THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 1874

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1823, 9 June 1874, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 1874

By the Nelson papers just to hand we are placed in possession of reports of the proceedings in the Provincial Council up to Friday last. Ia announcing the formation of the new. Executive to the Council, Mr O'Conor stated that the policy of the Government would be one of economy and retrenchment, and carried out not by the. mere reduction of salaries, but by dispensing with unnecessary officers. At the same time he was forced to admit that Small economies of this kind would not provide money, enough for the public works that were urgently required, as the toost that they could expect to save would pa £2000 a year. Regarding public works the Provincial Secretary said: — "They intended to .carry out the small public Works with current revenue. It would be necessary to obtain a loan to carry ou harbor works and inland communication, and it was the intention, of the Executive to assist his. Honor in obtaining a loan for the completion .of. road communication between Nelson, Greymouth, and, Westport.; and also for the continuation of the Nelson and Foxhill railway. . But they thodght it unwise to advocate the immediate expenditure of the General Government advance, until it was a matter of certainty that the loan sought for would be obtained, as, if that loan were not obtained, the General Government would be able to claim a refund of the money out of the current revenue, and thus cripple the Province for at least two years. They therefore thought that the advance should be kept ' in hand till the loan was obtained ; but, at the same time they would pot go so far as to deprive the expected immigrants of employment when they arrived. It was also the intention of the Executive to supplement and enlarge the Loan Bill brought down by the late Government, so as to enable them to raise a loan of £30,000 for the construction of a wharf and dock at Nelson, giving security over the: works when constr.ucted,and also on the harbor reserves." We glean that amongst the reductions proposed by Mr O'Conor, the salaries of the Executive are to be reduced from a Jotal of £1950 to £1441 -the direction of the other savings is not mentioned, the Government having asked the Council for a block vote so as to enable the Executive to effect reductions according to their discretion, but this the Council would not permit except in regard to a few items. The general business of the Council has not been of particular interest. As already announced by telegraph, Mr Ivess obtained leave to bring in a Bill to repeal tne Gold-fields Local Revenues Act, but with the distinct understanding that it was not tb be pressed further during the present session, so as to allow the local Boards a further trial. We notice the I following amongst the items of the Estimates passed :— -Wing dam at No Town, £100 ; maintenance of roads, Ahaura, £2000 j Oobden, £460 ; branch roads to

Larry's and Gorge Town, £1000 ; road — Twelve-mile to Red Jack's, £400. On the motion of Mr Ivess. the siim of .£IOO was placed on the Supplementary Estimates for the purchase of. Dalton's suspejasiori bridge at Reefton ; and on the motion of the same member £300 was placed on the Estimates to meet equivalent subscriptions for a hospital at Lyell. On the motion of Mr Boase, the sum of .£SOO was placed on the Supplementary.Estimates, for the purpose of constructing a horse-track from the ten-mile bridge, north of Cobden, up the Ten-mile Creek, 4 'For the purpose of enabling diggers to work a large and payable piece of ground." The new Provincial Secretary doe 3 not appear to have much love for the Goldfields District Boards, as we find that he has announced the intention of the Go vernment to fetter the grants of money by conditions as to its expenditure "as it was believed that iv some instances the local Boards would not spend the money in the direction intended by the Governrnent, and there was great danger of their neglecting the main roads for the construction of mere tracks."

By a private telegram received last evening we learn that the " crisis," to which allusion was made in our issue of yesterday, has already occurred. At the meeting of the Council yesterday afternoon all the members were present, except the Superintendent. Mr John White announced that he had resigned the Speakership, and upon the motion of Mr Guinness, Mr Lahman was unanimously elected, his Honor the Superintendent subsequently conveying by message his approval of the choice. After the election of the Speaker, Mr Seddon gave notice of a motion expressive of want of confidence in the new Executive, upon which Mr White asked for au adjournment of the Council until to-day, when the motion comes on. There appears to be little doubt of the result. If Mr White resigns his seat in the Assembly the objections to the constitution of the new Executive will he abandoned. If he does not, then the Council will insist upon his retiring— and quite right too.

For once the Register and ourselves are in accord. Our contemporary's article of yesterday is almost identical iv its character with our own of the same day upon the question of Mr White retaining his seat in the Assembly and still holding office in the Provincial Executive. A few extracts will show that opinion in Hokitika is dead against any member of the Executive holding a seat in the General Assembly. The Begiskr says ;—

We may state that we have the strongest grounds for believing that the Council will demand of the member for Hokitika that he should choose between his position as a Colonial legislator and that as a Provincial administrator. Nor can it be said, whatever further loss of time the settlement of the matter may involve, and however uncomfortable it may be in some respects for a gentleman to be called upon tb resign his portfolio before he has had an opportunity of "bringing^ down a policy," that the '■ Council will be in any way wrong. For to permit Mr White to retain the two positions will be tantamount to leaving the Government of the Province for the neyt three months in the bands of two gentlemen who — we say it with respect--are quite inexperienced, and of whom neither is fitted for undertaking the duties of Treasurer and Secretary. As to the opinions which other members hold on this subject, we have already some means of judging from the remarks made in the Council when it was suggested that provision should be made in the Executive Ordinance against the very contingency which has happened — namely, that a member of the Colonial Legislature should he selected to hold office in the Executive. Prom a full report of that debate, which we have before us, we find that no less than five of those Mho voted with Mr Guinness in favor of an Executive declared themselves opposed to allowing the heads of Provincial departments to be absent in Wellington during the session. Under these circumstances, it cannot be doubtful, if it comes to a division, what will be the opinion of the Council on the subject. It is true that in many of the Provinces the practice is sanctioned, and Executive officers are allowed also to be members of the Assembly. There is, however, no other Province in the <*V)lony which is so entirely dependent upon what, without being discourteous, we may term apprentice work in politics, and Mr White being the man of experience in the Government, and the only member of it competent to take command of the Treasury, we think it would be a most hazardous experiment to allow him to be away from his office for so long a time.

But our contemporary expresses the hope that Mr White will not resign his seat in the Assembly, but retire from the Executive — which, being interpreted, means that the Register' would rejoice to see the new system break down at once.