THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1126, 7 March 1872, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1872.

During the visit of the Premier to Greymouth, Ahaura, and Hokitika, the question of altering the present form of Government for the West Coast was brought under his notice, and in answer to the deputations which waited upon him, he refused to give his opinion as to the particular direction in which the change should be made, but heartily endorsed the views of the residents that the time had arrived when some change was necessary. By an ingenious device ho evaded the possible solution of the problem by throwing the entire responsibility of the form which the wished-for change may assume, by throwing it upon the residents, and saying that if a change were desirable, it was for them to suggest how it should be brought about. We have, on a previous occasion, taken the liberty of differing from the Premier on this point, because we consider it is the duty of the Parliament of the Colony to devise the means of redress for existing evils, once a sufficient case has been made out, as we believe has been done, to the satisfaction of the Premier, both in the case of the Nelson and Westland Governments, continued mismanagement of the Gold Fields under their charge. Whatever Mr Fox may say to public deputations, we have no doubt that the opinions he has' formed from what he has seen during his visit will, in the comiug session, bear good fruit for the West Coast Gold Fields ; and it is satisfactory to find that already the Government influence in this matter has extended to Wellington and the Government organ, the Independent, is fighting the cause of the South- West Gold Fields against the Nelson authorities. In this respect the change of residence of the member for Grey Valley is likely to prove highly beneficial to the district, owing to his local knowledge and the additional influence he can now bring to bear upon the Government and the country at large ; and it is satisfactory to find that in his new sphere, he has not forgotten thegrievances under which a portion of his district has so long labored. In a recent article in the journal to which we have referred, the facts of the case are truthfully set out, and the deduction made is that nothing is more certain than that the Nelson Provincial Government will lose, its West Coast Gold Fields. Tho arguments given in support of this are so clearly and truthfully put that we consider it our duty to reprint them at length. The writer says .-—The Nelson South West Gold Fields have been the means of raising the Province of Nelson from a perfectly negative position in New Zealand to one of importance. They have been the means not only of elevating the Province to a position of consideration, but of literally saving the settlers of what one may term Nelson proper — the settlements on the shores of Blind Bay. By the market created by gold discoveries on the West Coast the agriculturists and traders of the older settled districts have reaped an enormous advantage. Indeed it is not beyond the bounds of truth to say, that but for the gold field the Nelsou settlement would have remained in the apparently hopeless state of thorough prtictical dulness and stagnation which distinguished it some seven years ago. One would have thought that at least tho spirit of selfishness would have taught the Nelson Government to cultivate and develope such a resource of profit and fame as tho gold fields constituted; and that every effort would have been made to advance tho prosperity of districts upon which the settlers of Nelsou had so much to de- ! pend. But an entirely opposite plan has been pursued. The Superintendent and his Executive have apparently been guided" by no higher principle than that of making the Gold Fields contribute directly to the advantage of the settled districts, without regard to the means by which such a result was to bo attained. It is almost incredible that with the enormous revenue enjoyed by the Province of Nelson from its Gold Fields— certainly not less than a quarter of a million during the last six years— the districts which havo so largely fed the Provincial cheat should even now at this day be without the most ordinary results of good Government. It is a melancholy, but nevertheless a positive fact, that the large tract of valuable territory— valuable not only as a mining district, but as affording greater facilities for permanent settlement — is at this moment almost as difficult of access, and as difficult to traverse as it was six years ago. Almost utterly roadless and bridgeless as the country is,

it is a wonder how the mining population have contrived to remain in it. Many thousands have left, and unless something is done to rescue * this interesting ana valuable part of the colony from the imbecile rule of the Neison Government, thousands will follow in the wake of those who have gone. As it is, the population is gradually leaving, and those who are doing so constitute the very best class of colonists — men with capital who, haviug earned a few hundreds or thousands of pounds as the case may be, are so utterly discouraged by the apathy and neglect of the Provincial Government, that they prefer to take themselves and their money to some other colony. It is a fact, that in addition to the utter and criminal neglect of the Nelson Government in respect to the opening up of the country by roads and other public works, there have been immense obstacles created against permanent settlement. No inducement whatever has been held to the miners to settle upon the laud. Every difficulty which red-tapeism and cii'cumlocution could devise has been thrown up aa an insurmountable wall against permanent settlement. Land cannot be purchased or leased except under conditions of vexatious delay and expense sufficient to deter any man. The Gold Fields revenue — imposed nominally for Gold Fields purposes— has been either diverted from its legitimate direction, or so badly or ignorantly expended as to leave no practical result behind. No one can travel over auy part of the Nelson Gold Fields without figuratively taking his life in his hand. No care, no forethought, no effort in the direction of ameliorating the condition of the population has been manifested. The Superintendent and his Executive sit in their comfortable rooms in Nelson, and if any unusual remonstrance — for ordinary remonstrances are chronic — is made, the difficulty is met by the ingenious plan so successfully followed in other provinces besides Nelson of putting faucy suras on the estimates which it is never intended should be spent. This has been the consistent system of Mr Curtis and his Executive. , Year after year the complaints of gold fields members are pacified by fictitious votes for public works, The money is voted but never expended. But the mining population are beginning to realise that they cannot afford any longer to submit to such a "humbugging" — we can use no more elegant term — Government as that of the Province of Nelson. And they are now showing symptoms of open revolt against their misrulers. No wonder ; for wo venture to say that -the whole of the history of provincial mismanagement might be ransacked, and no such flagrant instance of utter imbecility and incompetence could be found as is to be seen in the case of the administration of its gold fields by the Nelson Government. The Colonial Government cannot possibly ignore the necessity for its stepping in and rescuing the South West Gold Fields from the infirm but destructive hands of their present rulers.