OUR REPRESENTATIVES AND THE LATE SESSION OF THE COUNTY COUNCIL.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 648, 15 March 1870, Page 2

OUR REPRESENTATIVES AND THE LATE SESSION OF THE COUNTY COUNCIL.

Last evening, Mgssrs Harrison and Lahman, the representatives of Greymouth in the. Qounty Council, nie.t their constituents, or a portion of them, in Grilmer's Hall, for the purpose of explain* ing the action taken by them during last session. The Mayor (J, Kilgou.r, Esq.) took the chair half-an-.hour after the advertised time, and even then the attendance of the public was so limited that after the u.3ual introductory remarks by the Chairman, Mr Harrison took occasion to express his. grea.^ surprise and regret *tf the small attendance, and contrasted it with the large and influential public meeting recently held, at which the conduct of our representatives was- questioned, and indignation expressed an the neglect of this district by the County Council. He asked the chairman to call upon the meeting to decide whether it was fair to themselves as a constituency, a.nd to their representatives, that the bus.ine.sa sh.Qiild proceed or be adjourned. At this point a large num-r ber of gentlemen entered the room, and the chairman called for a show of hands on the proposition. Very few took as much interest as to vote either way, and the chairman decided that tne proceedings should go on. Mr Harrison then proceeded, and in his introductory remarks referred to the confidence with which he had always hitherto met the electors of Greymouth, and hoped that it would still exist, although it had lately come to his knowledge that aspersions had been cast upon him concerniug his conduct iv the Council, and stated at an indignation meeting held here some time ago. He explained the duties of a representative who had the welfare of the County at heart as well as that of his own district, and explained that, in the conscientious discharge of what he believed to be his duty, he must tread on the prejudicies or feelings of some of his constituents. It might have been hastily imagined by some that in some things he was sacrificing the immediate interests of his constituents, but he was convinced that they would believe him when he said that in his conduct he had been actuated by a large wholesome principle, and he would endeavor to convince them that what he had done was done right, and done for the best. He then proceeded to show by reference to the previous session how the financial troubles of the County had originated over the Greenstone road, and explained the stand he had endeavored to take last session to have the County free from debt before any further liabilities were incurred for public works, and free from the power of the Bank of New Zealand, which had for some time past been master of the situation in Westlaud. He thoroughly sympathised with his constituents as to the manner in which this district had been neglected, and had he been in town he would have supported the protest of the late public meeting, with the exception of the personal remarks then made by some of the speakers, which he would soon refer to. He then explained his objections to the carrying on of public works by borrowed money, which he considered a pernicious, unwise, and unstatesnaan-like proceeding; and the endeavour which was, made last Session to keep the current expenditure within the revenue, so that the County might get out of debt, and then proceed with public works, but not till then. Kef erring again to the late public meetings he expressed surprise that the people of Greymouth, wh.Q were always remarkable for their discretion and good taste in such matters, 3l\ould have been led astray by the arguments then placed before them, which were not based upon truth^ mentioning particularly the remarks of Mr Jerkins. Replying at length to some of the statements recently made by that genjtleman, he explained how the machinery of Government iv Westland cost eighty per cent, of the. revenue, and stating his belief that economy had been brought to sucji pitch in the Government Departments that he thought it was, doubtful whether efficient government could be maintained. Referring to the Arahura and Coal Pit roads, he explained that he had objected to the making of these roads on the deferred payment principle^ because the system was false and nerniciQus, would prevent the County from ever -recovering its. credit, and it wa.3. simply borrowing from contractors at. twenty or thirty per cent., whereas, 'if its credit we,re good, they could obtain from the. Bank at eight or ten per cent. He opposed the making of the Arahura road, but yoted for calling for tenders, in order to, defeat its supporter* by their own weapons, because it was stated that it could be made for £2000, whereas he and his colleague knew, that it .could not be made for much less than i&OOQ, and the result proved that they were right. _ Referring again to

the indignatiou meeting he said the speakers at it nqt only dealt loosely with. figures, but also with the characters of their representatives. Allowing great latitude for fair criticism remarks were made disgraceful to the gentlemen who uttered them, especially those used by M? Wylde, a comparative stranger among i them, and who was ignorant of the dife* culties of working the new County form of government. It was disgraceful for a gentleman to characterise the whole of the members of the County Council as a - ( • set oX log-rolling beggars ;" and h* . gould not understand such an expression * being applauded in a public meeting, when; the gentlemen referred to were. not present to defend themselves, He then proceeded to mention a number of matters which had come before the last session of the Council— the action taken by him,, with regard to the steam service" ; to the, south, the administration. of. the District Court, obtaining small sum's of money fpr expenditure in the, .Paroa Bis. trict, the honorarhim question (upon which he said he had never been at variance with his constituents^ the pro-t position to lefts? or otherwise djspo&e of the reserve at the upper cud of the town, the. granting of assistance to. Road Boards, arid the " disposal of the waste lands of the. County, On this, latter ques* tion his idea was to adopt some such plan as recently adopted in Victoria,, but when the matter was decided in Committee they found that the land sajes were progressing the feelings of the people, were not ascer-. tamed, and it was allowed to drop until next session, when application would be made for a new Land Bill, In conclusion he thought that the same confidence]" which had been extended to him in former sessions should be continued in a time of. difficulty like the present.— (Applaflge.) Mr H. H. Lahman was received with. ' considerable applause, and proceeded to " give a statement of the principal matters, in which he interested himself, especially those more immediately connected Vith this district, the details of which arc* already well known to those who paid any attention to the proceedings of the late Council. The principal matters upon which he dwelt were t&e rival roa.d§, the, financial position of the County, and the. late indignation meeting. As to the former ,he moved for the making of the road to the Coal Pits upon deferred payments, did not receive the assistance of. his colleague, and lost it. He also voted. for the construction of the Arahura road on the same principle, because he believed that the overland road ought to terminate! in- Hokitika, and in order to keep faith with the persons who had purchased land on the promise that the road would be . made years ago • because he believed that 14QOQ spent now* was worth several thousands hereafter- • because it would keep the people in the County, and because he had given other members of the Council a pledge that he would vote for it, on condition that they voted for the Coal Pits road : and he had every confidence that during next session that road would be made— " indeed, that some IkIOOO or LSOOO w.ould be spent upon public, works in, thja disr trict. He spoke with confidence as to the fiuancial position of. the County, believing that it was hot nearly so gloomy as hiscolleague imagined, for they had assets available considerably over their liabilities, and the position was rapidly improving, so much so that next six months they expected to have some L6OOO available for public works. De-. . partmental expenses were now L6OOO less, than last year, aud he had no hesitation in saying that if proper care is. taken, proper business habits brought to bear, a,nd a good . administrator obtained far the" head, the County would yet prosper. At the indignation meeting it was stated^ that the revenue of Greymouth was onethird of the whole- of the County ; th)it was substantially true, and the district had a right to expect from L3OOO to! L4OOO expended on its public works every six months, whereas now it did-notreceiye its due by one-half, . In reference to the indignation meeting he admitted that he felt hurt at the expressions then made use of towards the members of the County Council, and he had invited Mr WyldeJ. to be present thajt evening to repeat to their faces what he had said of them behind their backs, but he had not come. Mr Revbll explained thaj; on, the occasion referred to Mr Fox, had asked if the words applied to the Greymoutb^ members, and was answered in the negative. Mr Lahman concluded by paying a,. high tribute to Mr Carreras, the member for Paroa, of whom he said there not, a more "conscientious, well-meaning, and strictly honest man in the . Council, [In the course of his speech, Mr Lahnian also touched upon the Education question, the appointment of liispecjtdr of Schools, the office of Receiver of Revenue, the treatment of lunatics, the sale of the Custom-house Reserve, and other lands' within the Borough, &c.] Mr Perkins replied to the remarks. . made by Mr Harrison, maintaining that, the position he took up at the indignation meeting had been fully proved by the remarks of Mr Lahman that evening, Mr E. Wickes did not think that they had heard anything opposed to what had been stated at th.at meeting, indeed, it had rather been strengthened. He hoped • the resolution adopted by, :that meeting would be given eftect to, and an endeavor made to obtain the removal of the present boundary line. Mr Harrison, he likened t,o Professor Bushe^ who coulcl prove that blacK was white. He would just say to Mr Hoos, "Therejs a row up in Greymouth, Never, mind, 1 will go up in a week; or two and make it all right" ' (Laughter. ) He believed the next session of the Council would prove to? be the same as the last, ....... ,"......'. -^ On the motion of Mr E. B Pox. . sanded, by Mr J.G, Mooee, a yote.'of confidenqe £a Messrs Harrison and Laihman was carried unanimously. The usual compliment to the chair terminated the proceedings at 31 p.m. "