The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. In the Cause of Truth and Justice we strive. SATURDAY, JUNE 3, 1871.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 820, 3 June 1871, Page 2

The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. In the Cause of Truth and Justice we strive. SATURDAY, JUNE 3, 1871.

The Nelson Appropriation Bill provides for a general provincial expenditure of £96,083 12cs M. Of this sum £50,288 12s 4d is devoted to departmental expenditure, distributed as follows: Executive, £2110; Land Office, £5762 ; Justice, £14,263, which includes £3816 for the Wardens' Departments, Graols at Nelson, £1471 and the West Coast, £1431 ; Police, Nelson, £2186, aud West Coast, £5356. The sum of £2353 figures for Harbours ; £725 under the Scab Act, aud Provincial Council, £983. Under the head " Charitable," £10,125 is voted which includes £ISOO for the maintenance of destitute poor in the City of Nelson. The sum of £8230 is set aside for educational purposes. Miscellaneous Items figure for £7735.

The balance, amounting, in round numbers, to £16,000, is appropriated for public works throughout the province. Various works in the settled districts, including £3OOO for the Nelson wharf, represent £12,-±7O, and £3525 is set aside for the sundry lioad Boards throughout the settled districts, making a total of £16,000 to be expended in public works outside the goldfields. The appropriation for the South-West O-oldfields amounts to £29,900, being £6350 for works in the Buller Valley; £5200 for the Grey Valley, and £18,350 for general purposes.

The proposed expenditure in the Buller Valley is, for road above the Lyell, £500; Westport to Lyell, £1000; Inangahua to Murray, £1600; towing track up Buller Jiiver, £ISOO, and protective woi ks at Westport, £1750.

In the Grey Valley a dray road from Twelve-Mile to No Town is proposed at an expenditure of £BOO ; one from Nelson Creek to Ahaura, £2500 ; also one to Totara Flat and to the Junction of Half-Ounce and Duffer's, £SOO, and a horse road to the Saddle at an expenditure of £IOOO. The appropriation for general works includes £B,OOO for the Bi tinner coalmine, which, being immdiately reproductive, may be altogether excluded. Deducting this item, we have then £10,350, for maintenance of roads, bridges, &c, distributed as follows : £ s. d.

£ 10,350 0 0 So far as the Appropriation Act is concerned, this district has no grounds of complaint, but we fear that the sum is far in excess of the probable revenue for the current financial year. Should this prove the case, some of the votes must be left unexpended, and we well know by past experience that the G-oldfields will be the portion of the Province that must suffer. Tho £16,000 voted for the road boards and public works in the settled districts will be expended, as has been the case in previous years; and in the event of a deficiency in the revenue, works on the West Coast of far greater importance, aud much more likely to prove reproductive, will remain untouched.

Road—Charleston to Westport via Addison's 1900 0 0 Koad—Westport to Cobden — Maintenance 1200 0 0 District Roads... 1000 0 0 Harbours, signal stations, and removal of snags ... 700 0 0 Buildings 2000 0 0 Cemeteries 250 0 0 Streets and Local Improvements 300 0 0 Roads and Bridges—Maintenance and Repairs ... 2000 0 0 Beach Road — Brighton to Itazorback 1000 0 0