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Grey River Argus, Volume V, Issue 309, 7 January 1868, Page 2

Some very important proclamations appear in the " Provincial Government Gazette," emanating from his Honor the Superintendent of Canterbury. One is authorising, under the Gold Fields Aofc, 186(5, the levying of tolls by the proprietors of the Arahura bridge for' the period of twelve mouths. Another gives a similar authority to the proprietors of the Greymouth 'and Saltwater tramway ; a third empowers Messrs Jas. Hamilton and Co. to levy toll on their new track from liutherglen, aud a fourth grants to (he Grey Kiver Coal Co. (limited) leave to construct a rail or tramway from Greymouth to 'the Coal Field, and to levy certain charges fov a peiied of seven years. These proclamations have all been issued within the last few clays, and although there is something iv the old proverb " better late than never," some of them afford a closing instance of the dilatoriness of the late rulers of "Westland, in affording the most simple means of encouragement to public or private enterprise. For fully twelve months Mr Moorhouse has been urgently requested to grant properlegal authority to the Greymouth and Saltwater Tramway Company, and to the proprietors of other local works of public utility, and only now has he thought fit to grant the prayer — now when, in one instance at least, the concession comes too late, as we Understand that the proprietors of the Greymouth and Saltwater line have fairly succumbed to their repeated disasters, and for the present at any rate have abandoned the idea of repairthe line. Had the proper legal authority been given when it was most needed in all probability it would have enabled the old company to raise the capital required to place the line out of danger. We are inclined to. suspect that even the privilege now granted would have been withheld only that for decency's sake the grant to the^Grey River Coal Com-

pany — a Christchurch concern — could not appear alone in the " Gazette." There js a wide difference between the terms accorded to the last named company and those of the privilege given to others. The Coal company gets a right to occupy the land necessary for their line for a period of seven years, whilst no right to occupy the land is given in the other cases, and the authority to levy tolls is. limited to twelve months. This is fostering local enterprise with a vengeance ! It is to be hoped that the Count}' Conucil will show a more intelligent and liberal conception of what encouragement to private or public enterprise should be, and that those who embark their capital iv works of public utility will be duly supported.