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Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1246, 27 July 1872, Page 2

The report of the discussion in the County Council on Wednesday and Thursday, and on the subject of establishing a uniform local government on the West Coast, is sufficiently interesting to warrant us publishing it in extenso, but its length precludes us from doing so in our present issue. The resolutions agreed to were — " That in the opinion of this Council the present County of Westland and the districts known as the Nelson South- West Gold Fields Bhould be united under one local government." "That the form of the County Government be retained, and that the adequate number of members from the annexed district be added to this Council." " That the Chairman be elected by the electors eligible to vote for the County Coußcih" ' The first motion was the proposition of the County Chairman ; the second, and apparently the third, were proposed by Mr Hoos. The latter, in our humble opinion, would have done well, in wording his motion, to have made choice of a more happy phrase than that of " annexed district," especially at a time when the prevailing spirit is in favor of unity and union, but he, of all persons, may, perhaps, be forgiven his favoritism for the County system and his failure in the use. of smooth words. Of the other members, .we observe that Messrs Robinson and Barff held a Provincial for in of government to be desirable, and the arguments of the latter seem to us to be very fair, as they -ire also fatal to the motion to which he silently assented. Mr Barff considers that any sort of emasculated Province would be regarded as an outcast from political society. So it might be, but much more so would any County be, so long as all other parts of the Colony are governed under the present Provincial form. What the Greymouth memorialists desire is greater simplicity in the forms, and more definite provision as to the legislative powers of Provincial Governments, and there **is at present every promise of this desire being achieved by the introduction of a general measure which shall be as applicable to the projeoted Province of Westland cs to all other provincial divisions of the Colony. The concluding motion of the series passed by the Council opens an important question to which we shall make reference when the full report is before the public. •