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L—9

The amendment was agreed to. On the motion as amended being put it was carried by 5 votes to 3. Ayes, s. —Mr. Beetham, Mr. Mitchelson, Mr. Postlethwaite, Mr. Sutton, Mr. J. W. Thomson. Noes, 3.—Mr. Cadman, Mr. Larnach, Captain McKenzie. Mr. Sutton asked leave to withdraw the two following clauses of his motion. On being put to the Committee this was agreed to. Mr. Beetham moved, That the Minister for Public Works shall, during the recess, cause to be prepared an amended schedule with respect to main roads that have already been declared, or that may be declared by resolution during the present session of Parliament, such schedule to set forth the roads in four classes, as follows: (1.) Main roads of strictly colonial importance; specifying mileage completed, value of bridges, and. rough estimate of cost of completion. (2.) Important roads between local districts; also specifying bridges, &c. (3.) Eoads on which hitherto little work has been completed, but are nevertheless important for opening up Crown lands and new districts. (4.) Eoads of mere local interest; also specifying works, &c, as in (1). Mr. Beetham asked leave to substitute the word " each " instead of the word " the " before the word " recess " in the first line and " the present " in the third line. On being put to the Committee this was agreed to. Mr. Beetham then moved his motion as amended. The preamble to the motion was agreed to. Subsection (1) was also agreed to. Subsection (2) was agreed to. Mr. Beetham asked leave to substitute the word "undertaken" for "completed," in subsection 3. This was agreed to, and subsection 3 as amended was agreed to. Subsection 4 was also agreed to. Mr. Sutton moved, That the first motion standing in his name under " Distribution of Grants " be adopted as follows : That, in order to provide for a fair distribution of public moneys under the main-roads clauses of the Act, it is necessary that some better basis should be arrived at. It is therefore resolved, —(1.) That the amount available for main roads should be divided among the several local bodies upon the basis of the property-tax valuations for local rates. (2.) That, upon complying with the requirements of clause 18, each local body shall be entitled to receive the amount found, under clause a, to be its share for the year. (3.) That, upon payment to the satisfaction of the Government of the proportion to be found by the local body, the Government shall at once advance its quota. (4.) That the expenditure of the Government grant shall be vouched for by the Government Auditor, who shall be required to report whether the local body has expended the money received from Government in terms of the Act. (5.) That, in the event of Government being assured that funds granted for a particular purpose have been diverted, it shall have power to withhold any further grants to the local bodies so offending. (6.) That, in the event of any local body having applied for less than its quota, or having omitted to apply before 31st March, a second allotment shall be made of the unappropriated balance. Subsection 1 was negatived. Mr. Sutton then asked leave to withdraw subsections 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. On being put to the Committee this was agreed to. Mr. Sutton, on behalf of Mr. Seddon, moved the motion standing in his name, as follows : That in no case shall the maximum amount payable to any one local body under " The Eoads and Bridges Construction Act,, 1882," for works on main roads, exceed in any one year £5,000. In the event of any local body having applied for a greater amount, the Colonial Treasurer shall, by and with the advice of such local body, determine the particular works the aforesaid sum of £5,000 shall be expended upon. Mr. Shephard moved, as an amendment, That the words " payable to," in the first line, be struck out, and " applied for by " be substituted in the place thereof. On a division that the words " payable to " remain, it was carried by 5 votes to 3. Ayes, s.—Mr. Beetham, Mr. Cadman, Captain McKenzie, Mr. Sutton, Mr. J. W. Thomson, Noes, 3.—Mr. Larnach, Mr Mitchelson, Mr. Postlethwaite. " Mr. Mitchelson moved, That the words " local body," in the first line, be struck out, and the word " county " be substituted in the place thereof. On being put to the Committee this was agreed to. Mr. Beetham moved, That the words " Colonial Treasurer" be struck out, and the words " Minister for Public Works " be substituted in the place thereof. On being put to the Committee this was agreed to. Mr. Larnach moved, That the sum of £5,000 be struck out, and £10,000 be substituted in the place thereof. On a division it was found there were 4 votes for the amendment and 4 against it, The Chairman then gave the casting vote against it. Ayes, 4.—Mr. Beetham, Mr. Larnach, Captain McKenzie, Mr. J. W. Thomson. Noes, s.—Mr. Shephard (Chairman), Mr. Cadman, Mr. Mitchelson, Mr. Postlethwaite, Mr. Sutton. The motion as amended was then put to the Committee and agreed to. Mr. Beetham moved, —(1.) That, in the event of a county making application for a bridge the cost of which is more than £5,000, tSe application may be received and granted in proportion with other applications, the balance being a charge upon the fund for distribution in the next and subsequent years, but so that not more than £5,000 shall be paid in any one year, unless there is a sufficient balance of the fund for distribution for which application has not been made. (2.) After works have been duly approved by the Minister for Public Works, imprest payments may be made from time to time to the fund of the local body by the Colonial Treasurer, upon requisition of the Chairman— (a) After the local body has spent one-fourth of the cost of the work which they are to provide