THE Grey River Argus. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1867,

Grey River Argus, Volume IV, Issue 269, 3 October 1867, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1867,

Pespite the unfavorable prognostics of our Hokitika contemporary we believe that the Annexation movgr.ent so far from having lost auythhig by the delay in presenting the petition from this district has rather gained an advantage. It was essential to the success of the movement that it should have the support of the Nelson Government. That support was asked and it was granted, on one condition, viz., that it should nob take the form of hostil i frf 'towards the .Canterbury Government. The fact was that the Nelson Government, whilst quite convinced in favor of the proposed annexation on the simple merits of the case, did not care to assume an antagonistic position towards a neighboring Government. Had the petition of this district for annexation to Nelson been drawn up and forwarded at the same time as that of the Hokitika Separation League, it' would have been exceedingly difficylfc, if 7iot actually impossible, to liav&y -avoided, embodying in it some grounds of dissatisfaction with the Canterbury Government. As it is, the action taken by the General Govern ment in bringing in a bill for dismembering the AYest Coast territory of Canterbury from the parent province has done away with the difficulty. The Colonial Government has by the course it has taken endorsed the opinions of the inhabitants of Westland that they should no longer be subject to control by Canterbury — that is to say by the eastern portion of that province. That opinion haviug been thus expressed in the highest quarter, all that the me-' inorialists of the Grey District have got to do is to claim -for themselves that disposition of their interests which they deem the most • desirable. By cviry constitutional means they have unanimously decided in favor of tho district being annexed to the Province of Nelson, and although that decision was arrived at before 'the scheme of the new County Bill was knowihjiKe believe it j would be equally as |unaTiimous now. In fact the strongest "arguments in favor of the annexation plan are such as would still remain under whatever form of government the district might be placed if the present boundary were continued. The reasons for annexation to Nelson are stronger than those for separation from Canterbury; and so long as the district remains in its present anomalous position so long will the evils of that position be -maintained and increased. Just now the Grey district is a sort of "no man's laud." Its chief port is the entrepot pf a district outside its technical limits, which is more numerously populated. than that* of which it is the ostensible capital. Whilst the whole of the interior up the

river is' naturally one district it is so artificially divided tliit it is impossible to arrive at any accurate means of dividing the revenue collected at the port pi ecpitable snares. And no sclio.me can lie shown that can secure a fair disli'llmtipu of tlie revenue, because the tide oj." populati.on-r-ev.er moviug to and fro, is continually changing. To-day the balance of population is on the ■Nelson -side— tp-morrpw it might be reyeised, and apy calculation based upon £he lelative number of inhabitants j jvould be liable to b,e \ipset at any moment. This state pf things operates prejudicial^ in niore ways than one. Ifc produces explications and disagreement between the Qpyeruments of the respective djvjsipps of the district ; and the county system would not mend matters at all. There would' always be the same difficulty in apportioning the revenue; the same difficulties about improving the river navigation; the same difficulty about the mainteuace of the Hospital — and in fact about anything and .everything in which the inhabitants of both sides the present boundary were interested. We must get, rid of this anomaly and thus of tl c evils -it creates. Bej'ond the Teremakau the interests of. the port of Greymouth cease. It is a natural barrier to any extension of its commerce in that direction, whilst it encloses a district which is immediately dependent on the port, and cannot be separated from it. On the other hand the whole of the territory of the Nelson province in the Grey valley is in the same position, so that the whole district, from the Tereznakau to the northern watershed of the Grey, forms one compact territory mutually connected by the pursuits of its population by its commercial necessities and by the sympathies of its inI habitants. They cauuoi remain separate without mutual loss and inconvenience —under whatever form of government they may be placed they must be united. Wo have every confidence that the reasons in support of the Annexation scheme will be fully recognised and appreciated by the Colonial Government aud by the Assembly, and that whether temporarily or not this district will be added to the province of Nelson. The County plan will not be prejudicially affected by it at all — for if it will work at all it will work all the better in a narrower compass ; aud very possibly will work better in a district having only one port of entry than if there were two. We_ trust it will answer the views and expectations of our Hokitika friends, but we are most decidedly of opinion that it will suit this district much better to become a part of the Nelson province. We shall escape the difficulties which always attend the initiation of a new form of government and the delays and disorganisation which must happen until the machinery be got into working order. The transfer of the Grey district to Nelson will hardly occasion the least disturbance of the ordinary course of .administration. It will be merely something like passengers changing from one train drawn by a worn out engine into one propelled by effective machinery. The only effect we anticipate is that we shall travel much more easily and rapidly, 1 and with less risk of running off the line. I