The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 562, 3 September 1851, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

Be just and fear not : Let all the ends them aims't at, be thy Country's, Thy Gou's, and Truth's,.

AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 3, 1851.

The following communication from Wellington reached us on Saturday. It contains a summary of the proceedings in the Legislative Council, from the date of our Correspondent's former letter to the termination of the Session of Council, which we gladly substitute for a similar recapitulation that we had ourselves intended to prepare. It has the accuracy and completeness (so far as it goes) which attentive observation made on the spot may be expected to confer.

Wellington, August 6, 1851. The Session of the Council was brought toa close on Saturday afternoon last, the 2nd instant, having lingered on for a week longer than I anticipated in my last. The New Zealand Company's Land Claimants' Bill was referred to a Sub-Committee, who, after hearing evidence at some length, reported substantially in favour of the measure as originally introduced by the Government; and it has passed with little alteration. The Appeal clauses were adopted, and Scrip has been made available at Land Sales without any limit as to time. la addition to the measures enumerated in my last, the Council have passed a Municipal Elective Franchise Bill, for dispensing with the ability to read and write in the English language us a qualification for the Burgesses of a Borough: —a Bank Charters' Bill, authorising the Go-vbrnor-in-Chiei 1 to grant Charters of Incorporation to Banking Companies: —a Paper Currency Amendment Bill, providing that one third, instead of one fourth, of the Coin shall be retained in the Chest, and that the residue be invested out of the colonj 7, in the Public Securities of Great Britain : —and a Licensing Amendment Bill, providing that when the Justices sliall decide that the number of Licenses to be granted is to be reduced, they shall refuse to renew the Licenses of those Houses which have been conducted in the least orderly manner. The Provincial Councils' Bill passed almost without an alteration. The Governor informed the Council, on the occasion of its third reading, that he had received Despatches informing him that the necessary alterations were being made in the Koyal Instructions to enable him to create new Provinces. It is expected that the Nelson District, Canterbury, and Otago will be erected into seperate Provinces. The Provincial Councils will thus, as they ought to do, become little more than District Councils with extensive powers. On the Address to the Crown being moved by the Colonial Secretary of New Munster on the subject of the Waste Lands of the Crown, the Council was taken by surprise by a speech by the Attorney-General of New Zealand, in which he reviewed at length the proceedings of the New Zealand Company and the Canterbury Association, with a view to the consideration of the question whether it was expedient that Colonization should be by irresponsible Absentee Companies. It was evidently very carefully and elaborately prepared ; guarded in its statements ; and giving the points in the language of the parties concerned; —but of course none the less telling on that account. On Saturday the Governor laid upon the table a copy of the Auckland Charter, and a long Despatch explanatory of its objects, and of the principles on which it has been framed; —informing the Council that his reason for bringing it before them was in order that the people of the other settlements might have the opportunity of informing themselves of its provisions; and that a similar Charter, adapted to local pecularites, would be granted to the other Settlements, whenever they might apply for it. It appears that the Borough of Auckland, is to include the Town of Auckland, — the Pensioner Villages, — and the intermediate Country Districts: —and that it is to be divided into fourteen Wards, viz. The Town of Auckland into three; The Suburbs of " three; Onehunga, " one; Panmure, " one; Otahuhu, " one; Howick, " one; Epsom East, " one; Epsom West, " one; Tamaki East, " one; Tamaki West, " one. The Corporation is to consist of fourteen members, each Ward returning one member, who must be a resident in the Ward for which he is returned. Out of the fourteen members, four are to be Aldermen. The first Election is to take place on the 18th of November next. The Hospital—the Wharf,—the Market House, —the Washing Grounds, &c, are to be vested in the Corporation, as also the Endowments (Land) for their support. Tbe Corporation, it is understood, are to have the entire management of these Institutions, &c, as well as for the maintenance of the Roads, &c. The following sums voted on the

The Corporation are also to have the power of making Laws, on the subjects enumerated in the Royal Instructions. The New Ulster Estimates passed with but little alteration. The Salary proposed for the Lieutenant Governor of your Province was £400 a year, Mr. Dillon Bell thought the Salary too small; and Mr. Eyre, — the Colonivl Secretary of New Zealand, — and LieutenantColonel McCleveßty concurred. Whereupon the Colonial Secretary of New Zealand proposed that ifc be <£boo. Upon tin's amendment being put, it was supported by those four members only, and was consequently lost. The At-torney-General of New Zealand then said that if it had been proposed to raise the Salary to £800 a year; he should have supported the amendment. Upon this the Colonial Secretary of New Zeai>am> proposed a new amendment to that effect. The amendment was seconded by the Attorney- General of New Zealand, and carried without a division. Ihe Salary of the Colonial Chaplain (New Ulster) was carried only by the casting vote of the Governor ; but all the members who opposed it took pains to explain that it was to the principle only that they were opposed, having great respect for the individual who holds the oiHce. It appears probable that the vote will not in future be carried in a Provincial Council two-thirds elected by the public. On the Estimates generally for both Provinces, it is the common opinion, as regards the salaries of Public Officers, that, relatively, they are not well cast, — the Heads of some Departments receiving less than Clerks in others ;—Commissioners of Crown Lands in some cases receiving the same salary as the members of the Executive Government, Colonial Secretary, Colonial Treasurer, &c. But all this will be set right when the public are directly represented in the Council. By a curious coincidence, Despatches from the Colonial Office, approving by anticipation, of the Provincial Councils Bill, were received and laid upon the Table almost the very day that the Bill was passed. It may therefore be considered as a permanent measure. It appears that as to the General Legislature, nothing will be done in Parliament this year. But it is proposed that ifc consist of a Doujjle Chamber, — both to be elective, but by different constituencies. This is as it should be. It is presumed that some provision will be made that the Executive Government may be represented in the Chambers. The Business of the Council, in true English fashion, was followed by a Grand Parliamentary Dinner, given by the Go vernor-in- Chief to the members of the Council on Tuesday the sth of August ; but as the proceedings were not open to the public, I cannot give you any account of the " saying and doings" of Honourable Members on that occasion. And so ends what the Independent newspaper, in its own choice language, calls the greatest Faree — of the most contemptible Council ever assembled in New Zealand; and the "Plunderers," having " feathered their nests," are at liberty to return to their respective homes. We have seen a copy of the Auckland Charter of Incorporation above refeired to, and of the accompanying despatch. Both are long documents, entering into a variety of details which we shall, on another day, lay fully be- j fore our readers. We may note, in addition to the statements of our Correspondent, that the principal municipal officer is to be a Mayor, — the Corporation to be a Body Corporate, in uame and in deed, with perpetual succession, and a Common Seal, and to bear the style and title of •' The Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Borough of Auckland. " These Burgesses are, so far as the privileges of the first election are concerned, to consist of every male person who, on the first of last month (August) occupied a tenement within the Borough. In the month of October next ensuing, a meeting of Justices of the Peace shall be held to form a list of the Burgesses thus qualified, and to class them according to the several wards for which they may respectively be entitled to vote. The election of Common Councillors (fourteen in number) shall be held, as above stated, on the 18th of November. The Common Councillors shall, within one week after their own election, choose from their number the Mayor and four Aldermen for the ensuing year. The Mayor and Aldermen are by virtue of their offices to he Justices of the Peace. The powers of the Corporation shall extend to the doing and suffering of all such acts " as can he lawfully done or suffered by any Muuicipal Corporation in England, by the Common Council thereof;" — to the making of roads, wharves, I &c, the prevention of nuisances, the regulation of the markets, the watching, paving, lighting, and cleansing of the Borough, and other analogous matters ;~and to the making of Bye Laws for carrying out these objects.. The : Council can appoint a Town, Clerk aud a Trea- ; surer, and fix their salaries. These are a few of the chief provisions, but the whole will require careful perusal and attention. We give in another part of our issue the principal discussions in Council on the Estimates for both Provinces — additional to those which have already been inserted in our columns. The intelligence from Wellington, apart from the proceedings of Council, can be summed up in a few sentences. The " New Zealand Society,'' (to which a grant of £200 had been passed in Council,) received a sort of inauguration in a conversatione given to the members by the President, ! Sir George Grey, on the evening of the ] 2th ult. The suite of rooms at Government House was thrown open for their reception, and a number of scientific illustrations, and specimens in natural history, &.C., covered the tables. The Society promises well, and we should be most happy to see a Branch of it in efficient existence in our own district. The Church of England Education Society held a special meeting on the 7th of August, for the election of Trustees in whom the lands of the Society shall be vested, and of a woilcing Committee to carry out the objects. Aichdeacon Hadftkld, the Rev. Robert Cole, and

Messrs. Fitziierbert, Hickson, and Moore weie chosen Trustees. The contributions received to that date amounted to £221 12s. Od. in donations, and £58 17s. 6d. in subscriptions. Mr. McLean, the Commissioner for purchasing native lands, had paid £150 to a portion of the Puketapu tribe in satisfaction of their claims to a district at Taranaki, known as Bell' s block. About two hundied Maoiies assembled in front of the Government offices at Wellington, to receive payment. With reference to such purchases, the (New Munster) Government Gazette of the 4th ult., contained a despatch fiom Lord Grey stating that all expenses inclined in negociations with a view to the extinction of native titles in land, must be provided out of the general revenue of the colony, unless the Governor should " happen to have any fund in hand for their liquidation ;" inasmuch as the Act 10 and 11 Vict. cap. 112, appropriates all money derived from land sale 3 in the colony to the payment of the sums therein mentioned to the New Zealand Company, except so much as may be applied to surveys and emigration. The Gazette also contained a short report of the analysis of a specimen of coal from the Clutha or Molintaux district of Otago, which had been sent for examination to the Professor of Chemistiy in the "University of Edinburgh. The substance of the report is that the coal is of a very good quality, the composition being nearly the same as the Midlothian and Fifeshire Parrot coals. The Professor adds, " I have no doubt that it will answer the purpose of smelting copper oies, or those of any other metal."

Lectures on Intemperance. — Last evening the third Lecture of the Series on Intemperance, by Ministeis of the Evangelical Alliance, was delivered in the Presbytenan Church by the Uev, A. MacdoN(VLd. The subject was Intemperance in its effects on the Sabbath. The Lecturer dwelt upon these effects as extending to a subversion of the purposes for which the Sabbath was instituted, and as connected with the guilt and the penalty of Sabbath desecration ; introducing in the course of his addrers various pointed and impressive appeals to bis hearers. Devotional exercises were conducted by the Rev. Messis. Inolis and Bubdle, who also addressed the Meeting after the conclusion of Mr. Macdonalds Lecture. A collection was made for defraying the expenses connected with the local branch of the Alliance.

£ s. d. For Roads, 740 19 0 For Hospitals, 890 9 0 Belief of Sick and Destitute 200 0 0 Panmure Ferry,... w, 100 0 0 £1,931, Bs. Od.

Estimates are also to be handed over to the Corporation :—: —