THE NELSON GOVERNMENT GOLD FIELDS' REPRESENTATIVE.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 689, 18 June 1870, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE NELSON GOVERNMENT GOLD FIELDS' REPRESENTATIVE.

. [weekly argus.] ; , ; The recent appointment of Mr A. Reid, of Weßtport, as a member of the Nelson Executive,' appears ito have been very generally misunderstood^. It was very freely ; supposed, and with., some show of reason, that the appointment was equivalent to Mr Kynnersley'a , Commissionership of the Gold Fields, and that he would Undertake the supervision ■>£ all publip irqrka, and see thai ihe wanba^ oi $h& people were generally attended to. Ii iiow ; appears, that in accordance with the hew Executive Act, he is simply to be a member of the Executive to represent the Gold Fields therein, and to advise his Honor on. matters relating to them. It was as necessary that a member having a knowledge of the wants of the Gold Fields generally, should have a voice in advising the Superintendent as a member of the City of Nelson,, whose ideas were bounded by the suburbs ; but it was also necessary that, in order .to advise properly, the Gold Fields' member should make himself personally acquainted, with the .wants of the people, scattered over the extensive area of these Gold Fields, This does not appear to be the intention of the Act, because provision has "only been made in the Estimates to. pay the. GoldFieldsßepresentativethe amount of his travelling expenses from the town in which, he may live to attend the meetings of the Executive Council, in Nelson— Ll 50 per annum is the" sum proposed, which may be quite enough for travelling expenses, but will never . reimburse Mr Reid for the losses and inconveniences he may sustain in his .private business, by having to proceed from Westport to Nelson whenever the Superintendent chooses to call his Executive Council together: It has, however, proved ono thing, of which we were always certain, that the office was not sought by Mr; Reid for emolument— as has lately been publicly stated by a disappointed . aspirant — but that it was accepted at the request of the Superintendent, and in order to carry out a principle which Mr Reid; ha 3 contended for ever' since he took a seat . in the Council— that the Gold Fields should .'have a voice in advising, his Honor's actions, especially when there was tio salutary check hpon them such as the Provincial Council being in session. The appointment, especially the small sum set opposite it, appears to have given offence to, several 'members, more especially to Mr O'Conor, Mr Reid's Westport colleague, who attempted ~toj upset the new Ordinance, and in doing so. made the following very ungracious'rc^ nt^s :— " With all respect for Mr Reid, i% thought his appointment an unwise one, and when that gentleman returned h the Coast there would .pd^vbe much s&isfactich shown. H#'i(9!(| ftever, displayed any signs of actoifti^%£wiUty

— (hear, hear, from Mr Reid)— and he disliked the systeni of apprenticeships. [ The Province should not bo made to suffer by teaching any tyro. ' He spoke ( about his first; advocating representative and thoroughly responsible Government,' but nowhe would rather go back tprthe old system, holding ' the Superintendent purely responsible and without any Executive," rather than- accept this arrangement, which placed an element of discord in the Council. We put two members in the Executivo to fight our battles, and then if they were beaten by the Superintendent's votes they must come back to the Council and two others are sent, for He proceeded to say the Gold Fields Representative, as provided for by the Estimates, could not do what was wanted of him. An administrative officer was stated on the Gold Fields to look after public works, a man possessing a power able to give relief in matters when it was wanted. There were numbers of public works not properly supervised, and his duty should be to watch them. The • salary offered for the Gold • Fields Representative was an insult to the Gold Affcer repeating his desire to see ' the old Act- replaced ; ■ and ihat he ■ was I prepared to -support an administration which would throw the whole weight of responsibility ' -on the Superintendent, leaving the Council the power of refusing Ito vote his salary, and petition the Governor to remove him, he concluded by saying thai; the Act would make his Honor dependent on two hon. members, and would only be the means of increasing the force of idlers, of w.horn, he fancied, we had quite enough." In. the course of his speech, Mr O?Conor was several times called to order for refevring to past debates, and for some personal allusions, one of which was that he supposed the Representative of the Gold Fields could only accept office at such a salary by eking out a livelihood by employment from the 'editor of the Colonist. This remark Mr Luckie objected to 1 as being a grave insinuation against the. probity of^Mr Reid, and as discreditable as it was untrue; In replying to the movers of the No-con-fidence debate, Mr Reid entered fully into the question, making the following clear explanation, which we, -can do no better than te - produce in his own words: — "What were- the words of the Act 1 ' That ' the' Superintendent shall also appoint two other persons to be members of the Executive Council^ pne of whom shall therein represent the Gold 'Fields;' It was-under "this Act that the new Executive were appointed, and under this clause of the Act that >he- had been gazetted '■ A member of ths Executive Council to represent the interests of the Gold Fields.' No proviso whatever had been made for the external, outward, individual exercise of Executive functions, nor indeed could such exist, except as occasion ; might require, under the special and written instructions' of his Honor arid' tlie Executive.. ; If the Council re•solved otherwise^-if his honorable friend, j Hb.e member for Charleston, introduced a motion on the subject, and it was carried • •— he would' resign^ and leave his Honor to make a 'free . selection.' He looked upon the present appointment as a nonbfficial one, just as much as he had been theapppintment of Mr Collins, a member for the City ; but he thought it was wise that the Gold Fields had been specified' in the A ot, as they certainly deserved atten- . tion as much as Nelson. : The office - was not a paid one, any more than was that of, Mr Collins, yet he believed there should be an equivalent given to its occupant for Ills loss of time and his attention to public business. In this case there had not been put down an equivalent — he was perfectly well aware of that-r-but the amount might prove barely sufficient for the expenses of attendance at Executive meetings, and at first it was not so much a question of payment as of principle. The principle he con tended for— perfectly regardless of the individual — was that the Gold Fields, should have, a voice in, the advising of liis Honpr's actions The pay was another .matter. If, the .'.provision' were 'inadequate, 'as the motionstated and ashe believed it was ,the remedywas in the Council's hands. They had only to increase the amount; Personally he had no .objections— not the. slightest.,. The honorable organisers of this No confidence motion assumed . that he; and other members of. the Executive, exhibited only - "lament-- ' &bio xnisconcepiitxa " . and ignora»ee in matters of .administration. He for one did not quite adrait that he was svioh a novice as .to th 9 manner.of constructing aa .Executive. The. thing was no novelty. . The Province of Otago, as an older Gold Meld, might be worthy of imitation ; and, what was the case there] He had only to look at the. Appropriation Acts, and there he found that there .were, year after year, two or -ihree^non-plncial whose ..emolument ,was not more than .£lso— orignally. — and one, if not; more of these, was invariably a representative of the Gold Fields; -It. was puthajb basis; that he had gone, and, reading the Act as intelligently as he.coiild, lie saw no warrant for any other basis." It is sufficient to add that the design of tho mover of the No-'Cpnßdence motion was defeated, and the new Gold, Fields Representative remains in office ;. but by our last accounts, the amount, set down forhis expenses in the Estimates had not been passed, and may.probably beaddedto. Of .this we are confident, that in whatever capacity Mr Rei4 represents the Gold Fields, he will do it honestly, impartially, and to the best pf his ability. . [Since the above was in type, wo have been informed privately thai when the Estimates came before tho House, a majority of the members wished that the Gold Fields Representative should be made an active officer, with the entire supervision of all public works and affairs on the South- West Gold Fields, , at a salary of .£SOO per annum, and voted accordingly; although this was opposed to ihe wish pf the. Government, and the original, promoters of the new Executive .Ordinance.]