CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 8, 9 January 1877, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

ITo xhe the^* Evening Mail.' i SlK — T-Rtemarksinybur issue of yesterday are valuable, for it is by jlooki.i^ rqg.ua tb£7measiire, and 'by its consideration froth, various standpoints, that the j true bearing, .of thc'Conhties system may be j realised. - ;?■•-„ •: . : j ■ * For my,pwn I freely admit a bias : to magmfy these new,;Couhci_s ; not that they are'ii&ely.;tfrb< : tlie best governing bodies j thav^n ibe devised," but the tendency =to snetipatapd'depfeciate.themin the eyes of the public? is : at any rate indefensible, and I au_^eeply;grjeved when -I see our press inclined to makfe fun .out of a subject so very serious. Iffi i is not: the question whether the CoMy is4b have any local self-government afc **ll.pr whether- alhour little local matters of jlyefyd# (withrthe exception of the work pe-fof_ned*hy the : Road Boards) are to be managed at Wellington? . • The Counties are generally well bounded, and represent good geographical units, and this is a first and very important step 'fo'-' •^^t e^- c-e -sfc5 fc system °f local administration. IfiTe may also fairly expect'lo' see a superior andrmore .truly representative class of men returned to the County Councils than our M v H.R.'s and M.E.G. .*, for so many -cu?cu__BlM6es combing in' a colony to limit the electoral bodies in their choice of members of the Assembly:;/ there can naturally .Pc but very few persons able or willing to le^ve<their Homes and pass a good part of evjery year in a distant and not agreeab-e toton;su6_. as Wellington, and they require, ,a_jd will require, some substantial inducements beyond public/spirit alone. But there can?be ro-reasoii why the County Councils, aud th^Borotigli Councils too, should not be • real local. Parliaments,- containing the very crjsam of who would be able under:6h-<eye_,<an&almG_t afc the very doors, ofi their constituents to administer most of tl^ec-nncMdri-lciC government in a cheap, :cqmmon-sense, and convenient form— may , sbje golden opportunity not be lost. '.■'- j°f course a general legislature must exist, but, its duties '.need not surely he numerous or complicated in an island colony with a mere sprinkling of population, nor ought any expensive establishments to be necessary. It appears, sir, that the new Act is misunderstood all over the colony ; a great scare has been set up by the Centralists to alarm the country settlers— it is said that the Councils wiil swallow up the Road Boards, but where or how they are likely to clash is not apparent to me, their separate and independent action being so clearly explained, . and the existence of the Road Boards being so carefully guarded. In my opinion the election of the chairman of the Waimea County Council was a much nipre serious proceeding than you thought, arid I consider my allusion to the House of Commons as well-timed and well-placed, its mode of procedure being of such acknowledged .authority with representative bodies, both ilarge and.small, important and insignificant, all over the .world. . r j .:?*: :.':•-. .:;• lam, &c, j -v.La :,- •.._ Arthur R. Olives. jSheibourne-street, Jan. 6, 1877. [Is not Mr Oliver a little contradictory in his jopiaions ?. In one part of his letter he jsays, " I consider my allusion to the House iof Commons wa3 well-timed and wellIPlaced;" .^.another, ." The remarks in your !i-_u_-b_ l yeMerday ■»»- (i n which we ridiculed this 'well-timed and 1 placed' allusion) "are H^Sl^ and valuable " Some little expla--fatiod-.is" -tecessary "to render these two very opposite statements intelligible. The d&e> v grief Expressed })j Mr Oliver when he s^._ w «ouriprfess inclined to make fun out dP'k subj-_g so very serious "is likely to W irisd&- deeper still if he continues to ignore the %ct that it is only a County Council and not' a national Parliament of which he is a member. A " tendency to sneer at and- depreciate the new Councils in the eyes of the public " does not exist; the (determination to prevent their being rendered ridiculous .by those who desire to make them what they were never intended to different things.— \E».N.E.M.J • ... s