THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 1873.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1440, 13 March 1873, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 1873.

The public will appreciate the fact that, in most particulars, our local members of the County Council have not lost recollection of their political creed, or neglected to refer, in their places in the Council, to subjects upon which they were eloquent, and apparently earnest, on the election platform. One of these subjects — the anomaly of the Arnold Bridge being in private hands, and only passable on the payment of a heavy toll— has at length been referred to by Mr Kennedy, who was among the first to bring it under public notice. He has introduced in the Council a motion which, with the unanimous approval of the members, became a resolution, and it is to be hoped that it will not prove to be a resolution and nothing more. To have a great length of (road made at public expense, and to have all traffic thereupon subjected to tolls for privately constructed "connecting links," is what would not, without an outcry, be permitted to exist anywhere but on the West Coast ; and if arrangements be made by which the main trunk road can be truly converted into the Queen's highway, it is a consumation devoutly to be wished for. Is it unreasonable to suggest that for the purchase of this bridge, and for the very necessary construction of bridges over the Twelvemile, Red JacVs, and Nelson Creeks, some portion of Provincial funds, as well as a moiety of the Public Works or Nelson Road Board funds, should be available ? For the Hurunui bridge, in the last session of the Nelson Council, a half of the necessary outlay was at once voted, and, rare to relate, was expended. There were also votes to the tune of ,£14,000 in toto for roads on or near the Gold Fields — votes proposed by the Executive — not one penny of which, so far as we are aware, has been spent. The revenue, it is true, has not been equal to expectations, but the Treasury chest has not been altogether empty, and Westland having in the past done its fair share towards the construction of the main road, the excess of acts of omission over those of commission on the part of the Nelson Government, is a circumstance which should not be forgotten by the County Chairman in any negotiations on which he may enter in terms of the motion carried by Mr Kennedy.