PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3143, 9 March 1871, Page 2

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

WEDNESDAY, MABCH 8, 1871. The Speaker took the chair at 5 o'clock. The minutes of the last meeting were read and conflrmed. Mr THYNNE gave notice of motion that he intended to apply for the rescinding of fcbe order of the day for the second reading of tho Highways Bill on next Thursday. . THE COUNTEY ROADS. Mr HALCOMBE intimated that those parts of the country roads most urgently in need of repair would be attended to at once as two overseers and ten or twelve men had instructions in tho matter ; and also that a careful survey of the damage done to the j roads, with the probable coat of repairing them bo prepared for the Government bb soon as possible. DIVIBIOH AMONGST EOAD BOAEDS. Mr BUNNY moved fcr a return shewing the division amongst thojvarious Road Boards of the province of the sum of £5,000 allocated I to the province of Wellington under The Payments to Provinces Act 1870. Agreed to. HASXERTOK IiAUD TBTJSTS. Mr BRANDON moved for leave to bring in a bill to declare the Trusts of certain Lands in the township of Masfcerfcon, and tp provide for tho appointment of new Trustees of such lands Agreed to, read a first time, ordered to be printed, and the second reading made an order of the day for to-morrow. GBEYTOWtf LAND TRUSX3. Mr BRANDON niovod for leave to bring in a bill to declare the Trusts of certain Lands in the township of Greytown, and to provide for the appointment of new Trustees of such lands. Agreed to, read a first time, ordered to be printed, and tho second reading made an order of the day for Friday next. LAND BETTJEN. Mr PHARAZYN moved for a return of land purchased within the province which the province which still remains unsurvoyod, and an estimate of the cost of surveying it. Agreed to. EXPENSES 05 TEE MANAWATU LAND BALE. Mr PHARAZYN moved for a return of j the expenses attending the conduct of the late Manawatu land sale. He thought it would be a much better plan to employ an ordinary auctioneer to sell pubtic lands, aB it would be fonnd to be a less expensive mode, certainly more so than sending up the staff of the Survey Office. He had adopted the plan of employing an ordinary auctioneer to sell the confiscated land he had recently put into the market, and the returns were considerably improved by so doing. j PATENT SLIP ACT AMENDMENT BILL. Mr BRANDON asked for laave, before proceeding with the standing orders, to bring in a bill to amend the Patent Slip Act. Mr BUNNY thought such a step ought to be first carefully considered. He would, howover reserve further comment for the second reading. Mr BORLASE would also hold himself free to oppose the bill on a future occasion. The time had gone by when a patent clip was of any use to us To keep pace with our neighbors we must have something better ; we should have a graving dock. Mr BRANDON said they merely wished to transfer from one person to another those powers that now rested in the province. They had no desire to repeal the Patent Slip Act, i and had avoided doing so in the wording of the bi!l. ! Leave granted, the bill read a first time, ordered to be printed, and the second reading made an order order of the day for to-morrow. SPECIAL SETTLEMENTS BILL. Mr BRANDON said, in moving the second reading of this bill, that the object was to enable Dr Feafcherston while in England to dispose of a blook of land for the purpose of forming a special settlement such as had been formed in Canterbury and Otago. They did not propose to have the block larger than 50,000 acres, to be selected somewhere between tho Ragitikei and Manawatu. Tho block was not to be sold on deferred payments j and by a proviso in the bill the land was not to be cold at a less price than the price of the land at the time of the passing of the bill. It was merely an experiment, but in order to carry it out they required power to reserve a portion of the Crown Lands of the province from public sale. The SPEAKER called attention to the imperfect manner in which the bill was printed, there being no title. The order of the day was made an order of the day for to-morrow. The Waste Lands Occupation Rental Bill was made an order of tho day for to-morrow. ' FENCING BILL. Mr BRANDON said he proposed to confine summary jurisdiction in this bill to cases under £20. Mr BUNNY trusted that the Provincial Solicitor would bring his bills down in a more perfect state, bill in queatiou wanted title, notes, find analysis. Such an important measure ou^bt to go to a seleot committee for their consideration, and they could, if they deemed it advisable, take some evidence on the working of the act. Mr BORLASE protested against the bill, as it was not constitutional. It was simply placing a means of oppression in the hands of the rich man by which he could scourge his poor neighbor out of the land. The bill was wrong in principle and practice. Suoh a moasure would not be found in England, nor was such a measure wanted anywhere, least of all in this colony. Besides, he objected to the imperfect way in which it was brought down. Mr THYNNE said the experience of the working of the act had been a strong argument against the reasoning of the last speaker, who did not seem to speak either as a large or a small landholder. It seemed to him that tho one really wanted his land fenced as much as the other. Mr PHARAZYN said tho remarks of Mr BorliiEe sounded like a reminiscence of the old runholding days ; but such objections no longer could be advanced. Carrying out the arguments of Mr Borlase could only have but •one effect — good in a professional point of view, as it would bo certain to create any amount of work for the lawyers, and would, therefore, be the surest means of ruining the poor man. Mr BRANDON said the bill was not new in principle, but he had not the slightest objection to see it go to a Select Committee. In regard to Mr Borlase's arguments, ho would remind tho hon. member that a poor man who had not his land fenced could not keep off his neighbor's cattle, nor keep his own from his noighbor's ; and such a state of things was the greatest obstacle to the improvont of land. The hon. member was wrong in saying suchaprovision was unknown in England. When aman had tho misfortune to have a neighbor who would not fence his land, and who was not careful of how his cattle encroached on his neighbor, it wa9 only right the legislature should step in and aiFord some protection to tho industrious settler and prevent tho preying of his careless neighbor. Read a second time, referred to a Seleot Committee, consisting of MessM Andrew, Bunny, Benall, Milne, Thynne, Pharazyn, and the inovei, the report to be brought up on Friday next. This being the whole of the business on the Order Paper, The PROVINCIAL SOLICITOR asked whether it was the wish of the Council to meet at an earlier hour ; and after a few remarks on the point, it was decided to meet to-morrow at 7 p.m. The Council then adjourned.