West Coast Times. THURSDAY, JULY 19, 1866.

West Coast Times, Issue 257, 19 July 1866, Page 2

West Coast Times. THURSDAY, JULY 19, 1866.

We learn from the Christchurch papers received last night by the overland mail, that Mr Moorhouse has not yet entered upon the active discharge of his duties, as the representative of Westland in the General Assembly, and that there is considerable doubt as to his being placed at an early date in a position to do so. He has not taken his seat or adopted the necessary measures to give him the right to take it. The following appears in the letter of the Wellington correspondent of the '• Lyttelton Times," under date the 14th inst. It will be remembered that that journal strongly combated the assumption of the Canterbury " Press " that Mr Moorhouse's return for Westland was invalid in consequenceollds- prinr mtv^n^

for Mount Herbert. Whatever the ultimate termination of the controversy may be, it seems but too certain that we are doomed, for the present, to a disappointment of the hopes we have been clinging to, of an immediate release from many pressing embarrassments, as the fruit of Mr Moorhouse's action on our behalf in the House of Representatives. We quote from the " Lyttelton Times" of Monday :—": — " Mr Moorhouse has again looked in at Wellington on his way between East and West Canterbury. He is compelled to go on at once to Christchurch, and cannot stop to initiate the proceedings respecting his double return. These proceedings will doubtless be the appointment of a committee to hunt for precedents in the case, after which the House will decide whether he may choose between his two seats, or must be compelled to sit for the first in order of time. All this will cause delay, and "it is a pity, therefore, that action cannot be taken at once."