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Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1796, 8 May 1874, Page 2

The Begister of yesterday contains a long and evidently inspired article upon the business of the forthcoming meeting of the Provincial Council. If all the matters mentioned are to be dealt with at one session the Council has no easy task before it, We are promised an Education Bill, a Cattle Trespass and Fencing Bill, a n c w Public House Ordinance, and some measure relating to Road Boards. Of course these subjects are outside of the other questions that are likely to occupy the time of the Council — the proposal of an Executive, and the maintenance of the Christchurch road — and that mostimportant matter, the proposed Loan. We have no idea what is the character of the proposed Bill?, but we may venture to hope that the Education Ordinance will pc modelled after that of Nelson— probably the most successful Act of the kind ever passed. The new Public House Ordinance will, we presume, be more in the nature of an Amending Act than of an entirely new measure ; and will remove some of the incongruities and short-comings of the existing Westland Public House Act. What^ the Superintendent proposes to do with the Road Boards is a mystery. It is quite time chat something was done either to abolish Ruad Boards in Westland altogether, or to pnt those bodies in a proper position. As they now exist they- are a nondescript class of local governing bodies,, impressed with a terrible idea of their. own importance, and -yet afraid or incapable of per- 1 forming their legitimate duties. We are

not quite sure whether it would not be as we'll' to wipe out the Road Boards altogether -in.|Wes't]and'." They do not seem to suit th~o cirpu instances of the Province, and they refuse to recognise that their first condition of existence is to levy rates. We must, however, leave further discussion of this subject until we see the new Bill.

The Begister, upon the subject of the Loan says : — •• Whatever may be the amount the Council decides upon borrowing, and the schedule of works it determines to expend the money upon, the next question to be settled is the nature and extent of the securities to be offered. Possibly, specific blocks of land will be set apart, to which might be added the tolls from bridges, dues from water-races, and so on, where the works constructed yield a direct revenue. The works themselves it might be considered advisable to include in the securities offered. This question of security will call for the serious consideration of 1 the Council, especially if it should determine to ask for power to enable the Province to borrow for itself. But here again arises another question — shall Hie Province borrow'for itself, as has hitherto always been the case when money has been borrowed for Provincial works, or shall the General Government be asked to borrow for the Province 1 When the Council has solved these points, and others that will present themselves when the subject comes to be practically handled, we presume it will embody its views in a series of resolutions, and order a Bill to be prepared to give effect to them in the General Assembly." We may advise our contemporary that it is inevitable that in any scheme of borrowing for Provincial purposes the Legislature will insist upon the Colony borrowing the money and not the Province. It was this question which decided the fate of the Provincial Borrowing Bills last session. It was insisted that if money had to be borrowed the Colonial Government should borrow it, and that there should be no competition in the money market between the Provinces and the Colony. '-'•