SEPARATION FROM NELSON.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 461, 4 February 1869, Page 2

SEPARATION FROM NELSON.

(To the Editor of the Westport Times.) Sib, —The question of Separation is now the popular theme in Westport, the Grey, and Charleston. Oa this question we must study how, if at all, we should be benefited. We have been, up to the present time, part of the Nelson Province, and, no doubt, we have some cause of complaint. Is it sufficient to make us part from their control, and allow ourselves to be controlled by another, for it amounts to this, that if we are parted from Nelson, the Grrey takes us in charge ? We certainly shall have a greater share in the Council at the Grrey, but we shall still be in a minority, and our power to work our own ends is still the same. We shall say that the Grey will give us no more justice than Nelson has given us. We demur, and it amounts to this and this only—ls Westport able to support a county by itself? Have we revenue en®ugh to support a large staff of officials, to make roads, &c.? To this I say definitely " No." Then why shall we part from Nelson ? What we want is more representation, and if we can procure this, and cannot support a county, we are better off than putting ourselves under the control of the Grrey. There is a great outcry that Nelson has not spent the share of money in Westport that we were entitled to. We cannot have the cake after we have eaten it. Mr Tyler did not state the sum of money Mr Kynnersley spent during the time he was in office He spent, I believe, more than our shared and as he had spent more than we were entitled to, as a matter of course we have our ex- | penditure curtailed to make up for the amount that was laid out upon us previously. I am an advocate for more representation, and, with all due defereuce to the Progress Committee, they, like all young institutions, grasp at what they know very .little about. They rush at the question. It is like a toy to a child. They get their toy, and they, perhaps, will throw it aside, and take to their tried friend Nelson again. If tho Progress Committee had asked for more representation, they would have acted wisely. Let them remember we shall be iu a minority at the Grey, and the Grey people, of course, think themselves ill-used, and you may depend they will not starve themselves to spend all the money in Westport. Taking all these things into consideration, 1 think AV estport has been hasty iu trying to sever from a province whose Government has been tried, to join in a new government—an untried institution where we shall be iu a minority.—"Yours, &c., Minority. Westport, Feb. 3. (To the Editor of the Westport Times.) Sir, —Taken from a Nelson point of view, your Progress Committee, in seeking for a County Bill, are some what premature; they do not appearto have matured their plan of operation, and to have prominently set forth facts and figures with regard to public works, roads, &c., —in short, to have shown that the best interests of the goldfields district are neglected by a centralising policy pursued by the Provincial Government. The present idea advanced in a petition to the House of Assembly would carry no weight. Neitner must you follow too closely the language of the Westland Petition to carry home conviction to the mind 3 of the members that you have any cause of complaint against the present Government. His Honor, Mr Curtis, will advance, and with a great deal of truth, that you have had fully your share of the revenue spent on the West Coast; that the various Provincial Government departments upon the Coast, although only created a few months back, work well; and he can do this better than any man in the General Assembly. His Honor knows the run of ropes and how to do the log business. Still, I believe the bulk of the colonists wish you success, or, possibly, wish to see Provincial institutions give place to Counties, so that the present system of double government may be done away with. There can be no doubt that Provincial governments do not meet the requirements of out-lyinjf districts. Hence in every province districts are seeking to take charge of their own affairs under the Couaty System. A comprehensive statement of the objections to the Provincial Government, and the defective manner in which they work, must be given. As to the extent of the district disaffected I would suggest the water-shed of the Grey and Buller Valleys, with a sea frontage from the north bank of the Grey River to the south bank of the Heaphy River. Then let public meetings be called, and let the question be fully discussed.—l am, yours &c., Scrutator. Nelson, Jan. 28.