AUCKLAND MUNICIPAL COUNCIL.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 657, 31 July 1852, Page 3

AUCKLAND MUNICIPAL COUNCIL.

Wednesday, July 28, 1852. The Common Council met this d.iy , pursuant to a Notice from the Mayor, issued in conspquence of a communicntion from the Colonial Secretary. PnKBENT: — His Worship the Mayor; Alderriien Dignan, O'Neill, and Mason ; Councillors Abraham, Hoy, Norruan, and Newman. Absent: — Alderman Powditch (who i8 absent from the colony), Councillor Haullain, Macdonald, Hickson, Dnvy, and Tnylor. Alderman O'Neill called on the Mayor to sfatfl whether he had had any communication with llie Colonial Secretary prior to the receipt of the letter named in the notice. The Mayor replied — Since the worthy Alderman had put such a question, he must stale that he had not had, directly or indirectly, any communication with the Go-

veinmenr, or any of its officers, beyond what is conveyed in the letters which he was now about to lay on the table. The business in order would have been the reading and conlirmation of llio Minutes of last Meeting, but to tins Aldeiniiin O'Neill and Mr. Newman objected, on the grounds that those Minutes should not be read until the Council should meet a week before the assembling of the Legislative Council, and that tlwy had now been called together foi a special business— to hear a certain letter read. The Mayor, with the concuirence of the 1 own Clerk, ur>-ed that the Standing Urdeis tequired ihat the first proceeding should he the reading of the Minutes. His Worship said he had felt it to be his duty to call them again together. lie was mindful of the Resolution on the Minute Book, lo the effect that the meetings should he suspended till the week before the siuing of the Provincial Counc 1 Had no new element b^en introdured, he f-hould have f It bound to adheie lo that Resolution, but having had the honor of receiving Irom the Colonial Secretary a letter coiitaininq certain sugges tions from Mis Excellence the Lieut -Governor, he felt, after careful consideration, that no course was open to him hut to convene the meeting. He believed he might have declined, to call them together, but one ot the subjects suggested in the letter appealed to him to possess such claims upon their immediate attention, that to have acted otherwise than he had done, would have been incurring upon himself individually an unwai rentable responsibility. The letter referred to he would nowLiyon the table, along with another which he received yesterday and which was in connexion with the hist. These the 1 own Clerk would read in their o der ; alter which they might deal with them as they thought proper. Councillor Abiaham thought it did not matter much, except to avoid the appearance of nctiug contrary to the Il<».olution by which their Meetings were suspended until the Legislative Council should be about to mcci. He had gone to the office of the Town Clerk, who was the proper person to have charge of such document*, and asked to see the Calonial Secretary's letter, but wa* told that it was in the custody of the Mayor. He did not wish to be brought on a fool's errand, aud had he seen the letter he might not have been there. The Mayor— -With reference to what has fallen from Mr. Abraham as to the letter received 'rom the Colonial Secretary not being in the hands of the Town Clerk, be knew that the letter being in my hands was no departure from the usual course, nor had he any reason to complain that he had no opportunity of knowing its contents, as I told himself that such a letter bad been received, and that be could see it at any time bethought fit. Councillor Abraham replied, that be had certainly come upon the Mayor and others, some time befo-e he called the Meeting, talking in the street about a let'^r which had been received, and the Mayor spoke of calling 1 a meeting to lay it before the Council, when he (Mr. A.) on turning away, told him that that was hi* own business, and that he did not wish tointerfeie with the responsibilities and duties of others. As to the offer of a sight of the letter, be felt it was not his business to be hunting up the Mayor at his house, seeking private interviews on public business, and he ol'jectpd to do so both on public and private grounds. The Government which now tiied to stir them up by ibis letter, had been the real obstruction in coming to a settlement of the Corporate duties Nehiid no wish to see the letter in the hands of the Mayor, for he did not think the duties of Town Clerk bhould be forced upon the Mayor. On the whole they were in a very absutd position, the responsibility of which must rest with those who placed them in it. Tlie Mayor could see no objection to tbo confirmation of the Minutes. If they ph'a«ed they could afterwards pass a vote of censuie upon him for calling them together. Councillor Hay askpJ if all the members bad been duly summoned 1 The Town Clerk explained that in two or three instances the hour had been omitted before he discovered and rectified the mistake, but the country members' notices had all been forwarded regularly. Councillor Abraham then moved that the Standing Orders be suspended. Alderman Mason said he saw no reason in setting up straws merely to blow them down again. Councillor Abraham said, never weie fourteen men, since the days when the Israelites were required to make bricks without straw, asked to accomplish so much with such scanty materials. On the question being put, Alderman Dignan asked if the question was that the standing oiders should be suspended in order that the Colonial Secietary's letter might be read. On being answered in the affirmative by the Mayor, Alderman Dignan said that he wou'd vote for the motion. The motion having been carried, the Town Clerk said he would be glad if the Council would inform him how he was to commence the Minutes of the day. Alderman Dignan thought it was not the business of the Town Clerk to throw any obstacle in the way ef the proceedings. The Town Clerk then proceeded to read the letters as follow :—

Colonial Secretary's Office, Auckland, July 15, 1852. Sin, — In reference to an Extract from the Minutes of the proceedings of tbe Comtnon Cooncil of the Borough of Auckland, held on the Bth of Way lnst, communica ted to the Govrnment by the Town Clerk, in which Minute it was stated, " that the Town Council had no alternative but to decline entering upon the discharge of the vaiious important duties sought to be devolved upon them until the meeting of the Legislative Council of the Province," 1 have the honour to inform you, by direction of the Lieut.-Governor, that his Excellency having observed that on the 24th ultimo you had again exercised your functions as Mayor by calling a Public Meeting, he would beg to suggest that another meeting' of the Council luii^ht be called, and their attention drawn to the necessity that exists tor framing auch regulations, under the 54th Clause of the Chatter, for the prevention of fiies within tbe Town of Auckland, and for Regulating and Cleansing the Streets and Thoroughfares, as may be deemed advisable. The materials of which the Town is principally built, and the compact form of a large portion of it, with other circumstances, render it peculiarly liable to suffer from fire, and his Excellency submits that no public body could make arrangements upon such a subject either so judiciously or* satisfactorily as a Municipal body, for which rt-a-on hia Excellency bas consideied it proper now to address you on the subject. I have &c. (Signed) Andrew Sinclair, Colonial Secretary. The Worshipful the Mayor, &c, &c, &c.

Colonial Secretary's Office, Auckland, 27th July, 1852. Sir, — Referring to my letter to you of the 15th instant, suggesting the propriety of summoning the Common Council together again, in order to frame By-Laws on several subjects for the good of th«» Borough, I am directed by His Excellency the Lieut.Governor to draw your attention to the necessity of some By-Law against furious riding and driving in the streets of the Town, as several serious accidents have lately occurred from thei>e causes, and even yesterday a lady snd her child were ridden over in Mechanic's Bay, and seriously injured. I have, &c, (Signed) Andrew Siscijlir, Colonial Secretary. The Worshipful the Mayor, <• &c., &c , &c. Alderman O'Neill said, one thing was clear, on the Bth of ftlay last, after considerable discussion, this Council come to the conclusion that " the sittings uf the Corporation be suspended until the week before the meeting of the Provincial Council." — This motion was not adopted without much reflection ; the Lieut.-Go-vernoi'a reply was considered, clause after cljusp, and we at last come to the wholesome and wise decision, to seek for real endowments, and have the Charter remodelled before commencing active operations. We may he told that the one-third of the land fund has increased the money at our disposal to a large amount, hut as the land fund is now conlessedly extinct, where would the Council get money nextyear, unless by abstracting it from the pockets of the people. Be could not bring himself to believe that Colonel Wynyard, who possesses so high a seiibe of honour and right, would -loop to artifice, (for w« must look on that letter in no other light) unless indeed, he has been de( eived. and induced to do so by the mis-representrttions. of designing paities, The Executive of New Ulsier may wear a lair and honest exterior, but surely there must be rottenness at the core ; or else there is an enemy of the Burgesses and a traitor at this table. Why should we be convened to undo what weliave solemnly done? Why is it*ought to rnakeusnsBume all the ri'siiousibiluie* oi *o extensive a Borough, nt the very time that wo are anxious to have its metes and bounds narrowed? He hoped that the worthy members would not bejfrightened into taking a false ' tcp, merely by the dread of a repetition of incessant abube,

but return to their constituents with the comfort/nsr news, that they have not Inllen into the trap, ami that they are still free from the odious burden of direct taxation. Councillor Abraham said, their position was now absurd enough,— be really imagined that the Colonial Secrot.iry must be poking fuu at the Mayor, which hii Woish'p, unwilling to be.ir alone, \\a» peeking, to share with the To«n Council. It was a strange mode of securing the regular a r .d permanent sittings of h s Worship in that place, to woik upon the itict of hs being c night at a public me ting, however far from disagreeable llie latter amusement might be Up (Mr. A.) was entitled to laugh at the whole affair— he had operand over again cautioned the M.iyor, Aldermen, and Councillors against doing any appaiently corpor.te arts, whilst they were undecided as to accepting the Charter, aud he had done so, well knowing the quality of the official mind for pedantry and narrowness, warning them that such acts would be carefully chronicled by the Government, and would be represented as com milling them on the question of acceptance or rejection. Still, he h d not been accustomed to think so badly of the official mind a3 to suppose th it the Mayor's mere presiding at a public meeting, at the request of some of the inhabitants, in the absence of any one else upon whom they could so conveniently call, would be held to be a corporate act, — an acceptance of the Chatter with all it 3 responsibilities. Really the Colonial Secretary seemed to think that the Corporation consisted of himself and the Mayor, and that the Council munt always be in marching order at his beck and bidding, and then left to, what he wished he coi Id in this cas>e call, the wisdom nnd the 6Ound discretion of the Mayor of the Borough. He thought the Mayor would have better consulted his own dignity, and the character of the Council, if he had recalled the attention of the authorities to their former resolution and abstained from calling the Council together. But then na to the special matters which were now so solemnly ! urged upon them. If sitting in public was the point,— why was not the Mayor reminded that he was a Justice of the Peace, and that the administration of justice in the Resident Magistrate's Court was one of the highest privileges of his office. Why not? Because the authontits knew that as matters stood, in this important particular, as in every other, the thing called a Charter was a regular Sham. Then again as to the roads. How was it that the letter was silent as to the roads, about which so much had been said, and which had been made the a'l important question in their long deliberations. Had it been found out that these could be proceeded with, without all the expensive machinery of a Corporation, and had the Colonial Secretary lately been studying Burns, and chanced upon the prophetic satire contained in the lines of his own and his Worship countryman — "Ye worthy Provesea an 1 mony a B.iil'io, * Wlm hi the pntlis o' righteousness <hfi toil aye ; Ye dainty Deacons, an' ye donee Convent is, To whom our Modems arc but Cdiisey-Cluaiiers." Yes—" Causi-y-Cleaners !" — let the would-be Prenkers and Layer*, of Stones, think of that, and lr-ain a lesson from a real Poet! Notwithstanding all they had heard about the state of the Ro kls in. one quarter, about old women in pattens getting up to their garters, and he knew not what, in mud, they could not but lemember that these things weie of older standing than the Corporation, and why had not the Government itself taken steps to provide a remedy long ago, if so urgent? As he said at the outset it was clear that his Excellency and the Colonial Secretary were poking fun at his Worship, and in turn his Worship was trying to poke fuu at the Council, which he, as one of its members, b^ged to decline any share in. Mr. Councillor Abraham having resumed his seat, almost immediately rose and left the Council Chamber, followed by Mr. Alderman O'Neill. Mr. Alderman Dignan noticed that there was not a quorum remaining, upon which the Mayor exclaimed " sic transit gloria mundi." Mr. Councillor Norman observed that they had treated the matter with the contempt it deserved, and so the meeting came to its teimination.