Thursday, May 21.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 359, 27 May 1874, Page 5

Thursday, May 21.

SUNDAY OBSERVANCE.

The following petitions were received relative to the Sunday observance question :—: — From 115 residents at Lawrence, from 274 residents at Palmerston, from inhabitants in Winton, and also from residents in Dunedin. Mr. TURNBULL gave notice of the following motion :—": — " Considering the various petitions relative to this question, the Council is of opinion that the number of trains running on Sundays should, except in very exceptional and urgent cases, be limited to one train each way before 9 o'clock in the morning, and another each way between 4 o'clock and 6 o'clock in the afternoon." KAKANUI WATER-RIGHTS. A report from the select committee was brought up by Mr. BASTINGS, recommending that Government should give the petitioners in this matter their favourable consideration, the committee being of opinion that they are fairly entitled to compensation. SHAG YAILET. Mr. J. C. BROWN brought up a report, which stated that, inasmuch as the Government had made a partial provision to meet the wishes of residents in the district, it was not desirable to recommend their petition to the favourable consideration of tho Gpvernment in selecting future Hundreds. , CLAIM FOR COMPENSATION. ' A select committee's report was read on the petition of • Mr. Latham for redress for injuries received through a fall, in 1867/ over the cutting made in prosecution of Bell Hill works. The report set forth that the petitioner's case had been fully dealt with by the

Government. In view of the circumstances of his case, the petitioner was given employment as a toll-barkeeper, and there were good grounds for his being suspended, and not afterwards re-instated. Under these circumstances the committee declined to recommend his petition for consideration. SOUTHLAND WASTE LAND BOARD. The select committee reported on the petitions of George Smith and Thomas Brown, that the subject matter involved a complaint against the Waste Land Board of Southland, and that, as the Board was not directly responsible to the Provincial Council, it would be stepping beyond their powers to enteri tain the application for an investigation into the complaints, and recommended that the petition be forwarded through the Provincial Council to the General Government for consideration. glare's diggings. The select committee reported on the petition of miners at these diggings, that Government had no power to interfere as was desired in regard to water rights, and recommended that their diff erence3 should be submitted to arbitration. READING THE BIBLE IN SCHOOLS. The following motion was tabled by Mr. Ireland : — " That, in the opinion of this Council, the reading of the Bible in public schools of the province should not be compulsory ; but that the School Committees, with the sanction of the Education Board, should have power to permit the reading of the Bible, subject to the restrictions contained in the Education Ordinance." THE HOLLYFORD TRACK. The Hon. Dr. MENZIES asked the Provincial Secretary, " Whether the track through the Hollyford Bush, leading from Mavora by the Greenstone Valley, to join the track from the head of Wakatipu to Martin's Bay, had been completed ?" Mr. REID replied that in consequence of the Chief and Assistant Engineers being absent from Dunedin he was unable to give a definite answer. The money voted for forming the track had, he understood, been placed in the hands of Mr. Clark, a runholder, and he (Mr. Reid) had no doubt but that it had been spent to the best advantage. He could not, however, say that the track had been completed. Before the close of the session he would be prepared to furnish more definite information. MANUKA CREEK. Mr. G. F. 0. BROWNE asked the Secretary for Works, " If it is the intention of the Government to cause the bridges between Glenore and Manuka Creek to be so altered as to render them safe for traffic ?" Mr. REID replied that it was the intention of the Government to cause the requisite alterations to be made as soon as the necessary vote had been obtained. WAIHEMO TO CLYDE RAILWAY. Mr. DE LATOUR moved, " That, in the opinion of this Council, it is desirable that, during the recess, a flying survey be made of a line of railway from Waihemo to Clyde, through the Maniatoto Plains, the Ida Valley, and the Valley of the Manuherikia." In support of the motion he gave a statistical account of the traffic to the interior by Waihemo, and argued that, by the construction of a line of railway, at least £4,000 annually would be saved on the present traffic. He further argued that a large extent of valuable country, at present isolated for want of available communication, would be rendered fit for purposes of settlement. Mr. M'KENZIE seconded the motion, and spoke in support of it. Mr. REID, in announcing his concurrence, said that he did not think sufficient inquiry had been ,made as to the best available route for connecting Dunedin with the interior. He presumed the intention of the mover was to obtain more definite information on that score. He did not presume it was intended that two lines into the interior should be constructed, one leaving Dunedin by the North and the other by the South Road. He believed strongly in the necessity for a comparative survey of the routes being made during the recess, and if the motion was carried Government would cause that course to be followed. Messrs. M'KELLAR and HAZLETT both spoke in favour of the motion, and dwelt at some length on the necessity for having the most available route to the interior fixed upon. The motion was put and carried. CAMPBBLLTOWN ATHENiEUM. Mr. WOOD moved, " That an address be presented to his Honor the Superintendent, recommending that section 3, block XII., Campbelltown, be reserved from sale, and set apart as a site on which to erect an Athenaeum for the use of the inhabitants of that town and district." The motion was put and carried. SECOND READINGS. On the motion of Mr. STOUT, the Otago Municipal Corporations Ordinance Amendment Bill, and the Education Reserves Management and Leasing Bill, were read a second time.

The Superintendent has submitted for consideration to the Provincial Council the expediency of enabling the Government to proceed with the construction of the following light lines of railway, viz.: — "Waipahee to Tapanui, 13£ miles, cost £32,000 ; Main Trunk to Eaitangata and Coal Point, 10 miles, cost £27,750 ; Main Trunk to Outram, four miles, cost £12,000 ; Palmerston to Waihemo, 10 miles, £25,000; Orepuki extension to Waiau, 14 miles, £50,000 ; Tokomairiro Branch to Coal-field, five miles, £14,000; Lawrence to Roxburgh, 40 miles, £125,000; Otautau extension to Nightcap Gold-field, 15 miles, £40,000 ; from main line through Seaward Bush, 10 miles, £20,000. To defray the cost of the whole, the Superintendent proposes that application be made to the General Assembly, at its next session, for authority to raise a loan, not to exceed £500,000, for the construction of tne afopesaid works ; and that an area of ' acres of land be set aside as special security for the repayment of such loan : the land so set aside as security to be dealt with in every respect and disposed of in terms of the provisions of the Otago Waste Lands Act, and the proceeds of sale or lease to be paid into a separate account to be applied towards payment of interest on said loan, and the repayment of one-twentieth in each year of the principal sum."

A deputation consisting of Mr. Steward, M.H.R., and Mr. Shrimski, members of the Oamaru Hospital Committee, waited upon his Honor the Superintendent on Wednesday morning, relative to the reserves set apart under resolutions of the Provincial Council as an endowment for that Institution. The deputation, which was introduced by Mr. Sumpter, M.P.C., explained that applications having been made to the Waste Land Board for the purchases of the reserves in question, and as the General Government had, as it was understood, refused to issue the Crown grants for this and other Otago reserves, the governing body of the Hospital were anxious to know what action the Government proposed to take to secure the endowments in question to that institution. His Honor expressed surprise that the Waste Land Board should have entertained any application for the lands, as they had been already reserved by proclamation in the provincial Gazette. He, however, stated that he would send a memorandum to the Board again on the subject, stating that the land was reserved from safe. His Honor pledged himself to use his best efforts to secure the reserve to the Hospital. The whole question of the public reserves made in the province would come up at next session of the General Assembly, when it was*h«ped a final arrangement would be made. In the meantime it was probable that an expression of opinion would be invited from the Provincial Council.