MONTHLY SUMMARY".

West Coast Times, Issue 125, 10 February 1866, Page 2

MONTHLY SUMMARY".

West Coast Times Office, Saturday, 10th Feb., 1866. The departure of the steamship Gothenburg for Melbourne to-morrow, affords an opportunity of posting letters and newspapers for Great Britain and tho Colonies, which will prove very accept- * able in the present most defective state of the mail arrangements. The only ordinary opportunity the inhabitants of tho West Coast havo of mailing their despatches for Europe, is to put them on board tho Albion, which usually calls in the roadstead during tlie early part of each month, and proceeds, via Cook's Sti'aits and the East Coast, to Dunedin and the Bluff, picking up the various provincial mails en route, and eventually carrying them from the last-named port to Melbourne. Under this arrangement some sixteen or seventeen days usually elapse between the date of posting letters for England here and their despatch from Melbourne, although tho direct distance between the two ports is not more than from five to six days. On her present trip the Albion left Hokitika on Tuesday last, the 6th iust., ' after a stay of only twelve hours in tho roads, and the services of tho Gothenburg ; for tho carriage 'of the Westland mails will be most welcome. The English November mails were delivered in Hokitika on the 3rd inst., having been transhipped at Nelsou from Dunedin by the Tararua. As is now howover customary, the news by the mail had been received in anticipation of the arrival of the mail itself. On the 3rd ult. , we obtained a file of English papers brought from Dunedin * by the South Australian, and were thus enabled to put our readers in full possession of the European and American intelligence at an early hour the following morning. Our mail -dates are supplemented by telegraphic despatches from London to the sth December. By way of California and Sydney, we have subsequent- dates from the United States of America, New York telegrams ooming down to the sth December, and transmitting the inaugural message of President Johnson to the new Congresp.

The local history of tho past month has been marked by one or two prominent features, which servo to distinguish it from others. Foremost amongst them is the visit of a judge of the^ Supreme Court of New Zealand, to hold ja criminal and civil session in the new Courthouse, which has just been completed in Scwell-.street, and which is a comely and handsome building, without any great architectural pretension. Tho judge selected to inaugurate the maiden judicial district of Westland was his Honor Mi. Gresson. T,o the transacted by the Pourt we refer in another column. This, however, is an appropriate place to say' that his Honor during his visit manifested great interest in the affairs of the district, and that the pains he took to make himself acquainted with it, and .his frank utterances of opinion, have justly inspired the hopo that he will carry back with him to Christchuroh, the seat of the Provincial Government, impressions of Westland, which, diffused throughout tho influential circles in which he moves, will tend to beget a more just policy towards us on tho part of our distant neighbors, who aro at present our absolute rnlers. His Honor expressed himself strongly on the subject of tho insufficiency of tho present ar- ' ran^ements for the administration of \ justice on the West Coast, urged tho' importance of either locating a Resident Judge of the Supreme Court here, or of appointing a District Court Judge, and recognised the importanco of the establishment of a local insolvency tribunal. From anything beyond suggestions and .temperate expressions of opinion^jm these points, his Honor was precluded by his official position, and by his ofon fine sense of delicacy. But he said sufficient to indicate that he had been strongly impressed with a sense of the claims of Westland to a far more generous consideration tkan had yet been accorded to it. The public acknowledge themselves deeply indebted to him ior his indignant protest against the insufficient gaol accommodation that has been provided for the district. Not less aid they appreciate the interest in all social questions which his Honor displayed. His visit to the Kaniorf diggings to officiate in the ceremony of christening a " water race" was one incident of his visit that has left a very pleasailt fragrance of it behind. Mr. Duncan, the Crown Prosecutor,' accompanied his Honor to Hokitika, and avo believe was also a watohful, and at the same time a kindly, observant of the wants of the district. '

Tho diffusion of a better knowledge of the West Coast and its population amongst the politicians on tho other side of ths range, is deserving all tho importanco we may thus seem to attach to it ; because at this moment Westlaud is governed absolutely from Chrißtchurch,and because oiroumstances dp not appear to indicate the probability of a severance of the province of Canterbury. Deep as is tho sense entertained here of the wrongs ondured at the hands of the Eastlancl government, and loud and frequent as are the complaints made, it cannot be said that there is any nctivo demand for separation, Whether it is that publio inclinations do not torn! in that dirootion, or that tho lwbjip opinion tltyt m upt in utvop'giy

of late throughout tho colony against the multiplication of petty independent governments, or that there is a consciousness of the want of the necessary elements for a strong selfadministration, the fact is certain that no proclivity towards separation exists, and that no movement having 1 it in view could be set afoot with the promise o^ its being prosecuted with the vigor necessary to ensure its success. Much of this is duo undoubtedly to the fact that the great bulk of the people are at present engaged in only one pursuit, that of ' making money, and that they are too busy in their avocation to be able to pay much attention to political subjects. Few either of the mercantile or the trading houses on the West Coast have as yet taken firm root in the soil of the country. The very place itself is hardly twelvemonths old. Men who first planted their, foot on the virgin soil less than tha£ length of time ago, are hailed as the " pioneers" of settlement. It is evident that sufficient interval has not elapsed to permit of a strong locaj sentiment springing up, and without the existence of this the most thoughtful politicians of the district are fain to admit that the experiment of separate self-government could not be attempted with arty promise of success. The much longer endurance of the

present political arrangements is, however, utterly impossible, and men aro looking about them for such indications as point to the prospect of some better ' system of administration being established, with the help and under the auspices of Christchurch. The first of these is afforded by the approaching change in the Superintendericy of the province. The term of Mr Bealey's incumbency 6f office is on the poiut of expiry. It was during this gentleman's rule, and, it is understood, much to his disgust, that the gold-fields wero discovered. The incident was an intrusive interruption to the quiet tenor of his official life. He Avanted no new interests to develop themselves ; no new cares to disturb. The gold-fields have always been an offence to Mr Bealey, and lie has treated them with cold and systematic indifference. He is not a candidate for re-election. Of the three gentleinen'before the constituency, little doubt is entertained that. Mr Moorhouse will be the successful man. And if Westland is to remain a dependency of Christchurch tho choice could not fall on a better. Amongst the many phases of a most varied experience, Mr Moorhouse has been himself a digger, and although occupying an eminent position as a professional man, ho s known to have very active sympathies with the people and the interests of this district. He is, besides being of high character and eminent public ability, a man of indomitable courage and determination of purpose, and much is already hoped for from his expressed anxiety to do justico to Westland. With Mr. Moorhouse's accession to office a total change would of course take place in the Executive administration.

Another circumstance that affords

some guarantee* of a better government • for the future is the enlarged representation given to Westland in , the Provincial Council. During . the past session it rejoiced in the boon of two members conferred on it by an Act of the General Assembly, introduced by Mr. J. E. FittfGerald, of Christohurch. Tho presence of Messrs » Prosser. and Barff in the -Housc v has had a marked influence in securing attention to Westland affairs, and the Christchurch papers are now discussing them in a tone that has never been adopted before. By tho organic law of the colony the Provincial Council has the power of adding to the number of its own members, and of

re-arranging its electoral ' districts. This power has now been exercised, and at the approaching elections tho West Coast will be called on to return five members to tho Provincial Count-

ciU ' If proper men be chosen, the district will hold a status and excrciso a

strength in tho legislature very different from its position hitherto. But, perhaps, the circumstance which is of all most significant N is tho newly awakened interest of the Eastland papers in the affairs of this district, and the altered tone in which they ha^e begun to discuss them. A scheme has been propounded by the Canterbury Press to provide for the self-government of this district on a basis apart from separation, which is at once liberal and

practicable, and would perhaps provide for Westland as substantial a measure of independence as it could desire or as it would be healthful for it to possess. It is proposed, in the first place, to make the cost of the overland road, against which so many protests have been offered here, a charge upon the provincial loan, as an arterial, not a district work, and to recoup to Westland out of the proceeds of the loan, as soon as it shall have been negotiated, all the current West Coast revenue that has been diverted from local uses, in order that it may be appropriated to the construction of practicable tracks into the •. gold-fields interior. With referenco to future expenditure it is proposed that a local board or council, to be elected by the people, shall sit permanently in Hokitika, to decide upon the allocation of moneys to public works, such moneys being voted by the Eaatlancl Council in a gross sum. It is suggested further that the present Commissioner shall be superseded by the appointment of a Secretary for the Goldfields — to be a member of the Executive Government, and during each session to tako his place in tho Logisla> ture — to bo responsible like othor Minisbers of tho Crown for tho stewardship of his dopjvrtment— but to nmke tho West poßri tho permfmont; Rotf pf ))if? <#>{&!

administration. Lastly, it is proposed that tho Superintendent of the Province shall tako up his residence on tho West Coast during a certain portion of each year, and thus provide himself with 'tho opportunity of personal observation and intercourse with the district. Thero is nothing Utopian or extravagant in any of these suggestions. If they aro earnestly pressed by thoso who havo mado thorn, they will enable us very nearly /to realise tho conditions of an independent Government as regards the principal object of consideration, viz., tho duo appropriation of the local revenue to local purposes, A resident Minister with an elective local Board whether of control or of advice, v r ould bo probably regarded by most persons ns a sufficiently near ap • pibach to a Westland Government for all practical purposes. In our supplement wo have made somo extracts both from late articles from our own columns and from the neighboring journals upon this subject, as illustrating the successive phases of the question of Eastland and Westland. • I

The Provincial Council of Canterbury was prorogued by his Honor the Superintendent, on tho 25th January, and has, since that date, expired by emuxion of time. Tho dates for the now elections have not yet been fixed. .

The General Assembly of New Zealand has been dissolved by proclamation, and writs for the election of new members have been issued. The Westland goldfields are privileged to return one member to the House, although on a

very restricted suffrage. The electric telegraph connecting the West Coast with the capitals and principal towns of the neighboring Middle Island provinces has been completed, and was opened for the public convenience on Tuesday last. Sufficient time has not yet been afforded to bring the system into full working order. On the day following • thp opening an interruption to tho communication occurred, but the line has since been in capital -working order, although by some presently unexplained misadventure the press messages wo had made arrangements for receiving have thus far failed to reach us.

The minor incidents of the month will be found fully recorded in our other columns under their several heads.