THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY. OCTOBER 22, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1320, 22 October 1872, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY. OCTOBER 22, 1872.

" Too Clever by Half " was the title of a book which was published some years ago, and which for several years after its publication adorned the shelves of bookstands at railway stations without exciting many passengers into becoming purchasers. The unkindest cut of all towards the axithor was the remark of a critic that the book was "not half clever enough." A retort similar to that made as to the title of this little work may with propriety be made with regard to a remark common in this Colony — that the country Ib governed too much--"governed to distraction " say some— " governed to death" say others. There seems to be some reason for doubting these assertions, and for believing that, in reality, the country is not half governed. And this not only as regards the quality of government, but its quantity. What, for instance, has been the amount of attention given to the administration of at least' half of the Middle Island for the last four or five months 1 What outward and visible sign has there been of the slightest attention being given to the administration of affairs, during that time, in the Province of Nelson or in the County of Westland ? From the County the Chairman baa been and is now absent, and the affairs of the entire district are left in the hands of two clerks— a so-called Treasurer and Secretary — who need suffer fr#in no sense of responsibility, and who do not enjoy any capacity for administration superior to that possessed by their inkstands or by their ebony rulers. From the Province, both the Superintendent and the Treasurer have been absent for even a greater time, and the sole "administrator"— save the mark! — has been a Secretary who, for the probable sake of euphony, is dubbed Provincial, but whose sympathies are "cribb'd, cabin'd, and confined" to the study of dogs, domesticity, and, as far as relates to government, the method of fi how not to do it." The Province of Otago has even been a shade— a very palpable shade— worse off. From the immediate administration of its affairs the Superintendent and almost all his Executive have withdrawn themselves, apparently to wrangle in the House of Representatives much more than to work directly for the interests of their Province as they could have dene had they stayed at home, and as they should have done by Btaying at home. It is an argument, no doubt, and it is a plausible argument, that few men better fortified with facts as to the particular affairs of this Province can be found than the Superintendents and Provincial Treasurers or Secretaries, and that therefore, thus fortified, Jthey are the persons most eligible for election to ■the House of Representatives. It remains a question, however, whether what is gained by them becoming . * representatives .in the Assembly is at all equivalent to the loss sustained by absence from their sphere as administrator?. The experience of past sessions seems to suggest that the loss sustained by the Provinces, in individual cases or in the aggregate, is much greater than the gain received. It certainly is not yet discoverable that Westland has gained anything by the Chairman's absence from his office, or from the district of which it is at once an architectural ornament and the nominal centre, while there is much reason to fear that he may, by his presence in Wellington, and by his own perseverance in perverseneis, contribute very slightly to his personal good repute. So in the case of Nelson — there cannot possibly be any great gain deriyableby.the Province as a whole from the presence in the Assembly of a member for Nelson City and a member for Waimea, while there is a possibility, even in the case of Mr Curtis, of those interests with which he has been entrusted in hij

capacity as Superintendent, being seriouply neglected, and in the case of a better man the absence of the Superintendent would be still worse felt. The circumstances are in any case aggravated by the absence, as in Otago and Nelson, of more than one othermemberoftheExecutive. Inallcaseß, indeed, the holding of a multiplicity of positions, representative and administrative, especially when some of these positions aro purely of an official character, is, if not altogether anomalous, apt to engender evils which it is scarcely necessary ■to specify, so apparent must they be to anyone who contemplates the extent of the monopoly of power which, by such multiplicity, one man may acquire. It was in view of this danger, doubtless, and for other equally patent reasons, that an effort was made during the session to introduce what was called the Provincial Officers Disqualification Bill. The pity is that such a measure was not passed— that it was included in the mass of measures massacred at the shrine of party strife. If passed, it would, while preventing some from enjoying a plethora of honors and emoluments, have equally prevented public abuseß vhich are now likely to arise, and have diminished the popular discontent which prevails as to the country being governed so much in show, and so little in reality.