THE Grey River Argus. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1866.

Grey River Argus, Volume III, Issue 147, 20 December 1866, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1866.

Few persons in Westlawl will regret that the affairs of the Province of Can terlmiy have beeii siuitplxccl from, the control of Mr JpUie's Exeeutiv,c^. Although in their n),epiorandvim setting forth their policy th,ey adopted or pro posed to adopt principles p,f government | that rcceiA'ed th ( e full r^ipro.val of His \ Honor the Su})erintend,ent, and which were identical with tlipse enunciated by the previous .Ministry, there was no guarantee that the.sp. priucii>les would be thoroughly carried ,out iv the. hands of. a Minister who in hi§ previous teniire ,of oilice had brought tlip affairs of the j province into confusjfiji, and well nigh driven this portion c/f ■ Gantt r'juvy into p (forts for Se}>a ration. From first to last the Administration which preceded Mr Mooi'house's return to office was remarkable only for laundering iucapaf c-ityaud reckless extravagance. Although .disastrous alike to East and West Canterbury, ifc was in Wfjstlancl where all the errors which a Government could possibly commit • wete perpetrated. Unable of their own capacity to cope with the sudden and important responsibilities which the discovery of gold caused to devolve up^n them, the Govern men t was like a, phild — powerless to act of itself and syaj'ed about by first one influence aiiji then another. How the large reveu;;.es derived from this portion of the province were wasted and fritted awa\ T — how for the sake of the one pet idea of a road from Christ, church the wants of the population were sacrificed, and hoy/ systematically the complaints of the people were ignored and treated' with contempt, is too much impressed on the memories of all in Westhiud to need recapitulation. Mr Jollies return to pp\ver would have 1 een nothing short of a misfortune to West-laud, and however much it is to be deplored that the business of the province has been delayed by the ministerial changes, we are glad that recent events have shown to Mr Jollio that this part of the country has no confidence in him. Mr Wvlde's motion was amended in order to directly aim at the " personnel" of the Ministry and not at its polic} 7 — a circumstance which of course aroused a stout resistance on the part of themem. bers of the Executive and their friends. The Westland members again decided the da}', their votes carrying the motion by a majority of one. Mr Stewart's leaccession to office is regarded by all parties as a fortunate thing for the pro. vince. He is decidedly the best man for his post that Canterbury has produced, and as he thoroughly enjoys the confidence of His Honor the Superintendent, we may anticipate the vigorous carrying out of the policy that has been ' unanimously adopted, We are not surprised that the new Executive does not include one of the West Coast membfirs, because we presume* the Government has made up its. mind to wait the result of the intended Commission on West Coast affairs before admitting Westland to a seat in the Executive, although from the ardent support given him by the Westland members it would not have been astonishing had Mr Stewart ' marked his gratitude by finding a seat for one of them. We regret that our limited space will not admit of a full report of the debat6 3 as it is well worth reading by those who take any interest in the political ail\virs of the province. Mr Joliie's speech was remarkable for its sneering tone towards Westland. Indeed it was only to. be expected that the same contemptuous sentiments which actuated Mr Jollie when he was head of the Government before would again make themselves manifest. He defended the course of his former Government towards West, land, and had the assupuice to assert that " the Government spoken of had " acted towards Westland in a fair " liberal and honest spirit, and had taken "ail immense deal of trouble to find " out its requirements as well as to " supply thc.ni.; vyhen found out" ! ! Of course he defended the construction of the Christchurch l'qad, and wound up by the following pretty sentence : — " The people thei'e (Westland) reminded " him of a spoilt boy who got a toy " which he did not like aud whom it " was impossible to please." Mr Jollie is quite right in one sense — the people of Westland " got" the costly road toy when they did not want it, when they hungered for real wants, and would not be .satisfied until- they got them— -a prospect which uuder Mr Jollie was a very distant one.