NEW GOVERNMENT FOR THE WEST COAST.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1242, 23 July 1872, Page 2

NEW GOVERNMENT FOR THE WEST COAST.

PUBLIC MEETING AT AHAURA. A meeting, which was called by circular, and composed of residents from all parts, of the Grey Valley, was held at the Court House, Ahaura, on the evening of Friday, the 19th inst., to take into consideration the propositions of Mr W. H. Harrison, M.H.R. for the district, and other matters with respect to the future government of the West Coast Gold Fields.. The chair was taken by Mr James M'Laughlin. The Chairman read the circular con- : vening the meeting, and- called upon Mr Frank Guinness, M.P.C., who briefly explained the objects for which the meeting ,W.vs called. . Mr J. D. PiNKBRTON, in rising to propose the first resolution, said the subject of it was one" on which it was difficult for any resident of the district to speak with-, out losing his temper. It referred to the old, old. sore— the maladministration of the gold fields by the Government of Nelson. The subject had been discussed so often, and at such great length, that very little new light could be thrown upon it, and he could not allude to any circumstance connected with the mismanagement of the gold fields which had not been; treated of before time and again. He regretted the attendance was not more numerous on an important occasion like the present,, when questions of vital importance to 4 the future welfare of the district had to be considered, and yet he was s not astonished that the inhabitants did not take more interest in matters which even closely concerned them. The people were becoming disheartened at the continual failures of their efforts to have the grievances they were laboring under redressed . Meeting after meeting had been held, memorials and petitions had been prepared and forwarded until the very use of the word petition had become tiresome, and palled on the minds of the residents of the district. He would read the resolution he had to.niove, and he would do so without expressing himself further, as to his opinion, of the subject to which it referred,. The speaker then moved— " That in the opinion of this meeting the administration of public affairs, in. the Nelson South - West Gold Fields under the Provincial Government of Nelson has been productive of serious discontent : has retarded greatly the de_v_eipt>ment of the resources of the district, and calls for^tT«i~immecnaTe~iutof vention of the Legislature." The resolution he just read to them expressed the feelings of the majority of tne residents of "the. gold fields, and especially those of the Grey Valley. The Executive, and the majority of the Provincial Council, were qtrangers, and aliens in feeling or sentiment with the community on the gold fields, and he. would not be going too far when he asserted that the members of both these bodies hated the very atmosphere in which a miner lived. He was not an obstructive, and, as it seemed to be the fashion now to go in for change, he would counsel the adoption of some alteration, for they could scarcely be worse off. It had been vulgarly suggested that by changing their mode of government they might be • " jumping but of the frying-pan into the fire ;" but.be it so, anything but the frying-pan, as it was at present. Out of the frying-pan, by all means, and into the fire, even though the consequence should be a .." grilling," for"suchan operation would be preferable to the process o slow rust they were at : present undergoing.—(Cheers.) Mr W. S. Staite seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. . ] Mr Staite then remarked that there was not one present who did not recognise the bad effects of the utter neglect with .which the Nelson Government treated the gold fields. He did riot wonder at the last speaker admitting that it was difficult to allude to the actions of the^ Nelson Government without losing patience. There were times when it was impossible to comment calmly on questions requiring cool deliberation, and he remembered Judge Richmond admitting this, at one time when alluding to the verdict of a certain jury at Hokitika. It was. difficult to refer to the actions of the Provincial Government without getting warm ; but, unfortunately, up to this the people were powerless to; do anything but heap abuse upon the heads of members of the .Government. If any evidence were wanted to prove the charge of utter incompetency on the part of the Nelson Government, it? could be found in the general expression of dissatisfaction with it, publicly stated at Westport, Reefton, Charleston, and even in Greymouth and Hokitika; and the Government was not only incompetent but it was wilfully negligent. The; Government of Nelson should never have the control .of a gold field, for the management of -.one was beyond its ability. The remarkable want of foresight on: the part'of Mr Curtis and his colleagues; notwithstanding the talent they possessed in some respects, had brought.abput the state of affairs they most wished to avoid. By their gross stupidity in , deliberately mismanaging a district which was one of the most valuable in New Zealand, they had roused the energies of the population, and attracted the notice qf the General Government, so that from both effects good may arise to the gold fields, by producing a change in the Government. The inhabitants of the Grey Valley made a praiseworthy attempt 12 months ago to make themselves heard. A petition tp which 1200 attested signatures were attached was forwarded to the Parliament, asking l-elief-from- our grievances. To show the unanimous feeling on the subject, he. might say that only o

one person iri the whole district refused to sign the: petition. Beef ton had just followed this example, and forwarded a numerously signed memorial to the General Government containing the same request. It was only by united action like this a remedy could be found, but that remedy would have to be prefaced by separation from Nelson. The inhabitants of the Amuri, a wealthy district,; also saw this ; the General Government saw it, the Premier saw it personally, and the Parliament could, not. longer be without seeing that separation from Nelson was necessary to the progress of the gold fields. Bat they must not be too sanguine of certain success, although he had reason to believe there would be a strong party in the House prepared to assist them in their endeavors to obtain redress. They mast act with unity and energy themflelveiiif they hope to achieve success. The resolutions of Mr Harrison to a certain extent embodied the views they ought to support, and suggested the course they ought to adopt, and they were in accordance with the advice given them by the Premier when he visited the district, that if they had grievances they should , point them out, and suggest in what direction a remedy should be applied. He had a resolution to propose founded on a careful consideration of Mr Harrison's propositions, and he trusted they would thoughtfully consider it before passing it. It was as follows—" That this meeting haying the propositions of Mr Harrison before it concurs with them so far as they recognise the necessity for separation from the Provincial Government of Kelson, and is of opinion that it would be more conducive to good government, and less cumbersome in its action, if the control of the whole of the West Coast Goldfi^lds was placed under the immediate authority of the General Government, but failingthis to approve of a plan for the whole of the West Coast Goldfields being consolidated under the Provincial form of Government, without County Councils." Before going further he would say that,. with, all its troubles, the Grey Valley was fortunate in haying an able and talented repra^ sentative in the person of Mir Harrison. * Their member wss a leading man in the Parliament of the country, ' a.id ihey . ought to feel proud of the distinction that the member for the Grey Valley was the ■recognised organ of public opinion at Wellington. This being so he (the speaker) could, with a good 'grace, express an opinion thatthe scheme ofMr Harrison waa cumbrous and unwieldly in the extreme. One Provincial Council with three County Councils would be making provision-, for too much legislation altogether. ! There would be the usual amount of squabbling and log-rolling, and there would be a repetition, with the additional disadvantage of frequent recurrence qf the. scenes attending the election of Qdurity Chair? tijan at Hokitika,_which usually ended in ' a general " shake in the hat" to decide on whom shduld be conferred the doubt* ful honor of governing the County. Personally he was in favor of being placed directly under the General Government, 'but should this be unattainable the next best plan was to form one Province of all th« gold fields of the West Coast. The local improvements recently effected were due to the action of the General Govern* ment consequent on the visit of Messrs Pox and Reeves. They saw the. heces' sity and set about having , the < roads now in progress -made, and as a final proof of the desirability of getting, rid- of the Nelson Government, he would point out thot Mr Cnrfia even iiow cavils and protests against the .expenditure of the money at present being laid out for improving the means of communication in this part of his Province. (Cheers), i Mr H. W. Young seconded the resolution, which was carried unanimously. Mr F. Guinness, M.P.C., could bear testimony to. the existence of the evils arising from the connection with /Nelson, which were described in such forcible language by the previous speaker. Not one person under the rule of the Nelson Government could say with reason-that that Government did its duty .as a good Government should by this part of the Province. The administration of $the Government was a painful exhibition of imbecility, andhe had almost said worse. The revenues were taken away and spent in other plapes, and this was done in the most open and iniquitous manner, in a manner which could f not be paralleled in the history of New Zealand. Jffo change could result in .producing a more" cumbrous form of Government than that of Nelson as at present existing. The system was productive of delays and dangers, for we were governed by those at sush a distance from us, that the strings were manipulated in a style of which the reev dents here were entirely ignorant. !piwy saw the action of the Superintendentanfl his advhers in the matter of the Inangahua leases, and although Judpe Harvey held that action to, be illegal, the Superine tendent, in the face of that decision, shad actually taken upon himself to defy the law as -laid down by the Judge, by repeating his action with regard to the refusal of leases. The people and Government of Nelson were alien to the residents on the gold fields, The settled districts were bankrupt, they were living on the proceeds of the. gold fields revenue, and the last shilling was wrung. from the-tax-payers on the gold fields for the support and advancement of the settled districts. With the General Assembly rested/ the power to apply a remedy or to giye'jrslief. He agreed with Mr Staite that th«> sooner the General Government took charge of the gold fields the better it would be. It was not necessary to create a new class of offices or to appoint a separate staff of officials. The present staff was amply sufficient, and the money saved by: the abolition of tho expense of the Provincial Government as now constituted would leave a considerable sum available for our public . works..... JJe was aware that these propositions struck at the root of all public evil in New Zealand, namely, superfluons, government and excessive patronage; ."With increased means of communication by sea and land, and the continual spread of telegraphic facilities, the greatest difficulties in the way of centralising the form of Government had been removed. With the establishment of a Road Board system, receiving §5 per gent, of the revenue as a subsidy; a form of lopal Got vernment. would be provided, and the remaining 75 per cent, would be amply sumcient to defray the.cost of the general government of the. country. -The resolutions he was about to propose.were meant to be submitted to the meeting separately, but to save time it was decided to put them as one motion. . He trusted every one present would use his beat endeavors

. to carry the objects of the meeting into effect, and that, not only here, but throughout the length and breadth of the Coast, such acombination would be formed that the Legislature would feel itself compelled to listen to the just demands of the inhabitants of this part of the Colony, and redress theirgrievances. Mr Guinness then moved— "That this meeting, while recognising and thanking their representative, Mr W. H. Harrison, for his consistent and able efforts for the welfare of this district, would urge upon him the necessity of obtaining an increased representation in the General Assembly for it ; which, in consequence of the greatly increasing importance of the mining interest within it. seems to this meeting a fair and reasonable demand." The next resolution was — " That for the purpose of carrying out the views embodied in the foregoing resolutions, a League be formed, to be called 'The West Coast Qold Fields Reform League,' and that the following gentlemen be requested to act as a general committee : — Messrs W. H. Harrison, M. Kennedy, A. Reid, Greymouth; Mr Peter Dungan, Paroa ; Messrs Owen and Clarke, Stafford ; Mr G. Barff, Waimea ; Messrs White, Button, Hoos, Todd, andM'Farlane, Hokitika ; Mr Robinson, Eanieri ; Messrs Tribe, Cuming, Gibson, |and Gordon, Ross ; Mr R. Oanovan, Okarita ; Messrs Ryan, Cobden ; 6. Muir, Camptown ; W. S. Campbell, G. Hastie, No Town ; A. Ellis, M. Drennan, Jas. Stephens, Nelson Creek ; J. W. Jones, Moonlight ; J. M'Laughlin, J. D. Pinkerton, Ahaura ; D. Donald, R. Alcorn, Totara Flat ; J. Marshall, 0. Cl arson, A. Nicol, Buffer Creek and Half-Ounce; G. M. Mackley, J. Lock, Noble's and Napoleon ; W. Pitt, H. G. Hankin, O. Mace, Ivess, and P. Brennan, Reefton ; W. B. Fisher, J. Hughes, T. Monro, and M'Farlane, Westport ; Donne, Dwnn, and R. Gilmer, Charleston ; Jones, Brighton ;J. F. Johnston, J. O'Malley, J. Ferguson, Little Grey ; and that a Local Committee be appointed." The resolutions were seconded by Mr J. Rkid, and carried unanimously. The meeting was addressed by Mr A. Tait, of Hokitika, and other gentlemen, and, after a vote of thanks was passed to the Chairman, Uhe proceedings terminated. •" ' - '