NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Saturday, December 24, 1853.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 876, 24 December 1853, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Saturday, December 24, 1853.

The report of the debates in our present number brings out in strong relief the modesty, good temper, and conciliatory conduct of the Provincial Secretary. Hi* attacks on Mr. Moore, and other mem* bets,— his reflections on the chafactef and conduct of the members of the late Go* vernmenV- and his frequent professions of candour, honesty, straightforwardness^ and other virtue^ cannot fail to attract the attention they "deserve^ while his de* claration thanking God he is not as other men are, or even ad &. member of the late Government, will doubtless prove most edifying. We might pursue the subject further, at present we leave our readers to , draw their own conclusions from the re* ' port of the proceedings in Council. Yesterday, there Was a regular scram* We; the Speaker secured for his share' £200 a year, while £100 a year fell to the Chairman of Committees* Of course the Speaker, like the Provincial Secretary-, acts only on the strictest principles; though these are so transcendental as not to be immediately intelligible to the body of electors. These should understand, then, that the' Speaker takes the money ! on principle, and because he should' not ittfnrft his fiiift^ssnr. xrhn mpy probably want it more than he does, and because he should not get a little extra popularity by discharging the duties of the office irom a feeling of public spirit and the honor the office confers. It Mras supposed when. Mr. Clifford voted on the previous day against the principle of members being paid, he would be still more averse — as an independent member — to being paid himself; but this, it seems, was a very erroneous supposition. The members supporting the present Government were reminded it was the practice of their party to speak of those members of the former Provincial and Geneneral Councils who, coming from a distance, were entitled to be paid their expenses, as "having taken their bribes and their seats," but now— nous ation* changi tout ceUt,. These liberals have helped themselves, as they take care to inform the public, in a provisional manner. When they have made up their minds to a permanent scale of remuneration they will bo doubt provide for themselves^4iatidsomely*

The Coticert in aid of the ITunds df the Attiennum took place on Thursday evening. The j Hall of the building wa# crowded with yisU tots who testified", their high gratification by frequsnt applause. At the close a \ote of thanks was tendered by acclamation by the ' audience to the amateurs who had afforded them so 1 high a^niusical tteat The proceeds ' of the Concert we understand was about £25. ' < — a_» — •— Th« total' amount -of the Testimonial to the 'Kew R. Colo I,'1 ,' amouhted, we understand, to mw iBs.