THE WESTLAND SEPARATION LEAGUE.

West Coast Times, Issue 589, 14 August 1867, Page 3

THE WESTLAND SEPARATION LEAGUE.

A meeting of the members of the Westland Separation League, which the general public were specially invited to attend, was held on Monday evening, at the Empire Hotel, to receive the report of the council, and to consider a recommendation f : om that body that five additional members should be elected to it by ballot. The President of the League, Mr South, .. »was called to the chair. ""^ The Chairman said that the Council had thought it desirable to convene a meeting of the members of the League for the purpose of informing them of the proceedings which they had taken since the last meeting. It would be in their recollection that a sub-committee had been appointed to draw up a petition to to the Assembly. That petition had been submitted to the Council, all the members of which were present at the time, with the exception of Mr Shaw, who was a member of the sub-committee, but who had been called away on business, and Mr Prosser, who had also been absent on business from the colony.

The petition which had been prepared by the sub-committee had been honestly and conscientiously prepared, and he might state that "the committee felt it impossible to prepare that petition w ithout making out such a case as would involve the history of Westland, and up to the present moment not a single objection had been stated to him by any member of the League against the allegations contained in that petition. In preparing the petition a very great amount of information had to be collected and various facts set forth in order to comply with the statute law of New Zealand. That information, after considerable

trouble, had to a certain extent, been obtained.

He wished to state that the clause of the petition had been considered seriatim by the and, after such consideration had been published : and the Council now wished to report to the League what had been done in the matter. There was another matter which he wished to bring before them, and that was, that the Council considered it desirable that five additional members should be elected to, their body.' It had been stated that none of the leading men of the place had taken any part in this movement ; he should, however, like to ask who were the leading men ? He had spoken to several on the subject, and although they all agreed that it was necessary that something should be done, yet there was suoh an apathy prevailing, that it was exceedingly difficult to say who were the leading men. The petition adopted by the Council was on the table for consideration, and he mentioned this in order to evoke discussion, and at the same time he would state that the Council recommended that five additional members should be elected. Mr Peosseb had to apologise for his previous absence, having been compelled to go to Melbourne on private business. It would be in the recollection of members that at a previous meeting, although it was thought desirable to separate Canterbury, no distinct principles of Separation were laid down, and he conceived it to be the object of the League to take into consideration the kind of separation

required. He had not had time to look over

the minutes of the meetings held whilst he jiad been absent ; but from what he had seen, the Council seemed to have adopted the principle — that pure and^simple separation from Canterbury was necessary. Now he (Mr Prosser) did not consider thajt it was right for any small nunberof gentlemen to arrive at such a contusion without due argument and without the question being remitted to the public for their consideration, and until that was done he thought that little was likely to be effected, inasmuch as although the movement had originated in Hokitika, they did not know whether Greymouth and the other centres of population would unite with them or not. He believed that Greymouth was in favor of annexation to Nelson ;" and if that were the case, there was little probability of a

separate province being formed, unless they secured the co-operation of the Grey and k other centres of population. It had also been 9 thought that the Municipal Bill brought in by the General Government would remedy the evils complained of, but that Bill he had ascertained had been rejected by the Assembly. He would, considering the cir-

cumstances, first urge upon the meeting to wait until they had heard from the Grey and the other centres of population, so that they might be able to discuss the subject fully. With regard to the petition which had been prepared, he was not in a position to give an opinion upon it, as he had never react it (hear, hear) ; but as he thought it very undesirable, until the whole principle of Separation had been discussed, to make any definite movement in the matter, he would propose — "That this meeting . be adjourned until Saturday evening, at eight o'clock, for the purpose of discussing the subject more fully. Mr M'Beth, in seconding the resolution, said that he was in favor of the petition being brought before a meeting of the League. He believed that it wa"s never intended that the committee should decide such an important question, without its first being submitted to a general meeting of the League. He believed that the majority of the public did not understand the question as to what kind of government they should have in Westland. He had been an observer of Provincial Governments, and he must say that he was not satisfied with Provincial administration. He felt, with Mr Prosser, that they ought to have

the opinions of the Grey and other centres of population before they arrived at a decision on the subject. He believed that the public •wished that the administration should be taken in hand by the General Government. Mr Browne agreed with what had fallen from Mr Prosser and Mr M'Beth. It was true that the petition had been published, but it should have first been brought forward at a public meeting, and then have been sent round for signature. He (Mr Browne) was a member of the League and of the early committee, and he was under the impression that when tho committee were appointed it was merely a committee ; but the following morning a few of the gentlemen pointed out what they called a Council — a self-constituted body, •which included even their respected chairman. He (Mr Browne) would assert that there was no ordinance which required such a petition — a petition which was not like the petition ■which would be required by the Government in former days. (Hear, hear). He thought that in such an important matter it would be only an act of courtesy to have consulted Greymouth before they sent a certain petition. If they sent up the petition under the circumsiances they would be asked when they got to Wellington, " what is it you want — you do not agree amongst yourselves as to what you require, and the other parts of Westland do not agre.e with you, and what are wo to do?" The petition itself was too wordy, and the material points might have been contained in much smaller compass — in fact, the whole petition laid in a nutshell, and it was this — " They had no justice done them in the Provincial Council of Canterbury — they had no equality of representation," and he (Mr Browne) therefore thought they ought to ask the people to consider the matter before they sent up the petition. Mr Mtjnbo said that until after what had been said by Mr Browne and Mr Prosser, he was not aware that they were met to consider whether they should separate from Canterbury or not. lie thought that question had been already decided. (Hear, hear.) Mr Shaw would be sorry if the meeting deviated from the purpose for which it was called— viz., receiving the report of the Council, and electing five additional members of the Council. Mr Browne had said that he thought the petition was too verbose, because it was prepared in accordance with the Act which required that certain points should be made out before " its prayer POUW be conceded, That gentleman (Mr SJpowno) had compl^nea of tto length of fts

parts of it could be left out, or how it could be made shorter, without injuring its effect. (Hear, hear.) Mr Prosser Beenied to have forgotten that the question as to what kind of Separation they should ask for had already been decided at a public meeting, when the various kinds of Separation were duly considered and determined on. (Hear, hear). He (Mr Shaw) thought that Ms fiiend Mr M'Beth was entirely out of order in wishing to have' the question of Separation re-con-sidered, as that had already been decided on* at a meeting at which Mr M'Beth was present, and expressed no dissent to the proposition which was then carried. He (Mr Shaw) could hardly excuse his friend Mr Prosser, who had absented himself from their meeting for the observations he had made respecting the subject of Separation, inasmuch as such observations, instead of helping on the movement, had a tendency to put a drag upon the coach. He did not understaud how the public could have been better informed on the subject of Separation than by publishing the petition ; in fact, he thought that the petition by being published was doing the very work which had been alluded to by Mr Prosser and Mrßrowne, viz.,making the public acquainted with the resources and requirements of Westland. Mr Prosser and Mr Brown had said, " Let Greyniouth be consulted ;" but he (Mr Shaw) would ask in what better way could they consult the inhabitants of Grreymouth, and indeed of the whole of Westlaud, than by publishing that petition? — (hear, hear) — -a petition which he had had no hand in preparing. Ho doubt there were persons very willing to point out the defects of tho petition, but they reminded him strongly of a celebrated paintejjft who exhibited a picture and at the same time requested the public to mark all the blemishes in it. To the astonishment of the artist, the picture was marked all over ; but the artist copied the picture, and requested the public to mark its beauties, and then it was returned to him with as many marks as when it had been marked for blemishes, and so it was with the petition. As to the question of what kind of separation they should have, he (Mr Shaw) was decidedly in favor of a strong central Government, with local self-government for the districts ; but as they were not likely to get that, and as annexation to Nelson was out of the question, he should decidedly go in for separation pure and simple, and the creating Westland into a separate province. (Hear, hear.) Mr Beight said that, as a member of the sub-committee, he certainly had some share in preparing the petition, and he confessed to no small mortification at the tone in which the petition had been received. The petition was a manifesto of the case of Westland, and had been prepared with considerable labor by the sub-committee, and approved of by the Council. It was a fact, however, that ever since that petition had been published, it had been subject to an incessant battery of ridicule, misrepresentation, and abuse, levelled not against the petition itself, but against the men who had prepared it. Those men, despite the difficulties they had to contend with, had not shrunk from the duty which had been confided to them ; but their labors, nevertheless, had been the subject of misrepresentation and abuse (hear, hear). He (MiBright) objected to the statements made by -Mr Browne, when he said that the Council of the League was a self-consti-tuted body. That gentlemen, from his his position ought to have known that such was not the case. At a large public meeting, the question of what kind of Separation should be adopted was determined on, and a large number of names of gentlemen were submitted to form the Council of the League. At an adjourned meeting, the gentlemen forming tho present Council were elected by ballot. From the list thus submitted, tho President and Vice-President were also similarly chosen, and he must say that it was not in accordance with facts to state that a number of gentlemen had simply constituted themselves the Council of the League. (Hear, hear.) He would also claim for the members of the sub-com-mittee that in preparing the petition they had acted honestly, conscientiously, and industriously (hear, hear) ; and with regard to the statement made by Mr M'Beth, he (MiBright) wished to state that the petition, as adopted by the Council, was fully considered at a meeting at which Mr M'Beth was present, and adopted after certain suggestions which that gentleman had himself made had been acceded to. (Hear, hear.) He did not understand tho precise meaning or purpose of the motion to adjourn to Saturday in order to discuss the question as to what kiud of Separation should be agitated for, for at a previous public meeting, called by public advertisement — a meeting which was numerously attended, and which was held in that very room, the subject of Separation was discussed at length; the various modes of Separation were fully considered, and ultimately the meeting deliberately adopted the form of Separation prayed for in the petition (Hear, hear). In the discussion of the question of separation, and particularly with regard to annexation to JNelson, the delay that must inevitably take |place was urged, inasmuch as they were told that any Bill which was passed on the subject would have to await the Queen's pleasure. That was the only objection urged on a former occasion ; but now they were told that delay was of so little consequence, that they could afford to postpone the whole question, and lose the session by doing so (Mr Prosser — N"o, no). With regard to unanimity of opinion on the subject of Separation, how on earth could they expect to get unanimity on the subject, when these perpetual bickerings were taking place, all they had to ascertain was the opinion of the community as a whole. (Hear, hear.) As to the petition itself, there might indeed be sentences in it which could have been more elegantly worded, but if the object of it commended itself to the appproval of the public, the labors of the sub-committee and of the Council would not have been in vain. (Hear, hear). Ho could see no good likely to result froni the motion of his friend Mr Prosser, as he believed that a fuller meeting could not be got than the one at which separation had been previously discussed, and the decision in favor of a Westland province had been adopted. As to waiting for the co-ope-ration of Greymouth, he would remind them that already two public meetings had been called in Greymouth on the subject of Separation, but at neither of these had the public attended, and was it for the League to wait for any more abortive attempts to convene meetings in that district? He considered that no valid reason had been alleged for the League to swerve from the resolution they had arrived at ; and with regard to the wish of Greymouth to annex itself to Nelson, he would state that at this very moment tho Buller district was claiming Separation from Nelson itself, with the view of uniting with the Southern Goldfields and forming a separate Westland Province. Hs did not think that any person who had read the petition would consider that it represented or oxagge- , rated any of the facts "of the case as regarded Westland, and he trusted that the League would from that moment go on and steadily pursue its object. (Cheers).

Mr M'Beth most distinctly denied having approved of tho petition ; on the contrary, at the meeting of tho committee ho had suggested that it should be considered clause by clause, which was not done.

The Cdaibman said that, as a member of the Council, he felt bound to contradict the statement of Mr M'Beth, who evidently was laboring under a misapprehension. Ench allegation of the petition was read over, and carefully considered, and Mr M'Beth was present at the time that was done. With regard to the preparation of the petition he (Mr South), alter the manner in which that had been received by some, should have been happy to hare supported the suggestion of Mr Bright, that the meeting should bo adjourned sine die rather than tho question bo perpetually re-openod, were it not that ho felt the ypry gvcM jniportftncp p? tk> eauao »«

With tho exception of tho legal parts of the petition which lie had advised upon, that able document was the result of the labors of his friends, Messrs. Bright and Barff, who had devoted much time to its preparation. He trusted that no feeling of jealousy would arise oq the subject because certain gentlemen were not elected on the Council, for it must bo remembered that the Council was elected by ballot at a full meeting of the League. Then with regard to the leading men not taking part -in the movement, he (Mr South) would like to ask — who were the leading men in Hokitika. (Laughter.) After remarking on the advantages likely to result from the publication of the petition, and contending thai, although the present Superintendent, Mr Moorhouse, thought they could not get men in Westland to carry on a Government, yet he (Mr South) felt assured that sucli men could be found. The chairman concluded by saying that, as they could not place themselves under the control of the General Government and as a'inexalion to Nelson was impossible, thfyhad no other alternative than to go in for Westland being a separate Province. (Hear, hear.) Mr Bright pointed out that Mr M'Beth, when the clauses referring to the appointment of a Goldfields Secretary were under consideration in the draft petition by the Council, had suggested amendments, and that considerable°discussion had ensued thereon.

Mr M'Beth would repeat what he had previously said, that the petition had not been discussed clause by clause. Mr Shaw asked Mr M'Beth to point out the clauses he objected to. Mr M'Beth said he objected to the prayer of the petition. Mr Beeves affirmed that the petition was discussed clause by clause, Mr M'Beth joining in the discussion. The Chauman pointed out that, according to the New Provinces Act, they were bound to set out in the petition certain facts, and that had been done in accordance with that Act. But an Act which was passed by the Assembly in 1865 required that before a new province was created, an Act of the Assembly should be passed for that purpose. With regard to the statement made by Mr M'Beth, he (the Chairman) was satisfied that gentleman was laboring under a misapprehension. Mr Klein said that if he had been one of the committee for preparing tliß memorial he should not have thought that he was proposing it for all Westland, for it was absurd to think that nine men represented the whole community of Westland — as they did not in fact represent the ton thousand part of that community. If knowing that ho had brought forward such a petition he should have been ashamed of himself afterwards.

The CKAiRaiAN said that Mr Klein was one of those present Avhen the members of the League were elected. Mr Klein. — I was in the billiard-room at the time.

The Chairman. — Mr Klein certainly was present, and voted on the occasion. Mr Pbosseb replied, and after a somewhat warm discussion.

Mr Shaw moved an amendment to the effect, that the business of the meeting be proceeded wit'i, which was put and passed. The Chairman then rose, and complained of themauner in which he had been spoken of by Mr Browne as being self- constituted as President of the League.

Mr Shaw moved a vote of confidence in the Chairman as President of the League.

Mr Citoss, in seconding the motion, said that he considered the President, tho members of the sub-committee, and the Council, were entitled to the th,anis of the community for the document they had prepared, setting forth as it did the grievances and wants of Westlaud. He felt most strongly the position in which those gentlemen were placed, who, after working hard for the benefit of tho general community, had been subjected to insult and abuse. Ko believed that the Council had done their best to forward the interests of Westland. As to the residents at Greymouth, he believed that the petition had only to be sent to them for them to adopt it. Mr Eobinson said that he had lately visited Greymouth, and ihe ouly opponent he had found there to the movement was Mr Harrison, of tlie " Grey Argus" j tho rest of the inhabitants appeared to be apathetic on the subject.

The motion was then put and carried, and the gentleman briefly returned thanks.

The meeting then proceeded to the election of five additional members of tho Council, when the namc3 of several gentlemen having been proposed, it was resolved that die ballot take place on Wednesday (this) evening. The meeting then adjourned.