura 57 0 0 Lowest ... G. Sloas „ 29 15 3

Mr Oliver's offer to give a strip of land, 40 chains in length by 40ft in width, to enable the Board to carry out the proposed deviation at the church, was accepted with thanks.

Resolved— That £50 be fixed as the

sum payable to Mr Needham in reimbursement of the cost of 60 chains of fencing required to reinclose his paddocks eat op by the new road from the church to Flowers' Saddle.

The Secretary stated that the die-

lance" from the church to Flowers' Saddle by the present road was 278

chains j that the distance by the new route was 148 chains, being a saving of 130 chains.

Mr Mcßae informed the Board that the Hope road would be completed on Wednesday, the 19th current, and the Chairman, Me.psra Need ham, and Coleman agreed to go over that road with the Seoretary at tba€ date, to ascertain how best to expend the supplementary gram; expected abortly to be available.

Beaolved— That Mr Meßae be paid £10 for blinding and otherwise finishing the waterchannels, to the satisfaction of the overseer, on the whole line of road from Newport's to the Buller. The Secretary was directed to get crossings picked over the Motueka river at the Ferry House, and over the Tadmor River leading to Mr Stanley's, also to get two or three bad banks repaired on the road from the Ferry House to Stanley Brook. The correspondence between the Chairman and the Minister for Public Works was read, showing that when necessary £500 would ba placed to (be Board's credit out of the vote for the road from Nelson to Westport and Grey mouth, to enable the Board to employ for a longer period the men at present at work on the road from Orinoco to Stanley Brook. la reply to a letter from Mr J. Kerr, the Secretary was directed to inform him that the boun. dary line of this district croeses the road one mile above the entrance into the Big Bush, therefore the repairs required are outside the same; that £15 has lately been espended upon the road between Mr D. Kerr's and Rae'a Saddle, and that the Board has no further funds for expenditure upon that road at present. Resolved — That the next meeting be held on the 22nd instant at 10. a.m. Accounts were passed and paid amounting to £377 Is lid.

Upon the second reading of the Lotteries Bill in the Legislative Council, says an Auckland papar, one honor* able gentleman thus delivered himself, although, strange to say, the *' Hansard " reporters have made a sad hash of it. He said he rose with great pleasure to support this Bill, or any other Bill calculated to prevent the frightful indulgence in lotteries, sweeps, games ol chance, and in fact games of all sords. He could speak from personal observation, and he might also add from personal experience, of the fearfully demoralised condition of some parts of the Colony in regard to these matters, especially on the West Coast. In order that he might -be better able to trace the mischievous tendency of gambling, and to Study its psychological and physiological effects, he bar? endeavoured to make himself proficient. He might be pardoned for having played the precarious game of poker, and havingjwooed 'Missy* in the enticing game of Loo. Care they to know that he ever knew the grief of being euchred with the two bowers and a queen in his hand? Yet so it was, whilst in the Egyptian game of pyramids he had watched the f»ang which overcast his opponent's faea as ball after ball dropped into the jipckatß, aad visions of half-crowns rose before him. He had witnessed •the loss <ai many useful and valuable iivaa caused by that fatal game of pool

and. had offiea been oa; the verge qf losing his own, but he managed generally to come ofl a conqueror. What was to be expected of a community, except narrow-aiindedaness,, which was always playing crib, or quarreling over whist ? . Sir» gambling pervades the whole place — cards, dioe, billiard-balls arc everywhere. You eat dice, you drink dice, and sup off cards ! And then, sir, the sweeps 1 Sir, I tremble when I think of the many times I* have nearly won the best horse ; I could weep even now when I think of foolish sales of doubtful animals which afterwards turned up trumps, and I have known -what it is to get up at daylight and implore a lucky purchaser to cry off or let me go halves. Sir, I could draw you a picture of misery occasioned by the practices I have referred to, but I will spare the feelings of the Council. (Hear, hear*) I have learned all I want to know, and having given the Council the benefit of my experience, I can only say Jhafi I hope the Bill will be carried. (ApUuse.) Rumour hath i fcthafc two hours later the eloquent orator was overbeerd remarking:— "Who's my player?!" And subsequently "I'll go you one better."

i The Bruca Herald has a strong article on the Proudfoot case, recently triad at Dunedin. In the oourse of its remarks it says :— " The case has not been fairly tried. We say with reluctance, and acknowledge with feelings of shame, that a special jury ia Duneaia will oot do justice when a man with a long purse is placed in the dock. The unscrupulous conduct of a person interested in the defence in this particular case is too palpable. Is is a fact that between the firafc and second trials an offer of £3000 was made to Angus to atay proceedings, aad that Inspector Mallard was tempted with a heavy bribe, which be indignantly rejected. We are not wide of the mark when we say that every one, eseepting the Judge and Crown Prosoutor, has either been got, or attempted to be got at. This public scandal should be considered in view of a nolle prosequi being granted. We say with all deliberation, that if such instruction is given, it will be the moat grosa and moat lamentable failure of justice that ever has disgraced the administration of law ia a British colony. There has been no fair trial, and we do notespect it till the venue is changed. If the charge against Proudfoot is tried by a special jury, or common jury, in Christchurch, Wellington, Nelson, Napier, or Auckland, we will not find fault with its verdict, whatever ifi may be. If tried by a common j ury in Dunedin, there is the double danger of bribery on one side, and predudice againsfc the accused on the other. Public security demands that the case should be fairly heard. The matter demando fcho inatant consideration of Parliament, and we hope some Otago member will ask a question which will preyent a grave legal scandal, and a deplorable failure of justice."