THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, JUNE 23, 1873.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1524, 23 June 1873, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, JUNE 23, 1873.

While the member for the Grey district is present amongst us in the flesh, it becoming to remind him o matters Requiting his attention in the future as. ii 'is to receive from him a report of his proceedings in the past. Interviews between representatives and the represented are, indeed, only partially promotive qfthpir proper purpose unless there is interchange of ideas, or a mutual recognition of, matters of fact. No doubt Mr Harrison has had ocular and auricular proofs of the existence of certain district wants which deserve consideration on the -part of the Legislature, and he will, by hia preterit ; visit,' be able' to resufne his duties fortlfiefd- by- local observation and information^ There are, however, specific subjects_wju"ch> may have escaped, his attention, or of which it may be desirable to remind him, even though his acquaintance with them may be complete. Two occur to vs — thequestion of the mode of expending the sum of tfhich next year ia to be devoted to the construction of main roads on the Nelson South- West Gold Fields, and the question of when and how the subsidy to Road Boards on the same Gold Fields is to be appropriated. It-has been, as he may be aware, the recommendation of a majority of the Provincial Council — that majority being exclusive of Gold Fields members— that the £25,000 referred to should be expended entirely within the district of the Upper Buller— in fact, in the formation ,of roads as near to, if not absolutely within, the so-called settled districts^ asit is possible for them .to be. , That recommendation, of course, may -be worth very little ; still it-is not altogether despicable ; and it is well for the West Coast members in the House fit Representatives to consider how far they can coincide with it. To many it appears to be an unwisely selected situation for such an expenditure, especially- ia view of the fact that the Nelson Government has already been empowered to complete roads which they have undertaken in that locality, and further in view; of the prospect that the road will be parallel with the proposed railway along a tract of country which is so contracted that there is really not room for both. It may not be that the member for the r Grey can complain of the neglect of his district, or be able to urge with any show of reason a further claim upon the same fund,. but it is fairly a question whether there are not other districts than that of the|Upper Buller — say, for instance, from Westport to the Lyell — in which a main road is more requisite, and towards which the attention of the Government should be directed. Without specifying any particular district, it may be said that the matter is, at least, one worthy of inquiry, and that, under all the circumstances, the propriety of the selection made by the Nelson Government is ex-, ceedingly questionable. With regard to the Road Boards, we are aware that but for Mr Harrison's representations the subsidy to such bodies on the SouthWest Gold Fields would probably never have been reserved. It was so on the promise that such. Boards would be instituted by the Provincial Government, but the promise has never been fulfilled. True, a measure has at length been passed, having for its object the institution of District Boards, but the appropriation of any portion of the Road Boards subsidy to these new and crude creations has never once been mentioned. On the contrary a large share of the subsidy which belonged solely to the Gold Fields has, by an ingenious extension of the Motueka or Waimea district, been diverted from the West Coast, and without inquiry and watchfulness on the part of our members there is no saying how the.same process of mal-apgropriation may be prolonged. These are two matters which we venture to consider worthy of the attention both of residents of the Gold Fields and their representatives, and we refer to them now because any notice of them, however brief, is opportune.