THE Grey River Argus. TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1869.

Grey River Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 553, 3 August 1869, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1869.

The County Council has, in a hurried and unthinking manner, adopted a resolution to request the General Assembly to amend the County of Westland Act, so as to allow the Council to borrow to the extent of £50,000, on the security of general and special rates (if necessary) levied upon the whole of the inhabitants of the County. In support of this, they have dispatched Mr. Rees, who is now in Wellington endeavoring to get a hearing at the bar of the House of Representatives, and to take any other steps that he considers necessary to bring about the desired result. It was not until Mr. Rees had gone on his mission that the true light began to dawn upon the people of Westland, and they then learned, with feelings of alarm, that what the County Council was really asking was power to impose taxes, in addition to all the burdens already borne. No one dreamt of the members of the Council proceeding to such an extremity to relieve present financial difficulties, and to make provision for the carrying on of public works, outside of the ordinary revenue, without first taking the opinions of their constituents. In this matter, our only

representative in the Council has made a great mistq,kp, Mr. Lahman has all along been a consistent advocate of the County exercising its borrowing powers., if it had any ; but has gone a step too far this time, when he seconded the motion for the endeavour to bp made to secure rating powers fpr the Cqunty Council. He has acted diametrically in opposition to the wishes and interests of his constituents. Events which have transpired within the last few clays, have aroused the pgople to the necessity for taking active and decided measures to pndeavor to defeat the outrageous proposal which Mr Rpeg has carried up to Wellington. The first step taken in this directiqn was by the Borougji Council of Greymouth, which held an extraordinary meeting on Saturday, and instructed the Town Clerk to. telegraph to Messrs. Harrison and Barff, to the. effect that the proposal is opposed by the whole of the inhabitants of Greymouth, and requesting them to endeavor to defeat it. The general opinion of the residents in this town and district \% that a great injustice has been done to them by this attempt to saddle upon them additional taxation, without being allowed any voice in the matter. They have resolved, however, to have a voice in it. The Arahura Road Board has called upon the other Road Boards and Municipalities to send delegates to a conference to be held in Hokitika on Wednesday, to take steps to oppose the proposition to give rating powers to the County Council, as they consider it " unprecedented in tho annals of colonial institutions." Yesterday, the Borough Council resolved to join in the movement, and authorised Mr. Moore to attend as its representative at the conference. Any action that body may take will be too late. The only prompt and proper steps taken were those adopted by our own Borough Council, who, without waiting for their neighbors, at once took action in a business sort of way. We cordially endorse the action' taken by our Council in the matter, and have no doubt that it will be successful in defeating what we consider a most unjust attempt on the part of the County Council to get out of its financial embarrassments iv the easiest possible way — by throwing them on the shoulders of the people. We do not — neither do any of the movers in this matter— object to the County Council obtaining a loan in a legitimate manner, and on the ordinary terms, the same as any of the Provincial Governments in the Colony ; it is simply objected that the Council should be armed with the power to levy rates in addition to the taxes already levied by the Municipalities and Road Boards. Our present position in Greymouth is simply this : — We have to pay an enormous ground-rent, a genei-al rate of one shilling in the pound, for general purposes ; a special rate of sixpence in the pound, for finishing the protective works, which ought to have been finished by the County Council; and supposing the rating powers now asked for were granted to the County Council these burdens would be doubled, with very little return, for experience has taught us how much this district may expect to be expended within it, so long as there is a road to make, a creek to bridge, or a bar to keep- open in the Hokifcika district. But apart from these local considerations, we highly approve of the steps which have been taken by the Road Boards and our Borough Council to oppose the wild scheme propouuded by Mr Rees and adopted by the County Council. We do so, even at the risk of being once more accused by our Hokitika contemporary of being obstructive. In this instance, we believe that if the scheme had been first submitted for the approval of the people of Westland, it would have been almost unanimously rejected, and we have no doubt that the conference will show this plainly. There is no reason to believe that the Westland members of the Assembly will for a moment listen to the proposition. On the other hand, we believe that Mr Harrison will do all he can to defeat it. He will certainly be wanting in his duty to his constituents should he adopt any other course, after their determination on the matter has been made known to hi;n.