The Westport Times. TUESDAY, MAY 27, 1873.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1075, 27 May 1873, Page 2

The Westport Times. TUESDAY, MAY 27, 1873.

At last the murder's out: the cost of the twenty-seven bogus anti-separa-tion petitions presented' by Mr Shophard to the" General Assembly on the IStli September last —on the pretence that such petitions expressed the opinions of the majority of residents on the Gold fields —and the price paid for the's9o2 signatures appended thereto has been proved, 0:1 the nnwillingattestation of Alfred Greenfield, Provincial Secretary, to have been £lB3 17s Bd. or a fraction over eleven pence farthing each ! The people of the Province may congratulate themselves that the work of spoliation and plunder proceeded no further, ntiß that thele.aliscd custodians of the Provincial revenues did their filching so gently. But tbo residents on tho Goldnelds will scarcely be content with information as to tho precise cost of this most baseless and unauthorised fabrication. If jnst 1o themselves they will seek to luiow, and in seeking persist until they do know, by what power or authority tho officials representing tho Nelson Executive have dared to appropriate and expoud public motleys to gratify

their own fancies or protect their own selfish intercuts. For to this issue the whole question narrows itself. The particular clique of individuals who assuming to control the public business) of the Province live and batten upon the Provincial exchequer,clinging to office with barnacle like pertinacity, have presumed upon their position, and scenting danger to themselves in the cry made some months aince for separation and bettor Government of the Groldfields, sought by a Hank movement and a cry for anti-separa-tion to out manoeuvre their opponents. Had they provided the sinews of war from their own resources they might have -.justified their action upon the plea ot'self-protection,but to dip their hands into the provincial purse and scattor bribe and largess therefrom to each sycophantic tool or needy servitor willing to do their dirty work, was nothing short of downright dishonest peculation. Such men deserve being pilloried, and the G-oldfiolds residents will do well to instantly raise among themselves a subscription, even at a shilling a head, and create a fund to defray the cost of trying in the Supreme Court of the Colony the right of Provincial authorities to play at ducks and drakes with the public moneys.