The Westport Times. TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1872.

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 993, 6 August 1872, Page 2

The Westport Times. TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1872.

It is eminently satisfactory .to find that the views expressed in a recent issue upon the subject of West Coast Go'vernraent, wherein - we advocated the : appointment of :i nominee chief officer, »rather, than one elected by the people, rand suggested a simple inexpensive form of rlocul acUnimatratlan:; are supported By no loss authority than . the ' Nelson Examinerj' as evidenced by a lengthy article on the same sub ject, from which we now make some ■ extracts. Speaking of the movement on the Coast, in favor of union under :a separate provincial .administration, the 'Examiner' says it is one to "which we caonot refuse a large amount of sympathy. Provincial divorce between Nelson and her Wes- . tern Goldfields we have long looked •\ipon as merely a question of time. Whatever new arrangemeut might follow, it has been clear from the first 'that nature would be too strong for the permanent union of Nelson and the Grey for local purposes." " The attempt to establish something different from provincial institutions, has not been happy in Westland. Mr Stafford and Mr Hall failed to make good use of the opportunity for a valuable experiment, by replacing the elected Superintendent by a nominated officer who should conduct strictly county affairs under direction of the local Council, and be in colonial matters agent of the Ministry. They maintained also the old vicious surplus revenue allowances, and delusive delegation of powers to elected officers, and the ambiguous relations of judicial officers on the goldfields to the local authorities. Westland is in all but name, and the power of making Dog Acts, and Fencing Acts, a province already. Eight or wrong, then, the establishment of a Province by a name is no radical change; it is only a change of boundaries." " We do not, however, believe that a fully developed provincial system, on the existing model, will be a good •thing for the West Coast. The district is less geographically divided within itself than any part is from Nelson, but it is not a geographical .unit. This might be a trifle in i I self, for the mutual inaccessibility is not so great as to bo insuperable ; but the divided interests of. small communities on a long bush-bound coast line require judicial impartiality to .deal with them. But how far is election by such a population as the West .Coast possesses, likely to supply such ran administration ? There is no popu Nation in New Zealaud in which the floating element bears so large a proportion. Comparatively, a very small part can be properly called .permanent settlers. The number of speculators, pure and simple, who throng the coast is considerable. There are no men of leisure, aryl few of any more than average education. The administration will probably fall .into the hands of adventurers, or at the best of men of the narrowest arid most temporary local iiiterests. It would be difficult to imagine a population less fitted to administer the union equitably and wisely. The faults of the Westland Government will not bo cured by calling the chief officer Superintendent iustead of

Chairman, and doubling the area and population over whose interests he presides. In our opinion the true institutions for the West would be a number of extended Road Boards, applying local rates and strictly local funds, and a prefect or commissioner on behalf of the Colonial Government, presiding over the ordinary general administration, including police and goldfields, and with a general supervision of public works ordered by the Assembly. Such funds as Territorial Raven tie, or any other moneys payable by the colony for local uses, should be distributed by the Commissioner according to distinct rules laid down by the Assembly." The ' Examiner,' however, professes grave doubts as to the adoption of any statemanlilce plan, inasmuch as Mr Fox holds byelfc'.ed Superintendents; with the faith of a parent in an only child, and will gladly bo the patron of a new province, with a new elected Superintendent. It will quiet his political conscience, which must now and then have a qualm at his desertion of old friends. It says, moreover, that " putting all things together, we think that Nelson must and ought lo accept of the conclusion ns highly probable if not absolutely inevitable, and to shape its course accordingly—and the country may reckon upon the birth of a new Provincial infant, rickeltty in every joint from the womb." We venture to suggest that if the people of tho West Coast, and more especially tho long suffering Buller community, have any desire to prevent; the production of the abortion predicted by the' Examiner,' they must bestir themselves to do something more than passively watch the progress of events.