PROVINCIAL COUNCIL. RELIEF FOR TARANAKI.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 289, 27 July 1860, Page 4

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL. RELIEF FOR TARANAKI.

Mr. Ollivier, in moving an address to the Superintendent,praying him to cause a reserve to be made of 2000 acres of land, for the relief of the sufferers at Taranaki, said1 that he believed it was the opinion of some lion, members that this was not sufficiently a' public purpose' to come-within'the-operation of clause 19 of the •Waste Lands Act. 3 He (Mr. o.)' however thought that by so applying the words We should not be wresting their application. An opinion had been expressed in ..various..quarters, on the fact of the Council not. be.fore, haying giveo any relief to the Taranaki sufferers. He would say that such imputations were libels dh the Council, who, at the very earliest,intimation of difficulties at Taranaki, proceeded to* vote arid transmit to the Governor an address of sympathy, the answer to which the lion, members had heard read. The Council, in that address,'noli being.then in a position to .afford pecuniary aid, offered the only1 assistance in their power. It was'even now impossible to say how far the distress they sought to alleviate might extend. •-. Some persons there .were, .who, having been- .driyen from their, .homes now, might jere long be/enabled quietly ito^turn, to th;em, but it migh^be otherwise; f with others.. The ; Government : w t ould l( pow prjly; reserve the laud, , If, the Governor. fQQttld graiii.;

t it to his Honor for this purpose, it would be * necessary, next session, to pass a bill through % the Council'enabling him to alienate it. The 7 Superintendent of Taranaki was the proper s person to'indicate the proper reoipienta of the t proposed grants of land. Pecuniary aid would come better from private persons ; and he, (Mr. 3 0.), believed that few. in this province would 3 be found unwilling to contribute to the, ut- , most extent.of their means to this purpose. . He. I would move the following resolution :— t ■ t This Council respectfully recommends his honor t the Superintendent to make a reserve of 2000 acres , of land in some convenient locality for the' purpose of providing for the maintenance and relief of persons ■ who may suffer from the consequence of wounds—the I loss of pioperty—or other causes arising out of the ' rebellion in the North Island. [ This Council urges upon his Honor that early application should be made to his Excellency the Governor for the issue of a grant of the land in order that no 1 delay may take place in passing a bill through this i Council at its next session ,in accordance with the provisions of the Public Reserve Act of 1854,—and that the Provincial Solicitor be instructed to draft a 1 Bill to enable the Superintendent to grant the lands so reserved in blocks of from 20 to 50 acres in accordance with the circumstances of the case to such persons as the Superintendent of Taranaki shall under his hand and seal declare to be fit recipients of the bounty. ; Mr. Thomson would second the motion pro forma, as he thought it a pity that it should be allowed to fall to the ground. At the same time he could not agree in the propriety of the mode of contribution proposed to be adopted, it being, he considered, too vague. He would have, if land donations were decided upon at all, such grants given to proper persons applying within a certain specified time. But he would prefer a money grant. The necessity for aid in any shape did not yet exist; and as the Council would probably meet again before very long, it could be guided by its then financial position and regulate its proceediugs in this matter accordingly. Mr. Hannan was not sure that the Superintendent of Taranaki would thank us for the mode of relief now proposed, which would have the effect of taking away the settlers from Taranaki. He thought it very likely that aid in this form might be civilly declined. Mr. Fooks hoped that the hon. member (Mr. Ollivier) would not place the Council in the unpleasant position of having to reject this motion, of which the carrying into effect at all of which he much doubted the possibility. The Council had deep sympathy with the Taranaki sufferers, but he (Mr. F.) thought our position would be much worse than at present, were the Governor to refuse to grant the land. The Conncil would vote a money grant when the proper time should come. Mr. Bishop would gladly adopt any measure for ensuring that the Taranaki settlers should not move one inch from their homes. He hoped Mr. Ollivier would not press his motion. Mr. Cass. differed from the principle of giving away land, and not from the sympathy expressed in the motion. He thought the mode proposed was premature, and one which would not be approved of by the colony generally. He agreed with the view that the best mode of relief would be by public subscription now, and a grant of money if necessary, when the Council should meet again. The settlers-at Taranaklwould without doubt soouer or later be enabled to resume quiet possession of their homes. He would rather see devoted to that purpose the revenue to accrue from this 2000 acres of land, than the land itself given away. . Mr. Ollivier would, withdraw the motion. He was glad to have heard the various opinions of the hon. members. The only point with which he could not agree was, that Canterbury, by adopting this course, would be accused of crimping the settlers of Taranaki. (From the Canterbury Standard.) The Session of the Provincial Council which has just terminated has been the shortest, and at the same time one of the most important in the annals of Canterbury—we regret to add, by no means the most creditable. On the contrary, advocates of a centralising policy must have their hands greatly strengthened by the precipitate, rash, and inconsistent acts of our Provincial Legislators. A short recapitulation of the, proceedings of the Council will enable our readers to judge as to this, and we shall more fully revert to the subject at a future opportunity. On the very,first day of the session, a message was read to the Council requesting them to sanction an expenditure of £4,500—£1000 being for legal expenses in carrying the Railway Bill through the Assembly, and the remaining £3,500 for expenses incurred by the contractors under a new contract entered into between them and the government on the 27th of April last, when the original contract expired. The Council, be it observed, was in session from the 15th of March till the 24th of April, having been called together specially for Railway business. Tlie negotiations for the new contract were pending while the Council. was sitting, but not one syllable was uttered .on the Subject by the Executive, though they had been restricted to the sum of £3000 for preliminary expenses by a previous vote of the Council. Exactly three days after the Council is prorogued, the negotiations were complete, and Hie result is as we have stated—a request to indemnify the Government for the,, additional expenditure of .£4,500. This was objected to on the ground that the Executive ought to; have consulted the Council beforehand, and .that to consent to it would be to establish a dangerous precedent for future Governments by giving them a power over the public, purse, which,.belonged, properly, (o the Council alone,.: A reference to our report will shew that the Government carried the day by' a large majority- ■■„'.'' ' • '■;, 7...: ■-•'■■':,'■"'; , Next passed a wholesale suspension, of ■,eleven', standing orders,, so as.t6 ; euabie the Oouuqil. to pass the Loan Bill through all its stages, without the Intervention of the time alJowed to enable members to give due' attention and deliberation to the business before them. . : Then .came the Loan 'Bill itself, -on ; the, second reading of which there was a fight,' the Government and,its , supporters contending; that: the Railway resolutions' of the last session\involved. the passing ;of this Bill, while it was" arguedin reply, that the returns for the vine ! months ending on tHe 30th June; shewed that the estimates on which the resolutions had been based, were utterly'worthless.,. As usual, how:, ever, the Government carried the day—common sense or common prudence having but little weight when placed in the scale against the magic word Railway. The next step was the discussion of, thjo, .clauses of the Bill in committee,— quite enough up to clause 10, which gives, the debenture holder! sepurity over the-surplus revenue of the province, and also over the proceeds of the goods arid passenger, traffic on the Railway. A dis*

cussion arose on the meaning of the word profeeeds it being contended that by'the use' of'this word per se, the working expenses of the line might have to be provided for. from other sources. To obviate this, the insertion, of the word "Net" was proposed beforeVprdceeds, and was carried by 10 to 5 on Friday evening—the Provincial Secretary and his ; friends objeoting to it,_thafe it was surplusage, proceeds .meaning of course net proceeds. The third-reading, was adjourned till Monday, at the request ot the Se-. cretary, in order that he might consult the Prpviucial Solicitor as to whether the iusertiou of the word would ..imperil'the Bill in the Assembly. On Monday he moved the reconsideration of the clause for the purpose of omitting the obnoxious word net, stating that the Solicito* while he did not suppose its insertion should endanger the passiug of the Bill, considered the clause better without it. Again was the matter discussed, the: objection to its insertion being that it was unnecessary as already implied, aud again the Council affirmed, its former decision by a majority of 11 to 5. The Bill was read a third time and passed, and the Council, after some other business remained in their places,expecting an immediate prorogation. Instead ,of this, however, down came a message from bis Honor, requesting the Council to reconsider clause 10, and credat. Judoeus! to insert the word gross for net. The message ;was considered, the clause recommitted—thi" unfortunate Secretary who had previously explained that proceeds meant net proceeds, aud that consequently the Government clause did so too, had now to call on the Council to eat humble pie and reverse their two previous decisions. The Counoil, however, indignantly refused to be dragged through the mire in this manner, and reaffirmed their former decisions by a majority of 11 to s.—Again the bill was read a third time aud passed—a short adjournment was called for—several of the members closeted with the Superintendent—the House again adjourned till five, when his Honor appeared in person and delivered the second message of the day. This too was taken into consideration, and the Provincial Solicitor examined belore the House, as to the effect which the insertion of the word would have on the value of the security in, the market. His opinion was unfavorable :—it is true that to ordinary minds, the opinion of men of business would have been considered preferable to that of a lawyer: the Council were plaseed to think otherwise, and by a majority of 11 to 5, rescinded their decision deliberately recorded on three distinct occasions. Where is public morality—where is public consistency to be found ? Not much of either, | we fear, in the Canterbury Provincial Council.