The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, MAY 23, 1871.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 120, 23 May 1871, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, MAY 23, 1871.

In the composition of the Provincial Treasurer there must be a latent fund of dry humor for which but few of those who have watched him taking his accustomed seat ou the Government benches, night after night, with the air of one who is rather bored than otherwise with the proceedings, have given him credit. We are disposed to view him in this new light from the fact of his having given notice that, he will to-night perpetrate one of those occasional jokes that go so far to relieve tlie monotony of an evening spent in the Council Chamber ; a joke that is second only to that of which Mr. Wastney was unconsciously guilty when proposing that the sum of £150 should be placed ou the Estimates for the purpose of paying the expenses of those of the' 1 Councillors who were desirous of visiting the WestCoast at the cost of the proviuce. To be ; more explicit. Mr. Shephard, who, if we remember aright, moved for a Select, Committee to enquire into the question of the Grey and Teremakau annexation, who, at all events, was a member of that Committee, has placed the following resolution j on ihe Notice Paper for this evening : — I " That this Council is willing to have the | district between the Grey and the Tere- , makau annexed to the Province of Nelson, provided that financial arrangements can be made by which the existing Province is not prejudicially affected." But, it may be asked, where is the joke in such a resolution, which on the face of it bears a perfectly serious and practical aspect ? Taken by itself, it undoubtedly is thoroughly business-like, and looks just such a matter of fact motion as we should haveexpected to emanate from the gentleman who is to propose it, but when viewed in connection with the report of the Select Committee at whose recommendation he has brought it forward, we repeat that there is about it an amount of grim humor which, if it be well sustained throughout the debate, will cause this evening's proceedings to be as refreshingly amusiug as any that have yet taken place during the present session. We will proceed to state the grounds on which we have arrived at such a conclusion, which can be best done by giving, a short summary of the report brought up^by the Committee and which has been printed for the information of the Council and the public. It is first shown that, after deducting the necessary departmental and other expenditure, and the share of the debt and sinking fund for which the district in question is liable, the sum of £9,740 was set down by Mr. Hodgson, the Commissioner, as the amount available for public works and its share of the general expenses ,of the Government of the Proviuce, but this calculation was made prior to the passing of the " New Provinces Act, 1870" by which the revenue of this part of the County of Westland would be reduced to £5,710, and further it is shown that this sum cora- | prises a special allowance made to the County which was only, to ; last for three years — one of them having already passed — at the expiration of which term the probable revenue will be again reduced by £1,125 leaving it at £4,050. Out of this it is stated that the district which asks for annexation might fairly be debited with £900 as its share of the general charges, i thus leaving £3,150 for public works, education, maintenance of the poor, and j other local charges. Again, the capitation allowances are reduced by 2s. per head each year, thus making a considerable difference.in the revenue, and in addition to this "|he experience of the last two years seer^B to point to the probability of a decrease" both: ft.:' the humbei-s.. and ; wealth of the ; populatidn,^ ..X^atlyj the Coixjmifyee '^ the ,

proposed annexation presents the possibility of bringing along with it a greater load of debt than the annexed territory would furnish the means of meeting. ' Looking to the fact that, to public works on th.-it portion of the "West Coast gohlfields which already form part of the Province have beeu voted this session nearly £28,000, or more than twothirds of the whole sum devoted to that purpose, we are not inclined to think that the new territory would be satisfied with the paltry sum of £3,150. The Committee have proved to their own satisfaction, aud to that, we presume, .of every one who reads their report, that the proposed annexation cannot possibly pay, and when, after having elaborately but clearly shown this to be the case, they ask the Council to say that if "financial arrangements can be made by which the existing proviuce is not prejudicially affected" it is willing to take over the district in question, we cannot, try as we may, look upou it in any other light than that they mean the whole thing to be viewed as a huge joke. ,\ It is true that some distant, advantages are weakly and timidly hinted at, such as that some possible colonial benefit might accrue by the reduction in the number of officers ; and that greater weiyht and prestige might attach to the Proviuce in i he* Assembly if it were larger and consequently sent more members, but with regard to the force of this latter argument we have our doubts. Did Mr. Timothy Gallagher add weight and prestige to the Province ? We do not remember that he ilid. Is Mr. O'Conor likely to add to our strength ? Seeing that even in the Provincial Council, he is constantly sneering at the town of Nelson and the settled districts, we are decidedly of opinion that he is not. Aud, therefore, judging from the experience that we have already had. of two members who have been elected to represent the western portion oft.be Proviuce, we do not think that our "weight and prestige" is likely to be largely added to by the extra member that the province would send from the district in question. The resolution, which evidently means that we will have none of this annexation, is so pleasantly worded that we hope to see it carried nemcon.