West Coast Times. TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 1866.

West Coast Times, Issue 237, 26 June 1866, Page 2

West Coast Times. TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 1866.

His Honor the Superintendent may be hourly expected to arrive in Hokitika, and no doubt all the respect will be paid him that is due to the double office he holds, as tho Superintendent of the Province and the representative of the district in the General Assembly. Whatever demonstration awaits him, however, must not be allowed to consist merely 'in a publio ovation. Mr Moorhouse stands high in the \ estimation of the people here*. He has recommended himself to them by his frankness of demeanor, and by his pledges. Let him be received hero, by all means, as a welcome guest ; but let it not be forgotten that ho now visits the West Coast in an official capacity — that he has assumed the responsibilities of a high official position, and that he has duties to discharge in xoturn for the honors that have been conferred upon him. Mr Moorhouso is the Superintendent of a province of which Westlaud counts more than half in point of population, and in point of revenue. He is, besides this, the representative — and the sole representative — in .the General Assembly of thirty thousand people, who have hitherto been deprived of nil benefit of special legislation.

No doubt Mr Moorhouso visits the "West Coast for practical purposes, and it is the duty of the people here to turn his visit to practical account. He will be welcomed, of course, with a complimentary address. He will be entertained, in all probability, at a public banquet. But it will bo necessary to supplement these proceedings. There aro many matters of vital importance to the town and to tho district, which will require to be pressed \ipon his Honor's attention, and the opportunity is one that ought not to be allowed to i pass unimproved.

In the first place, Mr Moorhouse's sympathies ought to be enlisted on behalf of the district in respect of its political disabilities. We reprint from our evening contemporary an article which we have no doubt has taken the town by surprise. It cannot be questioned that, by a most clumsy course of law-making and law-amending, designed to confer a boon upon this district, Westland has been, to all intents and purposes, disfranchised, and doomed to disfranchisement until October next. Wo can take no exception to the reading of the law as it has been set forth. The fact is plain enough that the old franchise has been repealed, and that the new franchise has not been brought into force. The object of the Provincial Council Extension Ordinance was to enlarge and consolidate the electoral privileges of the West Coast settlers. Its effect has been to annihilate them. The remedy lies with the General Assembly, which body might, by an early Act, remedy all the mischief that has beeu unwittingly done. A Bill should be introduced declaring — first, that the Miners' Franchise should be continued in force until the 31st December, 1867; and secondly, that the list of claims for insertion in the electoral roll recently made up by the Registration Officer should, so far as the claims are allowed to be valid by the Revising Officer, ho accepted as the " electoral roll " for the district. According to the present law, no'one who has procured the insertion of his name in tte electoral list will be entitled to claim privilege under it until the month of October next. Looking at all the bearings of the case, and the capricious manner in which the elector ral lights of the people here have been dealt with, we cannot for a moment doubt that Mr Moorhouse, as the representative of the district in the Assembly, would consent to introduce a Bill — and to press it with all the weight attached to his position as the Superintendent of the Province — to amend the abortive measures by whioh it has been attempted to bestow the boon of representation upon the West Coast people. .

As the head of the Provincial Executive, there are other subjects that need to be brought before him. There is the question of the alienation of the yet unsold town sections, and the alleged decision of the Government not to receive the deposits tendered on the part of intending purchasers under the Land Regulations. There is the question of wharf extension, which cannot in any fairness be left to the Municipal Council to deal with. There is the question of the endowment of 'the Municipal Council itself. There are the questions of the condition and management of our local institutions, such as tho Hospital and tho Gaol, and of the formation of tracks, and bridges, and roads ; of the guaranteed appropriation of local revenues to local uses ; and a hundred matters which might be mentioned if they were not kept ever fresh in men's minds.

It will bo tho duty of tho people, through whatever channel of communication they may choose to adopt, to v bring these matters conspicuously under Mr Moorhouse's attention. Let his Honor's reception in Hokitika be mado as complimentary and demonstrative as it can be rendered. But let it be remombered, with all respect to him, that on this occasion he does not come to Westland as a candidate, or as a guest merely, but as a public man charged with high duties and responsibilities, and that in his official capacity the people of this district havo many claims upon him.