THE MAIN ROAD TO REEFTON.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1106, 13 February 1872, Page 2

THE MAIN ROAD TO REEFTON.

A public meeting of the .^habitants of Ahaura and that district called to consider theahpvc.subject was, held .at Piir-. ..kiss's" Albion Hotel, 1 Ahaura, on the jevening of Friday, the 9th' instant. Oh the motion of Mr Jas. . Wilkie, seconded by Mr P; M'lne'rriay, Mr Andrew ' Nichol .was called to the chair. : Mr Frank GuiNiress said they met to take into consideration the action taken by thejpeople of Greymouth with refer- , ence to the making pf the main road to Reef ton, > especially ! those portions of it from the Arnold to the Ahaura and from the Little Grey to the Inangahua. There were not at present any roads with the name,. and it was an imperative necessity that some available means of communication should be opened With the important district of ,the Inangahua,, The population of that district was largely increasing, and there was upt at present a safe and reliable means of transporting the mere necessaries of life there, except during the most favorable weather. A^means of transit was also necessary to convey the great quantities of heavy and expensive machine!/ required at the Mmj.*ay Creek reefs. The General Government have ta^ken steps to have the L 24,000 set aside for roads on the. South- West Gold Fields expended, but it would, if the people on this side the Saddle did not bestir themselves, be all spent out of the Grey district. The road tp; Reef ton from the junction of the Buller and ; Inangahua njight be said to be actually commenced, •but that road wouldmot mcct 1 the" wants ■ of the Inangahua population; ; The Bulled

traffic was difficult and dangerous, and there was a gentleman present who could fully explaijcpthe disadvantages and drawbacks .of §&oth routes— he meant Mr Wilkie, their representative in the Provincial Council. The speaker referred to the action taken by the members of ' the'Oommittee at Greymouth - by placing themselves in communication with the General Government and Mr Harrison, M.H.R. for the Grey Valley. He had ' confidence in the General Government, for the Government appeared so satisfied with the importance of tlje information given them by the Grey Committee that a long telegram forwarded to Mr Gisborne had been franked by the Government, and they had sincej, prderedl' a., survey of bith, the proposed lines, of road to be made, so that the most advantageous route could Be selected. The* speaker then dwelt on on the respective claims 61 O'Malley's route and the present one to the Saddle, and alluded to the portion of the road between the • Arnold -: and the ■Ahaura. The . acting sub-committee., at Greymouth, had submitted their jwhpnie to the Superintendent of Nelson, and requested him to put the provisions: of the Waste Lands! Act in force, which enabled the Provincial ■■■.; Government' to 'alienate the Waste Lands of the Pro virice ; t» T pay for. the. construction of , roads. If the ;Suhis consent, the capital :to make the road, on the guarantee of obtaining the land would be at once forthcoming. If the people of the up-rivei districts would co-operate unauimously with the residents . of the seaport, .the roads would be made. The Grey Rivei district of the Nelson Gold Fields had .been disgracefully neglected by the Nelson ■Executive ; the miners were heavily taxed /and got nothing in return, except a few miles of tracks along river banks land through creek beds, and the present calamitous flood would demonstrate the inutility -of throwing away the people*! money on such works. He trusted those present would give such a decided expres sion of their opinion oh the subject, as would show the Grey people that thej .were in earnest in their wish to co-operat< with them, for the making of the mail road was of vital importance to them all Even if the Inarigahua district did no realise the sanguine -expectations forme< of itythe Grey Valley hadagreat futuri before it, and the main road, of whicl they were now in a manner only dream ing, would yet be the main ,airtery of i country teeming with agricultural fertility and. auriferous wealth. Mr Guinnesre sumed his seat amidst loud applause. Mr James WiLKiB,M.P.C. } in risinj .to propose the first resolution, said tha although many of the large audjen.ee ■' be fore him were unacquainted with him p§? ■ spnally^mpsipf thpm knew tjhgt he. ha, the honor of being one of the represent^ tives of that important district in the Pro yincial Council of Nelson. He regrette* to be compelled to admit, that 'althougi he went to that Council as their peppt seniative, actuated by the best intentions and although he did his hest while there t forward their interests, he had, unfortu nately been able to do littlegood for them The reason was that 'the 'majority in th Provincial Council of the Government {<) Nelson would not understand the want of the. Gold Fields, and they made n secret of the fact that they did not wish t understand those wants, or to meet th Teqmremenia-pf the miners.* 'The Gol< Fields contributed oriS-fourth of the pro vincial revenue, and -not one-fifteenth o it was expended on them. -JHe felt whei in the Council that this district was beinj systematically neglected, and its interest but he was powerless to effect i He saw the only alternative was to "grin and bear it," arid he sa< there, year after year and saw monej voted without the least probability, q its being laid out, Ife saw mattery get ting worse session 'after session until hi became utterly disheartened,', and hi would be^lad to resign his seat; if hi imagined his constituents would ■ deriyi any benefit from his resignation, for h< had come to be convinced that althougi his colleage and himself might use theii 'utmost "endeavors serve"" them," thei efforts were useless, for the representatioi of the Gold Fields in the Nelson Pro vincial Council as at present constitute* was a farce. The male adult populatioi of the South West Gold Fields alorif exceeded the male adult population o; the whole of. the settled districts . oi the Nelson Province; arid yet - this larg< male population, the great, producers oj wealth, and the greatest consumer* oj dutiable goods, had actually no voiqe ix\ the making of the Provincial laws, or ix\ the Government of i the Province, foi while the settled districts sent thirteen members to the Council, the whole of the Gold Fields only sent six representatives there. As a matter of course, when it became a question of the expenditure ol votes for public works the majority took the greatest proportion pf the public jinoney, leaving as little as possible for the districts where the money wi»s actually raised, and this was dprie'\witV..ihVmost unblushing effrontery— because the ma« jority in the Council could .rely upon thfl connivance'^qf the- Government. > Ms Wilkie then compared the votes for workq ~on the Gold Fields with the money actually expended, and showed that ■ the •Gold- Fields were being systematically plundered for the benefit of other parts of the Province. He said it was time to look elsewhere for redress; and it was time the people took the- matter into, thefr pwft: hands, and said to the JSfelsqn Goverrir ment ',' wo.. will Aave done^with . ~ypu } we've had enough of you." The Premier of New Zealand wasnowon a visit to the West Coast, and a good opportunity offered, itself of laying their grievances before Mm.! Mr Fox was an old colonist,! he was intimately; acquainted with the rise, progress, and reverses of the Colony ; he > had a thorough knowledge of its laws and the.fr bearing on its mining and agricultural interests, therefore there w^s liq pna better calculated to understand their difficulties and to devise a remedy. ■ ! If the Premier, had the actual state of their ' case properly brought under his notice he was the last man in New Zealand to per-: met the further perpetration of the inj ustice under which they were, suffering. Mr Fox could even give immediate relief, toj them,, for, without acting unconstitutionally, he could, without consulting his colleagues, at once order the money available under the Railway and Public :Works Act, for this part of the Province, ? to; be expended in an equitable manner; The question then arose what was to be' done with the Nelson Provincial Council f but he, (Mr Wilkie); as a member of that body considered it was time it was done away with, for he could never discover * any necessity for it as far as regarded the

Gold Fields. Let them agitate persistently until the delegated powers of the Governor were withdrawn from the Super* intendent, for that was the only means of salvation he could see for the diatric*. The subject of the meilts and advantages of the several routes to the In°ngahca froja the seaboard had been freely discussed, and the arguments pro. and con had been extensively ventilated. He considered he wan qua i; fied to give an opinion on the matter. He had for the last six months been prr olically engaged in testing the Buller route, and it wan his co mcftm that ?* a road were made by way of the Grey Va'Tey, not one ton of freight would go by way of the Bull"*. There were natural difficulties to contend with in the navigation of the Buller which did not exist in the Grey, and, Apart from these, there was no comparison in the facilities offered by the Buller route to those of the Grey. The residents of Westpoit were very properly straining every nerve to secure the trade and traffic of the qu&riz reefs ; they were backed up by the Provincial Government for reasons of its own, and the extraordinary apathy displayed by the Greymouth . people favored the asp'-ations of Westport. The Government favored Westpoi i, because they had the control of all the revenue collected there, whereas only one-half the revenues of Grej mouth found its way into the Provincial coffers, and for that reason alone they favored the claims of Westport It was fame an alteration was made, and therefore, as a step towards a ohangeofsome sort he would submit the following resolution for the'reonsideration : — " That in the opinion of this meeting the time Has now arrived for the residents of the districts lying between Greymoath and Inangahua, to take such steps as will compel the Provincial Government to construct a main dray road between the said districts, and in the event of the Superintendent not compl}'ng with the above request, that this meeting is of opinion that the Gove:uor should be memorialised to withdraw, his delegated powers fromthe Superintendent of Nelson, and cause the management of the said districts to be assumed by the General Government ; and that this meeting cor-

dially agrees, with the. action already taken by the Greyraouth Committee." Mr P. M'IHBRsrAY./ without remark, seconded the resolution. - Tne motion was warmly supportedjjy Messrs Frank Guinness, W. S. StaiWj and others. The Chairman then nut the resolution, which was carried unanimously. Mr W. S. Staitb proposed and Mr E. FitASBR seconded— tf That the following gentlemen be appointed a Committee to carry out the object of the resolution i and to co-operate with the Greyniouth Commiltee: Messrs James Wilkie, M.P.C., S. M. Mackley, M.P.C F. Guinness, J. D. Pinkerton, E. Fraser, A. White, John Hamilton (Gilmer), P. M'lnernay, A.Nicol, M. S. flayden, D. Donald, R. M'Neill and the mover." Carried. A vote of thanks to the Chairman con* eluded the proceedings.