The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 1867. PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 153, 3 July 1867, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 1867. PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

TuesdaYj July 2. The Speaker took, the chair at 5 o'clock. All the members were present, except Messrs. Beitt, Thompson, and White. Some notices of motion were given. Mr. Kingdon presented a petition from 29 licensed publicans of the Province of Nelson, praying the Council to alter the Licensing Bill;, so that the hour of closing shall be 11 p.m. instead of 10 o'clock, and that the .license fee for that hour be £35, and that for a 12 o'clock license, the fee shall be £50. 'The petition also urged that provision should be made for preventing the sale by brewers of beer in less quantity than five gallons, and also for restricting the sale of wines and spirits, by wholesale dealers, unless such dealers pay a license fee for the same. The petition was ordered to be laid on the table. Mr. Kingdon also presented a petition from David Jones, in conjunction with J. R. Fraser, Spraying for compensation for alleged injuries sustained through the action of the Waste Lands Boardj in reference to the Grey River coal-fields. Mr* Kingdon having moved that the petition be received, Mr. C. Kelling objected, and the question being put to the House, was negatived. Mr. Akersteu, then brought up the Report of the Special Committee appointed to consider the petition of James R. Eraser, which was ordered to be laid oh the table. The report was unfavorable to Ihe prayer of the petition, the Committee reporting that no injustice had been done&to the petitioner. The Provincial Secretary laid upon the . table the Eeport of the Sanitary Commission, and other papers. On the motion of the Provincial Secretary, it was carried that the Standing Orders be suspended to enable him to move that his Honor the Superintendent be authorised to expend a sum of not less than £10,000 to defray the payment of salaries and public works on the Gold-fields, which, after some explanation, was carried. Mr. Sparrow's motion that his Honor the Superintendent be requested to place on the Estimates the sum of £15, for marking out the entrance of the Waitupu River, Golden Bay, was carried. Mr Burn, in moving that his Honor the Superintendent be requested to place on the Estimates the sum of £250, for the purpose of putting the Nelson Cemetery Roads in a thorough state of repair, said thathis object in asking the Superintendent to put this sum upon the Estimates was that the Trustees of the Cemetery had met several times, and had found that, although the Cemetery Bill authorised them to borrow, no one was willing to accept the security which they were able to offer. Allthey could do was to ask the Council to enable them to put the roads in the cemetery in repair. These were now in a dangerous state, and no funeral took place but the Trustees expected to hear of the occurrence of some accident. The amount

mentioned would enable them to make proper roadß through the Cemetery, and these, once made, might be kept in order from funds derivable from fees paid for interments iu the Cemetery. Mr C. Kelliug objected to the motion, on the ground that votes of money had already been grantedifor the repair of the road leading to the Cemetery, and the Council was now asked to vote for repairs of the road ou the Cemetery. He moved, as an amendment, that the sum proposed be reduced to £100. Mr McMahon seconded the amendment, considering the sum excessive. The Provincial Secretary thought that . £250 was little enough for the purpose, and said that unless something was done at once to repair the roads of the cemetery, some accident would occur, which the Council would regret. Besides the actual repair of the roads, some portion of the sum asked for might be devoted to the planting of trees, &c, in the cemetery. It would also be necessary to build a small mortuary chapel, but this might be done by public subscription. "Mr Akersten opposed the amendment, and was of opinion that the sum originally named was insufficient for the purpose. He had lately visited the cemetery, and he could assure the House that it was most painful to witness the difficulty experienced by aged and infirm mourners in following the remains of their deceased friends and relatives to the grave. Mr. Parker said that he had tried unsuccessfully several times to obtain from the Council a grant for the purchase of ground for a cemetery at Motueka, and it seemed to him that the Nelson members in making such, propositions as that before the House were -determined to get the lion's share of the spoil. If the roads at the Cemetery were so bad, why were they not repaired by the Nelson people, as had been doneinthe country districts, where some of the inhabitants were even obliged to find their graves iu potatoe grounds ? Mr. Pitt regretted to find the last speaker- opposing this vote. Such grants were vejy proper, arid he would remind the House that, the Cemetery in question "~was not appropriated to any particular religious denomination, but was open to the inhabitants of all parts of the province and of all creeds. It was useless for one denomination to repair the road in their particular portion of the Cemetery, unless all did so, and he was certain that if they hon. member for Motueka would only visit the cemetery, he would admit the necessity of these repairs. Mr. Baigent proposed that the subject should be referred to a Select Committee, as had been the case on. previous occasions, but he had no hesitation in saying that the Nelson Cemetery was a disgrace to the community, and some improvement in its state was imperatively necessary. Mr. Wastney, whilst supporting the motion, would remark that no regulations had been framed and carried out by which a revenue might accrue to the trustees from interments in the Cemetery. The Provincial Solicitor explained that when it was found expedient to close the old cemetery, which had been apportioned to the different religious denominations) the Government was bound, by the Act to find another site; and this, which was unfortunately very hilly, had thus become the property of the different denominations by a kind of exchange. It was true that some part of the new cemetery was in the hands of the trustees, but very few burials hnd taken place there, and he feared that the fees from this source would amount to a mere trifle. He suggested that the only way to meet the difficulty would be for the trustees to agree with the various religious denominations to charge certain fees for interments. Some of these denominations

had expressed their willingness to contribute to the repair of the roads as well as to the planting of the ground with trees-, shrubs, &c. He would remind the house that the cemetery was not restricted to th& use of the city exclusively, but that interments took place there from Wakapuaka and from the Waimeas, and he therefore considered the vote in question a most legitimate object for the expenditure of the Provincial revenue. The Speaker then put the amendment j to the House, and it was negatived. Mr Burns, in reply, said that the reason why the trustees had not taken up the £50 granted last year for this purpose by the Council was, that it would have been thrown away, being of such insufficient amount. The trustees in fact had never had any funds at their disposal, so few inI terments having taken place in their j ground. It had been arranged with the various denominations that a burial fee i should be charged for interments in the cemeteryjbut until the road was. improved fees could not be charged. He concluded by remarking, in reference to the remarks which had fallen from Mr Parker, that the members for Motueka had generally been successful in obtaining a very fair share of 1 the Provincial revenue for such purposes. " Mr. Parker replied that only £20 had been granted for Motueka and Riwaka together. Mr. Burn said that the ground set apart for cemeteries in those localities was veiy level, and did not require such an expenditure as that now asked for, and he assured the House, that if the sum were granted* it would be well spent. The motion was then carried w'thout a division; The Provincial Solicitor then moved the order of the day> and the Council went into committee for the further consideration of the Gold-fields Licensing Bill, Mr. Simmonds in tthe chair. Mr. Donne moved the adoption of a new clause, to the effect that " all applications for retail licenses shall be made in writing at least seven days prior to the same" being granted, and notice of such applications shall be posted in some conspicuous place outside the Court House, for a period of seven days from the grants ing of the same." This clause was agreed tOi The preamble was then read and agreed to, and the Council having resumed, Mn Simmonds reported the Bill, with the amendment. On the Provincial Secretary's motion, that the House go into committee on the Estimates, Mr. McMahon, seconded by Mr. Bentley, moved that the consideration of the Estimates be postponed until Thursday next, which -was agreed to. On the Provincial Solicitor's motion, the Licensing Bill was recommitted, Mn Parker in the chair, for the purpose of striking out the following words in clause 9 : — " at the Court House, Motueka and at such other places as the Superintendent may by proclamation appoint," which was agreed to. Mr. Pitt's motion^ for Mr. Kingdom to insert in clause 28, after the word "person" in the first line, the words " holding a License for the sale of spirituous liquors, wine, ales beer, or porter* to be consumed on the premises," and Mr. Beutlej's motion, that in clause 26* line 3, the word " ten" be struck out, and " eleven " inserted, were both agreed tos as was also Mr. Akersten's, to insert, in clause 20, after the word " porter " in the 4th linej the words "on any workingday^ The Council having resumed^ the chair*man reported the Bill, which was laid on the table. ■.*... Mr, Donne's motion that in the opinion of the Council, reserves should at once be set apart upon the various townships on

'the Nelson South-west Gold-fields, for educational, Church, recreation, and other public purposes^ was, after a long debate, negatived. Mr. Pittj on behalf of Mr. Kingdon, moved that the Report of the Select Committee appointed " To consider and report upon the advisability of readjusting the Cobden and Buller Electoral Districts," and "as to the enlargement of the representation of the Nelson South-west Gold-fields" be adopted. The report;' 'stated that the committee were of opinion that it would not be advisable at present to recommend an increase in the number of members representing these districts, but they considered that the Nelson South-west Gold-fields should be especially represented in the House «f Representatives, and therefore recommended to the Council that his Honor the Superintendent be requested to apply to the General Government for permission to . allow at least two additional members to 'be elected for these districts. Mr. Donne expressed himself dissatisfied with the report, or at least that part of it which referred to the increase of representation for the gold-fields in the Council, which he characterised as partial and inconsistent, and after a speech of considerable length, in which the electoral statistics of the various provinces of the colony were quoted to show that the was in each instance proportioned to the population, and that, by consequence, the present representation v/as inadequate to the mining population on the West Coast of the province, a principle which, Mr. Donne submitted, had been recognised by the Canterbury Government, both as regarded the Provincial Council and the House of Representatives, he concluded by moving an 'amendment upon the motion that the report be adopted, to the effect that his Honor the Superintendent be requested to bring in a bill to authorise the enlargement of the representation of the goldfields in the Provincial Council. Mr. Dreyer seconded the amendment. Mr. Burn opposed the amendment, alleging that such increase was unnecessary, because the greater portion of the business which referred to the gold-fields was in fact transacted in the House of Representatives, that department being under the control of the General Government, and premature, because the population in those districts was so migratory and unsettled. Mr. Akersten argued that- verylittle interest was really felt in reference to the subject -amongst the mining population, who had manifested the utmost apathy during the lute elections, and he believed the miners were so satisfied with the present mode of legislating for the West Coast, that they would probably . request their representatives to resign, and leave it entirely to the Nelson repre- ■ sentatives. Mr. Bentley, in opposing the amendment, said that he considered that the Council had shown the best feeling towards the Gold-fields, and wished that his colleague, the member for Cobden, would not persist in accusing the House of entertaining these sinister intentions towards the West Coast. If they obtained all that was proposed in the Estimates, they would be very well off. In fact he was of opinion that the interests of the goldfields would be just as fairly represented jf he and his two colleagues were absent. The amendment was lost on a division by a majority of 14 to 3, Mr Bentley voting with the majority. M»\ Pitt, in reply, said that he considered that the electoral seats had been so latety distributed, that it was unadvisable to make any alteration at present, and instanced as a proof that the West Coast pojpulation were content to trust their in

terests to the Nelson representatives, that two out of three members were residents in Nelson. „ The motion that the report be adopted, was then put and carried without a division. Several notices of motion were given, and the House adjourned at a quarter to 9, until 5 o'clock to-day.