West Coast Times. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1866.

West Coast Times, Issue 346, 1 November 1866, Page 2

West Coast Times. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1866.

It will be satisfactory to their constituents to know that the Westland members in the Provincial Council are not idle or lukewarm in their service. The session is } r et young, its act.ial work having begun only on Tuesday week, but already a variety of matters of more or less importance, affecting the district, have been brought under consideration, and it will be seen that other important notices have been placed on the paper by Mr Barff and Mr Bright. The nome of Westland ,is becoming familiar in the House, whilst its members — beside attending to their own more special charge — have made a beginning in taking part in the more general business of the Council.

The appeal made to the Government and to the House by the member for Hokittka, on the occasion of the adoption of the address in reply to his Honor's speech, is one in which we think he should be sustained by some public action on the part of the people here. There can be no doubt that flic premature close of a session from which s.) much has been expected, and the opening of which was so anxiously waited for, would not only be attended with the gravest inconvenience and disadvantage to the district, but would occasion a general disappointment which would not be slow in ripening into disaffection. Thus the Provincial Government, as well as the people of Westland, have a direct interest in causing the present session to be in some considerable degree fiwitful of the great practical results which it was expocted to bear. It would be exceedingly unwise, on the part of the Executive or the House, to revive the old feeling of discontent, which arose not so much, perhaps, out i >f the sense of actual bad government as out of the sense of neglect. That the temper of the people for months past has been one of exemplary patience, is due to the fixed belief that the time was at last coining, when all the actual want« of the district would be practically considered and dealt with. Everything has been calculated to encourage this trust in the future, and so to pro • long the tacit acquiescence in the present as a temporary state of things only. The promises of the Superintendent, on the occasion of his two visits to Hokitika, and the references made at the time of the election to services to be rendered, by the several candidates, all directed public expectation to this opportunity, as one out of which great things were to grow. What will be the public feeling throughout the district if these well-grounded expectations are falsified ; if the hopes that have been freely fed are destined to disappointment ; for no better reason than that the long delay which has taken place in making an actual start in the new government of the province, has left such an accumulation of woi k on the hands of the Executive, that it would suit their convenience best to confine the work of the session to the voting of supply, and to placing large powers in the hands of his Honor and his advisers, to be used during a six or eight months' recess ? Will this satisfy the public ? More than they at present imagine may depend upon the answer they may give to that question, and the line of conduct they may see fit to pursue — now that is put plainly to them. Let us review the situation. Is there not something omincus in the style and in the reticence wi<h which the West Canterbury goldfields are referred to in the opening speech of the Superintendent ? It was obviously a matter of course, as well as a point of pride, for his Honor to refer in complacent terms to the importance and wealth of the great district which has been practically added to his dominions since he last reigned over Canterbury. Mr Moorhouse has the ambition of a statesman to whom circumstances furnish vn " opportunity." It will not be his fault if his active mind, his determined will, and his strong hand, do not create for the province of which he is now the chief, a dominant position in colonial politics before the term of his tenure of office expires. It is we believe, th,« idea animates him}

and holding such a purpose, and conscious of the great power he possesses, it i.s not unnatural that he should ch'.fc at restiaints and be glad to be left free to carry out his purposes in his own way. Have we any key here to the contents and the omissions of the Speech ? Is it not equally ea«y to understand his pride in the great district of which he is the special representative, and which has done so much already to exalt the fame of the province; and his announced purpose of securing the disposal of a revenue by a sale of lands ? On all other points the speech displays what by a statesman of Mr Moorhouse's school will, doubtless, be held to be a "judicious reticence." but what we are mistaken if the long waiting people of this district do not more simply call a most unsatisfactory aud disappointing silence. What for example is said about the policy to be pursued towards Westland with reference to the apportionment of tin* debt now charged against the district ? What about new administrative iustitutions, applying for the first time the principle of official responsibility to the people ? Wliat about local control over the expenditure of local revenues ? Absolutely nothing. One scheme is hinted at, owl one only. That is the sale of more or less of the public lands, in order to put the Executive iv possession of a West Coast Revenue. But to- be expended on what objects? Especially to be expended under what conditions of control and supervision ?

These are suggestive questionson on which it behoves the people well to ponder. Let them beur in mind that only during the" very brief period over which the present session is allowed t > extend, will they have the opportunity of making themselves heard through their representatives in the open legislature of the Province ; and if the opportunity be allowed to lapse, the district must continue for another six or eight months under the absolute control of a government without guarantees. This will amount simply to an indefinite perpetration of the ol l regime, which has been the occasion of so many animosities and of so much and genernl public complaint. There will be this difference. The reins will be held by a firmer hand. The district will be governed by a clear head and a determined will, aud that will will have a purpose. But will the cardinal objects of this Government — a Government conducted for us, not hij us ; be in all respects such as the people of this district if allowed free action would apapprove and endeavor to carry out ? Is it not within the range of possibility that district inteTests may be sacrificed to provincial ones — that Westland interests may be absolutely absorbed into Canterbury interests, and that our vast resources may be employed, primarily for the purpose of building up au imposing political structure — a dominant province stretching from shore to shore of the Middle Island — and, secondarily, for our interests to the extent to which these can be reconciled with those of the grand scheme we have foreshadowed.

This much at least is certain — the moment the doors of the Council Chamber are closed on the expiring session, that lU'iment the system of irresponsible administration resumes its full sway, arid the people will be left to be governed without any court of appeal but thatofpublie opinion which strong Governments have often shown they ai'e not incapable of resisting until, their purpose being served, they succeed, by some lucky stroke, in turning the current, of the popular humor.