MUNICIPAL COUNCIL.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 619, 20 March 1852, Page 3

MUNICIPAL COUNCIL.

Auckland, Saturday, March 13, 1852. The Council met at three o'clock. Present : — His Worship the Mayor ; Aldermen Dignan, O'Neill, and Powditch ; Councillors Abraham, Davy, Hay, Norman, Newman, and Haultain. The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed. The Town Clerk read a letter from the Society of Odd Fellows, inviting the Mayor, Aldermen, and Councillors to attend, on Thursday, the 1 8th instant, at the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of an Odd Fellows Hall. On the motion of Councillor Abraham, the letter was ordered to be considered after the orders of the day had been disposed of. Alderman O'Neill moved the adoption of a memorial that he had brought before the Council on a former occasion, addressed to the Governor-in-Chief, praying that a sum of £6000 might be set apart, out of the Parliamentary Grant to New Zealand, for the erection of a suitable Government House at Auckland. A copy of the memorial Avhich had been left with the Town Clerk not being forthcoming, it was found necessary to defer the motion to some future day. Councillor Newman's motion on the subject of the Pensioner force, was deferred until anwers were received from the Government to enquiries made relative to matters that were necessary to be known before the blanks in the petition could be filled up. The Town Clerk was ordered again to communicate with the Government and request the necessary information. Councillor Abraham moved and Alderman Powditch seconded that the Report of the Charitable Trusts Committee be adopted. 1 Councillor Haultain moved, as an amendment, that the paragraph in the report recommending the Council not to take the management of the General Hospital into their hands, be expunged, and that the Corporation do take charge of the Hospital at once. The amendment was not seconded, and the original motion was carried. Councillor Haultain gave notice that, at the next meeting of Council, he would move that enquiry be made of the Government to know if they were agreeable to turn the present Hospital building to some other purpose, and to advance a sum of money towards erecting a new Hospital. The letter from the Odd Fellows was brought under consideration, when Mr. Abraham objected to the Council attending the ceremony as a body, lest it should have the appearance of a corporate act. For the same reasons that he had all along opposed the procuring of a corporation seal, he would oppose the acceptance of this invitation by the Council in their corporate capacity. The Mayor stated that he had already accepted the invitation to lay the Foundation Stone of the contemplated Hall, and had been requested to invite the members of the Corporation to take part in the ceremony. As individuals, they might use their discretion in attending at the proceedings or not as they thought proper. On the motion of Alderman O'Neill, seconded by Councillor Hay, it was carried that the invitation be accepted, and that the Corporation do attend at the ceremony. Council adjourned.