THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 1873.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1549, 23 July 1873, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 1873.

The Province of Westland which is to be, if the Bill proposed by the Premier and apparently approved of by West Coast representatives receive anything like an equal amount of favorable consideration from the Legislature, can scarcely prove to be a less satisfactory territorial division than the continuance of the district under the name and in the form of a County. In many particulars, indeed, such a change should be an improvement. It will at any rate place Westland in a position of equality with other divisions of the Colony, not in name only, but in the possession of powers of local government which it at present lacks. An altogether exceptional experimeut, the County system, as introduced in the Colony by its application to Westland, cannot be said to have proved such an unmitigated success as to warrant its continuance permanently or for a longer period than may be absolutely necessary to elapse before a change can be effected. So long as the Colony as a whole, or in greater part, continues to be governed as it now is, under the system of Provincial institutions provided for by the Constitution Act or by subsequent legislation, it is manifestly unfair that one of its divisions whose resources and interests are, at least, of fair average importance, should suffer the disadvantages which it inevitably must suffer by the absence of legislation adapted to the locality and the requirements of its population. That necessary amount of legislation, however trifling it may be, cannot be expected to be obtained at the hands of the General Assembly while the proportion of local representation in that body continues to be so small, and while so many questions of a colonial character continue to engross its attention. With all the other districts of the Colony having the power to deal directly with their own affairs, it is likely to be the disposition of the Assembly to interfere as little as possible with duties which it is not generally called upon to discharge, nor, while this is the case, can Westland expect to receive the exceptional consideration which its peculiar circumstances demand. In bare justice to Westland, therefore, it is better that, until a general and thorough change in the system of governing the Colony be initiated, the representative institutions established in the district should assimilate those which elsewhere exist. It need not be that this assimilation should involve the recognition of the principle of responsible Execucutives, or the imitation of that Parliamentary style of conducting business which several of our Provincial Councils have injudiciouslyadopted. Except in an extension of its powers, and in the fact of i the Superintendent having ex officio the right to occupy a seat in the Council, there need be no radical change in the constitution of the body. The preservation of its pristine simplicity in that particular would, indeed, be rather in the direction of one of the few virtues which it. can at present claim to possess, than any departure therefrom. At the same time there seems to be a general feeling, and it is a feeling which is prompted by experience of the New Provinces Act, as well as of the County Act itself, that it is undesirable to perpetuate the system adopted under both of those Acts — the system of delegating to the Council the duty of electing the Superintendent or Chief Administrator of the district. The system of popular election which is adopted in the Provinces which were originally created, and which prevails also in the municipalities in the Province of Otago, seems, for a variety of reasons, to be preferable to that form of election which has, in the past, resulted in exceedingly undignified proceedings in Westland, Southland, and Marlborough, and infinitely preferable to any system of nomineeism. It is precisely upon that point, however, that the framers of the promised Bill will probably find some difficulty in adapting the system of election to the peculiarities of our franchise, and in avoiding opposition on the part of representatives of [other Provinces. As yet the privilege of exercising ; the miners' franchise has not been conceded in connection with Superintendental elections, but it is questionable if the application of that restriction will be altogether satisfactory in Westland. At all events the proposition to apply it would undoubtedly cause considerable discussion, and it will probably be found necessary to place the franchise on a different basis from the present — a consummation devoutly to be wished for throughout the Colony as a whole. How far this matter may have been considered by the deputation who waited upon the Premier, or by the Premier himself, we are not as yet informed. That it has been overlooked is not, however, probable, and, furnished as we shall be in a few days with more details of the objects and results of the deputation's interview with the Premier, we shall in all likelihood learn then that some satisfactory solution of this problem has, at least, been aimed at. , Meantime, it may, be taken for granted ;

that, with unanimity for once, and as a wonder, prevailing among our representatives, the Ministry will be enabled to address themselves to the subject of the contemplated change with an assurance of receiving more support than they have hitherto done in any attempts to abolish the anomalies of local government on the West Coast, and that, whatever may be the difficulties as to details, success will attend any sincere and substantial effort that may be made to elevate Westlaud to its proper place among kindred : communities, and to introduce it to a new era of progress, as a Province.

Since the foregoing lines were written, we have been informed by a telegram which appears in another column that the Miners' Franchise Extension Bill contemplates that very change in regard to the election of Superintendents which we conceived would be sought for by the population of Westland in any measure modifying the existing form of Government. That that Bill will be carried without a struggle we are, however, by no means prepared to believe. However acceptable it may be to a community such as that of Westland, where the mining interest is paramount and intimately associated with every other, there will undoubtedly be strenuous opposition to it on the part of the friends of the present Government of Nelson, if not on the part of Superintendents of other Provinces, and of those who, in each case, constitute the political "tail" of their Honors. Its passing, and especially its coming into force from that time henceforward, would unquestionably end all the chances of Mr Curtis being re-elected, for thereby time would not even be given for the adoption of one expadient which has been suggested as a legitimate resort on the part of Nelson residents — the procuring of miners' rights applicable to the Wangapeha or Collingwood Goldfields. The announcement that Mr Curtis is prepared to take the field against all comers must certainly have been made in ignorance that such a measure was intended, or in the belief that it was certain to be negatived, otherwise that gentleman must be credited with more confidence upon the support of the West Coast constituencies than ever he has had reason to feel hitherto. So in Auckland Province, the circumstances would be so altered that some of the candidates would certainly find discretion to be the better part of valor, and wisdom in retiring, but they will possibly first exercise these qualities in preventing this Bill becoming law. The result, if we may hazard a guess, is more likely to be the raising of the larger question of extending the franchise on the basis of manhood suffrage, for among even those who, because of their associations, are favorable to this enlargement of the privileges held under the miner's right, there undoubtedly is a feeling that it is a form of franchise which is anomalous, and which does not. even on the gold-fields themselves enable the population to be, in number, intelligence, or interests, fairly represented.