THE Grey River Argus. SATURDAY, MAY 7, 1870.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 671, 7 May 1870, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. SATURDAY, MAY 7, 1870.

Although we have all along anticipated it, the opening address of the Chairman of the County Council brings us face to face with the unwelcome fact that the revenues of the County are still falling short ; that the expectations indulged in, and so freely expressed by the Chairman and other members of the Council at the close of j last session, of increasing prosperity and revenues, will not have been realised at the close of the six months, and that, consequently, a resumption of public works is an impossibility, so long as the money is expected to come out of the current revenue. We were quite prepared for this ; indeed, some weeks ago, we stated that it would prove to be the case. The Chairman must have known this for months, and yet it was not until the last moment, just as the Council waa about to meet, that he commenced to make those reductions in the Departments, of which he makes such a strong point in his address. A few clerks have been discharged and six constables, whose combined salaries will make very little difference in the Estimates. It seems strange that Mr Hoos will not recognise the fact, and plainly state it, that the present system of . Government, as administered, is too ex* pensive for the County, and that to persist in working it, as it is now being worked, is not only absurd and ruinous, but must lead to most disastrous results. How is prosperity possible, when all the available revenue is swallowed up in salaries, departmental expenses, permanent charges, and the bare maintenance of the few public works already in existence ? If the country is to Jbe opened up, and inducements held out to the people to settle on the lands, and encouragement given to prospectors, it must be by making roads and tracks, by bridging creeks and rivers ; and if this cannot be done, cannot even be initiated, except by means of borrowed capital, let the difficulty be looked fairly in the face, and let '' '- "* . CU 1-3 O ,_ the General Government or the Assembly refuse to assist us out of the difficulty by granting borrowing powers, ihe present system of Government must be re-modelled, made easier and cheaper in its administration, so that there shall always remain a larje balance of revenue for ihe construction of public works, or else the County must remain a trackless wilderuess, and the people driven out of it for want of the simplest means of communication from one poinb to another. Something must be [done, and that speedily, as we feel certain this district will not Bubmit longer to the perpetuation of this expensive farce of playing at Parliament which is now being carried on in Hokitika. We are glad to notice that some, at least, of our County Councillors agree wnh us on this subject, for we find that on Monday Mr Harrison will move "That a Select Committee, to consist of Messrs Barff, White, Carreras, and the mover be appointed to prepare, for the consideration of this Council, a memorial to the General Assembly, setting forth the urgent necessities of the County, and praying for such aid as will enable this Council to resume the • prosecution of public works." It is indeed a most humi liating end to our much-vaunted County system to have to go so soon, as other bankrupt Provinces have done, as beggars to the General Government ; but better that — better the much-detested Provincialism, than the County system, as at present administered in the County of Wesvland— we had almost said the County of Officialdom. We will wait anxiously the report of the Committee above-men-tioned ; but, in the meantime, the local committee which was entrusted by the people of Greymouth with the care of these questions ought io bestir themselves, lo watch closely the proceedings- of the Council, and be ready to take what steps they may resolve upon before the approaching meeting of the General Assembly.