THE : Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1871.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1049, 6 December 1871, Page 2

THE : Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1871.

During the last session of the Assembly an alteration was made in the amount of the honorarium paid to each member. The alteration made is from £1 per day to £105 each member each seasiou, witli a proviso that a proportionate amount should be deducted for each day's absence from the House, unless the same was necessitated by illness. When this was established as a fixed rule, it was supposed that it would .have been rigidly adhered to, but already some doubt has been thrown upon the manner. in which the Government have administered the vote of the House. The discretion of accepting members' excuses for absence was of course left with the Government, assisted by the Speaker of the House, avjd when any glaring irregularities" occur, they will alone be held responsible. The first doubt in connection with this subject which has been thrown upon, the GomentV. impartiality comes from a correspondent in.: the Nelson Colonist, aiid refers to one of the .West Coast representatives. He ,' aska:-^" Is it true that, Mr- O'Conor, .the member for Westland North, not only succeeded in getting the' full honorarium, although he did not take : hi3 place for three or four weeks after the session began, but also contrived to get his pay for going overland from Greymouth. to Westport, although a steamer afc Nelson sailed to Westport direct on the evening he left, thus creating extra expense ? Is it true that his friend, Mr A. S. Collins, obtained leave of absence for Mr O'Conor on the plea of ill health, when the fact is that during his absence he was up at Nelson on .business V To this the editor of the paper in question replies — "As to the second question, we have heard such a report from Wellington ; but can hardly belie v.e that Mr O'Conor would make such an application ; nor can we understand on what grounds Mr Speaker could make payments such as our correspondent mp.ntions. There is surely some mistake. Perhaps Mr O'Conor or some other Nelson membev will explain." Now it ranst be remembered that the Colonist is a thorough out-and-out supI •-.'ter of the Government, and with it Mr Yogel can do no wrong ; and as the real facts of the case certainly reflect both on the member in question and the Government, the 'reply is thus vaguely worded, for it cannot for a moment be supposed that he was ignorant of the facts of the case. As he has requested information on the point, we will,ptate wliat 'we believe, to be perfectly true; When the bther West Coast members were on their way to ; the meeting of Assembly, Mr O'Conor was in Nelson, transacting business with the Superintendent regarding the Buller River towing track. •He afterwards returned to Westporfc, where he remained for some time, and he did not reach Wellington for 1 over 'a -month after the session commenced. At the close of the session he claimed the full amount of the honorarium, £105, on the ground that he liad been delayed by illness, and he was paid in full. He also made a special claim in the shape of extra travelling expenses, becanse the steamer in which the West Coast members were returniug home did not call. at Westport, and he wonld haveto travel overlaud ! This was also allower 1 , and some sort of understanding was entered into between him and the members' of the Government that he would give thenithe advantage of his experience in the slwpe of advice as to the best route for the proposed main road to Reef ton. Mr : O'Conor embraced the opportunity which was thu3 afforded hiiri of travelling over- . 1-inri from Rokitika, via Greymouth, to Reef ton arid: do,wn the Valley of the Inan-ig-ilm.-i i->. . Westport; Since his ariiwil there he has b t een giving to the woild, t'irougli the columns of his own paper, the resells of his php'erviUions -during his Mip-country travels (at the ; expense of the country), <vnd, us wms understood before he atarte 1, thoy Me all in favor of the Buller route as against- the Grey Valley*

The whole of the agricultural and mining interest settled .in the Grey Valley, and the commercial centre of Greymouth, sink into insignificance as compared with -those of Westport and Buller Valley, j-althongh he cannot help admitting that there are some interests in the Grey Valley worthy of consideration. He says —"Probably, at no distant date, a dray road will be from Greymouth ,to Westporl by Keefton; for although =iriakiug a road . through 'the. Grey Valley could not be said to open for- settlement so large an area of land fit for agriculture, yet there are interests already established there well worthy of consideration, and besides a main line of road traversing two such important districts must tend to the material prosperity of both." Mr O'Conor could not possibly have chosen a more unfortunate comparison than that of the agricultural resources of the Grey and Buller Valleys, as any person who has the slightest knowledge of the country is aware that those of the Grey Valley aye immeasurably superior to those of the Rnller District, without mentioning the large number of mining centres of population through which the Grey Valley road would pass, and the encouragements which the formation of this road would give to the miners to settle on the agricultural lands. We do not for a moment believe that the Government will give weight to ,my recommendations Mr O'Conor may make on the subject, be-< cause with him they were foregone conclusions , before he started on his subsidised trip, and if he makes any recommendations at all they must be in favor of his own district. But we still nope to see the main road carried from Greymouth to Reefton arid thence to ( Westporfc, and then we have not the slightest fear that the traffic of the Inangahua District will have run through its natural channel, the Grey Valley. :,; We have rather digressed, in order to : show what the results of the Government' 3 action in this instance of misappropriation of the revenues of the country may be. At the same time we; must express our surprise that the hon. I member for the Buller could lend himself to such- a transaction, especially remembering all his high-sounding phrases about honor, political honesty, <fee, which have so frequently of late adorned his speeches. And wo must enter our protest against the Government overriding the resolutions of the House in so barefaced a manner in order to serve their own cuds. Another instance of a very similar nature has been dragged to notice, but it' is not of so glaring a kind. Sir David! Monro, who was unseated for Motueka,| during last session drew from the Govern-i ment £35 for his attendance in the] Assembly, although the seal he held was neither legally nor morally his, and Mr Parker who succeeded him was in attendance in Wellington during the whole session. The question naturally arises was that amount deducted from Mr Parker's honorarium at the close of the session'/ Nothing of the kind— he was paid in full, and Sir David Monro was called to the Upper House ! A striking commentary this upon the political honesty of some of the honorable gentlemen who govern the country. And we have no doubt many similar transactions! occur, especially under the present Go-j vern merit, which are never dragged to? light. ' S