NELSON PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 981, 21 June 1872, Page 3

NELSON PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

(FROM OTJE OWN CORRESPONDENT.) On the 13th instant, MrKeid moved four of the five resolutions which arc attached to the before published report. He explained that the first resolution, as to the cost of removing tho Government Buildings, and forming streets,

bad been anticipated by the sum of £3OOO having been included in the Appropriation Bill. With regard to the second resolution, as to the opening the Colliery Reserve for preferential occupation by residents of Westport, he explained that there might be many more easy and satisfactory ways of occupying the reserve, but unfor. tunately there was none available under the Nelson Waste Lands Act. Under that Act, the land, if opened for sale, would require to be at once put up to auctic n. and the object of the Provincial Engineer's last recommendations, and the wishes of the inhabitants of Westport, would he entirely defeated by that course being pursued. The land, however, might bo held under business license, and all that the Committte desired was to impose such restrictions that owners and occupiers of land and buildings in Westport should be secured a preference by special regulations which would achieve that purpose. If the Government could propose any better plan, he and the other members of the Committee would only be too glad to see it carried out.

Mr P. Kelling seconded the motion, and spoke generally in favor of the spirit of the report and resolutions. The Provincial Secretary moved an amendment, which, after the insertion of the words " at a low rental," was put as follows :—" That his Honor the Superintendent be recommended to allow the people of Westport who have lost their buildings by the encroachment of the sea and river, as well as those who must, from the same cause, remove their buildings from the lower portion of the town, to occupy, on lease, and at a low rental, allotments on the upper portion of the Colliery Eeserve, and that the remainder of the Eeserve, or such portion of it as the Government determine, should be open for occupation under business lieeuses as soon as possible after the blocks to be leased have been set apart." Mr Donne seconded the motion. Much consideration, he said, had been given to the whole subject, and the Committee had proposed the business license system as the only system available. But, if they had had the benefit of the Provincial Treasurer's presence, they would, no doubt, have agreed to the adoption of a resolution such as that which he now proposed, the Superintendent, it appeared, had the power to lease the land for a period of three years, and he presumed there would be no objection to the removal of the leases, on the expiration of that time, at the same nominal rent. The amendment, he thought, simplified the matter much by removing one of the greatest difficulties the Committee bad to contend with. Mr Beid was willing to accept the amendment, on the faith, and, he might say, the assurance that the Government meant to deal with question promptly, liberally, and, as far as possible, in accordance with the recommendations contained in the Committee's report. He did not press his motion ; and the amendment, on being put, was unanimously agreed to, The Provincial Secretary, as an amendment to the third resolution, proposed that the Waste Lands Board should re-assess the upset price of freehold sections in Westport, with the same being put up far sale at an early date Mr Beid opposed the amendment, and on the discussion, the original resolution was carried by 10 to 4. The other resolutions were, without discussion, agreed to.

At a later hour in the evening the Appropriation Bill was brought down, containing an item of £1250, for the purchase of fifty sections, as proposed in the third resolution. The Provincial Treasurer explained that the item was simply a nominal one. The Government was merely asked to take money out of one pocket, and to place it in the other, no other course being open to them under the Waste Lands Act. The item was passed. The Provincial Secretary proposed a motion, which, after a discussion, was amended, on the motion of the Provincial Solicitor, and ultimately passed as follows:—"In the opinion of this Council the "Waste Lands Act should be amended, so as to give power to the Waste Lands Board to sell occupied land within townships on proclaimed Goldfields, without the necessity of submitting such land to public competition, to the occupier thereof, provided it shall have been occupied for two years, or have erected on it a building to the value of at least £SO; and that should such power be given, the minimum price should not be less tnan ten pounds for the area comprised within a business site, viz.; 40 perches.