THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1095, 31 January 1872, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1872.

As we noticed very shortly yesterday, the recent action of the General Government shows that it. is sincere in the intentions expressed during last session to watch over the interests of the South- West Gold Fields, and see that more justice is done them by the Nelson Provincial Government than has been the case in the past. The residents in this town and Grey Valley District were fortunate in adopting the course of action we pointed out to them on many previous occasions in order to overc<<nio the obstructiveness or culpable neglige 1 ice of Provincial Governments, by appealing to the General Government direct, and laying the case plainly before them. In this district we have now had six years' experience of appeals to a Provincial Government, the members of which have been ever ready to promise, but never prepared to fulfil. If promises were made in abundance they have been to the inhabitants of the Grey Valley, in such abundance indeed as to drive anyone to the belief that MrCurtisandhis Executive had very short memories, or else that their promises were made in order to be broken and sent to that place where good intentions are said to be valuable. The residents both in town and country have during the last week discovered that the speediest way of arriving at a satisfactory understanding is to entirely overlook the sleepy Provincial authorities, and the results are now before us. In the case of the recent meeting at Reefton a request was made that the vote for the opening up of the main roads both by way of Westport and Grey Valley should be immediately expended aud that a Resident Warden should be immediately appointed for the district, as the distance of 5 Warden Giles at Westport and the infrequency of his visits compelled the miners to transact most of their business at the far-distant, Court of Ahaura. In answer to tho resolutions which were forwarded by telegraph, the immediate reply was that the survey of the proposed route should be made from the landing at Christie's to Beef ton, so as to join the Buller towing-track from Westport, and Mr Warden Broad received instructions to immediately take charge ofthelnangahua District, with his head-quarters at Reefton. This will prove of great importance to the district, especially at the present time when there is a large and steady influx of population, when the jumping of quartz-leases is becoming a common occurrence, and when the presence on the spot of an experienced, trusted, and determined Warden is essentially necessary for the common good. There is no doubt, judging by past oxpeiience, that if this appeal had been made to the Provincial Government it would still have been "under consideration," and most probably, after a lapse of six months or so, a beautifully-worded circumlocution reply, meaning nothing, would have been returned. Another instance of a similar nature has occurred nearer homo, which more fully proves what we have said as to tho value of appealing to head-quartera at once, especially in matters connected with the Gold Fields and the expenditure of the recent General Government votes. Only on Saturday night last, a public meeting was held here for the purpose of urging on

the General Goveiimerit the necessity which existed for the immediate construction of the seven miles of road either through the Saddle Bush" or by the newly discovered track, in order to connect the Grey Valley with Reefton, and in order to open up dray-road communication between that centre and the Ahaura. The resolutions 'then passed were promptly forwarded by telegraph to the General Government, and were as promptly answered by Mr Gisborno, the Minister for Public Works. Yesterday, the Mayor, who was chairman of the meeting referred to, received the following telegram from Mr Gisborno: — "I have received your telegram abo\it the road from the Grey Valley to Reefton, and will take steps to have an exploration aud survey made without delay." This is highly satisfactory •and shows that the wants of the residents in the district have only to be brought under the immediate notice of the General Government, and they will be at least promptly investigated. If the resolutions passed at the public meeting referred to had been forwarded to the .Nelson Provincial Government, it is highly probable that their promoters would have been snubbed for the reason that they were not residents in the Nelson Province, and according to the limited views of the Superintendent, have no right to interfere in bis little arrangements — such as the expenditure of the money voted for these roads on the construction of the Foxhill Railwiiy — but the General Government now, happily, for the outlying districts of the Colony, recognises no such distinctions, because recent discussions in Parliament, and interviews with West Coast members, have opened their eyes to the fact that although a river divides the County of Westland from Nelson, the true interests of the residents in the Grey Valley and Greymouth are identical, and that the one has much right to give an expression of opinion on a broad question of this kind, affecting, as it does, the welfare of the whole district, as the other. We look upon these incidents as signs that the General Government is carrying out its policy of breaking down the barriers to the prosperity of the Colony which have been built up by Provincialism, and we trust that the residents will take the hint, and when any public work is required appeal direct to headquarters instead of to the miserable imitations of Governments which have hitherto obstructed the advancement of the prosperity of the Colony under the name of Provincial Institutions.