THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1363, 11 December 1872, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1872.

Apparently tickled by the conception of Mr Curtis being typical of " vigor," Mr Luckie (in his recont speech at Nelson) repeated his assertion made in the Assembly that Mr Curtis had little right to discuss the shortcoming of others, and referred to his " nine year old promises about the railway — that railway which floated him into the office of Superintendent "—and to the Nelson gas-works, the money for which is borrowed, and is lying idle in the bank, with the interest payable, and the work not touched. Speaking of the latter, said Mr Luckie — " This is another sample of vigor," whereupon, according to the report, "A Voice" asked, "Why don't you suggest somethiug?" to which Mr Luckie replied — " Ido not happen to be either a member of your Provincial Executive, whose duty it is to make suggestions, nor your Superintendent ;" and "A Voice," but not the same, solaced the speaker by exclaiming, amidst •cheers and laughter, " Ah, but you will be 'by-and-bye." "It would be far better for Mr Curtis," concluded Mr Luckie, "to do as one of the local papers had recommended — to drop the amateur lawyer, and enter with true vigor upon the duties of the professional Superintendent." Of one measure — the reduction of the export duty on gold— Mr Lnckie holds his original opinion that it would lessen the power to make improvements, in roads and otherwise, and that the real gain would be to the banks, while to the miners it would average a gain of about threepence per week. "I had," he said, "strongly opposed the reduction, but it was deemed a popular thing, and was carried. I did not understand that kind of voting, and never will ; and so I voted j against the reduction." In his remarks upon the various mea surea mooted for the relief of the dis- j content prevailing on the West Coast, he contributes a little to the history of the steps taken by the Ministry and members of the House, and he concludes with some comments as to the financial positious of Canterbury and Westland which, though all too late, should recommend themselves to the common sense of the communities on both sides of the dividing range. On these subjects ho says : — "We come now to Mr Ingles's Bill for separating the Amuri, and Mr Collins's BUI for creatiug new Counties, a most unwieldy measure, which never had any chance of passing, and the Bill of the Government for separating the Nelson West Coast Gold Fields. I never, notwithstanding the alarm raised, had any fear that any of these separation Bills would be successful. There had been a good deal of talk about separation, and one day, Mr Fox said he wished to tell me of the intention of the Government to bring in a Bill to separate the West Coast. I replied I should do all I could to oppose it, that it was against his Provincial principles, and that the Government could not carry it. He smiled, and said he believed they would, as the West Coast members and the Canterbury members would support it. I replied that half a dozen of the Nelson members would, collectively and individually, steadily oppose the Bill, and mako use of every means of opposition that the forms of the House permitted ; and leave no sffort untried to prevent its passing ; and he admitted that if that were tried we might be successful. I had no fear about the Bill, and thought it only a bugbear, and did not believe in piecemoal severances of this kind. There is no denying there has been, andstillexists, agreat deal of dissatisfaction on the West Coast as to the administration of the Gold Fields, and not without cause, whether it is due to the Superintendent's vigor or nob, and means Bhould be taken, effectually to remove that dissatisfaction. The Bill brought in by my old friend Mr Shephard— (a laugh j— called the Nelson Boundaries Bill, and I believe drawn after consultations with Mr Yogel, contains the principles of a good arrangement. It was intended to extend the boundaries of Nelson Province as far as the Teremakau, thus including the town of Greymouth and other portions of the County of Weotland. This proposal had more than once been before the Council of this Province, as a means of satisfying the wishes of the West Coast, and this would be a much more satisfactory system than could result from any dismemberment of the Provinces, which in all cases haa been unjust and more or less duos* ■

trous, not only to the parent Province, but to her offspring. (Applause.) There is only one exception to this rule, and that is the Province of Canterbury, which benefited to the detriment of Westland. That Province, as one of the members said to me, is " beastly " wealthy. It has in its Treasury about L150,0C9, with which it did not know what to do. It possesses vast quantities of fine land, and is altogether in a flourishing condition. That Province benefited largely by the severance of Westland : bat what is the condition of Westland itself 1 It was a most unjust arrangement for Westland the severance and apportionment of the debt. Canterbury had great and readily con- , vertible means of wealth in herself. She had had great improvements made in her portions of the country, and yet Westland was burdened with a far too large share of the debt. Westland has tho most expensive population, as a gold field population always is. She had to meet the greatest amount of work and cost in administering the country and making roads, aud opening the land for settlement and progress. Yet the moneys which, according to the ori][mal connection, should have gone towards these requisite works in Westland, had been absorbed by Canterbury, and while Westland was in great pecuniary trouble, Canterbury was rolling in riches which Westland should have shared. (Hear, hear.) The next movement should be to put a stop to this state of affairs, and let justice be done with the public money. Carry out this alteration of boundaries in Nelson Province, extend them to the Teremakau, receive a vigorous part of the West Coast inhabitants, and welcome them with open arms, carry out the scheme for borrowing money to make roads throughout the old and new territory, thus improving both, and ensuring the future welfare of the whole district from coast to coast. Let the country south of the Teremakau, constituting the remaining part of Westland, be rejoined to Canterbury, as Southland has been to Otago, and let Canterbury's accumulated savings open and improve the land, and lead to prosperity and justice being done to the West Coast."