MANUKAU HARBOUR ENDOWMENTS ACT, 1862.

New Zealander, Volume XVIII, Issue 1672, 26 April 1862, Page 3

MANUKAU HARBOUR ENDOWMENTS ACT, 1862.

Int the last issue of ouv contemporary the Southern Cross, we observed with much surprise the following passage, iu reference to the disallowance of the Act above named by his Excellency the Governor: — Manukau Harbour Endowments' Act. —The assent of His Excellency the Governor has been withheld from this Act, as passed by the Provincial Council. The wisdom of the Council, in not appropriating £2,000, on the faith of this. Act, which the Superintendent invited them to do before it became Jaw, is evidenced by the fate of the measure. If they had made the appropriation, doubtless the harbour works would have been entered on by the Government, and the rest of the Province would have been victimised to the extent of the expenditure for years to come. We do not even suspect that there was wilful intention to deceive, on the part of the writer, although party bias is visible enough, but there is displayed, in the writing, an amount of ignorance of the particulars of the -case which is not creditable in one who pretends to instruct the public on a matter of importance. The Bill sent down to the Council is not the Bill which the Governor disallowed. The one was a simple Loan Bill, of nine clauses, the other, constructed in Council, contained no less than thirty six clauses, and was in effect, a Bill to hand over the available endowments of the Manukau Harbour to the management of the electors of Onehunga; and to give to a "Board," to be chosen by them, any money to be raised by loan for Harbour improvements. The grounds upon which this Act was disallowed are stated in the following letter from the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, which was transmitted by Message to the Provincial Council: — Colonial Secretary's Office, Auckland", 17th April, 1862. Sir, —I have to acknowledge the receipt of your Honor's letter No. 44, dated the 15th instant, transmitting a Bill entitled the " Manukau Harbour Endowments Act, 1862," reserved by your Honor for the signification of the Governor's pleasure thereon. The "'Public Reserves Act, 1854" (passed by the General Assembly) under which the Reserves affected by this Bill has been granted, provides that all proceeds ofsuch Reserves shall be appropriated by Act of the Superintendent and Provincial Council. The proposed Bill purports to divest the Superintendent and Provincial Council of this power of appropriation, ami to vest it in a Board constituted in the manner provided in that Bill. As such an enactment is in contravention of the provisions of the Public Reserves Act, the Governor's Responsible Ministers regret thr.t they have been unable to advise His Excellency to assent to this Bill. They, however, propose to introduce in the next session of the General Assembly a general measure for regulating Harbours, and for enabling improvements therein to be effected under local management. I have, &c, William Fox. His Honor the Superintendent, Auckland. Now, the " wisdom of the Council" in reference to this Act is of a very questionable character, and is as little to be relied on as the accuracy of the writer in the " Cross." The Superintendent did not invite the Council to appropriate £2OOO, but £IOOO only, viz.: "forclearing Slippery Creek, £500;" for " buoying South Channel of Manukau Harbour, £500." If the long Bill had been passed and the money borrowed, the Superintendent could not have " entered on the Harbour Works," —that duty would have devolved upon the Board; in that case it is not impossible "that the rest of the Province might have been victimized," but it certainly would not have been by the Superintendent. We shall take an early opportunity of publishing, in extenso, both Bills, and, meantime, we hope that it is not too much to expect that our contemporary will take a little more trouble to learn what the views of the Provincial Government really are, upon any given subject, before undertaking to state them.

pared with £189,167 15s. 10d., being an increase of £71,695 lis. 6d. in favor of ISSI. The total amount of this which Auckland contributed was £72,928 7s. 9d., which was £3,191 2s. 7d. more than the sum contributed by Dunedin, despite t'.ie increased prosperity occasioned by her gold-fields. ,The imports on the relative quarters in 1860-61 show an increase of nearly two-thirds in favor of tho latter—while for the whole year, the excess in favor of IS6I over 18(50, is as £2,493,811 to £1,545,033. In exports the quarter ending December 31st, 1861, shows a decrease of £232 as compared with the corresponding quarter of 1860. We shall take an early opportunity of publishing this part of the Gazette in ftSl. Committal Uxder TnE Arsis Act.—Yesterday in the Magistrate's Court a person (named Warbreck, living in the Bay of Plenty, was committed for trial, on bail, for having sold to one George Marshall ! who possesses one or two aliases, a gun for tho sum of £lO, contrary to the provisions of the Act. The counsel for the prisoner, Mr. Wynn, urged upon the Court the questionable nature of the evidence, coming from a man, who as a deserter from the 58th Regiment, was apprehended on the information of the prisoner the day previously to his laying the information, coupled with the fact that the transaction, was alleged to have taken place more than twelve months previously to that time. The Court, however, decided that in the absence of any other proof, of the questionable nature of his evidence, that the mere fate of this witness being a deserter, the case must go to the Supreme Court. The Auckland Volunteers.—The task which our Volunteers had taken upon themselves to perform, the garrison duty of the city, having been terminated by the return of a portion of the troops to winter quarters, an acknowledgment of these services, and of the satisfactory manner in which they have been performed, appears in the Government Gazette, and will be found in another part of to-day's issue. Auckland Choral Society.—We have great pleasure in drawing attention to the Grand Concert, which it is the intention of this Society to give to their conducted Mr. Joseph Brown, on the occasion of the opening of the New Hall, on Thursday evening next, the Ist of May. Professor Bennett's " May Queen," and an interesting miscellaneous selection of vocal and instrumental music have been chosen for performance, and we trust that the public will not be backward in supporting the endeavours which this society is inclined to make for their entertainment as well as for the general diffusion of a correct musical taste.