THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILEY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1877.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2515, 27 January 1877, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILEY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1877.

Siwce the abolition of the provinces some discussion has arisen as to who shall exercise the Governor's delegated powers, under the Goldfields and Gold Mining Districts Act, within the provincial districts of the Colony. In some ' instances j these powers have been suffered to remain ' in the hands of ex-Superintendents; in other cases a Minister of the Crown has* been appointed Governor's delegate. There are objections to both these courses. As regards ex-Superintendents, few of them would care to continue in the exercise of the duties of their office if unremu* nerated, but where they happen to be also members of the Assembly, if they do accept the delegated powers under various Acts they must perform the duties gratuitously or render themselves liable to the pains and penalties of The Disqualification Act. The Grey mouth County have recognised; the difficulty and attempted a solution thereof. Ihe Grey County is in two Provincial Districts,, and the former Superintendents of these Provincial Districts (nee Provinces), still exercise the delegated powers under the Goldfields Acts, thus placing the governing body of the County in a subordinate position; to two autocrats (as far as they arc concerned), and ignoring their existence in regard to goldfields matters. The County Council, in view of this anomaly have passed a resolution' which would remove the difficulty. It is aa follows :•—" That, this Council is of opinion that the delegated powers under the Goldfields Act, now held within this County by Oswald Curtis and James A. Bonar, should be delegated to the County Chairman." They certainly have reason on their side, and should succeed in getting a change. The fitness or otherwise of the Chairman to exercise the delegated powers would probably influence the Government in a matter of this kind, «but even if no member of the County Council should be considered eligible to exercise the powers, it surely would not be a difficult matter to find a suitable resident to whom could be entrusted the powers formerly delegated to Superintendents, and so remove the anomaly of having divided and totally irresponsible authorities in one county. As regards the exercise of these delegated powers, by non-residents, the question will probably crop up again ere long, when the public convenience has been seriously interfered with by appointments of this character.