West Coast Times. MONDAY, SEPT. 30, 1867.

West Coast Times, Issue 629, 30 September 1867, Page 2

West Coast Times. MONDAY, SEPT. 30, 1867.

Our Grey contemporary, reciting the provisions of the Bill for creating Westlaud a county, admits that it is " certainly a much more liberal scheme than one could have thought it possible for the present Ministry to have proposed," but scarcely affects to conceal its chagrin at the practical success achieved by "the Hokitika League." The Grey Annexation petition, wo are told, is to be sent up to Wellington " in a day or two," and meanwhile "the committee have been in telegraphic communication with several members of the House, and with a member of the Ministry." Our Grey friends have certainly lost time, and there is every reason to fear that the delay will be fatal to their cause. The session will probably be over before their petition can be presented. Nor, indeed, will they have much cause for complaint if, without their assistance or support, the Westland County Bill is carried. We suspect that the proposal to give the town of Greymouth an equal share of representation -with the town of Holcitika in the new County Council, is due mainly to the elaborate notice of the claims of the Grey district contained in tho petition of the Separation j League. j Our contemporary professes much ignorance and mystification as to the details of the Bill, ard remarks : — " It has been swallowed ravenously by our Hokitika neighbors, and we can only hope that they may not regret having allowed themselves to be led away by impulse, or find that they have 'jumped out of the frying-pan into the fire.' " Tho " Argus" s^ys : — " We must confess that we were not prepared to find the Stafford Ministry propose j a scheme of so apparently liberal a character. On its face it professes to ! give all the advantages without the drawbacks of Provincial Government, and if applied to a settled district — such as Timaru, for instance — would be almost all that could be desired ; but we venture to dissent slightly from the unqualified approval with which our neighbors of Hokitika have received the bill. Its outline, as sketched, is certainly very attractive, but we fear that the joy of our Hokitika friends has interfered with that close enquiry which should have been made befof^ sending their thanks to the Government. As we interpret the Bill, it is simply a modification of the Local Government Bill first introduced in the Assembly, and that the machinery proposed is simply for the purpose of administering purely local revenues. 'Ail revenues hitherto Provincial are to belong to the County'— that sounds well, but what are purely Provincial Revenues ? " Our contemporary should give the leaders of the Separation movement, credit for sufficient sagacity to make the enquiries referred to, and to elicit the necessary answers, before they committed themselves to an acceptance of the measure. It was simply in answer to their request for a full explanation', that the telegraphic statement was forwarded to them, that the revenues intended to be placed at tho exclusive disposal of the district, included the Provincial share of the Customs, as well as the whole of the Gold Export duty. No approval of the Bill was expressed, until it was distinctly ascertained that :'L w »d something very much beyoud a mere "modification of the Local Government Bill." The "Argus" is hardly ingenous in saying — "The customs duties are not Provincial revenue. The provinces have been in the habit of receiving a certain share of the customs from the General Government, but still the customs duties are the property of the Gen oral Government. We do not mean to infer that Government will withhold from the proposed County a moderate share of its import revenue, but this will havdP to be voted by the General Assembly. ' The purely local revenue, we venture to say, will notmuch above pay the cost of administration, so that for all public works thcclistnctwillhavetodependonthe suras that may be voted by the Assembly." _ This measure must be taken in connection with the general financial scheme of the Government, and our contemporary must be aware that one of the main features of Mr Fitzherbert's proposal, is to allocate absolutely to the Provinces ; in other words to make "provincial" revenue; one moiety of 1 the Customs' duties levied within each | Province after certain charges of local administration are deducted. Mr Stafford's telegram to the President of the League, which we published on Thursday last, makes it clear therefore that ; the Westlaud moiety of Customs receipts | as well as all other local revenues are to be placed under the control of the district. This was indeed a point accurately ascertained, and so far from the County Bill being a simpie modification of the Local Government Bill, it is in fact a measure which gives " all the advantages without the drawbacks of a Provincial Government."