MR. SIMMONS AND MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.

Grey River Argus, Volume III, Issue 174, 23 February 1867, Page 2

MR. SIMMONS AND MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.

(To the Editor of the Grey Jtwer ArgV&X Sir,— The letter from Mr Sinjmcns in your last issue is about the richest eQhsipn which .-.. has from the fertile peri of that eminent political economist. Tbe";bbld : rand ~ even impudent manner in .which Mi Simy mons lays clown the law arid distorts facts toy support his opinions could not be surpassed,For instance.he has the cool assurance tS say that- in endeavoring to. get a municipalitjy Mes3rs Keurick and Kissling are, sicting, againni the whh of the inhabitants [ Fray how' does Mr Simmons interpret the public wishes ? Does he recognise the Verdict of puhlic meetings and public memorials,, or doe-Bhe consider the 'inhabitants", to consists only of the circle of which he is such a shining ' political light.? As to his remarks about the danger of asking for looivl government before certain public works are done they are simply pure n.uisense, '„-.; The., construction of, this works refered to by Mr Simmons ; cannot 1» affected by nor jn any way^; interfere ; with tlie municipal powers of th^sjj||ajbiiants of v Greymouth. The piling^|h||r|ver baiife ;' „the ..road t<) Maori GuUyjl^h^^removalol' sriags, and other works a|e;;i^en^ally oftliat ■ generjilly useful eharr|>ii^&Stai;: constituto- J tljem governuient w(irks^|ii|l' tliey ; would be undertaken just the s^'wliietiier we had-a Municipal Couucil oE^p'gSE|esides, : th^ '" money for the works Mr Simmons meritibris, has already bee.n voted 'by -^the Prpyincial Council . and cannot licK diverted from its ,■ specif c purposes. M r^Siiniiioris seems vfo : M take it for granted that c^y^freeholders are '"■ entitled to any voice hi- this matter— for-' ■ getting that the question ai issue is not one affecting property, but the general health and comfort of the inhabitants." He 1 knows, but ' forgets also, that it is intended only . asli .'-'- --for the application of municipal powersryrheu the whole of the surveyed p<>rtion of the Maori reserve is included officially within the boundaries of the town. Accomplished poli^ ; tician as he pretends to be, : Mr Simmons appears to forget that Municipal Government isone of the oldest institutiofl^of freedom, aud in all ages and mider aU circumstances has - been regarded as an injlerent privilege of the people, It is something startling to find that Jwe and our ancestors have cherished ideas of '.political economy so seriously opposed, to/ what I niay term the Whall*eum-yiriimoria * theory, which apparently" is to the effect that ; it is better to suffer any "amount of [social evils and discomforts rather than be eridowed with the power to remedy them, . • " " lanij &cv ' ; Greymouth, February 22J-I806; ■"■■'.