PROVINCIAL COUNCIL

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3804, 14 May 1873, Page 2

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL

Tuesday, May 13. The Speaker took the chair at half-past two o'clock. PETITIONS. The Pbovincial Secretary presented a petition from settlers witbin that portion of the Whareama district included in the Castle Point Highway District, praying that they might be constituted into an independent district, called the Whareama District. The petition was read, and ordered to lie on the table. Mr Lowes presented a petition from a settler of the Ohariu district regarding a section of 100 acres of laud oblaiued under the New Zealand Company. Mr PEARCE suggested that a limit should be put to the time within which petitions should be receired, otherwise the Private Grievance Committee would be unable to get through the work before them. TB ABO RECLAMATION. Mr PEARCE moved that this Council recommends that the tract of land, now covered with water, extending from Te Aro Flat into Lambton Harbor, comprising 70 acres or thereabouts, as shown on the plan annexed to this resolution, be granted to the Mayor, Councillors, and citizens of Wellington, as part of the corporate property, to be reclaimed by them from the sea, so aa to be converted into land suitable for building, and for purposes of publio utility, and that his Honor the Superintendent be requested to concur in this recommendation. Those who had taken an interest in the scheme considered it would not only be a great sanitary benefit to the town, but would also prove a pecuniary success, by the sale of land and by affording an increase of wharf accommodation. Mr BUCKLEY had great pleasure in seconding the motion. Unfortunately the city was very badly off for endowments, and in acceding to the proposal the Council would only be conferring an act of justice upon the city. The PROVINCIAL SECRETARY en tirely concurred in the representations made in connection with this proposal. His Honor the Superintendent heartily approved of the scheme, and of the proposal to hand the property over to the Corporation, and the Executive were therefore prepared to give evory support towards carrying out the proposal. The motion was agreed to unanimously. TOLL GATES. Mr ANDREW moved for leave to introduce a bill to further amend the Toll Q-ates Amendment Act of session, 22, 1872. He did bo with the objoot of preventing future litigation on the ordinance of last session. Mr 0. PHARAZYN seconded. He thought it most desirable that all doubts ns to the legality of the act referred to be removed. The PROVINCIAL SECRETARY pointed out thet one objection raised against the act had been tested in the Police Court, the question having been raised by a member of the Legislative Council. The other objection had also been met and disposed of, therefore the Government felt bound to take the unusual course of opposing the introduction of a bill of which notice had been given. Mr ANDRHJW contended that the case had not been argued by counsel in a court of law, and that an adverse decision bad been submitted to too easily. The motion was negatived on the voices. UNAUTHORIZED EXPENDITTTBB. The PROVINCIAL SECRETARY moved that the Council do resolve itself into committee of the whole to consider the following resolution: — " That an address be presented to his Honor the Superintendent requesting him to send the Ceunoil a recommendation to grant the sum of £1303 8s 9d, to meet the unauthorised expenditure made under special orders from time to time issued by the Superintendent during the financial year ending the 31st of March, 1873." The mover pointed out the legal necessity that existed for presenting suoh an address, and The Council went into^oomjnifctee. The resolution was adopted, reprinted, and agreed to. "WASTE LAND BOABD. The PROVINCIAL SECRETARY moved that Mr Pearce be elected a member of the Waste Land Board of th© Province of Wellington. Mr WRIGHT seconded, and the motion was agreed to. TIIE FEILDING CONTEAOT. The PROVINCIAL SECRETARY moved — That, having regard to the correspondence relative to the modification of the Feilding contract, this Council is of opinion that in pursuance of the proposal therein contained the Superintendent shall be authorized to expend, during the present financial year, a sum not exceeding one thousand pounds, subject to the conditions expressed in the letter of the Superintendent to the Hon the Colonial Secretary, dated 21st November, 1873. Agreed to. i AOCLIMATIZ A I'ION. Mr LUDLAM moved— That the Council do resolve itself into Committee of the whole Lo consider an address to his Honor the Superindent, requesting him to place upon the estimates the sum of £200, as a grant to the Wellington Acclimatization Society, and the sum of £100 as a grant to the Wanganui Acclimatization Society. Mr CRUICKSHANK having seconded, the Council weut into committee, and the mover proceeded to show the reproductive nature of the work by referring to the good effects which had arisen from acclimatisation in Canterbury. Mr Ludlam then quoted some interesting facts in connection with acclimatisation in the various parts of this provinoe, and in other parts of the colony, and dwelt upon the services rendered in the cause of acelircasation by Dr Hector, Mr Travers, and Captain Stafford. Owing to the extent of the purchases made by the Society they were completely out of funds, and would consequently be embarrassed in future operations without they obtained some extraneous assistance. He regretted to say that Wellington was behind the other provinces in this good work, which was one of far too muoh importance to be left to prirate enterprise. As an instance of the value of acclimatisation he might mention that before the introduction of pheasants in Auckland it was almost impossible to grow a crop of potatoes, owing to the ravages of the wire worm. Since the introduction of the birds, however, this agricultural pest had entirely disappeared. MrR. PHARAZYN regretted he was unable to give such accurate and copious details of the progress of acclimatisation at Wanganui, but being thoroughly oonvinosd of the great advantages tj bo derived from the efforts of the Society from what had come within his persousal observation he could cordially support the motion, as something calculated to benefit the provinoe as a whole. Mr W. MILNE suggested the advisableness of introducing entomological carrniviro that would destroy the vegetable-eating insects, as they appeared to him aa necessary i.s inseot devouring birds.

Tbe PROVINCIAL SECRETARY regretted that the hon member for the Hutt had not oalled the attention of the Government to this matter before, still the Governmeut were prepared even then to cordially support the motion. The motion was then agreed to. BOAD EXPENDITURE. Mr MORGAN moved that there be laid on the table a return of the moneys expended on the great north western main line of road, from Bull's to Wanganui, from the Ist of April, 1872, to the 31st of March, 1873, distinguishing between those expended upon bridges and those expended apon road maintenance. Agreed to. IMPOUNDING. Mr GRAHAM moved for leave to bring in a bill to amend the Impounding Act, because although the common law of TSngl md might provide for such breaches of the law as he wishei to ccc provided for, it would be mu?h more desirable if they could let matters be dealt with by a local measure. Owing to the peculiar and delicate nature of the relations between Europeans and Maoris in country districts such an act would probably be the means of preventing the recurrence of very serious breaches likely to arise out of the impounding of stock. Mr LUDLAM seconued. The bill was read a first time, and the second reading made an order of the day for to-morrow. GOVEBNMBNT PRINTING AND ADVEBTISING-. On the motion of Mr MORGAN, a return was agreed to be laid on the table showing the amounts paid by the Provincial Government for printing and advertising during the past financial year, giving in detail the sums under the various heads, and the names of the establishments to which the sums have been paid. THE GBBAT NOBTH-TVEST HOAD. Mr R. PHARAZYN moved that this Council do go into committee to consider of an address to his Honor the Suprintondent, requesting him to place on the estimates the sum of £2000 for making roads from the great north-west road to various bush sections on the Waitotara Block. The PROVINCIAL SECRETARY regretted he wasjcompelled to take up the same position as he had yesterday, bnt it must be clear to the Council that this was only the natural sequence of carrying the motion regarding the Wbiteman's Valley road on the previous day. He trusted bon members would therefore recognise the wisdom of the position taken up by the Government. Mr LUDLAM looked upon the motion and the series brought forward by the same hon mover as merely a buffer between the Council and the Government. He must say that the Executive Bhowed an inclination to be much too tight with their money bags. They brought their estimates down very early, and then considered that the door must bo thenceforth shut to all applications during the rest of the session. Mr W. Milne and Mr C. Phabazyn having referred to the apparent objeot of the motion, the hon Mover defended the propriety of his request with like arguments to those adduced by Mr Cruickshank in support of his motion, viz : that large land sales would be effected, settlement promoted, and the finances of the province improved. It waß better to take up a little of the time of the Council now than to waste a great deal of it afterwards in such discussions. The hon gentleman then obtained the leave of the Council to withdraw the mction under discussion, and the other three standing in his name. SPECIAL SBTTLBMENTS. On the motion of Mr 0. PHARAZYN, it was agreed that there be laid on the table a copy of the correspondence between the Provincial Government and the Agent-General or other persons with reference to the amounts paid as commissions under the Wellington Special Settlements Act. PUBLIC BUILDINGS. Mr CARTER moved that in the opinion of this Council all public buildings for which professional services are required beyond the permanent staff of the Government, shall be open to competition by the professional men of the colony. It appeared to him that it was tirna Wellington acted as other provinces in this matter. He had no desire to be invidious, but he could point to so many and serious defects in our public buildings as must show that we evidently had not the best talent that could be obtained in the oolony. Besides, he thought we should encourage the native talent which was unquestionally growing up around us. The PROVINCIAL SECRETARY could not look at the matter in the same light as the hon member, and felt that before taking such a Btep as that suggested they should bring the most serious consideration to bear upon the matter. Fom his own knowledge and experience of the skill of the gentleman employed by the Provinoial Government he believed him to be most competent and the Bxeoutive had every reason to be satisfied with him. Mr W. MILNE thought the course proposed would be a sheer waste of publio money and an approach to the cheap jack system. Mr R. PHARAZYN pointed out that the competitive system had already been tried and proved a failure. Mr C; Phabaztn thoroughly approved of the object of the motion, but suggested a verbal altoration for the purpose of greater clearness. Mr Weight thought it would be a bad practice to hand over the bridges of the colony to public competition, thereby setting no value on the large experience of the Provincial Engineer. Mr Buceley supportod the motion, and instanced the defective acoustics of the hall they were in as an illustration of the necessity for some such principle being introduced. Mr CARTER went into details to show the utter ignorance of acoustics and of the powers of the human voice shown in the construction and ornamentation of the Council room, and also commented in a like unfavorable manner upon the construction and accommodation of the new lunatic asylum. He confessed himBolf surprised to see the Government offer any opposition to the motion. The motion was negatived on the voices. PBOGBESS OF BUSINESS. The Education Act Amendment Bill was made an order of the day for Thursday next. The Wanganui Odd Fellows' Grant Bill was read a second time, and made an order of the day for to-morrow. THE OEMETEBIES BILL. Mr PEARCB, in supplementing the remarks he had already made on the subject, said he regretted that a reverend prelate of this city should have used language in reference to the action of the Counoil which could scarcely be called temperate, and whioh certainly was not at all applicable to so dignified a body as the Council. The hon member then quoted from an emiment authority (Mr Parkes) as to the unhealthiness of graveyard*, and instanced several fatal occurrences and serious attacks arising out of the poisonous gasea released from the surcharged ground of cemeteries. He trusted that although he had but imperfectly fulfilled the duty he had undertaken the Counoil would not be influenced by such a letter as that referred to, bul would do what was clearly its duty. The PROVINCIAL SOLICITOR testified of his personal knowledge to various cases of serious illneps and even death in the neighborhood of the cemetery, and whioh there was no reasonable doubt was due to the unwholesome miasma arising therefrom. Mr GRAHAM knew aa a matter of faot that most noxious effluvia esoaped from the parched find craoked surface of the soil in the oometery during the recent very dry weather. A further proof of the existence of such effluvia was afforded by the clouds of blue-bottle flies buzzing about. While on this question he would point out that a site neir Magazine 1 Point would for various reasons be preferable to the Korokoro. '

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Mr B. PHARAZYN qttoted an^iiittance of' the unhealthinejs of cemeteries in ; the centre*of towns ; bjtft apart" from this he thbught the Council hai . sufficient competent-' medical evidence before it to justify it in adopting the proposed bill, i Mr LUDLAM said he had occasion to go through the cemetery one oalra sultry day during the summer, and he could not help noticing, that.the air was perfectly suffocating and on conversing with Dr Hecsoron the matter he admitted that as a scientific man he had considerable difficulty in accounting for the proportion of sickness in the town,, which was due to the effluvium proceeding from the cemetery. The hon member jM[ft -a quoted an extraordinary and fatal instanevof ■'" animal poisoning by inhaling the effluvium from the carcase of a dead horse which had been buried. Mr HUTCHISON said he supported the second reading of the bill, as it was essentially different from the Government bill of last year, inasmuch as it contained a proviso permitting the burial of near kindred to continue for a certain length of time in the old cemeteries. The promoters of the bill, however, would not strengthen their oaße by malting much of the unhealthiness of the present cemeteries. They might talk of science as they pleased, but it was simply a misapplication of it to say that with the free winds that blow around the Wellington hills, the comparatively few burials that took place were injurious, to any appreciable extent, to thepublic health ; and ha oonld not help taking: a different view of the opinions in the newa« papers from those expressed by hon members. He regarded those opinions as a protest — a talk about science, which was Bup» posed to silenoe all objections both of sentiment and common sense. There had been a considerable amount of sickness in Wellington, but he believed the samo thing had* prevailed in other parts of the colony, and that it was nothing exceptional in its character. The gist of the question, therefore, lay in thefact that intra-mural interments were in almost all cases inadvisable, and that the sooner a change could be effected, consistent with the feelings of the people, the better and the easier it will te. The PROVINCIAL SECRETARY said that if all the ill effects pictured of the cemetery by several hon members were correct, I then it was clearly their duty to close it. The health of the living was of far more import* anoe than any sentimental respect for the bones of the dead. Still, it must be remembered that the measure was not a Govern* ment one, being introduced solely at therequest of the Council. He must also remind the Council of the financial aspect of the question. Were they prepared to say that it was the duty of the Government to provide cemeteries for the towns of Wellington and Wanganui ? The bill was read a second time, and the third reading made an order of the day for to-morrow. BUSINESS. The Greytown Court House and Telegraph Site Sale Bill was committed, reported without amendments, read a third time, and passed. The Council then went into committee upon TRB LOCAL BOABDB BILL. A division was taken on the 55th clause, ai to whether the rate should be fixed at not exceeding one shilling,- The result wa^-r-Ayes, 6 ; noes, 7. The clause as amended was then passed. The remainder of the amendments on the supplementary order paper, proposed by the Provincial Secretary, were then passed in detail and without alteration. The bill was reported with amendments, and a third reading made an order of the day for Thursday next. The Council then went into oommittee on THH LOAN BEBOLUTION3. An amendment proposed by the PboyinoiaTi Seobetaby, providing that any balauoe to the credit of the Special Fund at the close of the fiuanoial year should be invested by the Colonial Treasurer iv colonial debentures, was agreed to. . The resolutions as amended were then reported with amendments and adopted, THE DISEASED SHEEP ACT was then further considered in oommittee. Mr ANDREW moved that the second clause be struok out of the bill, as he held it to be an extraordinary assumption of power by the Council to compel a person to furnish a return of property he may have owned years ago. He trusted the Provincial Secretary would withdraw this and other clauses. The PROVINCIAL SECRETARY declined, on the part of the Executive, to withdraw clauses which, upon deliberate consideration, they had consideredjoeoegsary to recsver certain moneys legally due. Mr ANDREW spoke at great length in adducing reasons to show the injustice of such retrospective legislation as that oontained in the clauses which he wished to ttrike out. As litigation had already oommenoed, he trusted that the Council would not interfere with what was now pending in the Courts of law. Mr BUCKLEY pointed out that nothing in the Act merited the title of retrospective legislation ; on the contrary, it was merely the correction of an junintentional omission or simple clerical error, which, if be was not mistaken, the hon member.was oognisant of at the time. i A tedious cross-fire of disoussion as to whether the operation was retrospective or not took plaoe, but the arguments were merely a reiteration of what had been previously brought forward. A division on .the question that the clause stand part of the bill was at length called for, the result being : — Ayes, 11 ; Noes, 6. The next clause was carried by majority of six^ On the penalty clause being put, another division was called for, but the clause was retained on the voices. A clause was proposed to be inserted by Mr Andrew, inflicting a fine upon sheepownere for not keeping dipping appliances on iheir stations in case of scab breaking on*;. After some discussion, the clause as amended was carried by the casting vote of the chairman. Several other clauses were inserted in the bill, which was reported with amendments and made an order of the day for to-morrow. The Council adjourned at 10.40 p.m.