THE Grey Riber Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, MAY 9, 1871.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 868, 9 May 1871, Page 2

THE Grey Riber Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, MAY 9, 1871.

The " Responsible Government " theory, as carried out by the Nelson Provincial Council, has, after twelve months' trial, completely broken down in practice. The other day the Council, by the casting vote of the Speaker, decided to reverse the decision it arrived at the previous session, and henceforth the places now occupied by Messrs Shepherd and Donne will, we suppose, be vacant. The most extraordinary part of this strange proceeding i 3 that two members of the Executive— the Provincial Secretary and the Provincial Solicitor — declined to vote, thus leaving their colleagues in the lurch. Both these gentlemen denied the existence of any personal differences amongst the members of the Executive, but failed to give any satisfactory reasons why they should now be the means of upsetting an arrangement to which they gave their sanction a year ago. The only grounds alleged by those who opposed the continuance of a Gold Fields' member in the Executive were, that by making the Executive officers politically responsible, the Superintendent was relieved from his own constitutional responsibility. Mr O'Conor, of Westport, gave as his reason that it was not fair to give one Geld Fields' member a preference over others, and he accused Mr Donne of using his position to unduly favor his own constituents. Mr Reid, one of the Westport members, opposed the alteration, as one for which no necessity had been shown, and he defended the conduct of the present Gold Fields Secretary. But it would seem that the matter had been pre-decided, and as the Provincial Solicitor and the Provincial Secretary declined to vote, a tie was the result, which was solved by the Speaker voting for the motion. Mr Donne has since resigned. We never had much faith in the bastard system of Responsible Government adopted by the Nelson Provincial Council last session ; but we do believe that it is very necessary to the satisfactory administration of the affairs of the Gold Fields that they should be specially represented in the Executive. Of course much depends upon the personal qualifications of the officer, and we do not think Mr Donne the most fit man that could have been selected for the post. Still, the presence in the Government of a Gold Fields' member must considerably help to bridge over many of the difficulties that are constantly arising where important matters of detail have to be decided at a distance. The office of Gold Fields Secretary might be made a most useful one, but to make it of any value it should be invested with niore discretionary power and responsibility than has hitherto been attached to it. Mr Donne had little if any power ; he was altogether in an unsatisfactory position, and if the Council would not consent to allowing the Gold Fields Secretary to be more than a nominal officer it did right to abolish the office altogether. We think it would have been wiser to have followed the other course, but as it is more than likely that the Gold Fields' administration of the whole Colony will soon become a Colonial Department, iv does not matter much what the Nelson Council may do ; although, in the meantime, the mining community of this district would naturally prefer to have a Gold Fields' member in the Executive.