THE Grey River Argus. THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 1867.

Grey River Argus, Volume III, Issue 182, 14 March 1867, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 1867.

We gather from an article in the " West, Coast Times" of Tuesday, that the results of the Superintendent's visit are not altogether satisfactory 'to the people of Hokitika. They had been led to expect soine immediate positive advantage from the presence of the chief of the Government in their midst, and looked forward to the prompt settlement / by his Honor of several questions which (■ J^ad on former occasions been laid beforft; i him. But instead of the immediate! i action that was expected— aud indeed{ ; that they had been led to expect by , previous promises, their most urgent requests have been met by references to ■ 'the Executive, aud other pretexts for delay which must have been rather dis ' appointing. Commenting on the result ' oi the Corporation deputation to his Honor, our contemporary says :'i— " That the Corporation were disap- " pointed at findiug that, on so many " subjects, judgment had still to be "reserved; information still to be " gathered ; the Executive still to be " consulted ) ' is a fact whicli there was "no attempt yesterday to; conceal. If " past experience afforded any guaiuwtee "that the action thus reserved would : "be promptly taken, they might be ". better sjitistiedvfith the result of their " interview witk-h.is;:Hpiior. But amid '■" the more engroKsing cares of govern- " ment bii the otiier side of. the province, "bis Honor, we fully helicye, is scarcely ■' " sensible of the disappointment occa- " sioned after so .long ah interval of " waiting, by a promise to. ' take a note' " oi the point, to make a* reference' of ■'.' it, to take legal advice upon it ; or " otherwise to pass it oh to another stage. " Instead of this condition of 'pro-.-"longed waitirig, it would be more " satisfactory if his Honor WQuld take " upon himself tlie responsibility of " action. The time has gone by when " tlie public expected any substantial " results from the appointment of tlie " long-promised Comniission^- 'Who^ ; " ever might. uo\v -be ap})oihtcd upon it,', 1

" ib is impossible that any well 'matured " report could issue from it in ti^ne to " serve as the babirt of legislation during f the next session of Couucil. The . " opportunity has been lost. Aud we "can now anticipate no result from the " appointment of the Commission, if ■'•' the appointment is made at all, but an " excuse for inaction during the whole " of the riext session ol Council, o:i the "ground that/;on this matter and on "that, 'the Gommissiou have not yet " d c had time to report.' Seeing that so " very long a time has been allowed " to elapse without effect being given " to the idea, we believe the jimblic will "fully coincide with us in saying that "it would be the soundest policy to "abandon -the idea altogether. It is " impovsible that the Commission can " do its work before the Council meets ; " whilst it is more than -passible that, " its work beirg uufinisbed, a plea will " be created for delay on that ground, "•Iu that case we should still have to " ' wait." What is most earnestly to be " desired is that no pretext will, be " afforded by the tardy appointment of " a Commission, for a pretext for the " postponement of the session of the " Provincial Couucil beyond the date "to which it at present stands ad"- -" jounied." We are not surprised to find that our contemporary Las at last discovered the practical iuutility of the much talked of Commisiiiou. We saw from the fii-sb the extreme probability of tlie pi;<jposal being merely a clever dodge to evade responsibilit\ r , and to aftord the Government time to mature its own ideas of policy with regard to "Westlaud. Since the close of itbe session our suspicions have been strengthened considerably by many circumstances which will doubt-less-have opened the eyes of our contemporary. It is very evident that the Government have either accomplished a clever political trick or betrayed a very gi eat amount of culpable indifference. The Westlaud Commission wr.s proposed by the Government on the grounds that there were many matters on which the Government neodod information, and that they were auxiov.s to frame their system of government onlln best possible basis. If tliese professions were honest, it is rather singular that so. much time should have been allowed to pass without attempting to give them effect. And as our contemporary says, it is impossible that the Commission if even at ouce appointed can be prepared with any proper report by the next sitting of tho Provincial Council. And yet we find his Honor on several important matters deferring, a definite answer until aftor the report of the Commission. We fancy that whatever confidence wax felt in its usefulness when first the Westland Commission was proposed, it must long since have* been dissipated. Eveu if it-s labors had been promptly commenced, and the Commission had been formed of the most intelligent and efficient materials, no security exists that its recommendations would be carried out wherever they happened to clash with the opinion of the Executive. Indeed his Honor replied to the Hokitika Corporation the other day, in reference to some particular subject, that it would be for the Commission to report on it, but he should- not bind himself to act oil tlic report. We think it would be far more in character wi bh Mr Moorhouse's repii tation for practical statesmanship' to cast aside the much vaunted Commission, and rely on his'own powers of observation and his personal enquiries, rather than evince the . temporisiug policy which appearsto actuate, him just now in his relations' towards Westland. His JECbnor enjoys a large amount of piiblic confidence, and we cannot but think that with the supreme influence he exerts over his Executive, the Commission is unnecessary, and might very properly be dispensed with. We never had much faith, in its utility, and we now cordially second the opinion of our contemporary that "it would be the soundest policy to abandon it altogether."