MARLBOROUGH.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 1121, 25 July 1865, Page 5

MARLBOROUGH.

EXTRAORDINARY PROCEEDINGS IS

THE COUNCIL.

(From the Marlborough Press, Bth July )

As the account of the proceedings of the Council meeting last week have been rather disjointed from several causes connected with the start of. our new issue of the Press, we propose to summarise hastily what has occurred since the split of the Council on the 26th ult., wfien the motion was carried by a majority of three that the Council should meet at Blenheim. The minority protested that the resolution was illegal, as ultra vires of the Council, as the authority was vested alone in the Superintendent, by the 15th section of the Constitution Act, to fix the place and time of meeting; and that the 23rd section of the Act, where it is enacted that the majority are to decide all questions that conic before them, refers exclusively to subjects which are not strictly defined as beyond their authority. The eleven seceding members, however, met at Blenheim, formed themselves into a Council, and proceeded to business— passed estimates, and assumed all- the functions of legislative action. On the same day the minority of nine met in Picton, under the authority of the Superintendent,' and with their Speaker, Captain Baillfe, in the chair, and proceeded with t"ie business without noticing the absence of the Blenheim section, who had refused to attend to the Superintendent's summons, conveyed to .-ill the members to meet at Picton,

The Council in Picton met from day to day with short interval!--, and initiated several matters of great importance, including the estimates, and were vigorously pursuing their duties up to Wednesday, the sth inst.. when they met as usual at 11 o'clock. The Speaker, however, hud hardly taken the chair, when, to the surprise of all present, eight members of the Blenheim section walked into their places, and when the Speaker read the minutes, and asked their approval of the records o/ the previous day, a series of motions, speeches, and till sorts of angry recriminations ensued by the Bknheim section, purposely to gain time for the arrival of two members, who did not arrive for an hour afterwards ; then, fortified by that majority, a motion wa<» ultimately carried by ten to eight, " That the minutes of the Council met at Picton be not confirmed, but those at Blenheim substituted in their place." This was the whole drift of their movements —to blot out the business done at Picton, and insert their own as the legal records ol the Council. During all this time the Picton members took little part in the proceedings, but apparently reserved their fire till the Council re-assembled. Mr Eyes then nvived an adjournment till three o'clock, which was agreed to. At three o'clock all the members, except Mr Pyffe, again took their placee, the Speaker in the chair, who called for notices of motion, which was at once responded to by sixteen motions being tabled iv as many minutes, and on all conceivable subjects, by Messrs. H. Godfrey, Goulter, Eyes, Ward, Soper, Robinson, and Sinclair ; this done, Mr Eyes again moved an adjournment till 10 o'clock next day {Thursday.) Punctual to time all were in their places, Captain Baillie in the chair, who read the minutes of the previous day, alo.ig with the notices of motion tabled. When the Speaker put the question from the chair, if the minutes be confirmed, several members spoke, and an altercation arose, carried on with bitter intensity, between the Speaker, Messrs Eyes, Godfrey, and Bradshaw, whether the question of confirming the minutes could be met by a motion or amendment. The Speaker ruled fn favor of Mr Eyes's view, and the question was put to the vote, and the minutes were confirmed by ten to six.

Mr 11. Godfrey then moved an t adjournment till three o'clock, which was opposed by Mr J. Godfrey, but carried against him by ten votes to five. The Council again met at 3 p.m , all the members in their places, and Capt. JJailiie in the chair. Notices of motion were called for, and Mr Godfrey tabled ten, Mr IJcaucharnp two or three, Mr Eyes one, and Mr Strachan finished with another, to place on the estimates a sum sufficient to take the portraits of the members of Council.

Mr H. Godfrey then rose, and moved the resolution standing in his name— "That the Superintendent, having totally ignored the resolutions of this Council, passed on the 27th ult., has thereby forfeited the confidence hitherto reposed in him, and this Council expresses its dissatisfaction of the course pursued by his Honor, and requests that he will at once resign his office." He enforced this motion by insisting, among other things, that the Superintendent, at bis election, pledged himself to resign, if requested by a majority; and that the minority were contemptible, and made fools of themselves, and opposed recklessly the iuterests ot the country party, who alone kept the people of the towns. The motion was seconded by Mr Soper. Mr Ward followed, in a long and able speech, deploring the necessity which compelled him, with so much pain, to concur with his friends in denouncing his Honor; but he had shewn such incapacity, vacillation, and weakness as to unfit him for the office which he held.

Some sharp skirmishing now commenced with Dr Tripe, and was continued by Mr Bradshaw and Mr Sullivan, in telling speeches, of pithy and sententious force. Mr Eyes then rose and s-iid he had conversed with a greater politician than himself in Nelson, who believed that Picton had lost her only chance of perpetuity, and would, ere long, collapse into her native obscurity, which would be little loss were it submerged to-morrow. He charged his Honor with amiable weakness, folly, and incapacity—of being led by Mr Godfrey into all kinds of discreditable partiality, and ought at once to resign his office. » Mr Beauchamp made an attempt to adjourn till six o'clock, which was overruled by ten to seven. Mr Godfrey then T^se to speak to the question. He sketched the history of the province since its separation from Nelson, i ' BY'M'LAHDBESS,

revised the character and conduct of its leading men, and battered his opponents right and left with facts and figures that soetned anything but palatable. He accused them of opposing the progress o€ the province, of legislating for their own. interest, and neglecting the general welfare of the people, and entreated every one who had their good at heart to stand by the best Superintendent that ever held the office; and, backed us they were by three-fourths of the electors, success was certain. On Mr Godfrey resuming his seat, several motions for and against adjournment were put, and ultimately Mr Sinclair's carried, to meet again at halfpast eight. On the Council resuming, each of the members was present as at former sitting, the Speaker in the chair. ! Mr Beaucharnp rose to speak to the I question, and in a speech which lasted for ten hours and a half, kept the floor against interruptions, threats and accusations of all kinds, which he repaid with interest. While Mr Bcauchatnp was speaking, Mr Sinclair moved that strangers withdraw, and we understand that for several hours previous to the adjournment, the interior of the Council Chamber bailies description. The Council met the next morning at eleven o'clock, all the members present except Mr Fyffe. The minutes were* react by the Speaker, and after several objections from both sides, both parties continued to withdraw their objections, and confirmed the minutes as they stood. After some motions were handed in, Mr Robinson moved that this Council do now adjourn to Tnesda}', the sth day of September, while Mr Eyes moved as an amendment, that this Council do now adjourn to Monday, the.3rd day of October, at 4 p.m., which was carried, and the Council thereafter adjourned. The same journal reports at length the proceedings of the .sectiou of the Council at Blenheim. Everything was unani^ niously carried, including a svveeping reduction of the estimates, and a vote of censure on the Superintendent.

A dealer in ready-made linen advertises his shirts and chemisettes under the mellifluous appellation of "Male and Female Envelopes."— American paper.

A lady, speaking of the gathering of lawyers to dedicate a new court-house, s'iid she supposed they had gone "to view the grounds where they must shortly lie 1"

We accept the following as an excellent and honest Yankee criticism on Professor Goldwin Smith:—"A number of very respectable and wealthy gentlemen of the city of New York, by no moans averse to the music of their own voices, gave Professor Smith a breakfast, after which they stroked his self-importance, and he purred; and then he stroked their self-conceit, and they purred; and then they commenced licking their own own coats, and purred."

The celebrated speech of Sir Boyle Roche —" Mr Speaker, I smell a rat; I see him floating in the air; but mark me! I shall yet nip him in the b":d!" —was evidently the model upon which a writer in a late Kansas paper remarks upon the result of a recent election. He says that " the fall of corruption has been dispelled, and the wheels of the State Government wall no longer be trammelled by sharks that have beset the public prosperity like locusts."

Practical Criticism. —A Yankee, who lately went to see "Macbeth," gave the following a* his notion of the tragedy:— "After having witnessed the performance, from what I could make out of the play, I don't think Macbeth was a good moral character; and his lady appeared to me to possess a tarnation dictatorial temper, and to have exceedingly loose notions of hospitality, which, together with an unpieasant habit of talking to herself, and walking about in her chemise, must make her a decidedly unpleasant companion."

A Ghkat BnmcK.—The bridge recently built across the Mississippi river, at Clinton, lowa, for the u«e of the North Weatcrn Ilailroad, is ",GSO feet, or more than three-fifths of a mile long. Of this distance, 2,800 feet is between the Illinois shore and Little Hock Island, and 850 feet is between Little Ilock Island and the lowa shore. The bridges east of Little Rock Inland consist* of 14,000 feet of piling, and seven spans of 200 icet each. West of Little Rock Island the bridge consists of three spans beside the draw. The draw is 800 feet long over all, and is_ built of iron. The abutments and one of the piers are founded on rock, a second pier is founded on piles, and a third pier and the draw pier are built upon crib work resting on loose sand. These cribs are sunk in water forty feet deep. The large crib is 400 feet long and forty-four feet wide, and the smaller is 160 feet long and forty-four feet wide on the bottom. The dra-v turns on a pivot in the centre, and when open, leaves two clear passage ways for steamboats 123 feet each. The draw weighs about 825 tons.

The Marriage Fee.—The late Dr. Boynton was once disputing with a farmer about the ease with which a minister earned his money "'Now," said the farmer, " when you are called upon to marry a couple, you never expect a sum leas than three dollars—this for a few minutes' services." " Pooh," replied the doctor, •'I would agree to give half if my next marriage fee for a "bushel ol" potatoes." "Very well," said the farmer, "I'll take your offer, and send you the potatoes." A few days after the doctor was called on to splice a couple at Dogton,aplace aboutfour mi!e3 from where he lived. When the ceremony was over, the bridegroom said to the worthy ministers, '' Well, parson, I s'pose I must fork over something for your trouble. What say you to taking one of my terrier pups? The best breed, I tell you, in the country. Shockin' nice to have in the barn. Worth full five dollas —and I suppose a figure 2 would do for the splice, eh ?" The doctor took the pup with joy. The joke was good $ he hastened ta the farmer, saying, "Xow, friend, here is my fee—how shall we divide it?" The I farmer relisheJ the joke so well that he increased the potatoes to half a dozen, bushels. —American Paper. HEPBURN AND CO.