The Grey River Argus. THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 1867.

Grey River Argus, Issue 251, 22 August 1867, Page 2

The Grey River Argus. THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 1867.

Our Hokitika contemporary the "West Coast Times" is certainly zealous enough in its efforts to prove that the object of the advocates for Annexation to Nelson is unattainable. And, as is not unfrequently the case, its zeal has out. run its discernment, In a leading article, devoted to the discussiou of this question, in its issue of Tuesday, our contemporary says : — " Our Greynputh friends may be assured that if they fail in obtaining Annexation to N/elson, it will npt be on account of the oppositiqn "of the league that has been formed here, but on account of practical and legal difficulties that stand in their way. . Separation from East Canterbury can only be procured, even with the assent pf the General Assembly, by a compliance with certain stringent cpndjtions set forth in the New Provinces Act of 1808. That Att is still in force— the operation of the oneclause Act of 1860 being simply to withdraw from the Governor the power of complying with the prayer of a petition for Separation, and to transfer that power, or the option of exercising it, to tlje GeherarAj^^^Lof the

must contain the sanie allegations and establish the samp facts tjjat were required by the tfev/ Provinces Act Q* 1853, to be contained in the petition to the Governor, One essential condition j is that the petition shall' be signed by not less than 100 ' registered electors' — : . not hpjders pf miners rights or business licenses, but householders, on the Elcfe torai Roll pt the Colony — such 100 being not less than tworthirds of the ■ wheje number of registered electors within the district. If, therefore, Greymouth iutends tp act apart from the League: altpgethpr— and to present its own petjtipn fpr Separation froni East Canterbury, with a view to Annexation to Nelson— it will have to comply with this condition before it obtains even a locus standi on the floor of the Assembly. It must prove that it has within its own boundaries not less than 300 electors registered pn the Electoral Roll of the Colony ; and of these 300 electors its petition must be signed by not less than 100." Our contemporary appeal's to have lost sight pf the fact that the New" Provinces Act, 1808— with the conditions of which any djs trict striving to obtain a separate Government must comply — has nothing whatever to do with, the alteration of the boundaries of existing Provinces, the power to effect which is expressly given to the General Assembly by the Constitution Act. Although, it is quite true, as Mr Barff told his - hearers the other day, that there is no special Act in existence for making an alteration in the boundaries of Provinces, because such Apt has not been rendered necessary, we may remind our contemporary of a circumstance, which will no doubt now occur to its remembrance, which affords strong collateral proof that the Assembly can, at discretion, make alterations in the boundaries of Provinces, Last session of the Assembly a measure was contemplated, having foe. its object the addition of a portion of the south-east territory ot Auckland to the Province of Hawke's Bay, in order the better to secure the local subjection of the turbulent natives, a recent example having been afforded of the greater ability of the Hawke's Bay authorities to deal with them. That measure was allowed to fall through, but still the. fact remains'that an alteration of the boundaries was contemplated, and that is sufficient evidence of the ability of the Assembly to make such an alteration without any recourse to the provisions of the New Provinces Act. That Act, and the conditions prescribed by it, apply only to the establishment of a new Province. And it is only just that before the power of selfcgovernmont can be granted, the district demanding it should be able to give evidence of possessing certain essential requisites — as, for instance, " not less than 300 registered electors," The non-necessdty of having to comply with the stringent provisions of the New Provinces Act, constitutes one strong argument in proof of the greater convenience of the Grey programme. The petition of this district will not be fot •' Separation/ but for "Annexation" — the latter necessarily including the former; and we have every reason to believe that as the proposal will be supported by the Nelson Government, and not objected to by Canterbury, it will be carried out without much difficulty. Our contemporary complains that we have not acted fairly in suppressing the petition of the Westland Separation League. We did not "suppress" it, although wo did not publish the text for reasons stated at the time. But we made known its object, and stated that the memorial appeared to have exhausted the long list of grievances which rendered Separation from Canterbury necessary. This sufficiently served every purpose that could have been attained by the publication of the full document. In reply to another of our contemporary's strictures, we entirely deny having taken an " Hokitika versusGreymouth"viewoftheSepaiation question. Wehavenever argued the question on merely local grounds as between one town and the other. All we have done is to point out that the Hokitika League by neglecting to consult the wishes of the people of the Grey district had committed a mistake, and had seriously jeopardised its own interests. That opinion we adhere to still, and we should fancy must be admitted by the League itself, the wholesale defection of the members of which is one fruit of the error. Our desire has only been to discuss the question fairly and intelligently, and not to break lances with the "West Coaat Times." Our contemporary, however, appears to have been reduced at the last to resort to the maxim "no case, abuse the plaintiff's

attorney." A few days ago, the " West CJonst Times" denied most explicitly tbat the opinions. of tliis journal were bhared by the public of this district. It has been forced to eat its pwn words," and is wroth in consequence, Our con^ temporary must bring forward much/ more cogent reasons against Am»exaticn than it has done, if it .would, hope to convince the inhabitants of the Qrey district either that tlie course they have adopted is undesirabte, or that ;ts object is unattainable,