THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 1874.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1696, 10 January 1874, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 1874.

Of the four candidates for the repreaen. tation of Greymouth in the Provincial Council who were expected to deliver themselves of their opinions, two only addressed the meeting of electors last night. Mr Masters was unavoidably absent, his calculations of the time and departure oi steamers having been upset. Mr E. B. Fox, whose candidature could very well have been omitted, declined to address the electors for a reason which was probably as conclusive to his mind, as it was satisfactory to the meeting. Mr Wicke3 opened the ball ; his name was the first on the programme, and his long services in. various capacities to the people of Greymouth fairly entitled him. to the pas. It was well, however, that he based his claims to the good-will and votes of the constituency, upon his past services, and the many evidences he harl given of a thorough desire to advance the interests of the town of Greymouth, with which he has been intimately connected since the early days of its settlement. . It is no i reproach to Mr Wickes to say that he failed to apprehend or appreciate I the most important questions which must inevitably form the principal business of the first session of the new Council. He admitted this, but he gave the electors some assurance that he would carefully address himself to these questions, and do the be3t he could. This assurance came with considerable force from this candidate. His public career has been marked by proofs of a; sincere desire to further the progress of Greymouth. If he lacks the advantages of oratorical power, or of an intimate knowledge of those subjects which more ambitious men profess to understand, he has the grand qualification of being thoroughly honest. The electors of Greymouth may be sure that whilst, probably, Mr Wickes may not shine in debate he will allow no opportunity to slip which will enable him to further the praptigal advantages of his own district. He went out of his way, as did Mr Woolcock, to denounce Provincialism. To begin with : the expression of an opinion that Provincial institutions are a mistake and unsuited to the present circumstances of the Colony, came badly from those who have had little if any experience of the wopkjng of these institutions, and betrayed a lamentable ignorance of the facts of the case. There was never a period in the history of this Colony when Provincial institutions were so powerful politically, or of so much value practically as now. This has been confessed by some of the foremost of those who in times past desired to uproot Provincial Governments and supplant them by a system of centralisa- [ tion, This desire was all very good at the time it waa propounded, but times and circumstances have very largely altgred. The Colonial Government has entered 1 upon a programme of policy which necessitates the exertion of all its powers to accomplish. It is idle to expect that, whilst the administrative powers and resources of the General Government are. ! strained to the utmost for the performance of their 4"tf es ; the additional parish work of the Provinces cat) be, attended to. The General Government cannot do. it. Parliament cannot do it, and it will take many years to/bring about such a state of things as the auti-provincialists of old days sought, and as Messrs Wickes and Woolcock now desire. Those who have had any experience of Colonial politics must almost unanimously admit that the question now is not— fi ghall we dp away with Provincial Governments/^ but js '.' shall jwe make them more useful." Already the mischievous powers of the Provinces have ' been almost entirely destroyed. They are no longer the chief party in the goy£f?nroG,nt of the Colony. They have become properly eubseryient to the Colonial Government,' but tfyey h^,va still very important g.nd large for jthe operation of their functions. It is fyardly satisfactory that Messrs Wickes and Woolcock, whilst seeking to represent an jm_pwtant constituency in a Provincial Council, should denounce the vsry institution of which they desire to become members. We do not place much weight upon this, because we have too much faith in the loyal intentions of the candidates, but the declaration w%s unnecessary and a mistake. ' Mr Wickes' programme was, if not ve»y intelligible, unobjectionable, except when he dealt with matters he did not understand. His opinions about education v ere vague in the extreme jr=-thf3 utmost that we could gather from his epeech was, tjiat he was in favor of subsidising schools according to results. It may be our own infirmity, but we certainly failed to comprehend Mr Wickes' remarks respecting harbor works. The most careful attention left us witfe np other conclusion than that either the speaker had failed to explain himself properly, or that his scheme was of the most cloudy and impractical character. One point alone will show this — he referred to some scheme by whioh a certain amount of land on each side of the riyer could be made available to be utilised ap a fund to provide for the cost of making th'e'costjy works required. This proposal is all very well-^supp£sing Mr Wickes' calculations to be correct* ■ which we doubt— wore it submitted to the QoJonial Parliament, but it is absurd coming from one who will simply be able to exercise influence in the Council of the Province ,of .^estjand. But dp^pjte the | errors "natural to one who has hitherto ponfined himßelf to Municipal affairs, Mr WibkeuV speech, sfropt as ; it was, was

sufficient to enlist the confidence of his hearers in his straightforward honesty of purpose. H^ has much to learn, but he is not above admitting this ; and as he has exhibited modesty in this respect, but at the same time declared his intention to master the various questions with which the -Council will have to deal, he is fully entitled on these accounts and the grounds of his past services to the vote of confidence he received. Our remarks upon Mr Woolcock's speech, which was considerably more practical and positive, must be deferred to our next issue.