THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 1871.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 818, 11 March 1871, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 1871.

In another column we to-day publish the reply which has been forwarded by the Borough Council of Greymouth to the General Governmeut, in answer to the communication recently received regarding the ultimate disposal of the Grey Coal Reserve. The document is well worthy of perusal. It will be seen that the Council has taken up this question with considerable spirit, and has entered into the discussion of it in a comprehensive manner, which does them much credit. We may differ with them as to some of the details, still it is satisfactory to find that they have shown to the Government, that, in asking the Grey Coal Reserve as an endowment for the Corporation of Greymouth, they have displayed no grasping spirit by attempting to obtain the revenue arising from the reserve for general Municipal purposes. They adhere to the original purpose for which the Reserve was set aside, viz., "for the improvement and maintenance of the navigation of the Grey River ;" and we consider that the Borough Council has every right to recommend, as they have done, that all rents and royal bies arising from the whole of ihe Reserve should be endowed on the Borough Council of Greymouth, or a Harbor Trust, for the sole purpose of improving the Harbor of the Grey River. We are glad the Council has recognised the justice of the arguments which we used on a former occasion in reference to the formation of a Harbor Trust, and have made the recommendation to the Government. It will show ihe Government that they, at least, are sincere in their desire to see the port improved, and made available for a traffic in coiil sufficient to supply the whole Colony. We have already pointed out at length the advantages which would be sure to arise from the constitution of a Harbor Trust, and we do not intend to recapitulate them here ; but we must express our' confident belief, from what we have seen elsewhere, that the result of the creation of such a body, with the large revenue they would have at their command, would be the inauguration of the carrying out of a system of permanent harbor works, which would very speedily deepen the channel, and make it available for vessels of much larger tonnage than now frequent this port. The scheme we previously sketched out is quite feasible ; and we believe that no port ivas ever so liberally supplied by nature with the material for carrying out such a work. At the same time, it is no use for the residents to shut their eyes to the fact that, by some means or other, a stone breastwork will have to be built within the next three years, owing to the rapid decay of the present wooden one ; and the present correspondence has thrown some light upon the way in which it can be obtained, if the agitation is carried on with sufficient earnestness, and the Borough Council continue to maintain the position which they have takeu up on this question. They can do so with some considerable amount of confidence, now that the eyes of the General Government have been thoroughly opened by Dr Knight, who has certainly proved himself to be a good friend to the Grey District. It is to be hoped the statement of Mr Lahrnanto the late County Chairman, that "in asking too much he had got nothing," will prove correct ; and the Borough Council have done well to challenge the statement made by Mr Hoos, in his letter to the Government, that ''it would not be a fair arrangement to vest the Reserve in the Corporation of the Borough of Greymouth, as the expenditure within that Borough has been borne by the public funds of the County." A more glaring attempt to injure a community we cannot remember, and that, too, by its chief officer. Mr Hoos must have been aware, when he penned these lines, that what he was writing was very far from the truth; and if he did not, he ought to have made the fullest enquiry when communicating with the Government of the Colony upon a matter so deeply affecting the welfare and prosperity of the residents in the Grey District. The truth is, that the Borough Council has expended .£8667 2s. lOd. on the river works, and of this sum the County Government contributed £3000 only ! In addition to this, large sums were from time to time raised by the inhabitants, and spent upon protective works long before the Borough Couucil was called into existence. Mr Hooa* statement can now be viewed in its proper light by the Government, because the properly audited statements of the expenditure have been forwarded along with the report. We fully endorse what

the Council says with regard to the combination of the two mines, so that they might be worked profitably together under one control, and it is to be hoped this part of the report will receive the consideration it deserves, because, if given effect to, there is at least one company, with a capital of .£60,000, ready to take them over and work them in a systematic manner, with advantage both to themselves and to the port.