OUR WEST COAST LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2104, 21 June 1894, Page 17

OUR WEST COAST LETTER.

(From Ouh Own. Correspondent.) Boss, June 13.

SLAYING CLIQUE.

Since the advent to the Coast of the Minister for Mines, and his careful inquiries into the most minute detail respecting local wants, and his handsome promises of aid, thinking folk are already acknowledging these to be indicative of a sort of double intention on the part of the Government to .beneßt committees by flattening out now and forever the hateful, selfish little tea parties, happy families, and cliques which unfortunately "dominate most of our local governing bodies. Some of the Coast papers have already sounded the tocsin, and are alarmedly pointing out in a half-hearted manner that "the Government are trenching more and more on the functions of local government." " Why ? " asks one of thenl, " should the Minister for Mines, Public Works, &c, ask the House for money that they may them (?) on there petty concerns ?" -The answering echoes come readily enough from the people groauing under the prodigal waste of local revenue on favouritism whilst outsiders get the cold snag ends, and it may be stereotyped in the burning words: "If Ministers did not now come and look at us, see our requirements, and promise aid, we should never get them at all." Let me instance the Grey County Council. That body has long held a majority for its northern and eastern territory, consequently the roads and bridges thereof are in capital trim ; but since Mr Arthur Robert Guinness, who represented Paroa, a southern riding, and a power in himso'f, left the concern, all the traffic lines have been allowed to go to the dogs. But because the Minister came along here and promised to set everything right a number of the newspapers, fearful of the deposition of their benefac'ors, cry oub aloud that Government by ass'sting are unduly interfering with the functions of local government bodies. Coasters, as a rule, however, luckily a different opinion, and are far from dissatisfied thereat.

THE LATEST SENSATION.

Tho topic of the week is the resignation in a body of the Greymouth Charitable Aid Board. It is not a surprise either, for the members thereof have been threatening to take that extreme step ever since Mr Habens, secretary of the department at Wellington, insulted them by replying to their application for overdue subsidy that "if the board would guarantee those schools [industrial schools] the overdue money would be paid ! '' On receipt of this impudent wire the G.C.A.B. met, resented tho "insulting insinuation," and sent a demand for immediate payment of subsidy, with the alternative of resignation. To this "protest" came a letter with voucher for "balance of subsidy," the department having docked the subsidy for the industrial schools. Yet did the board keep its temper, and again wired further for an explanation of such "unwarrantable treatment." The final reply from headquarters was to the effect that "it was quite a common occurrence " ; and at this all the bottled-up pride of the members of the local board could be contained no longer, and last Wednesday the whole board resigned.

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

The Grey County Council awarded Constable Walls, of Ahaura, 10 per cent, of the royalties for timber cut upon the mining reserves.

One of the men instrumental in bringing that infamous gang of cut-throats — Burgess, Sullivan, and Levy — to justice (Mk George Jervis) is now staying in Westport. He kept a store at Canvastown in the palmy days of the Wakamarina goldfields, and had this notorious gang of criminals as neighbours for several weeks. The horses used by the four murdered men, De Pontius, Mathieu, Kempthorne, and Dudley, were his property, and he was the first to report the men as missing iii Nelson. On his way to the city the men determined to murder him, and tossed a shilling — one which Burgess kept for the purpose — to decide the time for the deed. The toss resulted in favour of postponement, and tho intended victim's death was thus averted. Before his execution Burgess handed Mr Jervis the coin, and ho still keeps it in his possession. It bears tho initials of the murderer's assumed name, Richard Travers. Mr Jervis was present at the execution, and gives a graphic description of the awful scene. All the applications for certificates for licenses under the " Alcoholic Liquor Sale Control Act 1893 " in Westland were granted last Wednesday, but increases were refused. The Westport Harbour Board contemplates paying off a large number of its employees. Last Thursday, whilst a goldmincr of Brunnerton named Thomas Jones was engaged picking up his tail race, the sides of the channel collapsed, crushing him very badly, and breaking some ribs and inflicting a nasty scalp wound. He was extricated by his mates with considerable difficulty, and is now being medically treated.

School committee matters in Taylorville do not appear to be happy — that is, if one is to judge by a certain paucity of attendance of householders last Thursday at the annual meeting for electing a new committee. Seven committeemen were required, but as only five persons turned vp — like the famous old woman who lived in a shoe, only the boot was on the other leg — " they didn't know what to do." At length Mr Ex-editor Urquhart dragged the solemn five out of their difficulty by moving that the Grey Education Board be informed that Messrs Franklin, Vowell, Cherry, Watson, and Urquhart will act as a committee, or as commissioners, provided a grant of £15 is made for cleaning purposes. I might add that a certain- Mr Cherry appeared to be very ripe on the latter condition, as the board had been rather inclined to stint the advance for the district.

The lowest tenders for constructing 2, 3, and 4 sections of the Coal Creek railway (CobdenGrey) are :— No. 2, W. Ross, £830; No. 3, Maloney and Co., £472 ; No. 4, J. O'Donnell, £2198 15s. It is understood that they will be accepted in each case. v£, r County councillors are'being blamed by West Coast papers for continuing to hold their positions in the face of such a miserable state of finance as that at present prevailing. The solution of the mystery is a simple one._ Faith, 'tis the mileages fee that does it.

Did any of your numerous readers ever look over some of the school books used as lesson books in our State schools ? I did the other day, and this is what I found on pages 4-6 and 47 of the "No. 1 Royal Reader' dated 1892 :— •'North, south, east, west. It is 12 o'clock. It is noon. Come to the garden, then. Now, where is the sun ? Turn your face towards him. Look at the sun. That is south. Always when it is 12 o'clock, and you look at the sun, your face is towards the south. Now torn to your left hand. Look forward. That is east. < « « Now turn your back to the sun, Look

straight forward That is north. Now turn to your left hand. Look forward. That is west.' 1 The italics are mine, but the jumble belongs to somebody else. Perhaps the Minister for Education is satisfied to allow this topsy-turvydom to continue in the curriculum of our Stateaided education. And the anxious parents who love and hope to hear of their children being taught rhythm and music may encounter a slight shock on turning over to page 49 of the same little book, and there finding that tbeir children are being trained to know that "flax" rhymes with "rags" in the occurring couplet :

Linen is made from the fibres of flax Paper is made from straw and from rags, or in the succeeding one that "woarm" rhymes with " worm." I had not courage to dive deeper into the seedlings of our State curriculum.

Just as the mail is closing the news comes flashing along the Greymouth electric telegraph wires from the Minister to the effect that he is quite willing still to communicate with tho remnant of tho defunct Greymouth Charitable Aid Board who voted against the resolution providing for the resignation of that body. The board is composed of 12 members, including tho mayor of tho Grey Borough Council, who is also chairman, and the extreme resolution was carried on the casting vote of the chairman. Tho Hon. W. P. Reeves also wires that ho still recognises these negatives as office-bearers, and is prepared, &c. This looks remarkably like another case of Beelzebub's divided house.

Westport is up against the vehicle tax,- and at a public meeting resolutions were carried asking the Buller County Council to reduce tho fees Mr R. M'Kenzie, M H.R , remarking on the high rates, said that if the same tariff were imposed by all the counties, it would cost £40 in fees to drive from Westport to Hokitika ; which is, by the way, a distance of about 160 miles.

Seventy odd spirituous and malt liquor licenses were granted by the Greymouth Licensing Committee in less than three hours.

Last Friday evening the Greymouth Harbouc Board carried the following resolutions : — (1) That powers be given to this board to .expend such portion of the revenue as it may from time to time determine to be necessary to expend in prospecting operations on the coal reserves which are held by the board as endowments ; (2) that a copy of the foregoing resolutions be forwarded to the Hon the Premier, to the Hon. the Minister for Marine, and the Hon. the Minister for Mines, with a request that tho Government will support the bill empowering this board to expend a portion of the royalty on coal in prospecting operations ; (3) that a bill to amend the "Greymouth Harbour B6ard Act 1884- "bo prepared and introduced into Parliament during its next session for the* purpose of empowering the Greymouth Harbour Board to expend such portion of the royalty as it may from time to time determine to bo necessary to expend in prospecting operations on the coal reserves which are held by the board as endowments.

The prospectors of ho little rush near the old Shamrock lead (Kumara) have got about 6ft of wash, and a first trial yielded 2dwt to the load. . *>

The Grey and Hokitika Education Boards are endeavouring to arrange matters between themselves so as to make Mr School-inspector Morton's services available for both districts. This is much better than continuing tho throat-cutting operations of past years.

Mr Stratford, Greymouth's stipendiary magistrate, who is also by law chairman of the Grey Licensing Committee, entertained his committee at lunch last Wednesday — a new departure surely !

The two black diamond companies at Westport—the Mohikonui and the Cardiff — are at daggers drawn. The former wants to charge Is 4d per ton haulage fees over its miniature branch railway line, and the latter intimate as delicately as possible that they will" see the other at Gehenna first— where coals would bo much reduced in value, bjr the way ! The Cardiff Company with their bins full, and orders for coal, are compelled to shut down and cut off every item of expense.

The latest about the Grey Charitable Aid Board and the Ministerial misunderstanding is that the Hon. W. P. Feeves says -he knew nothing about the arbitrary and unwarrantable action of Mr Habens, and so the rupture may now be healed by this timely. intervention of the Minister, and the board be enabled to carry on its functions as heretofore.

There is consternation among school teachers all through Westland over the action of the Westland Education Board in reducing, by some 30 per cent., the salaries of their servants. Deputations and letters from the different districts, protesting and pleading to have salaries kept intact, come pouring in on the board, but to all. of them that body seems to have only one answer — i c., "If we are to pay our way we must adhere to the regulations " So at that rate the reductions are inevitable.