THE GOLDFIELDS LOCAL REVENUES ACT 1873.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1109, 23 September 1873, Page 3

THE GOLDFIELDS LOCAL REVENUES ACT 1873.

(To the Editor oj the Westport Times.) Sir, — In view of the public meeting to be held on Tuesday evening it may not be considered inadvisable to supplement your resume, in a recent issue, of the Goldfields Local Revenues Act 1873 It would be as unjust to undervalue the practical benefits of this act to the mining and agricultural settlers of the Buller district, as it is would be to condemn the West Coast members for their opposition to it during the recent session of the Nelson Provincial Council, because in the first instance the act is plainly a tentative measure, granted in response to a long standing demand from this part of the Province, that we should have a fair proportion of the revenues spent in the district, in which the same has been raised. It should therefore receive respectful consideration

from us; and in the second place the uncertainty and insufficiency of the revenues it proposes to place at the

command of the Board, to some extent ■warranted the opposition the act received from the West Coast members. However it ought to be kept in mind that this act was proposed at a time before the denizens of Westport had been in-

corporated under Municipal rule, indeed, when by reason of the violence * of certain interest townsmen, it was very doubtful whether this place would ever be proclaimed a Municipality at all, so that under the old state of tilings at

Westport the benefits of this Provincial Act must have been thankfully received and the wisdom of the measure lauded

by the most discontented. Circumstances have since certainly improved. Westport is now included among the municipalities of New Zealand, and the benefits of the act for this reason do not

now apply so materially In fact the Borough Council will require to take action as soon as possible to have the

Local Revenues Act so amended that towns under the Municipal Corporations Act shall be exempt from its operation, in order to avoid excessive local taxation. Still it would ill become the jieople of the town to be selfish in this matter. The districts outside the municipal boundaries should be encouraged to take every advantage intended for them by the Local Revenues Act. The management of the Nine Mile Road and the projected extensions to be undertaken at once, the two roads having their terminus at Addison's Flat, the several tracks leading to the mining centres on the Northern Terraces, and the future requirements of the coal settlements at the Waimangaroa, Ngahawhau, and Mokihinui, before many months have passed, will all show the urgent necessity for local supervision, both in the construction and maintenance of public roads and bridges. It is much to be regretted, considering the large and useful sphere of action proposed to be assigned to the district boards, that the ways and means to be provided should be so inadequate. However to ascertain what amount will be available and whether that will be enough to start with must be the first duty, and if it is found insufficient no doubt when the boards have merited the confidence of the people and the Government, additions to their revenues will be made from time to time as their usefulness may be made apparent. Then again there is another feature which should not be overlooked, and that is if the district boards formed by this act come within the meaning of road boards under the Highways Board Improving Act 1871, they will be entitled to a fair share of the £50,000

annually distributed by the General Government among the road boards of the colony, to which sum we may add half the revenue derived from business licenses and miners rights, and half the provinces arising from the sale or occupation of crown lands together with all the local rates within the district, and a respectable sum may accrue wherewith to begin operations and test the practicability of this provincial antidote for West Coast grievances.

The simple fact that it will be impossible for the Board to do much business tmtil appropiiations have been made on their account by the Provincial Council, should not discourage action being taken alone, because in the interval between their election and the meeting of the Council, a few prudent and earnest men will be able to complete such necessary preliminaries, as must, in the event of any failure, leave the onus on the responsible party. When it is further remembered that the election of members will be made by the Superintendent in event of the public neglecting to do so, it becomes the duty of the inhabitants of the Buller district to interest themselves in this matter, in order that they may establish their own sincerity in the cry for local

self-government, and prove themselves worthy the confidence such privileges confer.—Yourß &c. Ralph.