The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 1873.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 103, 30 April 1873, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 1873.

.THE.operiing paragraph of the Superintend. -r deht'B speech to the Council discloses the fact tHat the financial positioa of the province is fa? from satißfe ii^irbgresßing^^fl|w^ the case witE : most of x^th^otlre^

receipts for that period having been £7000 short of what they were in the previous • year, while the actual revenue is no less than £22,000 short of the estimate that was formed at the last session of the Council. This last named deficiency is partially accounted for by his Honor, and we think very fairly so, by the fact that the Inangahua has not turned out such an El Dorado as was at that time anticipated. One or two good yields, a few rich specimens, and the glowing accounts that at the early part of last year reached us from that district induced the belief that a second Thames goldfield had been discovered in our province, and iv common with the majority of the outside public, the Superintendent and Executive would appear to have held exaggerated ideas of the richness of the field, which at that time had not been fairly tested, and to have anticipated a larger revenue from it than has actually been realised. With regard to the decrease of the receipts as compared with those of the previous year, we have at least this satisfaction, that we can, without the slightest hesitation, point to one grand cause of the deficiency, and console ourselves with the reflection that it was one which was altogether beyond human control. The long continued drought which has injuriously affected the pockets of the agricultural portion of the community in the vicinity of the town was not confined to this side of the ranges, but was experienced with equally disastrous results by the miners on the West Coast, who from want of water were unable to carry on their mining operations to the same extent that they might have done under more favorable circumstances. Still, however, we cannot lose sight of the fact that, during the quarter just ended, the yield of gold from this province, was a trifle over 4000ozs. in excess of that which was credited to the corresponding period of last year, so that we must not attribute the falling off of the actual, however much we may of the estimated, revenue to the difficulties experienced by the miners in consequence of an unusually dry summer. The remarks of his Honor with reference to the special settlements scheme will, we are sure, meet with the hearty approval of the people of the province. The idea of excluding those already residing in the province from the advantages offered to newly-arrived immigrants is simply monstrous, and calls for a strong expression of opinion from the Council. At present the whole of the available land in the immediate neighborhood of the town is fully occupied, and unless we offer special facilities for settling the interior to the young men who are growing up in our midst— the sons of those who have borne the heat and burden of the day in the work of colonisation — they must leave us and seek a field for their labors in other parts of this or the neighboring colonies. What advantage to the State is to be gained by shutting the door upon these with one hand, and opening it to new comers with the other we are at a loss to understand, but perhaps some little light may be thrown upon the matter by the correspondence between the General Government and the Superintendent, which, as yet, we have not had an opportunity of perusing. 'We are glad to find so prominent a position accorded to the inland communication scheme which has recently occupied so large a share of the public attention, and received such hearty and unanimous support from men of all classes and all shades of political opinion in this part of the province. We most earnestly hope that the West Coast members will look upon the proposed railway, not as a mere local work calculated to benefit one particular portion of the province, but as an undertaking which must advantageously affect their constituents, the province generally, and indeed the colony at large. Increased facilities for communication, and the opening up of the interior of the country and. rendering it available for settlement, must tend to the prosperity- of the province as a whole, "and this cannot be attained without producing beneficial effects upon every part of it, no matter how small or bow isolated. Let any disinterested individual sit down and read the first paragraph of the Superintendent's speech, carefully con it over, and steadily look in the direction in which it points, and at the goal it indicates as tbat towards which the province has made the preliminary step, and be must come to the conclusion that that goal is failure, bankruptcy, and political ex- j tinction. But there is no absolute necessity for our quietly subscribing to the creed of the fatalist and looking upon so disastrous a prospect, xas inevitable-: Warned by the past, it is yet open. to us so to shape our course ..that tbe rock we-see ahead may be avoided. In^^twelve mon ths **t>ur revenue' ;hM^faUen;[ten. per cent. Who ■.shaU-_say^ ; r iiext . vyear; : xunl^ 'e&rfctb;retriev,e;6a^

effectually be made — by the Provincial Council in its present session. This is not the time for party warfare, local jealousies, or squabbles over matters of minor importance. Hand in hand, and shoulder to shoulder our legislators must work together if they are really desirous of benefitting their constituents. Of this we are quite sure, that the proceedings of the Provincial Council have never yet been so jealously watched by the outside public as they will be during the session that commenced yesterday.