AUCKLAND PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

J Tut: Council met on ontlixy aflrvnoon in the Library ' j Honm ullin-lu'd to the Parliament buildings. _ ! j The Speaker took the chair at a little after 3 o elock, ' 1 19 members present. { Motions standing in the names of Messrs. A. ! o\N"eili, IjuU, mill GaUaughiT, uvre postponed for t lie | prost-lit, tlio Council Ikivi;>14 met to Uikc act.iun on :i special muttc-v. Mr. Kou'c then moved, "'Dial p. committee bo appointed, consisting of Mr. TJuckland. Mr. Chccseimm, ilr. Daldy, Mr. Newman, Mr. .7. O'Neiil, Mr. Wynn. and f tie mover, for the purpose of preparing a petition to her Majesty, praying that .she will not accede i<i tlw >P>pl&£t. conveyed in an address from the limine oi Representatives to liis Kxcellcncv, praying that the scot of government be removed from to pome place in Cook'b St rait?. The ■ommittee to bring lIP ths.il- report on Wednesday next." lie did not ! ill ink it an appropriate time to make any remarks, I inif l should vr'ierve tlicm till the bringing up of the report, on Wednesday. , Mr. \\ r vnn spoke at some length jn support, oi tne motion, 'lie mid Unit tfie only argument. brought forward by the mover of the question in the House of Jtepi'« , BC!italiV®»MJ3&vour of liis motion, was that Auckland Was geographical centre of New Zealand, and that (A&Vs Straits lhcro was not. a Beat of government of modern times thai, occupied a gcogranli icaV- centre, but one and that was a complete failjte-"" Nothing could be more absurd ' than t(vs>lipp<J*e that a capital should be determined I \x<r .

0 geographical position. It was where commerce cougrcgr.ted, and population flowed most. readily, that should decide such ' a question. It was true t.mt the southern gold fields had attracted great 1 numbers, but. the Province of Auckland would be the ' 1 roviuee that would be able to support the greatest population, and the largest amount of wealth imi;t centre here. Auckland must have a seat of government ol some Kind, whether of tile whole colony, as at present, or not; to leave Auckland ivi'hout Mould be pcrlcctly absurd and preposterous. He in;- 1 , gre.'.t pleasure in seconding (ho motion. -I fie name ot Air. .May was added to the committee, anil that ol Mi-. Hidings, whose name bad :u cidcntly been omitted Irom the printed copy of the motion. Air. A'ewmaii thought it desirable that if any members had any thing lo say on Ihe ninlter before them they should now do so as the committe-j might not thin,; ol all that could be said on the subject. Air. Aewman read from a paper he held in his hand a statement of Ihe revenue of the ditferent provinces in the year ISO.j, from which it appeared that the revenue of Auckland was far in excess of the other provinces, was, in fact, almost equal to the whole put together,—ami argued from Ibis fact that the present excess revenue in tin- Province of Ot.'igo could nol be considered a suilici, lit. reason for the temoval ol the seat of government from A uckiand, chinigt s being so rapid" in a new colony Uc >'~\v /calami, Leiore eight more *. ivo-? had parsed awa\, I it w: ; s quile within the raii'ie of probability lliat gold ' lields would lie disemcred her.', which would e-iaio ; carry our population tar beyond (hat of the southern provinces ; especially as we wire likely to have i brought here a population emii ently qualified lo : discover any mineral resources that, may lie concealed, ! anil thus settle for ever the dissension that existed with i regard to the seat of uovcrimiciit. Auckland was a ' central position for drawing shipping. There was no port in C ook s St rails at all to compare witli that- of Auckland. AN herevcr shipping could be brought iogclher with ease, and little risk of damage, com- • I im reeniust congregate, and a large city ueces.-nrily he f developed. Auckland was declared to be the capital ol Ncu' Zealand by the .Secretary of State for the Colonics, and every individual who came here did so with the idea oi settling in the capital. Compensation bad been spoken of by an honorable member ol the House ot Keprepcntativers hut no compensation \ that could he awarded would compensate those in- i dividuals who have made their homes here on the j understanding that it was to remain the capital of : the colony. If the members who represent the south ! were pivjiared to sci aside justice and cause fnifhtobe : hrukon with the Auckland set-tiers, all he could ssiy > was thai he, for one, uould not trust them in any poliiieal measure whalcvcr, and ihoiifjht the onlv thing that would remain for this I'rovince would be to obtain separation, and a government of its own. If was very unfair for the =oulhcrn representatives to act as they had done with a province aceidently placed :it their disposal m point of number.-. ; -Mr. L'heeM-tiiau remarked that no question had ■ ever been before the Council, since he had been a I member, of such importance the present one. Honorable gentlemen in the House of Kcpresenia- ; 1 tivessaw very clearly that if they failed to aceom- ; plish their purpose now they never would be able to ' uo it. They had been hitherto in their pupilage and were only now reaching their majority. The move- . ment in the House was the in.-t dying speech and coniession of tie l southern representatives, mid they knew that if (hey could not get the best of Auckland now. that the time was fast coming when her voice , would b.* heard, her strength felt, and her numbers seen, so thai they would never be able lo wrest the capital from us. He believed they were unable to do il even now ; fur if a vote of this legislature were , pas.-ed, lie thought her Majesty would prohibit such a step being taken. lie U-u>«ed the committee would do its duty, and he successful in preserving to this Province the privileges and imnumi.'ies it had m» long | eujoved. Tlie luoiion wn< then put ami agreed to. Mr. Chceseman then moved) " That a''•ornmitUT he appointed, of "Mr. i'ueklund. Mr. Kerr. | Mr. -hing, Mr. Newman, Pr. Pollen. ISfr. Howe. Mr. liidmgs, and the nuncr. to cmiMdei' the important ; question of immigration, as raised by the (Icm-ral ; legislature of I lie colony, having special reference to , this Province, with po-.w r to call for persons and paper-. Kepori lo be brought up on Wednesday j nc\t. lie sua! his me.in.ni had respect to the K-an . Intely parsed by the General Assembly. Hi' b,'!icv--d | ;hav the nhiiiiaie object in raising that money was to people ihis country, and raise an impassable barrier against the approach of barbarism. fn : bringing this subject before the Council he merely : wished lo drav. attention to some of its details, which ■ alVected \\ r\ maLrr:a[U the uf this Provinec ! generally. li would be observed thnt it whs pro- • posed to construct a thousand miles of military roads . through the is'aml, and lo import into thi?- Province , Itt.OOU settlers from Hunqn*. To meet this expen.-e it w;b proposed, iluu that parr of the three million loan to be appropriated to this purpose should be made a (hv. charge on the ordinary and territorial revenue <»f : I ejteh pro\ince in proport ion to I he benefit thev derived ! from the scheme. So far he approved of the meaMiiv. • but when he looked at thedel:iiN he entertained the , i gravest douhls a- to whether i!. would be likely to , ' sueeccd. Ifc i'nought the Council ought, by some . . means, to sojk a knowledge of the manner in whieh I these men were to be cho.-en. Tt had been stated ! that there were firms in Auckland that would under- < : take to bring out emigrants at .Ui per head. Ife had ! ; no objedion to thai, if they would be a class of men ; likely to hem-fit the "Province, but he did not think ! mercantile firms were likely to make the best selee- ' : lion. These immigrants would form the basement work of the fut i:re towns and villages in this Province ; . he therefore tru>ted the selection would not be left to : the cupidity of any mercantile firm, though they might be able to bring them to Auckland for t or ; per head less. U was not likely Ihey would make ' any enquiry into the moral character of the men they j would ship. He looked at that part of the scheme : with absolute fear and dread ; but lie also a-d;ed for >ii monetary reason. When such a large amount, of ; provincial funds was to be expended, nothing could j be more reasonable than that au agent should be appointed by flie Superintendent, on behalf of the ; Province. i Mr. .Ijiicklaud thought the Council should content itself with requesting ihe Superintendent, in his place : in the House of Representatives, to exert himself to ; secure the adopting of proper find cHiciem means for ; (he prevention of improper persons being sent to the Province. JK subsequently made an amendment to ■ that eil'ect. ; Mr. Cadmau warmly supported the motion. He ' thought the thanks of Ihe Council were due to Mr. Checseman for having brought the subject be fori' ; them ; and that a very strong case had been made ' out in favour of the motion. "If the Province had to 1 pay the cost it was right that it should have >omc ; voice in the matter. It would ho ou«y enough for ; persons desirous of making a few pounds to empty ' ! goals, and send out any number of penitentiary and | 1 tickct-ofdeave men. Against such au affliction as ; ; that be desired to sec ihe Province saved. ; ■ Mr. Wynn opposed the motion, thinking it unfair ! \ Lo country members to dier.ss a qttcsfion of that j ! nature in their absence, and moved an amendment to j ihe motion, namely, the addition of the names of ! j Messrs. Ball, Williams, and Ross, to the committee. Mr. King supported the original motion. It was a committee of enquiry that was asked, and did not pledge the Council lo any line of action. MY. Newman snid the tendency nf all the action* of the House of Representatives was to make every- ! t.hin<r converge and centre in itself. It whs perhaps ! necessary for the Uorernment lo do what they had I done, but they were treading on new ground, and ! .-hould walk very cautiously. He thought the Superintendent and Provincial Council should hare e<ame control over the land about to be disposed of. Mr. Rowe thought they were indebted to the Government for the .scheme they had devised. They, as well as ourselves, enw that the success of the scheme 1 depended on the character of the settlers they should introduce; and its failure would not only damage their political characters, hut alfect their personal interests. The Council had a sufficient guarantee that the General Government would do its » Messrs. May and Kerr thought the motion should ; be withdrawn at present. Mr. Cheeseman made further remarks, and in- , timated his intention to press the question to a 1 j division. I Mr. YTyinis (intendment was put and lost, Mr. ? ! JhickiamPH withdrawn, and the original motion put ; and negatived oil the voicm ; ; On the motion of Mr. Hun-op it was carried "That L | a respectful address ho forwarded to his Honor the * j Superintendent, requesting him t-o obtain from the j j General Government, for the information of this - | Council, any papers connected with the * Panama t J Routealso papers relative to the withdrawal or i discontinuance of the direct steamer between this port 1 j and Sydney."

Mi'. Cliceseman brought under tlie notice of the i.ouucil the circumstam-c that a notice had been posted 011 the door of the Kefreslnnent Boom, excluding members of the Council therefrom. Ihe .Speaker ruled that it was not competent for the Council to interfere, tlie two Houses of Assembly icing entitled to the exclusive use of their own JJella my. The Council the,, adjourned. They will meet on Wednesday, (this dav) at three o'clock, in the same place.