THIS Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1134, 16 March 1872, Page 2

THIS Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, MA RCH 16, 1872.

It was recently rumored that, by the resignation of Mr Mackley, one of the seats for the Grey District in the Nelson Provincial Council would shortly become vacant legally, aa it may be said always to have been practically. We have no assurance that this particular resignation i 3 yet an accomplished fact, no intimation, so far as we have seen, having been made by Mr Mackley to his constituents, nor has any official statement to that effect appeared in even the latest number of the Provincial Gazette. But that one of the two seats is now vacant there can be little doubt, as in another column will be found the announcement that an election of one member for the district will take place in a week hence— the nomination being appointed for Friday, the 22nd inst., and the polling for fhe following Tuesday ; and for the nonce we may take it for granted that it is to Mr Mackley that the electors are called upon to select a successor. Of Mr Mackley's reasons for this resignation which we shall assume him to have made we have not even the remotest hint. Extremely modest as a member of the Council, he has withdrawn from the place which he briefly filled in the field of so-called politics in : a manner as modest as that in which he jiti variably discharged his duties. It may be that personal engagements prevent bis giving to public duties even the small attention which he had hitherto given, or he may have discovered, during his silent participation in the proceedings of the Council, that they partook very much of the elements of vanity and vexation of spirit, while they contributed little or nothing to the welfare of the Province. There is reason to fear that this latter is the conviction to whloh Mr Mackley must have come, else

he must possess a veiy different feeling on the subject from that of all his fellow-mem-bers from the Coast. And this is unfortunately a conviction in which the electors must fully share, and, doing so, the selection of his successor is not likely to cause among them any extraordinary excitement, or likely to be considered a subject of very vast importance. Represented as the Coast has been, at first by only threo members out of a total of twentysix, and subsequently by five members out of a total of nineteen, and with three of these nineteen sitting on Government seats from which they were irremovable by any adverse vote, it is no matter of wonder that much of the work of members for the West Coast should have gone for nought — thot many motions which they brought forward failed to be carried, or, if carried, only contributed to the number of innocents massacred during the recess. When it is considered also that the Superintendent, different from the Superintendents of other Provinces, has the sole power of expenditure, without even the shadow of Executive responsibility to the Council, it may easily be conceived how valueless are the votes of the Council as a whole, and how utterly valueless are the votes of a mere minority such as the group of members representing Gold Fiolds interests. Viewed in this light, it was really a matter of much mii difference to the electors whether they were represented by mute inglorious members such as Mackley, or by such fierce and fervid orators as some of those with whom it was his privilege, if not his pleasure, to bo associated. And it really is a matter of much indifference now whether the retiring member be succeeded by a silent conscientious Councillor like himself, or | by one who can shake the very Speaker in his chair and make the rafters ring by his wrathful rant and by his roar. The interests of the district, indeed, would not have suffered a whit more than they will suffer under any circumstances had Mr Mackley himself retained his seat for the two remaining sessions of the term for which he was elected. There is at least due to him the credit that he earned the respect of his fellow-members by his | domeanor, and that, while he failed in | Council assembled to display any aptitude as a speaker, or to exhibit even the possession of the powers of speech, he in committees and in private coteries contributed considerably to the members' knowledge of the circumstances of the Coast, and of the special requirements of his district. While estimating thus lightly the value of the forthcoming election, so far as the public interests are concerned, we should not, however, be disposed to advise such perfect neglect of the occasion as the circumstances might fully justify. However useless our West Coast representatives may find.themselves to be, from no fault of their own, such nominal representation as we have should at least be maintained in the event that a better state of things may at any moment arise. It is not impossible that, during the ensuing session, despite the chances of the whole of our Provincial institutions being modified and reformed by subsequent acts of the Assembly, the Council itself may agree to increase the representation of the Coast, and the presence of a creditable representative of the Grey District may not be without its effect in connection with any decision that may be arrived at. Reef ton undoubtedly deserves to have a representative of its own, to maintain even the balance of representation, though such representation may be in itself a delusion and a snare, and an efficient member occupying the seat now vacant cannot fail to have some influence in imbuing the bucolic members of the Council with some spirit of liberality towards the Coast, and of consideration for its inhabitants. Among such an extensive constituency it cannot but be that there will be found some good man and true— better and truer than tho situation requires— and the constituency will prove most true to themselves by selecting one who, while he should not be altogether so severely silent as Mr Mackley, should possess some other qualifications than the questionable qualification of inexhaustible utterance— of a superlative "gift of the gab." ...