PROVINCIAL COUNCIL. THIS DAY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume I, Issue 56, 9 May 1866, Page 2

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL. THIS DAY.

The Speaker took the chair at 1.'15 p.m. The members were all present except Messrs. Redwood, C. Kelling, and Rutherford. The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. MESSAGES FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT. Message 18 suggested certain amendments in the Cattle Trespass Ordinance. Message 19 transmitted an application from Mr. Austin, assistant surveyor, who had been compelled to resign his office from ill health, asking some compensation for long service. The Superintendent recommended the application to the favorable consideration of the Council. pakawau com mine. Mr. Curtis asked the Provincial Secretary whether the sum of £400, voted last session for the purpose of proving the correctness or otherwise of Mr. Burnett's report on the Pakawau coal mine, has been expended, and if so, with what result ? He referred to the appointment of the committee, the failure of the enterprise, and said it was desirable the result should be made known to the Council, and placed on record, not only to satisfy tbe Council, but in justice to Mr. Burnett. The Provincial Secretary replied tbat he had written to the secretary of the committee, who had forwarded their report, which lie now laid, on the table. The sum of 390/ was paid to the committee. MR. BATTY'S PETITION". Mr. Kingdon moved, That his Honor the Superintendent be requested to take immediate steps to carry* out the wish of the Council, relative to Mr. Matthew Batty. He said he had seen his Honor who had expressed his willingness to act in the way the Council desired. Mr. M'Mahon seconded tbe motion which was carried. CATTLE TRESPASS BILL. On the motion of the Provincial Solicitor, seconded by Mr. Parker, the House went into Committee, Mr. Kingdon in the chair, standing order No. 2S having been suspended, to take into considderation the amendments suggested by the Superintendent, in the Cattle Trespass Bill. The amendments were merely verbal. The House resumed and the chairman reported the bill as amended. mr. Austin's case. Message, No. 19, was considered in committee. Standing orders having been suspended on the motion of Mr. Parker, seconded by Mr. Burn ; Mr. Kingdon in the chair. It was stated that Mr. Austin had been in the Government employ 11 years. He attributed the loss of his health to conducting his work during the most inclement season, and his salary had been too small to allow him to save in anticipation of ill health. Mr. Parker contended that it was due to the applicant to recognise his past services. He proposed that the Council recommend the Superintendent to pay the applicant the sum of 200/. The Speaker spoke warmly of the value and fidelity of Mr. Austin's services. He was an old servant broken down irreparably in health, and the Council in voting the sum would he only doing what any commercial firm would do. Mr. Baigent supported the motion on the ground of aiding an honourable young man, who had well served the Government. Mr. Dodson would support the motion, but it was a bad precedent. Government officers ought to save for a rainy day out of their salaries. But as Mr. Austin had lost his health in the Government employ, he was entiled to some compensation. Motion passed. The House resumed and tlie chairman reported progress. PROROGATION OI" THE COUNCIL. On the motion of the Provincial Solicitor, seconded by Mr. Burn, a deputation was appointed to wait on his Honor the Superintendent, and inform him that the Council had no more business to transact. His Honor the Superintendent then entered theCouncil Chamber and read the following address : — Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the Provincial Council, On behalf of his Excellency the Governor, I have assented to the following Acts, passed by you during this Session, viz : — An Act to repeal the Fencing Act. 1862, so far as relates to districts connstituted under the Pastoral Districts Fencing Act, 1863. An Act to provide for the construction and maintenance of Roads and other public works in certain districts. An Act to appropriate the . Revenue of the Province of Nelson, for the year ending 31st March, 1867. I have reserved for the signification of his Excellency's pleasure thereon — An Act to provide for the Constitution of New Electoral Districts, and for the election of additional Members of the Provincial Council of the Province of Nelson. An Act to authorise the Superintendent to lease certain lands in the district of Motueka, granted for public purposes. An Act to repeal the Cattle Trespass Ordinance and to make other provisions iv lieu thereof. An Act to amend the Buller Reserves Administra. tion Act, 1863. The unanimous and unreserved manner in which you have approved and sanctioned the large unauthorised expenditure that I felt called upon to make during the last Financial year, cannot fail to assure me that the Executive of this Province need be under no apprehension that the large but necessary and constitutional powers given to the Provincial Council under the Audit Act, will ever be used by you in a spirit of hostility or unfairness.

It must be a subject of congratulation to you, that you have been able to vote so large a proportion of the ordinary revenue of the province to be expended on public works, and permanent improve ments, and to set apart such a handsome instalment toward the repayment of the only debt incurred by this province. I have to thank you, for the energy with which you have investigated every claim or grievance that lias been brought under your notice by any individuals, and I may be permitted to express a hope that the public of this province may long feel confident that your Council offers an inexpensive tribunal, at which they may secure a patient and impartial inquiry into the manner in which the necessarily large powers of the Provincial Executive have been exercised upon any subject affecting their liberty, their reputation, or their interest. The liberal terms you have now enabled the Waste Lands Board to offer to capitalists who may be prepared to construct such a road as would place some of our best and largest coal-mines -within easy reach of the Buller port, will, I earnestly hope, be the means of inducing them to undertake a work that ■could hardly fail to be a profitable investment, whilst it would add largely to the wealth and prosperity of this province, and give a great impetus to the commerce and manufactures of Australasia, by giving access to a supply of coal practically unlimited in quantity, and shown by the reports laid before you to be superior in quality to any coal discovered in the southern hemisphere. I will immediately communicate with the General Government, with the view to obtaining permission to offer two or three millions of acres of land to any company who may undertake the construction of a railway, connecting the Port of Nelson with the Ports of the Buller and Grey. Without professing to be at all sanguine that it will be possible to induce capitalists to undertake the work, lean unhesitatingly recommend the Government to sanction an exchange tbat would im prove the security of the colonial creditor as much as it would add to the real wealth and value of this Province, and if the sanction of the General Assembly be obtained, it will be my duty to carry out your expressed wishes by laying the offer fully before the public, without any unnecessary delay. _I_now declare this Council prorogued.