THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1873.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1424, 22 February 1873, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1873.

The mode of electing the County Chairman of Westlandhas been a fruitful source of discontent and discussion, and, until the last election, the cause of many unseemly quarrels and scrambles for office, which have made the County notorious among the petty Parliaments of the Co^ny. This has been caused by the limited numi ber of the members of the Council, and the fact that the Chairman had to be chosen from amongst -themselves, instead of being elected by the voice of the people at large. Some two years ago, after the occurrence of one of these unseemly squabbles to which we have referred, a resolution was passed by the Council, to be forwarded to the Assembly, praying tW. t.TiR f!mjnt,v nf Wqafland AcXshftftUJ of the Chairman by the electors. What became of that recommendation, or whether it was ever forwarded to the proper quarter does not appear, but it is certain that it was never acted upon, and the Chairman is still elected by the members of the Council from amongst themselves. Mr Cassius has determined not to let the subject rest in this unsatisfactory position, and on Thnrsday night last he moved in the Council to this effect :— "That in the opinion of this Council, clause 65 in the County of Westland Act should be amended, and that the County Chairman, instead of being elected as hitherto, by the County Councillors only, be in future elected by the general body of the electors, either from amongst the County Councillors or from amongst the electors. That in the event of this resolution being carried, the same be communicated to the Colonial Secretary, with an earnest request to take the necessary steps for the carrying out of the above views during the next session of the General Assembly." Of the lengthy discussion which followed we have not space to give more than an outline, but the subject appears to nave been very fairly treated. The case was plainly put by Mr- Cassius, when he said that he " certainly could not understand why the County should be different to the Provinces, and be denied the privilege accorded to them of having the Chairman elected by the people at large. No one could say that the people of the County were less fit to choose for themselves a person to govern them than those in the Provinces. The electoral body in the County consisted of an adult population, comparatively more numerous in the Provinces and positively quite as intelligent as the agricultural population of which the Provinces consist, except Otago and Auckland. The mining population had been looked upon as strangers and barf barians, but if they were not superior they were quite equal to the old settlers-. Altogether there really was no reason why the people in the County should not enjoy the same privilege in the election of their Chairman, as was exercised in the Provinces. If it had no other effect, it would at all events put an end to the unseemly scramble which had characterised the election of the Chairman by the Council. It had not occurred at the last election— perhaps by an accident— but however it came about, the escape w,as a matter for' congratulation, and endeavors should be made to prevent it altogether in the future." It has long been considered and patiently endured as a great hardship that the residents on«the West Coast should not enjoy ?£ Si £ tie Privilege which those in the otner Provinces enjoy of having a voice EJ ? lectl °n of their Superintendent or any other, and its imports and exports as valuable, if not more so than many more favored Provinces, can only be attributed to the people themselves, who have neglected to assert their rights, and have quietly submitted to be treated as a community in whose hands it was not safe to trust full electoral privileges. It is to be

hoped the present action, which has been initiated by Mr Cassius, and endorsed by the County Council, will have the desired effect during the next session of the Assembly. When the question was brought before the Council, one of the members for Greymonth, Mr Kennedy, could not support it in the way in which it stood. He did not attempt to show how it could be improved, but he quib bled with its details, and triad to throw as many obstacles as possible in the way of its supporters. If Mr Kennedy is properly reported by our Hokitika contemporary he said he "thought it was a pityj that the Council should have to take action in this matter. If anyone had to complain it was the people outside. The Council at present enjoyed the privilege of electing its own Chairman, and it was only the abuse oi that privilege which induced the desire fora change. Possibly, if the privilege were removed and conferred on the general body of electors the abuse would be greater. It would be better to refer the question as to the amendment required in the Act to a Committee, as there were other defects in it which required remedy.. Amongst these was the necessity of increasing the borrowing powers of the County. At present they were not larger than those possessed by many private firms, and the Connty must be poor indeed if it coold not borrow five times as much. He did not agree with the member forTotara as to exempting mining property from rates. There were many mining companies receiving large returns and there was no reason why they should escape and the hut of the miner Joe taxed. He could not support the motion as it now stood, as there were several extensive questions involved in it, which should be first determined before arriving at a conclusion. For instance — If the Chairman were to be elected by the people from amongst the Council, should the member offering himself resign his seat first. It appeared that that would be the proper course to prevent persons offering themselves without any prospect of being elected. Then there was the question whether the candidate should be a member of the Council at all. He could not see his way to vote for the resolution as it stood." Instead of thus raising trifling matters of detail, Mr Kennedy might have given in his adhesion to the broad principle contained in the motion, leaving it to the proper persons to elaborate the scheme. We leave further comment on the subject for the present, but the motion, as amended, was carried as follows : — " That a Select Committee be appointed to take into consideration what amendments are necessary in the County of Westland Act, 1868 ; such Committee to consist of the Chairman, Mr Barff, Mr Bonar, and the mover, to report in seven days." There will no doubt be an interesting debate when this report is brought up.