THE PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1314, 15 October 1872, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1872.

Ouu telegraphic summary of the Parliamentary proceedings of yesterday contains moro than one item of interest to the population of the West Coast. Probably few estimate as items of interest the propositions of which Mr Stafford and Sir David Mohro have given notice, they being palpably more of a party than of a practical character, and the hope has been that the party problem has for this session been solved. A different feeling is, however, likely to be excited by the information that two out of the three measures introduced with the avowed object of amending, in form and spirit, the administration of the affairs of the Coast have been discharged from the notice paper. Hearts have been sickened by the long deferred realisation of the hopes entertained with regard to this amendment, yet at the beginning of the session thero were symptoms of recovery from this sickness, and there was considerable, if not altogether confident, expectation that before its close some change would be achieved. The direction in which that expectation shaped itself was distinctly towards unity and uniformity of government throughout the entire area of the Gold Fields of the Coast, and the expectation was encouraged by the nature of the first measure of which notice was given — that introduced by Mr Fox. Of Mr Fox's sincerity in the matter no doubt can by any reasonable person be entertained. Any insinuation to the contrary we venture to characterise as an insult to that hon. gentleman and to the ordinary sense of any community. If extensive and laborious travel, if close inquiry as to matters requiring amendment, and careful preparation of measures for that amendment, can be undertaken by the first man in the country for a paltry and not very palpable political purpose, the country has, indeed, come to a sorry pass. By members who cavil at everything and are content with nothing — by those from whom, of all others, aid should have come — the meaBure, however, was characterised, as " a sham," and it id unfortunate that, in consequence of ignorance of its contents, the constituencies were not in a position to estimate fully its merits or demerits. Had they been so — had the measure not been nipped in the bud by the sudden occurrence of Executive changes — we are pretty certain that it would have presented sufficient features of practicability to justify it - being passed,' with such necessary amendments as our representatives and the people might have proposed. Even as it was, it is to be regretted that j the mover of the measure has not held to his design, and at least given the House an opportunity of debating it clause j by clause. There would then have been tested the sincerity of those who have been so free to doubt his sincerity in initiating the measure, as there would also have been tested their capacity to design anything in the direction of improvement. Wo can only suppose that, in the opposition of those from whom aid should have come, and in the general opposition shown to any disruption of the Provinces,

Mr Fox foi.iufl sufficient reason to abandon his first intention — insurmountable obstacles, in fact, to its execu tion. The alternative seems to have been inevitable ; and that it was so is much to bo regretted. Compared with the conjunction of. the different districts of the West Coast, under one form or forms of government, no plan which has been proposed would be equally popular, or better calculated to secure the object in view. With regard to the plan propounded by Mr Collins, either as its author or- as the " organ " of his party, there can be no regret at its withdrawal— or rather, as the facts are, at its condemnation. Even by those who, as his partisans, and the patrons of a County system, might be expected to favor it, it has been characterised as a crude, cumbrous, conflicting, and confusing scheme; and those who have examined it, in the fervent hope that it might present some features to recommend it, have only been able to discover in it, as its very highest merit, the possible presence of that with which a certain place is so extensively paved — good intention. Even that merit others have failed to • find.' All that it could have accomplished if it had been passed would have been the establishment of those County Boards which, when they were suggested by Mr Harrison, were so generally scouted, and the scheme was pervaded with defects from which even his suggestions were free. The bodies created under this Bill could have proved only drags upon the active administration of affairs — serving no purpose but that of proving a source of squabbling between the Superintendent on the one side, and the members of the proposed Road Boards on the other. It well might, without a single expression of regret, be relegated to the depository from which it was drawn — drawn too soon, like an ill-kneaded half-baked loaf. With both these measures — that of Mr Fox and that of Mr Collins— already included in the massacre of the innocents, there is now but one remaining proposal — that of which Mr Shephard is the putative father — the proposal to extend Nelson Province to the Teremakau, under conditions which shall secure increased representation, certain defined expenditure, and a change in the personnel of those administering affairs. In moving the first reading of this Bill Mr Shephard cannot be said to have been very succinct or happy in his explanations, bub it is on the second reading that details would be furnished. However meritorious it may be in some particulars, it is a measure which will not be so largely and popularly acceptable as would have been the so-called "unification," but as a dernier resort its acceptance may not be, need not be, altogether out of the question. To its advantages and objections, and when better informed as to its features, we shall, however, hare occasion to refer at another tmei