CITY COUNCIL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 99, 26 April 1879, Page 2

CITY COUNCIL.

The ordinary meeting of the Council was held last night, all the members being present. A letter from Mrs Middleniiss complaining I that the water had been backed on to her ! property in Gloucester-street, was referred to the Public Works Committee.— A letter from the Under Secretary, in reply to a renewed application for the prison labor, stated that the gaoler had informed him that the prisoners were at present engaged upon an important work at the gaol. The Town Clerk reported having written to George Cave, W. Lockyer, and George Franklyn, informing them that complaints had been made of their furious driving, and warning them that a repetition of the offence would lead to their licenses being taken away. The report of the Finance Committee was read, in which was a recommendation that the price of gas be reduced Is 3d per 1000 feet to all who paid before the 14th of the month. ! Cr Harley wished to know how much per cent that was.— Cr Everett : Between eight and nine.— Cr Harley: If i B 3d off Ha gdfor

a month is only between eight and nine per cent, why I never was at school in my life. — All attempts to convince Cr Ilarley of the correctness of the calculation proving futile, the question was put to the vote, when Crs Harley and Crewdson voted against the resolution, and the remainiug sever. Couucillors in its favor. The I'inauce Committee's report, further stated that they had been advised l»y their banker that in the present stue ol'lbe money market It would be impossible to float the loan at stiCa a rate of Interest us they were prepared to give. It was, therefore, recommended that the proposal be postponed until a more fitting opportunity. Cr Harley, as Chairman of the Public Works Committee, said that it fell to his lot to rise and return thanks for the «.ble manner In which the Finance Committee had drawn up their report, which certainly was rather above what was expected by the public. For his own part he could not Fee that money was scarce. The last reports from home | were to the credit of the colour, :mhl the Colonist had recently given a nourishing report of the state of .the money market at home. He himself never found any scarcity of money, and there were plenty of others in tho same way. Tho Finance Committee had made a great mistake if they intended to shirk the matter. He was prepared to stand before the public, do his duty, and defy any man who came against him. He was sent there by the public, and he would make the public support his views, or he would make room for others. They had carefully prepared their proposal" because they considered that they .should enjoy the advantage of these works, and not leave them altogether to those who came after them. He was not going to be turned aside by outside claptrap, not even the claptrap of the Evening Mail, but would go before the public and say, Wo want to enter into a certain speculation, and would then leave it to them to decide. All thinking men, men of principle, and men having a stake in the place were in favor of the loan, and so he hoped the Finance Committee's report would not be adopted. The Mayor: There is no intention whatever to shirk the matter, but simply to postpone it on the recommendation of our banker. Cr Harley: Our- banker! He's only our servant, and I don't see that we are bound to act on what he tells us. Cr Everett said that Cr Ilarley entirely misapprehended the tenor of the recommendation. He was as much in favor of the proposed works as ever, but it would be folly to go to the public} on the question without being prepared to show them that there was at least a probability of success. It was merely proposed to postpone the matter until a more fitting opportunity. Cr Little knew there were a lot of croakers about, but it would never do to shelve the proposals. They must have money ; how were they going to get it ? Cr Everett .- There is no i !ea of shelving it ; it is merely a question of waiting for a more favorable time. Cr Trask would have sided with the Finance Committee, as he agreed with most of what they said, but, having gone so far, he thought they were bound to brine the matter before the public, lest they should bo laughed at for being afraid to proceed. The question that the report of the Finance Committee be adopted was then put, with the following result : — Ayes : The Mayor, Crs Everett, Johns, Hounsell, and Levien. Noes : Cra Little, Cross, Ilarley, Crewdson, and Trask. The Mayor gave his casting vote with the Ayes. The City Surveyor's report was read, and, after some discussion, ordered to lie on the table. A proposal that a new Rating Act should be prepared to be introduced into the Assembly, providing for the leasing as well as sale of lands for the non-payment of rates, was agreed to by six to three. The Town Clerk reported that several people had neglected to take out kerosene licenses, and that one had refused to pay on the ground that he paid last Jtil.v, and he considered that should carry him through twelve months. He also reported that only two hawker's licenses had been taken out. It was resolved, after some little discussion, to carry out the by-law respecting hawker's licenses strictly, and to eufoice the payment for kerosene licenses. Cr Harley wished, with reference to the prison labor, to say that he considered Mr Shallcrass had defied the Council. Why shouldn't they have the same privileges here that were enjoyed elsewhere? This was the way they were bested in everything. They proposed something they wanted when somebody said No, and then they sat down and went to sleep over it. Mr Shallcrass had himself told him that they should not have the prison labor if he could help it. Cr Harley then went on to say : 1 have a painful duty to perform. Sir, but I feel called upon to do it. On Tuesday last there appeared in the Colonist, no I mean the Evening Mail an article in reference to the proposed loan, and making use in mild terms of our City Surveyor. (Cr Crewdson : Not very mild.) I think that such a question as we were undertaking has been allowed to slip through most likely through that article, not in my opinion that it waa worthy of notice, but to have a servant of this Council in Mr Lightfoot's position scurrilised in such a way by that paper, your Worship, I can't say anything strong enough to hit the man that wrote iC, because he could not have had any principle within him. It was agreed by this ; Council that there should be a loan and Mr Lightfoot was instructed to make out rough estimates of the probable cost, not for the public, but to go before the Council for them to get a loan upon. This he did, and then that party who wrote that article made out that if he had the Channel Fleet offered to him he would be commander of it, but he hadn't the brains. This demands that we should show some consideration for our servants and ourselves, who are unable to defend ourselves in the papers or in public speaking. It behoves us to ask that editor to apologise to Mr Lightfoot for the scurrilous part he has taken. The Mayor : Councillor Harley, there is nothing before the Council, and I refer you to the rule which provides that a Councillor can only speak to a motion. Cr Harley : Then, Sir, I will move one. A very ioug pause then ensued while Cr Harley was engaged in committing his resolution to writing, so 'Jong, indeed, that Cr Trask suggested the propriety of their talking about a drain, and Cr Everett ventured to moot the question of the desirability of ordering in refreshments. Cr Harley, rising with a slip of paper in his hand : I give notice^of motion, Sir, that a vote of confidence — The Mayor : A notice of motion will not entitle you to speak, it must be a distinct resolution. Cr Harley : It isn't a notice of motion I meau ; it's a resolution. I beg to move a vote of confidence in our City Surveyor (you know who that i 3, I suppose) owing to the scurrilous attack (no not attack, I mean article) owing to the scurrilous article written by the Evening Mail (no, not by the Evening Mail, but by the editor of the Evening Mail.) [Loud laughter.] [As our readers may find some little difficulty in comprehending what Cr Harley did mean, we give his resolution verbatim el liberatim as copied from the original:— "That this Council pas 6 a vote of confidence in the City Surveyor after reading the scurrulous article ia the Evening Mail of the 22nd I April."]

Cr Little seconded the motion. Cr Everett moved a9 an amendment— That this Council has every confidence in the City Surveyor. Cr Johns seconded tho resolution. Cr Trask did not believe the writer of the article had the slightest intention of passing tiny slur upon Mr Lightfoot, nor did he think that any one of the public who had read it in a. proper way viewed it in that light. Cr Everett's amendment, " That the Council has every confidence in the City Surveyor," was then put, with the following result :— Ayes : The Mayor, Crs Everett, Johns, Houusell, Cross, Crewdson, and Levien. Noes : Crs Ilarley and Little. The original resolution was then put and negatived, the order of voting being reversed. The Council then adjourntd. The TaraDaki Kews contends that by sheltering the murderer Hiroki, Te Whiti and his tribe have become outlaws, and forfeited all claims to consideration by the Government. An American correspondent says that a free breakfast table " cost the American Treasury 25,000,000 dollars yearly, in loss of revenue, which sum went slick into the pockets of importers. Tea and coffee never sold a cent a pound cheaper than before the remission of duty, and the quality gradually deteriorated." It is not often (says the " West Coast Times ") that a man is placed in such a position as to be compelled to issue a writ against himself, even in his official capacity. Mr Grimond, the county chairman, is also Mayor of Ross. In the former capacity he has found it necessary to sue himself in the latter capacity for payment of the recent award in the arbitration between the Council and the Municipality. That the commercial depression at present prevailing in Yictorin is not unknown elsewhere in Australia, 19 shown by the facts that in Queensland assisted immigration has stopped altogether; that in Sydney the wages for immigrants are lower; and that in Adelaide, Sydney, and Brisbane credit is bad, money scarce, and trade dull. Mr Justice Johnston in his charge to the Grand Jury at the opening of the Criminal Sessions at Christchurch, made the following observations on the subject of incendiarism : — " I need hardly suggest to gentlemen like yourselves that among the most prized institutions of modern civilsation the insurance companies are most deserving. There can be no greater comfort than such institutions, which enables persons to secure themselves to a certain extent against the consequences of calamity. It is necessary these institutions should be protected by l«w. Arson ia an offence not only against society, hot an offence of peculiar wickedness." The cause of the Zulu war and its relations to the British campaign are thus summed up in a London paper : — " lamby no means satisfied at being made to pay taxes ' for the subjugation of Cetewayo. Amongst other demands made on him in the ultimatum of Sir Bartle Frere are that he should allow missionaries to convert his subjects, that he should allow these same subjects to marry before the term of their military conscription is over, and that he should ensure to them when they commit offences a fair legal trial. However desirable these civil and religious reforms may be, I do not care to be taxed in order to carry a reform bill in Zululand by fire and sword."