WEST COAST GOVERNMENT.

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 987, 16 July 1872, Page 3

WEST COAST GOVERNMENT.

The opinions expressed by our contemporaries on this question will interest our readers. We therefore make the following extracts :—i (OBEY EIVEB ABGUB.) We do not anticipate that in Greymouth there will be found any feeling different from the general feeling on the West Coast—the feeling that uniformity and unity in the government of the West Coast, as the district is generally called, iR exceedingly desirable. Nor do we think will there be much division of opinion as to the propriety of that unity and uniformity being secured by the creation of the district into a distinct Province. There is, however, one question involved in any proposals which may be made for the better government of the district which must not be lightly, but very leisurely, considered, and that is the question of introducing into the constitution by which this country has been blessed or cursed the element of nomineeism. Upon that question, if it be at all raised, a considerable division of opinion will possibly be found to exist. We look forward hopefully to the meeting discussing the main question which will come before it in a spirit significant of the sympathy which we believe to prevail on the subject in nearly all, if not all, the communities on the Coast, and with no aim or air of a purely local character.

{west coast times.) Wo have read, with very great pleasure the report of the public meeting held at Greymoutb, last Monday evening, to consider the proposed changes in the form of Government for the West Coast. We have no doubt whatever that the desire of the promoters of the meeting was to po frame any resolutions that might be brought forward as to meet the wishes of the residents on the West Coast generally, and we trust the same spirit will prevail in any discussion on the subject which may take place here. The people of Hokitika are not wedded to the County system, and would not be unwilling to divorce themselves from it in favor of some more attractive and more richly dowered spouse. They have no prejudices in favor of County institutions "but the extension of the County boundary so as to include those districts to the north which desire a change of government, is a simple and easy mode of effecting that object; infinitely preferable to their remaining as they are, and to the complicated and expensive scheme proposed by Mr Harrison. Should it, however, be made to appear that Provincial forms and institutions are the desire of the majority, it would be idle to insist upon continuing the present form of government at the risk of rupure and disunion. In any case, however, we sincerely trut that a disposition will be evinced to endeavor to arrive at conclusions which shall be generally advantageous, setting aside altogether any local jealousies which may stand in the way of the junction of the West Const Goldfields under one administration. Above all, we are of accord with the resolution passed in favor of the election of the Superintendent by the people. The only mode, of election, which promises to be satisfactory, iB by the people at large, and this we contend for whether the district remain a County or be created a Province. Whether the choice of candidates for the Superintendency should be limited to the elected members of Council is a question upon which much may be said on both sides, but we think that there is good reason against bo limiting it. This is, however, a matter of detail which may well be left open for discussion along with others. . . . The subject will, we hope, be properly discussed, and decisions arrived at sufficiently unanimous to carry with them weight and influ- •.. unce in the General Assembly.

(gbeymooth evening stab.) The agitation for a change in the all ministration of Coastal affairs, so wedbegun at Greymouth, has, we are happy to find, already borne fruit in the southern district, and will, we trust, spread rapidly throughout the whole of the country interested, from Okarito to Karamea, and inland up the Grey and Buller districts. . . . There is however a skeleton in every man's house, it is said, and a horror of the kind exists in connection with ~. the formation of the new Province, or whatever it may be termed, which, though it may possibly be convenient to shut one's eyes to, yet will not be ignored and is sure to stalk out unexpectedly and probably very inopportunely, unless fairly confronted and dealt with at the outset. We allude

to the existing Westland debt, the legacy left us by the Canterbury province, on Westland being separated from its paternal rule. We are not aware of what it's exact amount is, but believe about £70,000, on which interest and sinking fund has to be paid, and which has for years been a sore drag on, and injustice to the County. The only thing that can be done is to induce the General Government to take over the liability, receiving, in return, such an equivalent as is possible for the County to offer, and is just to obtain. In dealing with the memorial, it will be well for the Committee to take this material item into their consideration, with a view to suggesting some method of meeting the difficulty, and enabling the new province, should it be constituted, to start free and unfettered, and with as clean a sheet as possible. The task is not an easy one, but it must be undertaken, and what is more, accomplished before the desired changes can be broi.ght about, therefore the sooner the solution of the unpleasant problem his set about the better.

(iNAKGAHUA HEBAIiD). We, as a community, are perhaps more deeply interested than any other portion of the Nelson South-west goldfields in any change of government that may be established, and it behoves us, therefore, by an undivided expression of opinion to give force to the intended action of the General Government. On one point the entire community is unanimous. But one sentiment prevails as to the necessity of immediate and complete emancipation from the neglect and gross mismanagement of the Nelson Government, and the only point upon which any difference is likely to arise will be as to the particular form of Government which should be initiated. While strongly opposed to the Provincial system as one that is no longer adapted to the present condition of the colony, in its legislative functions giving rise to endless confusion and unnecessarily costly, yet should we prefer to accept Mr Harrison's proposal for the erection of a new Province, rather than hazard the possibility of continuing connection with Nelson. We believe that an expression of opinion enunciating these views would greatly strengthen the action of the Colonial Government.

In his address to the County Council of Westland, the Chairman, Mr H. H. Labman, said. "It must be patent to everyone that great changes in the administration are not alone desirt d by a majority of the inhabitants, but that these changes are necessary. The state of our finances would compel us to obtain a better and more reliable understanding with the General Government. It will be for this Council to prove, that beyond doubt, one Government for the whole of the West Coast Goldfields will alone satisfy the population, and so it will become our duty to endeavour to frame for the consideration of the Legislature of the Colony, such a form of administration as shall be best adapted to the requirements of the inhabitants."