NELSON.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 657, 12 May 1870, Page 2

NELSON.

PEOCEEDINGS IN THE PEOVINCIAD COUNCIL. (prom oub own cobbespondent.) Saturday, May 7. COAL QTTAY BESEBVE. Mr O'Conor, seconded by his local colleague, moved, and it was agreed to, " That his Honor the Superintendent be requested to furnish this Council with such Eeturns as may show the amount of Provincial revenue derived from Westport, particularly and distinctly showing the amount derived from the issue of Business Licenses, for occupation of the Coal Quay Reserve j and also the amount of Licenses at present in force on said Reserve." £Le thought it was desirable to know the amouut of this revenue, and to devote it to the purpose of developing the coalfield. THE OBEY AND BULLEB BEVENUE. Mr Mackley moved "That his Honor the Superintendent be requested to furnish this Council with an account of the Receipts of the Buller and Grey districts (separately), and also the amounts voted and expended in those districts for the last three years ending the 31st March last." Mr Mackley said, " The Grey district has been paying a large amount of Provincial revenue, and it has derived very little from the public expenditure. It is a district which deserves greater justice being done to it." Mr Reid seconded the motion, and said—"The Buller district has been paying a large amount of Provincial revenue, and it has derived very little from the public expenditure. It is a district which deserves greater justice being done to it." The Provincial. Secretary represented *that it was difficult to give the return, as the Consolidated Revenue was not properly accounted for in past years, and there was a bit of discussion, in which Mr Luckie, Donne, O'Conor, Shephard, Gibbs, aud Kelling, and othera took part. Mr Donne proposed the insertion of the words, "Charleston and Brighton." His amendment was lost, and the motion was lost also, through a division not being qnickly called for, after the question was put. THE BETJNNEB MINE. Mr Gibbs moved " That his Honor the Superintendent be requested to furnish this Council with a statement of the amount of salary or gratuity paid to Mr Dent for l his last year's services." He referred . to the Superintendent's ignoring the resolution of the last session of Council, nnd to complaints as to the management of the Brunner mine. Mr M'Mahon seconded the motion. The Provincial Secretary protested against some statements made as to the accidents in the mine, and Mr Reid objected to what he called the conver-

\ gion of the Council into a Coroner's jury, but he supported the motion; and it was carried. A very elegantly engrossed petition from Mr John Crate, representing the advantages of wire tramways for the Mount Eochfort coalfield, was presented by Mr Eeid, and was read, but unfortunately, like two other petitions, i the petitioner had omitted the principal item—his own signature—and it could not be received. INDUSTRIES AND IMMIGRATION. Select committees to consider how both these matters can be promoted were, on Thursday, proposed by Mr Shephard and Mr Wastney respectively, and were agreed to. There were also several exclusively Nelson matters discussed. NAVIGVTION OP THE BULLER. The only West Coast matter brought forward was a motion, or, rather, a notion of Mr Eeid's to this effect:— That his Honor the Superintendent be respectfully requested to cause inquiry to be made by the Engineering and Harbor Departments, with such other competent authority as may be attainable, as to the possibility and probable cost of rendering the Buller River navigable to the Lyell, by a stern-wheel steamer of small tonnage and light draft of water. That his Honor be further respectfully requested to gazette the reports of such inquiry, for public information. He said that he was quite aware that, among the severely sensible among his constituents, as well as by some in the Council, such a proposition would be received with ridicule. But he was impudent enough, notwithstanding, to consider that the object of the motion was not such a chimera as some might think. Prom conversation and correspondence with an intimate friend of his, Capt. Murray, who had been the pioneer of river navigation by steam in New Zealand, who had navigated the Murray in Australia, and who had had large experience on the rivers of British Columbia, he had [reason to believe that the Buller was not so exceptionally difficult of navigation as to shut out altogether the idea of some better means of communication being established between the port and the diggings than now existed. He proposed no expenditure or work extra to the usual duties of the Departments referred to,and simply jthat the result of inquiry, favorable or j unfavorable, should be made known, |He needed to say nothing as to the [propriety of opening up the interior. That, he hoped, was sufficiently axiomatic. TOTE OP NO CONFIDENCE. A committee to consider the passages in the Superintendent's address referring to Wangapeka had been obtained by Mr Luckie on Wednesday evening, but it seems that it was considered by members, including those • from the West Coast, that this was a [circuitous and dilatory way of eliciting an expression of dissatisfaction with the Superintendent and Executive, and, with a view to bringing on a direct attack, Mr Eeid, on Thursday, gave notice of moving that the Comfmittee should be discharged. ImI mediately afterwards, Mr Luckie of a 4motion to this effect: — I " That the Government of this Province, |as at present constituted, does not possess |the confidence of this Council." The motion was put down for discussion on Tuesday. THE WANGAPEKA. On Friday, the business was early begun, and early over. The only West Coast matter was one introduced by Mr Mr O'Conor, seconded by Mr Eeid, and carried as follows • That his Honor the Superintendent be requested to furnish this Council with a Return .showing the number of Officials temporarily withdrawn from the Buller and Charleston Districts to assist at Wangapeka, the cost of such withdrawal, the time of each officer's absence from his district, and also the amount of salary, or gratuity, by way of extra expense or otherwise, allowed on account of such withdrawal to any of the said officers. When a proposition was made by Mr Oibbs for £2OO to country libraries, Mr Donne also represented the deserts of the Charleston library, but with what result I did not notice.