HARD HITS.

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 1004, 13 September 1872, Page 2

HARD HITS.

ME STAFFORD AND MR CURTIS. In the course of his remarks on Mr Stafford's resolutions, Mr Vogel is reported in ' Hansard' to have said : "Mr Vogel: Another prominent member, whom we have every right to expect would be one of a new Government, is the hon. member for Nelson (Mr Curtis) : indeed, I am inclined to believe we should have rather a plentiful supply from Nelson. There would be the hon. member for Nelson (Mr Curtis) —in fact, we should have three Nelson members in the Government. Mr Stafford: The bon. member may not be aware that I do not represent any constituency in Nelson, but a constituency in Canterbury. The hon member having been away from the Colony of late, may possibly not be aware of the constituencies which hon members represent. "Mr Vogel: The hon. member has grown up at Nelson. His interests are in Nelson, and his sympathies are with Nelson. "Mr Stafford: Not at all. I have got a very small and inconvenient house there, and that is my whole interest in Nelson. If it were burnt down to-morrow, I should, perhaps, be more glad than any person else in the country. "Mr Vo^el : Everybody looks upon the hon. member as a Nelson man. He has received his political education at Nelson : he commenced there, and has gone on studying politics in that charming city. I want to know this : Does the way in which Nelson has been governed, afford to us a fair prospect of the same kind of government being successful if applied to the whole Colony ? I undertake to say that if Nelson had been properly governed it would be the most prosperous Province in the Colony; but what is the case ? Nelson possess the oldest goldfields in the Colony. I believe they are as rich, if not richer than any other ; but to this day they are almost undeveloped, with the ex-

ception of what tho General CovJ ment has done for them lately. T far as the commercial aspect is <j cerned, the West Coaßt is a d appendage of Victoria ; the whold its trade has gone there, with a c] paratively small exception. The I vince is threatened with disuiemt ment, so that the Superintendent 1 stand upon some ridge overlooking town, and say he is monarch of all surveys, and no more. There proposals to cut it up in two directu and it is ihe part of the Colony which there is a chronic state of I contend. I do not think it at desirable that we should apply Nelson system of Government towhole Colony.