THE Gray River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1232, 10 July 1872, Page 2

THE Gray River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 1872.

The notice which was given of the meeting on Monday night was admittedly brief, and the report of the proceedings given in these columns was also necessarily brief, but we believe that all persons who were present at the meeting will agree that, notwithstanding any brevity of notice or of note-taking, the resolutions and the record of the resolutions passed by the meeting were as fair a representation of the general opinion of the people of Greymouth as could have been given in connection with any prominent public question. Notwithstanding the shortness of notice given, the attendance at the meeting was numerous, and, in the common acceptation of a common expression, influential. If there was an absence of elegant and elaborated ad- 1 dresses, there was a plain common-Bense expression of opinion, and the resolutions which were proposed and passed provoked no diversity of feeling If there was a diversity of feeling it was not expressed, and we doubt its existence. The Mayor very properly and pertinently put to the meeting the purpose for which it was called, and he also indicated the spirit in which that purpose should be promoted— a spirit of deference to the general opinion of the residents of the West Coast, and of desire on the part of the people of Greymouth to associate themselves, in expression and action, with the inhabitants of the Gold Fields from their northerly to their southerly limit. That spirit seemed to pervade the meeting throughout, and we presume that it was especially for the purpose of thoroughly ascertaining the opinion of the inhabitants of other parts of the West Coast that it was agreed to postpone the final confirmation of the resolutions passed until a committee had carefully and calmly worded a memorial on the subject, and had communicated with other centres of population on the Coast as to the character of the feeling existing \n each particular district. Of the several resolutions passed, that proposed by Mr Hamilton could scarcely fail to recommend itself to the sense and approval of any community on the Coast. It was simply an assertion of the necessity which exists for some radical change in the administration of affairs on the West Coast, and of the propriety of any such change taking the shape oi unity and uniformity in the government of the Coast, from its most northern to its mo3t southern boundary, as those boundaries are defined by the presence of population. The facts in favor of such a proposition could scarcely fail to present themselves to any meeting held in any part of the district to which it referred, and in Greymouth they are so palpable that the proposition peed only be mentioned to ensure its meeting with public approval. Altogether anomalous and peculiar as. is the system of Government in New Zealand— an anomaly and peculiarity arising, in great degree, out of the physical features vi the country— it includes no greater anomaly tlum the existence of two forms of local government, and distinct forms o£ taxation, within a territory which presents points of perfect similarity in its physical features, in its population, and in the nature of their industries. The anomaly is aggravated by the fact of one part of the district being governed by persons who, in their instincts and interests, are as distinct from the people whom they govern as day is distinct from night, and by the fact that in another division of tho district there exists a form of government which is peculiar to itself, and which presents no points of affinity between it and the other forms of local government which exist throughout the ; C«»lony. Fortified by these facts, and by the sympathy of the community among whom they have long been resident, it was not necessary for Messrs Hamilton, Masters, Woolcock, and Girdwood to do more than merely to express their approval of the motion in general terms to secure general support, and such support was given as thoroughly as it was inevitable. The succeeding motion, which w«S pro

posed by Mr Nichol and passed with equal unanimity, declared the feeling of the meeting to be in favor of the West Coast Gold Fields being formed into one Province and governed as such, so far as the primary principles of local self-govern-ment may extend. His motion, as we take it, simply meant that, instead of the public business of the inhabitants of the West Coast being administered by a socalled Provincial Government situated at Nelson, and by a County Government located either at Hokitika or elsewhere, it was desirable to deal with the whole district as a unity, and to make its local government uniform. The precise meaning of the term "Provincial Government" was neither stated nor discussed, but, judging by the sympathy elicited by a few remarks made by Mr Kennedy, it was the desire of the meeting, as we believe it to be the desire of the population generally, that in the creation Of any form of government which may be styled Provincial, the object should be to constitute such government in the moßt simple form which the history and experience of Provincial institutions have shown to be expedient and operative. There seemed to be no wish on the part of the meeting thai the phrase " a Provincial form of Government " should imply the introduction on the West Coast of the systems which have prevailed in Otago, Canterbury, and other Provinces —a system involving the existence of responsible Executives — nor could it possibly be the desire that the system prevailing in Nelson should be adopted. It is the fact, and the prominent feature of the whole farce of government from Nelson, that three of the paid officers of the Government hold seats in the Council, and hold themselves irresponsible to the Council whom they rule. Between the one extremity of having a government responsible to the Council, and the other extremity of having a government which is irresponsible but omnipotent, there might be some happy medium chosen, and it ' was in that direction that Mr Kennedy's motion went when he proposed that any Superintendent who might.be selected should take his seat in the Provincial Council, and there represent personally what it is the fashion to do by proxy.

Upon the suggestion jnade by Mr Harrison that the Superintendent of any Province should be an officer nominated by the General Government there was no affirmative resolution proposed, but there was, as nearly as may be, a negative in the fact that a resolution was passed in favor of such nomination being made by the people; and it is our humble estimate that in that particular the people were right. Except for the temporary purpose of creating and constituting the County Council of Westland, the element of nominated officialdom in association with local self-government has not been introduced in this Colony, and, even were it a successful experiment in that case, it was only an exception to a rule which should be observed by the people as a rule which it is desirable to infringe as seldom as possible. There is a great deal more in the question thus raised than appears upon the surface. It is the very question which has shaken to their centres communities on the Continent of Europe, and it is an indifferent compliment to West land that, in this Colony, it should be the first district invited to abandon its right and to ignore its ability to find among its population a man competent to exercise his local knowledge in the' management of local affairs. Inproposing the plan of nomination, Mr Harrison, we do believe, has proposed what he conscientiously considers the special circumstances justify, but, with the settlement of the Coast secured, as we think it is, by the discovery of the reefs at the Inangahua, there seems to be no necessity for a departure, from the principle which has been imported into the government of every other settled district of the country, and which it is desirable to prolong so long as settlers have the spirit to administer, to the best of their ability, their own affairs. The departure, if departure it may be called-, from the recommendations made by Mr Harrison, is to be found in the fact that the meeting did not approve of extending and elaborating any projected form of government for the West Coast by the creation of three County Councils. There was not, however, any expression of antagonism to the most perfect localisation of government. It would be strange, indeed, if the inhabitants of Greymouth or of the Grey Valley were to come to any other conclusion than that any proposed system of local self-government should be as perfect and complete as possible. The feeling simply seemed to be that 'there was such unity between the duties of County and Road Boards that they could be as efficiently discharged by the latter class of body as they could by the two, and it was also represented, and correctly represented, by Mr Hamilton, that the formation of Road Boards should be- contingent upon the action of the Provincial Council, and of the people of each district, irrespective of any further legislation than that which is provided by the existing Highways Act. The meeting of Monday night wisely and appropriately concluded i's proceedings by proposing a vote of thanks to Mr Harrison, who made the recommendations which have induced the people of Greymouth and of other parts of the Coast to give some amount of active attention to district affairs, and who, we believe, is not so wedded to the scheme which he has put upon paper as to ignore any parallel and consistent suggestions by his constituents. Of this record of thanks Mr Harrison is, no doubt, already advised, and it remains only for ■ the committee appointed on Monday to draft a respectful memorial to the Government, representing the public feeling which ha 3 already been expressed, and which is certain, at any future meeting, to be fully endorsed.