THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, JULY 20, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1240, 20 July 1872, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, JULY 20, 1872.

The memorial presented to the public last evening as an attempted embodiment of the Bpirit of the recent meeting, and of the resolutions which were then passed, will probably be admitted to be a fair attempt in that direction, and the Committee may be congratulated in being so far successful in the discharge of their duty. Whether they secure the sympathies and voices of other West Coast communities remains to be Been. Their purpose, we presume, has been to raise no disputation as to minute details which people are so often disposed to debate while they ignore the principle, and to bring about something like a unanimous expression of sentiment. If, in desiring to serve that purpose, they cannot command success, let us hope that they will at least get the credit of having endeavored to deserve it. It is one pleasant circumstance to be able to record that, as far as the Government's sympathies seem, to go, they are in precisely the same direction. The meeting of last evening had scarcely separated when we received the telegram published in another column, intimating that it is the Government's intention to introduce a Bill for the formation of the West Coast into a Province, and with an elective Superintendent. That fact would, at least, indicate that two principles which have been asserted, and which are embodied in the memorial, will receive : favor at the hands of the Ministry, and it should be the object of the committee, fortified by that fact, to | proceed as actively as possible to ascertain the general public feeling in all other parts of the Gold Fields. This they have been deputed to do, but as yet only bo far as to elicit feeling, not to excite it. The present intention, we understand, is merely to submit the memorial to other communities, as embodying something like the feeling which is believed to prevail, and it will be for other communities simply to say, among themselves, whether they are disposed to accept the sentiments of the memorial, without reference to its diction, or whether they ■will adopt their own diction of parallel, though not precisely similar sentiments. The early publication of the memorial will probably aid the committee in their work, and we therefore print it in -this column, so that it may have all the prominence given to it which the subject deserves. The exact mode of presenting the memorial has yet to be decided — in the original draft provision was made for its presentation to the three Estates — but as read to the meeting last evening, the following was its text :— ; " Unto His Excellency the Governor, and to the Honorable the Members of the "House of Representatives in Parliament assembled. " The memorial of the undersigned, inhabitants of the West Coast Gold Fields, in the County of Westland and Province of Nelson, ; "Sheweth,— { "That the Gold Fields of the West Coast of the Middle Island have, since their discovery, and during their yet only partial development, by the extent and value of their resources, and by the enterprise and industry of the resident population, contributed materially to the general prosperity, and also to the payment of the taxation of the Colony. " That it is, therefore, highly desirable to well conserve the interests and industries of the district, to beneficially promote the social condition of its population, and to administer efficiently their political affairs. P " That your memorialists, while recog nising the disposition of the General Legislature to promote the interests of the district by energetic and liberal administration, have to regret and to complain that those representative institutions the essential Abject of which is to secure to them the advantages of local self-govern-ment, are not established on a snffioiently satisfactory basis to secure that desirable object ; and, as a consequence, the more' local administration of their affairs fails to meet with their approval, or to promote the welfare of the district as they would wish it to do. " That your memorialists consider that this failure in the local government, and the consequent complaints among the inhabitants of the district, are mainly due to the diversity which exists in the constitution of the representative institutions established within these Gold Fields, and also to the division in the delegation of the authority of His Excellency the Governor as the special conservator of the Gold Fields of the Colony. "That, while the West Coast Gold

Fields are, throughout their entire area, identical or similar in their physical features, and ia the industries and requirements of the population, there is, without any discoverable necessity or propriety, a distinction in the forms of government, a difference in the legislation and administrative regulations, duplicate taxation as the sequence of these, and, as the Bequence of all, a general and deep feeling of dissatisfaction.

" That, on tho one hand, an extensive division of the district, namely, the Kelson South- West Gold Fields, is governed by a Council and , Executive principally composed of: setthrs living at a distance from those of the population whose affairs they have to administer, and whose experiences, interests, and sympathies are in a great degree distinct ; and, on the other hand, in the County of Westland, while the government is more local and concentrated, there are felt to be defects in the constitution and powers of the Council, as established by law, which militate against it ever proving the usefully operative body which it was expected to be. " Your memorialists, for these and other reasons, and with the object of allaying the present discontent, and of promoting the general prosperity of the district, would respectfully recommend to your Excellency, and to honorable members of the General Assembly, the adoption of such measures as may be deemed best calculated to secure the united and uniform government of these Gold Felds. "Your,. memorialists venture to cousider that'a sufficient consolidation of the representative aud administrative institutions required for- the good government of the district would' be secured by the constitution of the whole district into one | Province; with a Provincial Council upon I whom should* be conferred certain limited powers, and who should conduct their business in the simplest possible form ; with a Superintendent as chief executive officer, who should be elected by the people, and who should, ex dfficio, possess the, right of taking part directly in the proceedings of the Council when in session ; with such subordinate institutions, in the form of Road Boards and Harbor Trusts as the Council might be empowered and deem it expedient to constitute, according to the altering circumstances in the development and settlement of the country. " Your memorialists confidently consider that any legislative measure in the direction of securing such changes in the government of the Gold Fields would greatly assuage the existing discontent among the population, by removing some of the present serious obstacles to their mutual prosperity. "Your memorialists desire, therefore, to urge, upon your Excellency's Government the propriety of introducing, during thepresentsesaion of Parliament, some measure calculated to secure the objects to which they have humbly and hopefully drawn attention j and to urge upon the honorable members of the General Assembly the expediency of giving to any such measure their early and favorable consideration. "And your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray."