THE PREMIER AT AHAURA.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1112, 20 February 1872, Page 2

THE PREMIER AT AH AURA.

♦ ' . A deputation from the inhabitants of Aliaura aud the district waited on the Premier afc the Court House, Ahaura, on Saturday, February 17. The deputation was introduced by Mr Warden Whitefoord. Mr Frank Guinness read the following address : — To the Honorable William Fox, Premier of New Zealand. ' : Sir, —This deputation of the inhabitants of the Ahaura and the neighboring district are intrusted by them to express their pleasure on your arrival in their midst. Believing that the Government which you represent are desirous of improving the material welfare of the whole Colony, and anxious to ascertain by personal inspection of the different localities how that great object may best be obtained, we aye sanguine that your visit to the Grey Valley willl)e ot great value to the Government, as you will, from personal knowledge, be in a position to judge of the wants of this important district, as well as of the great resources, both mineral and agricultural, which it contains, and which, we regret to say, at present can hardly be utilised for want of road communication. We trust, however, that your visit amongst us will be fruitful in the initiation of works which will be the means of causing the rapid development of the great natural advantages which this district undoubtedly possesses, and such development must be productive of immense advantage to the Colony at large. ,-.....' After reading the report of your reply to our neighbors in Greymouth, we need only aay that we are greatly pleased to heir from you, Sir, that the Government intend to act entirely in accordance with the spirit of the resolutions of the General Assembly, in the distribution of the money in this district ; and we fully believe that the wise com se your Government is adopting, of employing the money so as to complete main lines of road, will eventually prove a most important boon to the whole couniry. We trust that no deviation from this course, for the pur-; pose of making parts of lines, may arise, and we look with confidence to the Government steadfastly resisting all applications for such. . We cannot allow the opportunity to pass without expressing our conviction that the time has come for an alteration in the present system of Government, and although we are aware that it does not lie within your province to make such alteration, : still we trust .this statement of opinion will not be without its effect when the question comes before Parliament for discussion ; we shall not relax our efforts in this direction until the object has been attained, and we believe our worthy representative, Mr W. H. Harrison, will be fully able to show how many and vexatious are the evils which this district has suffered from the baneful influence of the effects of misrule under the Nelson Provinoirl Government. . ;,, We trust that the: very quiet reception which we have given to you, Sir, on your first visit amongst us will in some degree be excused, in consequence of the heavy calamities the whole district has lately suffered from, caused by the tremendous floods which have so recently devastated the whole Valley; and with our sincere wishes for your welfare, we cordially welcome you to the Grey Valley District. - When Mr Guinness had finished reading'the address, he said ther<> were a few matters he wished to bring, under the n6tice of the Premier, which were not alluded to in the address. There was first — the necessity of extending the telegraph from *v3reymouth to Westport, via Ahaura and Reefton. Next— the construction of the Ainuri road by way of the Ahaura Saddle, so that the mining districts could be. placed an direct conir munication with the pastoral and atocki raising districts, fuoin which suppiies^now came in a roundabout manner. The road to Ahaura from the Arnold was alluded to, and Mr Fox was requested to use his influence with the Provincial Government of Nelson to have the work proceeded with. The necessity and advantages of each of these works were forcibly placed before the Premier by Mr Guinness, who also alluded to several of the most pressing local wants. Mr Fox, in reply to the address, said ho sincerely thanked the members of the deputation, and the people whom' they represented, for the cordial greeting he received on this, his first, but he trusted not his last, visit to this portion of the West Coast Gold Fields. It heeded no apology for any seeming shortcoming in the reception given him, and he could onty say for himself that the kind of re r cuption often accorded to persons holding the high office which he had the honor of filling, was, although well meant, and demonstratively accompanied with a flourish of trumpets, not always the s reet» ing he would prefer. Indeed, a great Eng. lish statesman, Sir G. 0. Lewis, once said in alluding to this subject, that ••'■' life on the whole would, be pretty tolerable, but for its "pleasures;"' The greeting he desired was the opportunity of meeting and addressing his fellow-colonists— to note and observe the material and social progress they were making, and to congratulate them on' that advancement to which he had, in a small measure, the high honor of contributing. Tho receptions he had received since his coming to the West ■ : CuastJhnVl given him great personal satisfaction. Ho had been enabled to judge of tho i-j.piil strides these communities were m .rkiu,' Mi us far in his progress, and he wi mj.l In) -.better informed after he -visited R^eeftun, but he had seen enough to convince him that great prosperity awaited these districts in the future. H.e, did not come among, them to make political speeches j he came as a learner, and to ascertain by personal inspection' their political and sopial pondition, and he game ospeoially to obtain information with respect to the wants and resources of the Gold Fields. He was free to admit that the Government did not, heretofore, pay that attention . to the West Coast Gold Fields their importance and the enterprise of their inhabitants, deserved, but this neglect will now be remedied. The Ministry were shorthahded previous to this, aud from the number and importance of the momentous questions claiming their attention in the Northern Island, they were prevented from devoting the time necessary to pay "a personal visit, to the West Coa3t. Ministers would soon be in a position to exhibit- a greater personal interest in the affairs of the residents on these Gold Fields. Mr Reeves had joined the Government as Resident Minister of Public Works for jihe Middle Island, and as his official duties wcjuld pecessitate frequent visits of inspection of works in progress, he would have opportunities of making himself properly acquainted with the circumatances and requirements of those permanently, located on the West Coast. It was generally admitted that the appointment of a Secretary for the

Gold Fields, to see to the interests of the whole of the Gold Fields, was necessary, and that appointment had been made in the person of Mr 0. Haugliton. That * gentleman was well-known as a member of the General Assembly, and also as a representative from the Gold Fields in the Provincial Council of Otago. He was thoroughly posted in all matters relating to the management of Gold Fields. He, as a responsible authority, would be able to give the Government information pri' mining matters, of : which the Ministry could be /expected to know but little personally, and a want of which knowledgemay have occasionally led the Government into error. He had ventured to< impress on the people of GreymouHi the desirability of taking care to so instruct their Parliamentary representatives as to what their requirements were, that their members would be in a position to give authoritative and reliable informal ion to the Government. He mentioned this, because it had happened on more than one occasion, that on very important questions the Gold Fields representatives had differed materially from each other. They had alluded to their own member, Mr Harrison, in their address, and he was bound to say that that gentleman had been faithful and honest in his representaticns to the Governmeut, with reference to the resources of this part of the country and the best means of developing ! them. He had given valuable information to the Government, more particularly with respect to the most urgently required public works in these districts, and he was pleased to . see that the plan of distributing the votes for these works, adopted by his Government, had met the. approval of Mr Harrison's constituents as expressed in their address that evening.; The Government were well aware of the importance of the Gold Fields' to the Colony. The almost simultaneous disr covery of gold on the shores of the Pacific, in California, and . throughout the Continent of Australia seemed like a special manifestation of the .wisdom :: of vidence, in providing an outlet for the surplus populations of the denselythronged oider countries. These dis^ coyeries had given an impetus to colonisation, which it might have taken centuries in the ordinary course to effect. And the gold discoveries had not been without a.aalutary effect in their relations with the manufacturing, commercial, pastoral and agricultural pursuits. And there was no duty more encumbent on a Government than the encouragement of those who had by their industry become possessed of a moderate independence while following gold mining or any other occupation, and who desired to become permanent settlers oh the land. It was the! sincere desire of bis Government ; to foster and encourage this class of settlers, because by doing so, two . important objects were achieved, namely, the keeping of those who -had made money in the Colony within it', besides obviating the necessity of sending for others to take. their places if they are allowed to .depart.; The Got vernment desired to deal .with the land laws in a liberal spirit, so that intending settlers might have every inducement heldout to them to occupy the land. With respect to the expenditure of a portion .of the English . lpau, in the execution of public works throughout the Colony, the Government were well aware of the grave responsibility involved in the laying out of borrowed money. " In dealing" with the ordinary revenues of the country in the matter of expenditure; the Governmen t were comparatively untrammelled, because if the outlay exceeded the income] retrenchments could be made, and at the worst, if a deficiency occurred, the country was its own debtor, but it was a different matter expending money borrowed on the English Stock Exchange. The interest on this money must be provided for if the credit of the country was to be conserved. Therefore , it behoved the Govern ment and the country to expend this moneyonly on large permanent and reproductive works, from whichr there is a reasonable probability the interest on the cost of their construction will be derived. The main roads connecting the Bulier and the Grey from.tjie highest available navigable point on either river came under the category of such works, and they would be made with money from the loan, leaving the branch roads necessary for local communicatian to be made by the local authorities. He would again repeat that he was glad to spe that the action of the in this. matter met with the approval of the inhabitants. With reference to the Amhri road, it* was no donbt im^ portant that when the Inangahua district was opened up, it would be desirable that the large .population likely to become settled there, and also those at present resident in the Grey Valley, should have means of access to the pastoral and stock-producing districts, but he was not aware if the road to the A muri came under the heading of those advisable to make with money set apart from the loan. His colleague, Mr Reeves,, would soon be amongst them, and this was one of the matters appertaining to his department. If .the subject were brought under his notice, Mr Reeves would no doubt pres3 upon the Nelson Government the necessity of making the Arnold and Ahaura road, either by means of land payment or otherwise, but tht) Nelson Government would have to deal with this road, for the only proposition before the General Government was' the construction qf roads \phiph. had ali'eafly 'be'en pphimenced or provided for. The extension of the telegraph, so as io connect Westport with Graymouth by way of Ahaura and Reefton, was also alluded to by the deputation. He cjid not see any great dittTculty in the way of obtaining this request. The country was rapidly filling up, and there was reasonable ground for supposing the line would be at least selfsupporting after a while, and 'in the meantime lie. would do his best to have telegraphic communication extended from Greyaoouth to the Inangahua. In alluding to the complaints hinted at of the alleged mismanagement by the Government of Nelson of the affairs of the N elson Province, he might say that it was not within his province, neither owas it his duty, to pass an opinion. He might be considered guilty of great impertinence did he do sp, although the inhabitants of this or any other part Of the Colony had a constitutional right to express opinions on any grievance under which they con, sidered they suffered, He. would consider he would be acting improperly by ihtprmeddling in the .matter, ; because, it was a subject, with which " the' Parliament of the country alone could deal. Mr ; Curtis wouldjJ he was informed, be here in a few days; and, on the principle that one story was

well until the other was heard* that gentleman no doubt would be able to make ,out a good case for his Government. A priori, he was prepared to go thus far. In localities remote from the centre of Government the functions of the Government may not be administered with that "vigor and /promptness characteristic Governments . more localised ?or on the r spot. Any private politician may make 1 ' that .admission, and he might do so apart.: from being a memb'e'r'oTthe'Govf^meDT^"*' of the country, or a Minister of the Crown. But he would impress upon his hearers . ihat if they wished any great alterations made in the Government, those changes must come from themselves. There may be "something rotten ? m the Btate of Denmark," and in applying this illustra^ ~. tioh, he need not inform them that Kej\|i was making a quotation from the i works^ *, of our great dramatist, and not inany'j t C, manner alluding to th 3 Danish or Scandinavian immigrants expected to arrivo „^ shortly in the Colony, some . of whose "" compatriots were already here, and proved ' . to , be admirable colonists. " If there be Hi something wrong with the Provincial form of Government as administered here; the/ matter niust be represented to the General >•<'-? Government, and brought under the notico of the Parliament In the usual' J course. He would suggest to them that '?-■*« if they desired a change, the^ should also- /^ point in .what direction that change should 1 : v * /be made, T,here was an established v system of Government in the country, and' ;;.; "it was well to lit weU alone/' bu^he;^ need not point out to them that there, * were several separate forms of GoyernrV'! ment to choose from* .There were the jGeneral, Provincial, and Municipal forms, and the County Council and Road Bpwjdsystems, and it might be possible, to sub- „ stitute any one of these forms where ' ; . another was found unsuitable or inefficient: ;•', j « Buthe would again warn them that changes of such great import to their national welfare must be initiated by themselves, ,>r and it was theirduty to designate in /the' ' proper manner the particular alteration they wished for. In conclusion, he would * f again thank them for the kind recept^^^ they had given him, and his earnest hope^^ was that his visit might result in some measure in promoting, their pros- '.'.'■' perity and happiness^ -i'^^Ki: The Premier was frequently^warmly applauded during the, delivery of his speech), s^ and the flattering terms in which he. J to Mr Harrison, M.H.R. for the district, were particularly well received, The building was crowded, in .every part, and Mr Fox was listened to With marked attention. At 'the conclusion of his ad- "■ l dress he was loudly cheered. After, thinkings the' Premier , for- i the courtesy shown them, the 1 deputation withdrew. -