The Evening Star. DUNEDIN, MONDAY, NOV. 20, 1865.

Evening Star, Volume III, Issue 793, 20 November 1865, Page 2

The Evening Star. DUNEDIN, MONDAY, NOV. 20, 1865.

In the Provincial Council this afternoon, The Speaker took the chair at 2 o’clock. 'The Provincial Treasurer laid several papers on the table :—Report of the Chief Surveyor on Proposed Railway ; Statement of Financial Transactions with the General Government under the Surplus Revenue Act ; Correspondence relating to the Princes Street Reserve. Several notices of motion were given. Mr John Cargill presented a petition from the widow of the late T. G. Currie, formerly Secretary to the Otago Emigration Agency, Edinburgh, praying the Council to take into consideration her late husband’s services, and stating that she was left unprovided for, and unable to return to her friends in Scotland. The petition was referred to the Select Committee on Private Grievances. Mr Isaacs presented a petition from the licensed victuallers of Clyde and district, praying for a reduction in their license fees. Mr E. B. Cargill presented a petition from the Mayor and City Council of the city of Dunedin, relative to the £35,000 loan to the late Town Board, setting forth the financial position of the City Council, and praying the Council to convert the loan into a grant. Mr Mouat drew attention to the fact that the petition could not be received, as its prayer involved a grant of money, contrary to the Standing Orders. The Speaker could not receive the petition in its present state, but the hon. member could re-present it after the irregular clause had been expunged. The Sheep Ordinance (1856) Amendment Bill, and the Acclimatisation Reserve Management Bill were read a first time, and the second reading made an order of the day for Thursday. Mr Mol at asked the Government “what course they intended to adopt with reference to the debts owing to the Province by municipalities, and particularly the loan of £35,000 to the city of Dunedin.” He drew attention to the circumstance that his Honor the ‘Superintendent had prior to his election, expressed himself in favor of the conversion of the loan into a grant ; and a member of the Government (Mr Haggitt) had made his advocacy of this course one of the conditions oi his election.

Tlie Provincial Treasurer stated that there were only two mimlcipalities who were indebted to .the Government —Port Chalmers and Dunedin, neither of which had paid any interest or oinking fund on their loans. Application had been made to the Government to bring forward •a resolution recomm.enu.ing the conversion of the loan into a grant, but the Government refused to do so, and hence the petition to the Council. In reply to a question from Mr Mouat, the Provincial Secretary stated that application had been made to Dr Hector for his Report on the Geological Survey of Otago, and Dr Hector had replied that he was waiting for some scientific communications from Britain, on receipt ox -which the Report would be forwarded.

Mr Madkccs asked, “ Whether the Government are cognizant of the circumstances undei which Mr Dalgleish was temporarily suspendecl from the Escort service ? ” The Provincial, Secretary stated that there had been no suspension of the officer in question. Mr Dalgleish had, however, been guilty of infringing one of the regulations of the Escort service by allowing, on a recent occasion, some one, not a prisoner or police officer, to ride in the Escort wagon, contrary to a special rule. Mr Dalgleish had been desired to give a written explanation of the circumstance ; he had done so, and the matter had dropped.

The Provincial Treasurer moved—“ That the House go into Committee for the consideration and adoption of the resolutions as to the relations between the General and Provincial Governments.” The hon. member dilated upon the importance of the subject, and pointed out the desirability in the present state of political agitation that the Council should express an opinion as to the future internal relations of the Colony. He gave a resume of the political events of the last five years, and of the origin and conduct of the Native wars. The resolutions proposed to absolve the Middle Island provinces from the cost of future wars, and to give greater power and effectiveness to Provincial Governments. He was opposed to Separation, but the principles involved in the resolutions would confer all its advantages and avoid its evils. The main object of the resolutions was to strengthen Provincial Councils, the preservation of which he considered necessary for the welfare of the colony. He would make the General Assembly a federal instead of a sovereign body. The hon. member went at some length into the various questions involved in the subject.

Mr Vogel st'gmatised tlie resolutions proposed by the hon. member (Mr Moss), as being utter!} 7 impracticable and unpractical. They were evidently intended to burke the whole question. He gave several cogent reasons why the subject should be referred to a Select Committee to prepare resolutions for the consideration of the Council, and he moved an amendment to that effect accordingly. The amendment was carried.