LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Wellington Independent, Volume I, Issue 9, 30 April 1845, Page 3

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

(Continued from No. 8.)

The vote "For Registry'of Deeds £310," was postponed. The Governor then proposed " For Public Works, &c, the sum uf £!,520." _ Mr. Donnelly conceived that some amalgamation with the. Survey Department and that under consideration, might be made, so as to diminish the expences. Mr. Heale thought that &• Superintendent at a salary of £180, w-is quite superfluous where there were no public works or buildings* to be carried on.

Mr. Whitaker said, that the Surveyor-Gene-ral had for a time superimended the roads, and he considered, under the great pressure of difficulties of the Colony, he might continue such duty, he should therefore move, that the grant be reduced by the sum of £180. For— Against— . Mr. Whitaker. The Governor. Mr. Donnelly. Colonial Secretary. Mr. Heale. Attorney-General. Colonial Treasurer.

After the clerk had announced the division, the Governor said, it was his duty to consider matters prospectively, and he would therefore press the whole grant. It was of great importance that there should be a competent Superintendent, more especialy as roads would now be formed, The people around Auckland had paid for the land to the Government, and they were entitled to have good access to it. A contract had already been entered into for the road to Papakura, and on that contract alone, the present Superintendent had saved the Government more than the amount of his salary for one year. The original tender was for £594. and the Superintendent had pointed out that it could be done for £400, which would be die expense. In the southern settlements, the New Zealand Company were bound to make the roads, and not the Government, for they had sold their land under such stipulation.

The Governor must know that the Company are under no pledge to make roads in the Wellington settlemermt —and that they are only pledged to spend at Taranaki and Nelson the road iunds in road making. When those funds are exhaused their contract with the settlers is completed, be the roads then good, bad, or indifferent.

The vote for Colonial vessels of £1,7 0, being £1,500 from the Parliamentary grant, and £200 from Colonial funds, was agreed to. The grant for Harbour Establishment £1,670 wa3 then considered.

Thursday, March 13. —Council iMet

The Governor laid on the table,

A Bill for the naturalization of certain German settlers, to be confirmed by the Home Government, to be read first time on Saturday next.

A bill for the naturalization of certain German settlers, for which authority hud already

bf-en received in the Colony, and whbh would take effect as soou as passed by the Legislative Council; to be read first time on Saturday next. J

The Governor stated that the remarks of honorable members on the votes which had been already passed for Colo-na- Treasury, Survey Department, Public Works,- and Harbour Establish inents, Ind received liis most serious consideration. O.i rht* firs, o μ-sitionjheeould notice the full obj- ions a by the observations of the noii- ~,'i,-; ,i nuMii'-ers, but since they had struck ) !!: ,, ~,o > -e forcibly, and he would therefore pro >„■■>• : Mt after going through the Lstimates, tin- v ,-u-s on the departments which he had namod should be re-considered with a view to reduction

On the order of the day being carried for further consideration of the Estimates, the sum of * 1,500 was proposed for Ecclesiastical Establishments.

The Governor stated, that the sum of .£1,190 was granted by Parliament for Clergy and Schools, viz. Bishop £600, Colonial Chaplain &iOO, and Schools £39;), without religious distinction, to be divided equally. To this sum it was proposed to add £310 from the Colonial tunds, making £700. In 1843 and 1844, Parliament had granted similiar sums, hut the amount had been deroted to other purposes, and he still considered the sum of £780 was due from the colony to such purposes. Mr. Whitaker considered that £3.90 had better be the limit of the vote, until the colony could redeem the debt.

After.some discussion as to the manner of appropriating the sum of £390, the Attorney-Ge-neral moved, and was agreed,—That the sum granted by Parliament to the various religious denominations should be devisible, with a view to the maintenance and encouragement of a sound principle of education, and paid to each • the principle of division being the number of children educated by each denomination during the preceding year. J? , lt ,™ then agreed that the sum only of £1,190 be granted for Ecclesiastical Establishment.

The sum of £300 was then proposed and agreed to for Medical Department, f illy lhe " pr ° poSed for Abori &'nes, the sum

n ♦ f Go . ver . n ° r stated, that it was necessary that he should receive intelligence quickly of what was transpiring throughout the colony, and that was best accomplished by natives conveying letters, &c. Hitherto for such purpose, the Protectors had been allowed natives. It was now proposed to increase the salary of the Chief Protector from £400 to £500 per annum, and to discontinue the former allowance for forage and natives, making in reality a reduction of £65 and ia similiar manner with the other Protectors. The Interpreter to the Land CommisS i?'f', ¥ m M n U L raat ', had been redllce d from £100 to £92. The other Interpreter was employed a. a clerk, and still retained his salary I he contingencies under this head were for tra veiling expenses and presents to natives, which Protectors were allowed when absent from their statiun, of ss. per day.

A long debate upon raising Mr. Clark's sa'ary; and the Governor declared his consolation was obtainable solely from and his hope was in the Clarke family and it alone. He taltced a sad amount of nonsense and was ably seconded by Mr. Donnelly. "Tell me the company a man enjoys and I will tell you what he is," is as true as it is an old saying, and is particularly applicable to Captain Fitzroy. What hope can there be in our Governor when he still declares he is proud to acknowledge Chief Protector Clarke his lord and master! The state of minJ still evinced by Captain Fitzroy respecting maories and missionaries is perfectly piitiable, we feei it would be wrong to be angry with the unhappy man.

Mr. Witaker submitted a motion in favor of reduction : — .. £°. r < , Against, Mr. Witaker, The Governor, ™ H onnellv ' Attorney General, Mr. Heale, Colonial Secretary, ™ . Colonial Treasurer. 1 he motion was then put by the Governor for the whole sum of £1,9)0, which was agreed to. On the suggestion of the Governor, the consiileiatiiin of "General Contingencies" was postponed.

The " vote for Judicial Establishments, &c," the sum of £3,030 was then postponed. The Governor read a letter from Chief Justice Martin, expressing willingness to fill the office of Commissioner of Court of Requests for three years. Captain Fitzroy thought it would be wrong to accept the very proper offer. Then why apply to Mr. Martin on the subject? and surely his Honor was the best judge of whether it would degrade him, and that he considered it would not is proved by the fact of tendering his services to perform the duty in question. Willi a view to economy his Excellency stated he had the following plan in contemplation : —

Aa the present Police Magisirate will go to the southward shortly, to relieve Mr. Robinson at Akaroa, and also, perhaps 10 Otago, and the whaling stations, with the Superintendent of the southern division, the present Commissioner of Requests might perform all the duties of the three offices of Commissioner of Court of Requests, Sheriff, and Chief Police Magistrate. The suggestion was agreed to, and the sum of £27 Uγ the Commissoiier, Clerk, and contiug encies at Auckland, and the sum of £295 at Wellington for similar purposes were struck out.

On the vote of £800 fur the Judge of the southern division, which had been marked in the Estimates at iJSOO.

The Attorney-General very properly objected to the reduction, bat as is generally

the case with this learned functionary, he took the wrong ground.. The motion was then

agreed to

Saturday, Mabcu 15.—Couxctr, met

The Governor proposed that the consideration of the Estimates should be postponed, in consequence of the necessity of considering the treasures to be adopted arising out of the events recently heard of as having occurred at the Bay of Lshnds. This was agreed to. The Governor then read the despatches from Captain Beckham, and Lieut. Philpotts, which have appeared in our paper. He commented on the condition of the colony, and endeavoured to justify his acts and omissions as Governor of New Zealand; but to do so successfully, is, of course, beyond the power of man, and this Captain Fitzroy will find is believed to be the case in the replies which will be received here, to the report in England of the fate of the Bay Islands, which may lie expected about November next. The following was the issue of the proceedings:— After a few remarks from all the members, and some discussion as t) the manner of embodying die population, the Attorney-General moved the following resolution, which was agreed to unanimously :— "That the Barracks be immediately made imprcgnable'against musketry, and sufficient as a place of refuge for the inhabitants of Auckland ; nnd that the male population of the settlement be sworn in as special constables and efficiently annad, and that such arrangements and preparations be made that such armed force can be brought into active service at the shortest notice under experienced and efficient leaders." The Council then adjourned until Tuesday, the 18th March.

The Secret Committee appointed by Parliament to inquire into the statt of the law touching the opening of letters at the General Postoffice, and the moile in which the authority to open such letters lias heeu exercised, have sent in their Report to the House of Com-

mons,

The Committee have given some account of the origin and growth of the Post-office, from which it appears that the main object which the Government had in view in estab-lii-hing a Post-office was to be enabled t o pry into the correspondence of its subjects. The report contains the number of warrants to open letters issued from 1812 to 1844, as far its they be made np, the total of which amounts to 473. The number of warrants issued during the last 45 years has been 372; giving an average of about 8 warrants annually during this period. The number of persons mentioned in the warrants issued durino , this period is 724, giving about two persons on the average for each warrant. The names of 44 Secretaries of State who, from 1712 to the present time have signed these warrants are also given in the report, arranged in the order of date. Among these vanes are those of Fox, (1782,) Sir Robert Peel, L 822—30,) Cd»:iin,', (1822—3.) Lord Goderich, (1827,) Marquis of Lansuoivmy (1527) Lord Melbourne, (1830—4,) Lord Pahnerston, (1830 —-10,) Viscouut Duncanuon, (1834,) Lord J. Russell, (183.">—9,) Lord.Glenelg, (1838,) Marquis of Nonuaiiby, (1839—41 ) It appears tha the first statute which authorised the practice of opening letters in the Post-office was passed in the reign of Queen Anne ; since which time the evidence of Postoffice, who, under warrants signed by Secretaries of State, had broken open and read letters, has been received, upon various occasijns, agninst accused parties, both in Parliament and in Courts of Law. The last time in which this odious power was publicly exercised was in the trial of Home Tooke, one of whose letters was opened at the Post-office and used in evid nee against him.

It does not appear from this Report that any intelligence of importance has ever been acquired by this violation of the sancty of private correspondence. As a means for the furtherance of criinitial justice, the practice has been almost useless ; and as an instrument for the suppression of home sedition or foreign insurrection, it seems also to have been of little service. There is therefore, no plea for the contiiinance of the practice, or the law which recognizes it.- -Graham's 2own paper, Nevember 21, 1844.

Lord Byrox.—We rea.l in the Revue de Paris: 'Amongst tlte articles deposited with .M. Caccia, the bankers, whose failures was leeer.tly announce!}, was a chest containing the maiiujciipts of Lord Byron. This chest, vvh.ch belongs to the Countess Gaiccioli, to whom the manuscripts were bequealhel, has just b--ea delivered up to the authorised agent of the Cuuniess. Amongst the papers there are, in addition, the MSS. of ilm published works, some unpublished poetry, and some critical notes by Lord Byron on his own productions.'

Potato. —Some time ago a potato plant was dug up at Ardmcraig, Biitp, the residence of George Miller, Esq., when 103 potatoes were found attached to it, the whole of which, with the exception of nine, were fully an aver-*

age size