The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 1868.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 200, 21 March 1868, Page 2

The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 1868.

In the approaching election of members for Westland North and South in the General Assembly, the West Coast population for the first time are empowered to exercise political rights which directly affect miners and the mining interests generally. Though representatives have been sent to the Canterbury and Nelson Provincial Councils, their utility, as far as mining legislation went, was simply nothing, inasmuch as the Goldfields are under the control of the General Government, and it is optional with them to delegate or withhold powers of management to or from the Provincial Executives. Now, however, the miners are invited to return members to the body in whose hands the goldfieids' governance is vested, and on that account too great care cannot be exercised in the selection of those in whose hands so vastly important a trust is reposed. In Thursday's issue we published a letter from a miner at Charleston, who very sensibly suggested that the miners should choose one of their own body on this occasion. We cordially endorse his opinion, and hope that it will be acted on. Without doubt in the next session some material alterations in goldfields management as well as legislation affecting the goldsfields specially, will be proposed and most probably carried oui. The opinions of one who can speak from practical experience of the past, and one therefore best able to propose amendments where such are necessary, Avill in an intelligent body like the Assembly have great weight, and there is little doubt that any changes affected that are supported by reason, and are plainly and temperately brought forward, will readily be agreed to. At present there are only two candidates in the field, to one of Avhorn, Mr Home, no exception whatever can be taken beyond the fact that he is not a pracman, and therefore that even admitting his ability to the fullest extent, he would not be as suitable to our requirements, as far as mining legislation goes, though in other respects his equal could scarcely be found on the Coast, for not only is he an intelligent and educated man, buthe has in other colonies gained experience and credit in the political arena. At the same time he is scarcely likely to be as serviceable to the Coast generally as an actual miner, and we think that the Assembly generally, would prefer the return of such a one. I By a working miner, we mean just what the words express—nothing more or less. We do not require a man who mixes a grain of sense in a bushel of chaff, or is constantly suffering from a diarrhoea of words signifying nothing. Sound is by no means sense, and of all bodies in New Zealand, where a braying idol can be quickly appreciated, the General Assembly is' one. There are men there fully fitted to occupy no mean position in the British House of Commons, and if we send a conceited empty-headed, self-sufficient ape as our representative, the lions hide will soon be stripped off him, and the constituency that mistook his he-haw for a roar, would bring itself at once into the same contempt that the hon. member would quickly earn. Verb. sap. sat.; can our readers imagine such a man ? we think they will trace the portrait without difficulty. We can without doubt find a plain, straightforward, and intelligent man whose oratory may be simple, but to the point; who will only speak when he has something to say, and can express that in a comprehensible manner. Such a man would be listened to with respect, and members would pay attention to any

statement that he made. There are hundreds in every respect fitted for the position, and we do earnestly hope that such a one may come forward and bo elected. In reference to means, we may say that, as in the case of Provincial Councils, country members receive certain moneys to meet travelling and maintenance expenses; if it is thought by the constituency that this is insufficient, a trifling contribution from the miners individually would suffice to amply supplement it. Whilst preferring the return of such a man as this, the district would, we doubt not, be well served by Mr Home, and any of the above deprecatory remarks are not intended to apply to that gentlemen. In the meantime, the election is close at hand, and all intending candidates should at once declare themselves, so as to allow the electors to test their various qualities, and form a deliberate judgment on their merits or otherwise.