THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 295, 11 July 1868, Page 3

THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

At last the Provincial Council session has terminated, and the flood of talk that has been let loose during nine weeks has brought to the surface seven bills, neither of them of any special importance to the province. The railway bill, the most important by far, has been passed, or rather a number of resolutions on which to found a bill for the sanction of the Assembly, have been carried. At the same time in this triumph the Executive must have had a bitter alloy and disappointment in the subsequent action of the Council in the matter, and as will be seen from a condensed report of the last debate, having reference to the subject, the scheme is virtually shelved. In the first place, if Mr Morison's evidence is of any value, there would be no hope of the company being floated if the Brnnuer coal mine was not included in the property to be acquired by the promoters, and to the credit of the Council this is now cut off from the advantages to be derived, the Council having rescinded the previous resolutions to lock it up till the railway scheme had been tested. Of course, though no direct vote was ever taken on the subject, the Mount Rochfort mine will be now open to be worked, and will not be closed as it must have been, had the resolution in reference to the Brunner mine stood good. We are sincere in saying that the residents on the coast will hail the change with as great satisfaction, as they previously objected to theoriginal resolution of the Council on the subject, and without doubt the destruction of the railway plan will have a vastly beneficial effect on the opinions of thinking men in reference to the question of separation. As Mr Horne candidly admitted, the conduct of the Nelson authorities to the mining interest on the coast, and we fully endorse his declaration, has been marked with perfect fairness and justice, and unless some actively exciting cause threatens the welfare of the community, it is hardly probable that they will care to change a government which, though by no means perfection, has- up to the present time acted equitably towards us. At the same time, beyond question, there is a growing desire to have greater powers of self-government, and it will be for the Nelson Executive to determine how and in what way effect can be given to the idea. As to the question of municipal institutions, though at a recent meeting a senseless opposition was manifested to their establishment, it by no means follows that it is not desirable; and the value of the opinions of the majority at the meeting referred to may readily be gathered from the fact that they did not vote for or against a municipality, but they actually vetoed a resolution, that a committee of enquiry to report on the matter should be formed. When people stultify themselves so far as that, the honesty of their opposition may well be doubted, and it is more than probable that a large proportion of the malcontents on the occasion were afraid that their own private toes might in some manner be trodden on by the operation of municipal byelaws. Be that how it may, however, on the general question of extended powers of self-government, even the majority of that majority are agreed, whether it take the form of road boards, shire councils, or other; and concessions in these respects could be made without loosening, but on the contrary rather binding more tightly, the bonds of union between the western and north-eastern -sides of the province. The whole subject, however, will be probably decided by the Assembly in the next session, for there is no doubt whatever that provincialism, if not actually doomed, is in mortal danger ; and how the. map of the southern island will then be drawn, what powers will reign, and what will

come to an end is yet wrapped up in the womb of the future It is admitted that the question of the maintenance of provincial institutions will bo decided on the Assembly coming together, and both its friends and its enemies will next month wage war a t'ouifance. In the meanwhile the abandonment of tho coal mines has, without doubt, allayed much irritation on the West Coast, and we can with greater composure watch the impending struggle. ,