MR WHALL IN THE COUNCIL.

Grey River Argus, Volume III, Issue 148, 22 December 1866, Page 2

MR WHALL IN THE COUNCIL.

(To the Editor of the Grey Hirer Arf/ux.) -J^H Sin— Nothing is more calculated to^^H destroy the standing ami influence of a J^H public representative than tho prefeiring^^^B charges against public officers which arei^^J cither altogether gratuitous or which ho J|^H is unable to substantiate. The niembcr|f*^B for Greymouth appears to have foun^ no stronger argument to support the nufapn j he seconded nf want of confidence 'in Mr : I Jollies Ministry thiui vogue cto^geaf I against tho Government engineers anl(irtli.Oii I police. I should have thought th^|lib;| opportunity Avhich as seconder of a rc^Hin- | K 4, Hun affecting the Ministry was aftrtrUeci | Mr Whall would have been turned|t6 :| ' profit by reviewing critically the gerigrkl> impolicy of Mr Jollies previous adniinistra^-/ | tion, tracing the effects of that policyj aTiicl inculcating the lesson to be drawn fi-oni them. But I have looked in vain for any exhaustive aualysis of West Coast affairs, i-j. ■ Mr Whall is not alone in this respect, fdr^T to niy mind not one of the West CoaSi ; ■: members has as yet been equal to the oc'-f---cisiou of elevating the political affairs 6f Westland to their proper position in tire deliberations of the Council. But it weie better to be silent than to commit thjß> blunder Mr Whall has done. He firs|fto brought a very grave accusation again stff| the engineer's department, and then when brought t<> question about it shuffled tho Aj.—responsibility of the accusation to tliQ"^T shoulders of his constituents. To tf M that the contractor for. public work^V^t U . very frequently the Government ongn!iS . I is perhaps the strongest charge that can \ possibly be made. The engineers in tho I Government service in nine wises out of fe ten virtually decide the tenders for works • | constructed under their 'superintendence, | or at least very mricli influence the Go- | vernment in the matter. Of course|a | public officer could not openly appea^f&si. s I a private speculator in his own def|i|t^' ]H ment even if so disposed, and if ■ l sfP sV * ] Whall or anyone else in his position was. liiade awa.ie that the enSineer was fre- \ qucntly a contractor in secret/it behoved him to state the facts openly, and not UkflM'4l dulge in vague generalities. Mr Wlia^fp Vv explained that he did not mean to iiasei^p); ;■';'" that the engineer had done anything^fe-^; wroug. Then what on earth did he mean ?I||§ " j If no charge of impropriety was intended, ;,. of what force had the accusation as an ffi argument of the mismanagement of the || |f; Government* Mr Whall is , decidedly ]|p|; wroug in telling the House that the charge 1 jjjM he made against the engineers in West- I|p land is "currently believed by his con- #1 stituehts." It may be so within tie IMM narrow circle of a ieyr prejudiced persons, ||p but by no one else. % Jlpi As to Mr Wliall's charge of mefficiem y lip! -ag iin.3t the police, it is simply a flayai.t l||| jiujl on the department. There have s(£| been occasions, perhaps, when there have ;£§| been soufe errors of judgment on the part ~%M of the police authorities, but to say that , *l ; the actions of the police have tended rather to increase than to suppress crime 'i||i is certainly false. It is, on the contraiy, P** patent to all who are resident here, that j ! our freedom from crime has been surpris- .-■'[ ing. Compared with the condition of '\'Mj< public order during the early stages of the «|p Gold Fields of Victoria or Otago, West- #||| land stands preeminent for the order of J||'| itspopulation. The few emutes that have ' : J|||! occurred were quite exceptional, and in Imiii no way ascribable to the want of police intervention. So far from charging the jlfi police with inefficiency, Mr Wliall's past Ji M experience in Greymonth should have in- I duced him rather to pay a tribute of praise. s| But even supposing the police were in- '% W, ofiicient, what on earth had that to do 1 | with the question of .confidence in Mr | | Jollic and his colleagues ! The same .$ | officers are in tho force now as then, and | are likely to remain, so that unless Mr iJI Whall had an idea that a change of Mm- m istry involved a change of policemen , lam m at a loss to comprehend his motives. fm I am, &c, M . ; Veritas. ■ill