The Westport Times. FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1872.

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 977, 7 June 1872, Page 2

The Westport Times. FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1872.

The telegrams received frcm our Nelson correspondent having reference to Mr OXonor's aetion in the purchase of certain eligible sections in Westport | in an alleged underhand manner, are | suggestive of most unsatisfactory con- . elusions. The words of the telegram wherein we are told that on learning the decision of th.e special Committee to recommend the shifting of the | public buildings of Westport on to the Bite recommepded by the District Surveyor, and tho withholding the | surrounding sections from sale until the mode of their disposal was I thoroughly settled " Mr O'Conor left 1 the room, and before Mr Kynnersloy I reached ?the Land office, had bought 1 some of the most eligible sections," | are so unequivocally plain and explicit that they bear but one interpretation, I fully accounting for the indignation I expressed by the Council, and the I suspension of all other business until J the Select Committee appointed to I investigate the circumstances have reported thereon. The conclusion forcing itself against all efforts to arrive at a more lenient opinion is, that Mr O'Conor has allowed his zeal a* a smart man of business to outrun his discretion as a legislator and guardian I of the interests of his constituents. I Forgetting for the moment, the imI portant trusts confided to his keeping || nls °ft repeated expressions of regard I £ or t,ie welfare of the people who have ■ honored him by election as their rej|presentative in Council, he. has apI debasod himself to the grade ■ of a mere land shark, a huckstering ■ trafficker in public rights and priviIjloges. The public would willingly I t link otherwise. We join, in all siu--1 eerily, i u the generally expressed wish t.iat Mr O'Conor may clear himself from the serious imputation of

abused trust and self seeking inordinate greed; but the evidence is too conclusive to lead to any other conclusion than that Mr O'Conor has, to put it mildly, grievously erred in judgement. Our telegraphic news is amply confirmed by the press report published in the Nelson \ Examiner ' of Wednesday last, which we quote. "Irregularity of a Member." "Mr Kynnersley, as Chairman of the Select Committee to consider tho site of tho town of Westport arising out of datnago inflicted by the river and sea, stated that the Committee having resolved that the site of tho Government Buildings should be removed to a higher portion of the town, and that certain town sections should be reserved from sale; on going to the Land Office to mark the sections to to he withdrawn, found that a member of the Council, Mr O'Conor, who had overheard the decision of the Committee, had been beforehand with him, and purchased some of the sections, to the amount of £150."

A government official abusing the privileges of his position for the furtherance of private ends, is liable to instant dismissal: a member of Council guilty of a like offence should be similarly treated. If Mr O'Conor can clear himself from the serious imputation, his constituents may possibly place renewed confidence iu him. Failing to do so the resignation of hio seat sbnniJ i>» less a matter of choice than necessity. The people of Westport cannot afford, and will not submit to their best interests being wantonly tampered with. The extortionate demands of land jobbers have been too long the curse of the place for them to tamely submit to even the remote contingency of an extension ef the evil. To say that they anxiously await tho decision of the Select Committee, very faintly shadows forth the feeling of suppressed indignation now agitating the public mind in Westport. ,