THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1871.

Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 1018, 31 October 1871, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1871.

If any convincing proof were wanted in support of the assertions we have frequently of late made regarding the utter neglect of the Grey Valley District by the Nelson Government, a glance at an official return just received ought to prove satisfactorily even to the most sceptical that the only cure for existing evils is the establishment of Road Boards on the South-West Gold Fields, with the power of expending a fixed proportion of the. revenue on the required public works. ~ The abstract of the receipts and disbursements of the Provincial Treasurer of Nelson (the Mr Shephard who has such a supreme contempt for everything that savors of a Gold Field) for the quarter ended the 30th September last, shows that the revenue of the Province was £16,618 0s Id, and the disbursements £18,599 2s 3d, or nearly 62000 to the bad on the quarter. But ais appears to be no new thing, as there - -. a debit balance brought forward from at quarter of £3720 18s lid which,

together with the balance from the last quarter, causes a sum of £5702 Is Id to carried forward against the December quarter. If this process goes on much longer, the whole of the current revenue will be swallowed up, and the functions of Government in every department will have to be stopped for a quarter at least in order that both sides of the ledger may be balanced, and a fresh start made. So far as the Grey Valley District is concerned, it matters little how soon such a dilemma is brought about, if the present system of administering the revenue is to be continued ; because during the September quarter there does not appear to have been a single farthing expended upon any road or track in the Grey Valley. It will be remembered that during the period in question there were numerous floods in this district, the tracks were washed away in every direction, and many valuable lives were lost ; but still nothing whatever was done by the Government, and the proof of this statement appears only too plainly in the Treasurer's abstract, to which we have referred. At a glance we discover where the money has really been spent, and that is upon what has recently been christened Nelson Proper. Public works have been lavishly carried on all through the settled districts where they are not immediately wanted, and the newly-settled districts, where there is scarcely such a thing as a road or track, are passed by without the least consideration. have been expended on these works, which were not urgently required, in addition to .£IOSO, which were given to the Road Boards in the same districts. The Executive cost £518, and and the Land and Public Works Department £1072. The Provincial Council is charged with £155 ; Provincial schools, £1801} ; printing and advertising, £341 ; and that most useful of all items, " General Contingencies," comes up to the respectable sum of £800 for the quarter — or £3200 a-year ! The balance of the expenditure is charged to Wardens, police, gaols, harbors, charitable aid, &c, with the exception of a few items which appear under the head of "Public works, South- West Gold' Fields," and these are Buller Valley, £316 ; Charleston and Westporfc road, £166; maintenance of Westport and Cobden road, £406 ; district roads, £173 ; buildings, £995 ; maintenance of roads and bridges, £407 ; and a few trifling sums for other purposes ; but no mention whatever of the Grey Valley District, or of the expenditure of any portion of the thousands of pounds which were voted for its roads at the last meeting of the Provincial Council. One item is charged to the account of public works on the Gold Fields, against which we have on several previous occasions protested, and which we must once more point out. That is the cost of the Brunner Coal Mine, £1264, while the revenue derived from it(£J626) is carefully credited to the ordinary revenue account of the Province. A work such as the Brunner Coal Mine ought to be charged to a separate account, so that the public might see the amount of profit which the Government is making out of working this mine, and using it as ordinary revenue of the Province, instead of appropriating it towards improving this splendid estate. These accouats must be highly unsatisfactory to every person living in the Grey District, and are the best evidence that could be produced of the urgent necessity which exists for securing some local system of administration of the revenue collected on these Gold Fields.