THE Grey Riber Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1217, 22 June 1872, Page 2

THE Grey Riber Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 1872.

The close of the late session of the Nelson Provincial Council has, we regret to say, been characterised by a great scandal, and this is more to be deplored as one of the West CoABt representatives, Mr O'Conor, one of the members for the Buller, has given rise to it. The details have already appeared in our columns at length, and it is not necessary to recapitulate them. They may be summarised by saying that Mr O'Oonor has been found guilty by a Committee of the Council, after a patient inquiry, of having abused his position as a member to further his own personal ends, by improperly availing himself of knowledge acquired in a committee-room. The story is a pitiful one, and it is not necessary to pursue its details, but the '■ conduct of Mr O'Conor, after the report had been brought up, only places him, if possible, in a still worse light. Actuated by some singular motive, or advised very badly ! by some extraordinary mentor, he thought i fit to' make a most uncalled-for attack on i those members of the Provincial Council i who had most properly and only too i gently denounced his procedure, aud, if i the Committee's report is Io be believed, to justify by what proved to be absolutely ] untrue the course he had taken. Not 1 satisfied with thb he instituted proceed- < ings for conspiracy against a number of 1 bhe members, which it seems he aban- { loned, and took bis revenge by calling a * public meeting, at which we are by 1 ielegratn published yesterday, "he revelled y n slanderous statements against members \ )f the Council," alleged that the cvi- t |ence of the Committee was false and s mdeavored to make himself out a martyr, s Ele unfortunately (for himself) concluded, t f we understand the telegram aright, by noving for a further enquiry, which Mr a j'ickie, one of the maligned members of he committee of enquiry, eagerly * econded, and Mr Reid, Mr O'Connor's 1 iVestport colleague, as strongly supported. * Hie result there can be no doubt of, and i he delinquent member has only by his t ction again illustrated the proverb telling & ifl that the more certain puddles are tl

stirred the more unpleasant the olfactory results are. As a fitting climax Mr O'Conor has given up the land acquired under such circumstances ; possibly wisely thinking that the request of the Council to the General Government that the Crown grants should not be issued would be complied with. By the latter action any injnry to the district, or rather the town of Westport, is .averted, but the serious part of the matter is that a public man holding a seat, not only in a Provincial Council, but in the chief legislature of the Colony, has been accused of a breach of honor and integrity as a public man, and that a jury of his peers has convicted him of the charge. It may be said that his conduct cannot affect others than his constituents, but such is by no means the case. The mischief does not end there, for anything disgraceful on the part of a public man reflects dishonor on the body he belongs to, whilst, in Mr O'Conor's case, the subject will doubtlessly be referred to in the Assembly during the forthcoming session, and will most materially weaken any influence f>r good that, as a member of the House of Representatives for the West Coast of this island, he might otherwise have possessed. It is to be hoped that his own good sense, if he has any, will lead to his early resignation. Failing this it is equally the interest and. the duty of those who returned him to request him to give up his seat. Whether they will do so, or what will be the final termination of the miserable fiasco remains to bo seen. One thing is certain, that even with the shadiest of the shady politicians who frequent the legislative halls of Wellington he will, in future, have no weight or prestige. The Nelson Evening Mail has a very well and temperately written article on the subject, though at the time of its publication the meeting had not been held, nor had Mr O'Conor further disgraced himself than by the purchase. The Colonist, Examiner, Westport Times, Cluirleston Herald, and indeed every paper that has written in the subject have unanimously expressed the deepest indignation at Mr O'Conor's conduct, and condemn' him in deserved terras. It must he remembered that that lion, member still denies that he was aware of the intentions of the committee, or that, knowing them, he secured the plunder that he has recently disgorged. On this the Mail concludes the article referred to in this wise— "Either then Mr Kynnersley, Mr Shephard, Mr Barnicoat, Mr Reid, Mr Macmahon, and Mr Tan-ant, have been guilty of wickedly and wilfully conspiring together to do Mr O'Conor a grievous wrong, or a deliberate untruth has been told by Mr O'Conor. There is no fencing with the question, 'if we acquit Mr O'Conor it must be on the grounds that we consider the abovenamed gentlemen to have been guilty of telling a wilful falsehood ; if we come to the conclusion that the charge brought against him has been proved, then we must convict him of the additional and far more serious offence of endeavoring to exculpate himself by stating what he knew to be utterly and entirely false. Mr O'Conor's constituents will probably deem it their duty to thoroughly investigate the matter, and it is for them especially to say whether of the two sides is the more deserving of credence. For our own part, painful as it is to have to -recowLs»«»h_a verdict surainst one of our public iutni, we uhuirld be shirking urn duty did we not express the opinion at which we have arrived after carefully perusing the evidence, and fairly and impartially weighing the whole of thejwos and cons that have presented themselves to our mind. That opinion is, that the conduct of Mr O'Conor throughout the whole of this scandalous affair, has been such as to demand the 'severest reprobation,'not only. of his fellow Councillors, but of the entire New Zealand public."