PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIV, Issue 3410, 20 June 1868, Page 3

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

This Council met yesterday afternoon at three o'clock. A petition was presented by Mr. Swanson, signed by some twenty publicans, relative to relaxation of the proponed restrictions in respect to music and dancing. The' petition wag read and received. Captain Cooper presented a petition from Mrs. Andnwartha relative to a claim for compensation. Mr. Cheeseman asked a question, without notice, of tb» Provincial' Secretary as to •whether or not the Government h»d any official knowledge of the fact that posts and rails were being removed from the railway in the vicinity of Mount Smart. The Provincial Secretary replied that the Government had no official knowledge pf the fact, but that steps would be taken to brine the offending parties to justice, a-.d to prevent the continuance of the wholesale robbery now being carried on. Mr. Hunter's motion, "That Meisage No, 88 of last aeauon, respecting the claim of Mr. Peter Grace, be now taken into ponh j i

sideration," was carried. Mr. Hunter then moved a resolution to the effect that the plant supplied by Mr. Gr»oe should be returned to him by the Government, and that he should be comnm»ated for any injury toihe plant, wbichwai nogatived,aB elbo an »mendment thereon. Mr. Swanson moved, "1. That this Council adheres to the opinion it expressed in the yeais 1866 and 1867 that a grammar school should be established with the funds arising from the estate of the Grammar School Trust. 2. That it approves of the mode of constituting the board of management prescribed by the Grammar School -A ppropriation Act of l««t oession . 3. That, with a view to save further legislation on the subject, a respectful address be presented to his Honor the Superintendent requesting him to ascertain, and inform this Council, whether his Honor the Chief Justice _ will consent to exercise the power of appointing the three non-official members of the Board, which is vested in him by the Act of the Provincial Legislature." The mover, in an able speech, advocated the views embodied in the above resolutions, and the oTders of the day were suspend? d in order to allow the debate to proceed. The Council adjourned for half an hour.at the expiration of which the debate was resumed, and, after an animated discussion the motion was carried nem. con. On the motion of the day being called, namely, the adjourned debate on the Grammar School Appropriation Bill. Mr. Creighton moved the further consideration of the bill until Wednesday next, -which was carried. Mr. Newman moved, "That a respectful address be presented to his Honor the Superintendent, requesting him to send down to this Council a bill to amend the City Board Act, so as to enable the City Board to recover arrears of city rates from the owners or mortgagees of properties when the tenant has not been able to pay the sum due." The motion was carried. Mr. Cheeseman moved, "That Mr. Grace's letter to his Honor the S uperintendent, enclosing a claim for work done on contract No. 1, Auckland and Drury Railway, be now takeD into consideration." — Carried. Mr. Cheeseman then moved, " That if Mr. Grace's account, now laid on the table of the House, is not included in the return prepared by the railway engineer, at the time when the deed of mutual release was made between Mr. Grace and the ProviucialGovernment,itshould now be paid to him." The motion was lost after some discussion. The debate on the schoolteachers' salary was resumed, and, Captain Cooper having replied, the motion was put and lost. Captain Cooper moved, "That a reipectful address be presented to the Superintendent, inviting his Honor to cause Crown grants for lands to lie issued at once to those schoolteachers who have served part of their time in the service of the province, and are now deprived, through no fault of their own, of the Government salary promised to them. Mr. Hurst seconded the motion. Dr. Nicholson moved that the words " on application" be inserted, and the amendment was made with the consent of the House. The motion was then put and carried. Dr. Nicholson moved, " That a respectful address be presented to his Honor the Superintendent, requesting him to send down a bill to this Council to license pawnbrokers, to regulate establishments for pawn broking, and bring them under the surveillance of the police within the province of Auckland." The motion was carried, and the Council adjourned at 9.40 p m. until three o'clock on Monday next.

We publish in another portion of this day's paper the very able letter of Mr. E. J. 0. Stevens on colonial finance, which has attracted such wide•pead attention throughout the entire colony. We believe there is a probability of a third candidate appearing in the field for the representation of the electoral district fof Nevrton in the Provincial Council, Mr. J. Cadm«n having been waited upon yesterday by a deputation, askiog him to permit himself to be put in nomination on Monday next. At the Police Court yesterday, Mr. R. Campion, proprietor of the Exchange Hotel, was charged on the information of Alexander Rose, Custom-house officer, with having committed a breach of the 14bb olause of the Distillation Act, 1866, by knowingly permitting the sale or disposal of spirits on which the duty had not been paid. Mr. Brookfield appeared on behalf of the Custom*, and Mr. Andrew Beveridge for the defendant. The hearing of the case occupied the Court the whole day. The facts,'however, are exceedingly simple. From the evidence given yesterday it would appear that some five weeks ago a man named Leguitt was taken into the employ of Mr. Campion as barman and general servant. According to this individual's statement Mr. Campion at once informed him that he had a couple of kegs in the place containing illicit spirits — the one brandy and the other rum — and Leggitt was instructed how to use them. He was always to keep two bottles ready in the bar, and to give the "stuff" to the girls of an evening when they took hot drink, and even when, in the words of the witness, they were a bit "slewed;" and also to give it to the Mnori girls who frequented the place. According to the statement of this witness, this system was carried on from the time of entering Mr. Campion's service until the time that he left, which was last Tuesday, when he was discharged by the defendant. Leggitfc appears to have immediately gone to the Customhouse authorities and given information of the whole affair, and in the course of the same afternoon the Exchncge Hotel was searched, and two kegs containing illicitly distilled spirits were found— the one under the counter in the bar, and the other below in the cellar. Mr. Campion did not deny that the spirits had never paid duty— his defence was, that those kegs containing the "stuff" were on the premises when be took possession, and that, knowing what bad liquor it was, he had given orders that none of it should be sold. The defence was moat ably conducted by Mr, Beveridge, who made a very eloquent speech on behalf of his client ; but the Bench considered the offence had been fully proved, and fined defendant £50, at the same time cancelling his license for five years. Ihe law lately passed left no alternative, the penalty invariably being £50, together with cancellation of license, or in default of payment four months' imprisonment. Mr. Ebenezer flamlin called at our office yesterday with some splendid specimens of stone, taken from the Golden Cup Claim, Waiotahi creek, a few days ago Several leaders have been struck on the claim, all of which show more or less gold. The specimens will be left for a few days at Mr. Beck's for the inspection of any persons interested. .^Several specimens of quartz were brought to town on Thursday night by a settler from the Wairoa, Thames. The stone is similar to that found at Tapu Creek, and is largely impregnated with iron, but no gold is perceivable iv it. Last evening a man was apprehended by the police on suspicion of being a deserter from H.M.s. 'Brisk,' which vessel left the harbour a short time ago for i Sydney. We learn that our worthy Commissioner of Police has tmken his departure for the Thnmes district in consequence of the number of sticking-up cases which have lately occurred in that locality ; also to see if it is necessary to place more police upon duty. We have been requested to correct an error in our report of Mr. E, Maclean's speech at the Provincial Council on Thursday. Mr. Maclean did not say that "he could testify to the destructiyeness of the pheasant," but that "he did not believe that the pheasant was so destructive as had been represented." Our Thames correspondent mentions that the successful development of the goWuelda has called into existence the firm of Messrs. Armstrong, GoodalVandCo^sharebrokers, Tookey's Flat, and Eyton, Wylde-Browne, and Co., Tapu Creek, who are also well known in Auckland as surveyors, mining engineers, &c. Last night some mischievous persons removed the lamp at the junction of Vincent and Pitt Streets, leaving that part of the town in a state of darkness. The Inspector of Nuisances noticed the lamp in its accustomed place at a quarter-past ten o'clock. The lamp appears to have been leisurely removed from the frame, for the gas was found to have been turned off. Of course it may be conjectured that the act is the stupid freak of some local mohawk, but it is open to the suspicion that there is some ulterior object, dark streets offering greater facilities for robbery and burglary than those that are well lighted. It is not many days since the Inspector of Nuisances recovered one of the lamps which had been sold by auction. It will be remembered that some time ago the City Board offered a reward of £10 for such information as would lead to the conviction of any pei son concerned in lamp-stealing, and we believe the reward is atill in force. No business was disposed of at the Compensation Court yesterday in consequence of none of the native claimants appearing. The Court will sit again this morning, when all the claims not answered to when called will be disallowed, as it is necessary that the Commissioner's report should be forwarded to Wellington at once. The Harp of Eiin had a crushing the other day of ! quartz taken from the outside coating of the leader, when 6dwt, of gold was obtained from J.cwt. of stone,

At the Prince of Wales Theatie last evening the programme commenced with "A Kiss i» the Dark," which whs followed by " .^la^her and Crasher," and a musical interlude. The evening's entertainment concluded with the builesque of " Bomt>asteB Furioso." All the pieces were well austained, and loudly applauded. Iliis evening, the sensational two-act drama of "The Charcoal Burner " will be produced for the first time, and will be followed by the farce of "Jolly Joe the Cabman." A man named James Palmer was brought up from Shortlaud last evening, per Bteamer • Halcyon,' in the custody of constable Bond. The prisoner was charged «t the Police Court, Shortland, on the 16th inst., with htealkg a gold watch, v»lue £7, a gold chnin, value £4, and a gold cros*, value £6, from the dwellinghouse of Patrick JBurke,!Tookey's ( Town. The evidence having been heard, he was fully committed, and ordered to await his trial in Mount Eden Stockade. The Thames Advertiser, speaking of the candidature of Mr. Swan, says that hia advertised address " is necessarily confined to an outline of the principal requirements of the electors of this diatrict, -which remain to be more fully elucidated on the public platform. There are doulitlc-s many other topics the electors will deem it advisable to have the candidate pledged to before according him their hearty support, and we would advise the gentleman to prepare for a contest short, sharp, and decisive. We see nothing to object to in the address— only we require more of it. It is merely a skeleton of the wants of this district, and we shall look with interest to the fuller explanation of the candidate's policy which the first public meeting will doubtless elicit. We are glad to find that no time has been lost in arranging a programme of public meetings, so that the electors may have an oj>portuaity of testing the soundness of the candidate, and pledging him to the requirements of their lespective localities. This is a step in the right direction, and one that will, above all others, gain him the support of the electors. On this point the opposing candidate is much to blame, and should he be found at the bottom of the poll on the day of election we shall attribute it, in a great measure, to this negligence of a candidate's highest privilege. How are the miners to know Mr. Buckland's policy beyond the two statements contained in his address, with reference 1o his views on the native question and his approval of the principle of local self-govern-ment ? There are points hioging upon the latter to which some reference ought to be made by any and every candidate for the representation of this district, and we ba*e no doubt they will be fully brought forward at the public meetings convened in the interest of the miners' candidate, Mr. W. T. Swan."