West Coast Times. TUESDAY, SEPT. 21, 1867.

West Coast Times, Issue 624, 24 September 1867, Page 2

West Coast Times. TUESDAY, SEPT. 21, 1867.

Mr, James Bbowxr enjoys one advantage over his competitors for Municipal honors. Ha has the command of a penny evening paper, which has a certain circulation ; and we regret to be obliged to say that he does not scruple to make any use of it that may danv.ge public men who are obnoxious to him. He is now a candidate for election to the office of Town Councillor, and is evidently determined to make his organ as serviceable to his interests as possible. That of course he is at perfect liberty to do. Various men have varions ideas of political propriety and taste. It is evidentlhatMr Browne hashis — and very peculiar ideas they are. We published yesterday extracts from a private letter from the Hon. John Hall, in which that gentleman stated thut the Hokitika Municipal Council Bill was invalid, and that an Act to validate this and other Corporation Ordinances passed by Provincial Councils, Mas before tlie General Assembly. The " Evening Star" quotes the expression "is no doubt invalid," but suppresses the words " has been left to its operation" — which words mean — as the editor of the " Evening Star" knew as well as lie knows that his name is notX. Y. Z. — that, although certain powers have been conferred on the Municipal Council of Hokitika, ultra vires, as fur as the Provincial Council is concerned, and requiring to be confirmed by a validating Act of the General Assembly, the Ordinance is in the meantime law. It is a statement directly not the truth that " all action taken under this Ordinance, until an amendment has been passed, will be null and void — in fact altogether illegal." It is equally the antipodes of truth — whatever word may indicate that locality — that the Members of the Town Council may resign their seats without incurring tho penalty of a fine; to whatever conclusion to the contrary tlie legal acumen of Mr Jas. Anderson may have led him. It is equally adverse to truth that any of the Members of the Town Council refuse to resign under a pretext or quibble. It is well known that they are all most desirous to do so, in order to enable the full body of ratepayers to make their free selection. But it is equally well known that those who are loudest in their profession of an anxiety to resign, are not the most sincere. All these assertions, repeated night after night, have as much truth in them as the opening passage in the leading article in tho "Star" of last evening, which refers to "the half dozen gentlemen who constituted themselves into a President, Vice- President and Council of the Separation League," — an assertion which might be very accurately described in a wellknown English word of three letters. The whole object of these mendacious statements, nightly reiterated, is notoriously to damage the proprietor of this journal; and we do not see why any false delicacy should

induce us any longer to refrain from noticing the circumstance. There is no man in Hokitika whose position has hitherto been so weak, so far as the support of the press is concerned, as Mr Shaw. The columns of this journal have been closed by considerations which any one of honorable feeling can appreciate, to any defence of him against an incessant carping criticism and a constant untruth-telling. The time may come when this reticence will have to be abandoned, and -nhen in a spirit of fairness and honesty we shall feel it our duty to scrutinise the pretensions of men who claim to hold a, public position among us. There is a time to be sileut, and a time to speak, and the time for speaking out seems nearly to have come. Mr Rees, who was one of tho orators at last night's meeting, has written us a letter, which, as he is content as a professional man to allow us to publish under Lis own signature, we of course make room for. His arguments against the existence of a legal Corporation of Hokitika, however, fail to convince vs — much as similar arguments, more elaborated by him, failed to convince the learned julge in a recent criminal trial. Mr Rees asserts — " In the first plare there are no citizens. The third section of the Act of 1867 distinctly states who shall be citizons and members of the Corporation." If Mr Hces means by the " Act of 1867" the Ordinance of the Provincial Council under which ihe present Council exists, the third section states nothing of the kind. It simply enacts that " the citizens of the said town shall be a corporate body.' 5 It is the fifth section which describes what; persons shall be members of the Corporation ; and if Mr Rees is right iv saying "it must be patent to every one that there is not a single citizen in Hokitika," it follows that on the first day of September last there was not a single " male person" in Hokitika " of the full age of twenty-one years'' owning or occupying any house, warehouse, countinghouso, or shop, within the town, and having his name inserted in the assessment. That the " ratepayers roll is so much waste paper" is a rather vague and rash assertion for a lawyei to make, and one that wo cannot accept upon Mr llees's dictum. We may say the same of the assertion that there is "no corporate property, the property of the old Corporation not having passed to the new." We do not exactly understand what Mr Kces means by the " old Corporation." Prior to the passing of this ordinance, there was a MuuiciCouncil under a general Canterbury Ordinance ; but all the rights and powers _of that Council have been inherited by the present Mayor and Council, under tho 20th section of the new ordinance. Mr Rees says — " It is certain that all the Councillors must retire on the 9th October, and that only four can be re-elected." Does Mr* Rees stake his professional reputation upon that reading of the law? We will venture to suggest a lay interpretation of it somewhat different to his — which we may observe, is not invested with any tlse more authority from the dogmatical tone in which it is given. The Ordinance provides for the election of nine Councillors of whom one shall be the Mayor, and for the retirement annually of four Councillors and the Mayor ; and the 80th clause enacts that the Chairman and Councillors forming the Corporation of the town at the date of tho passing of the Ordiuance, shall be, and remain in office as the Mayor and Councillors of Hokitika until the 9th day of October next, under this Ordinance. What is tho meaning of these words ? Subject to all the conditions affecting their tenure of office that they would have been subject to if their election had taken place under the Ordinance clearly that and nothing else. It would puzzle a lawyer even more ingenious than Mr itees is, to put any different construction upon the clause. It is greatly to bo regretted that so much hard labour is thrown away in tho endeavor to mystify an Ordiuance which is perfectly simple and clear. We possess a Mayor and Town Council. Of these nine gentlemen, the Mayor and four Councillors have to retire on the 9th October next. Fifteen days prior to that date, four Councillors have to be designated by ballot, who, together with the Mayor, shall go out of office. The other four Councillors must remain in office for the continuance of their term, or subject themseves to penalty. The law is not an unreasonable one, seeing that no man can be proposed for election, except by his own written consent. The men in office at the time of the passing of this. Ordinance, are brought under its operation in all respects, excepting the mode of their original election, which was antecedent to the enactment. Does Mr Rees dispute our reading of the law ?

A meeting of tho Council of the Separation League was held last evening at Richmond's New Orleans Hotel. Mr Shaw, the vice-pre-sident of the League, was in Iho chair. Extracts from private letters received by Mr Barffand Mr Bright, from the lion John nail, were read. A resolution was adopted instructing the Secretary to telegraph this morning to Mr Hall directing his attention to the telegram previously forwarded to the lion Major Richardson. Mr Shaw then said he had a vory important matter to bring under the notice of the Council. From varions causes it had happened that a large number of citizens had not identified themselves with tho movements of the League, ami he thought the time had coma when it was most desirable that the co-operation of all sections of tho community should be secured. A good deal had bcon effected in enlisting the sympathy of two leading mombcrs of tho Government, Major Richardson aud Mr Hall, and if tho people were in earnest they ought to make tho most of the advantage thoy had gained, and strengthen Ihoir position by securing a union of the people on a broad basis. Tlie creation of a w province hud been asked for because

it was understood that any local Board established could only .bo invested with control over the expenditure of local rates. If any system of local government could bo established which would secure to tho district tho control of all the local revenues, including the gold duty and the proportion of Customs, aud the control of the Crovernincnt departments, the real necessities of tho district would be practically met. He thought this was the view of many who had hitherto held aloof from tho League ; and he suggested therefore that now tho views of tho Government on the subject had been ascertained from tho telegrams and letters received from Major Richardson and Mr Hall, the members of the League and tho gentlemen named as the original committee at the meeting held at the Prince of Wales Theatre, should be invited to a conference with the Council, with a view to the union of all parties in support of a further movement to secure local self-government' Mr Shaiv's views were endorsed by the whole of the members of the Council present, and the Secretary was instructed lo call a special meeting of the League and the original committee for to-morrow evening. Apublic meeting was held last night, at tho Prince of Wales Opera House, for the purpose of considering the propriety of requesting the whole of the members of the present Municipal Council to resign. Messrs Cassius, Mcc, Rees, Jame3 Browne, Bartlett, and Klein were on the stage. Mr Cassius in the chair. Resolutions were passed affirming that tho conduct of the members of the present Municipal Council was reprehensible, and deserving of severe censure for persisting in retaining their seat? in opposition to tho long expressed wishes of tho ratepayei-3. Ako, ' that the meeting requested the whole of the Council to resign before the 9th October next, and further, that the chairman be requested to communicate the wishes of the meeting to the Municipal Council. The meeting was addressed by Messrs Mcc, Browne, Eees, and Klein ; also by Cr Anderson, who said if he was not ballotled out, ho should resign. Mr Mowat, who stated that he 1 , believed tho whole of the present Council would resign, and Cr Eeclesfiekl, who also stated that if pai tics had allowed forty-eight hours to cl.ip3e before calling the meeting, he thought there would have been no occasion for convening it. Tho meeting terminated with a voto of thanks to the chairman. His Honor, Mr Justice Richmond will sit in his Chambers this morning at the Supreme Court-house at ten o'clock. Thoro will be a sitting of the Supreme Court in banco at cloven o'clock. The Court has adjourned for tho remainder of the insolvency business to Saturday the 28th inst, at ten a.m., before his Honor Edward Clarke, Esq. Thero will also be a sitting of tho Court in insolvency business on Monday next, the 30th inst, at ten a.m. His Honor Mr Justice Richmond having adjourned to that day the further consideration of the following cases, viz : — Patrick Power, Mark Sprot. A low rumbling noise, followc.l by a dull thud, a3 of the fall of a heavy body, startled the quiet residents ofSewell an.l Hamilton streets yesterday afternoon, and even penetrated the sanctum of the Supremo Court, where his Honor Judge Richmond was busily disposing of sundry bankruptcy cases. Tho sound was at first attributed to distant limn- j dor, but soon a rumor spread that the large store erected by Mr Stevenson and Co. nearly eighteen months ago, and latterly used as a warehouse by Messrs James ClicDiiey and Co, had met with an untimely end by f.illing off the piles that supported it. Such provod to be the ca«e, for unable to withstand the pressure of nearly four hundred tons of goods (chiefly bran and flour) v.hiuh had been crammed into the store, Ibe piles g.we way and down ca:no the the building with a crash, one of the sides being burit out, and so much damage inflicted upon every part of the edifice that (to use a nautical expression) it was reduced to a perfect wreck. Hamilton street was strewed with balo3 of chaff nnd bagsof flouraud bran ; and but for the Into lovely weather which has converted that usually swampy thoroughfare into solid dry land tho loss through damage must have been considerable. As it is ITr Chesnej will be a heavy loser, tho reconstruction of the store being unavoidable, and where il3 contents will find shelter in the meantime is a question not easily answered, as storenge room ia one of the scarcest commodities in town just now. It was reported in town last night that a horrible tragedy had occurred at G-reck's Gully, No. 1, in tho Waimea district, a miner whose name has not transpired having cut his thrott with a razor. It is stated that he is not dead and will bo brought into town for admittance to tho hospital to-day. , Tho escort, under charge of Scrgfc. Wilson, arrived from the Waimea yesterday afternoon with 1600 ozs. of gold for the banks. Tho good accounts that contiuuo to reach town from the Earner! district encourages the hope that a large extent of tho back country will yet be proved auriferous. Up the righthand branch of tho above named river a moderately largo and daily increasing population has assembled, more than one hundred miners being at work tiiere on Saturday last. Their earnings arc satisfactory, and as the gold is tracing upwards both in the terraces and the creeks, it is believed that tho workings are merely the fringe of a payable inland goldfield. It is not unlikely that bt fore the present week closes wo shall bo authorised lo report the opening of payable ground upon Iho south bank of the Hokitika river, some three or four miles above Woodstock, rumors to that effect having been circulated. A good deal of cold is getting at Woodstock, where tho lead is being slowly traced towards Arthur's Town. On Friday last a shaft was bottomed there at sixty feet in a bed of wash dirt thai prospected from Jdwt to ldwt the tin dish. A splendid sample of gold, extracted from the Taipo diggings, wa3 submitted to our inspection yesterday, and from its appearance we arc inclined to believe that it had not travelled far from its matrix, as each pioee was more or less impregnated with quartz, and only partially water-worn. The sample consisted'of several little nuggets, weighing from two or throe grains to one pennyweight each. We bolievo that payable quartz-reel's must cxiut in tho country about, tho Taipo nnd uppor Greenstone, and that the line of quartz gold will in limo be traced in that direction from tho reefs in Moonlight Gully. Tho course is about tho samo that quartz-reefs on this coast would bo likely to take, judging from tho lay of the great mountain chain in the back country. During tho week ending the 18th inst., 74 head of cattle and 797 sheep, from East Canterbury, were driven past, t.ho Rnngiriri stni.ion, on their way to West Coast markets.