AND WESTLAND OBSERVER. MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1868.

West Coast Times, Issue 1007, 14 December 1868, Page 2

AND WESTLAND OBSERVER. MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1868.

Thk elections for the new County Council of Westland are now over, and although the result in every instance is not absolutely known, we* may assume that the following members of the old Council have had their services l'ccognised by being elected to the new: — Mr Bonar for Hokitika, Mr Hoos for Totara, Mr Clarke for Ai-a-hura, Mv Barff for Oknrito, and Mr Harrison for Greymouth. The fresh men who will now take their seats arc, — Messrs Itees, Sale, Lahmnn, and Don Carlos do Carevas. Mr Rees is the new representative for the district of Kauieri, where he was opposed by Mr Keary, a member of the late Council, and Messrs South and Robinson. It will be seen that the constitution of the Council has been very materially changed. Whether the change will work for the better is a question that c.vn be decided only by experience. The powers of the Council have been largely increased, and it is not unreasonable to hope that this circumstance will proportionately , increase the sense of responsibility. It resembles, far more than the last Council, the representative- institutions of the old Provincial Councils, and will exorcise ii'morc substantial control over tho policy of the administration than could be done under those institutions. That tho choice made by tho electors has been a wise one wo do not doubt. That the men chosen to exercise the important functions assigned to them by the popular voice will fulfil their mission with discretion and fidelity is a iriiittcr of hope. Their first principal duty will be the election of Chairman — an officer who will hold a position of much higher responsibility than under the Act Avhich was so extensively amended during the last session of the General Assembly. If we look down the list of members who have been relnrned, wo shall find that we have a sufficient body of practical men, if adequate powers are. granted to them, to deal effectually with the requirements of the Comity ; and of men, we are bound to say, of sufficient ability to undertake the settlement of most of the importantquesfions that will come before them. Wo must, on the whole, congratulate the electors of the County upon the selection they have made, although in some cases good men have bocn neglected, where better have not been chosen in their place. The rule has not been universally followed of giving the preference to those who have been old and faithful public servants. The political advantages which the County of Westland now enjoys — the almost absolute power it possesses in the management of its land, its mineral and its commercial estates — may be paid to be all that could be desired, that power being subject only to such correcting" influences as belong naturally to a General Government presiding- over a set of provinces. It has now the full power conceded to it* of disposing of its finances, and in practically passing ordinances instead of adopting recommendations. This is the utmost extent to which it will be urged the power of local legislation should be extended. Nothing can be more inconvenient in a young and scattered colony than to find different sets of local laws in different parts of it. Such a state of tiling's embarrasses commerce, interferes with the due and equal administration of justice, and adds greatly to the cost of the Colonial Government. It is of essential importance that the law of the Colony should be one law. That the traveller journeying from part to part should find himself, as in the old country, under one uniform system of jurisprudence, under the same sceptre never swaying, under the same uniform yoke. No people can ever aspire to bo a nation by whom this principle is ignored in the framing of their institutions, and tho enactment of their laws. The essonce of nationality is unity. Unity in the recognition of one supreme head and one supreme code of justice. The rule has not been universally followed of giving preference to this principle in the organisation of Colonial institutions;;- . Hence we find in. tho Colonial

system a perplexing variety of forms of Government existiug within the same limited dominions — a condition of things obstructive to the development of the true principles of national growth. It should he the just aspiration of all small Coloninl communities to approximate towards each other as rapidly as possible in the development of their commercial and political institutions ; to lesson the difficulties naturally resulting from the different circumstances under which they laid their foundation. In no case may the maxim be applied with more force that unity is strength., The circumstances under which colonisation takes plnce are eminently calculated, under ordinary circumstances, to destroy that unity, and to lessen that strength, especially where colonisation in its first form take the shape of a fringe of insular settlement. This has been the form it has necessarily assumed in New Zealand, and even to the present day many of the coast settlements of the colony continue to be to a great extent insulated from the rest. To destroy this separation and establish at once a universal law, a political system capable of malcing its influence felt in the moj;fc distant parts of the colony, and to promote the utmost facilities of inter-communication, is the true aim of every man who desires the colony developed into a nation. Bufc this aim can be bost promoted by' a policy that tends at once at strengthening the hands of local bodies in matters that are local, and in consolidating the authority of the General Government in matters that are general. If wo understand aright, this is the policy of the Administiation now in office. It may be urged as one disadvantage not only of the provincial system, but of the system of the municipal subdivisions of provinces, especially of the latter, that it tends to give a too local development fo politics that are not themselves necessarily local in their character, and thus retards the growth of one great national system, and one national instinct seeing* the disposition our politics have for a long time since displayed to develope the local principle, it is of high importance in the present stage of onr political history as a colony that the other principle of civilization should he duly fostered, by sending to the General Assembly men 6f large and comprehensive views, not selected from the class of men Avl'om small constituencies are most frequently in the habit of choosing for the management of their minor affairs. The policy which shall encourage the development, paripassu, of the two policies of local independence and general unity is alone the one to succeed in laying the foundations of an empire — to be inhabited, governed and defended by a free peoplei Let it be our aim, then> lo cling tenaciously to the right of managing by and for ourselves, bur own aftairs, as a small part of a great colony ; but let us support the Minister and representatives to whom the maintenance and uniTy~ofNew Zealand, as an empire, to assume thai; position when the natural time comes, remembering that an oxcessive subdivision may have its disadvantages as Avell as too strong a centralisation of power.

A foot race, which excited considerable in tcrcst, and attracted numerous spectators, took place on Saturday afternoon, in Tau-cred-street, the competitors being Mr R . Iv. Kerr, of the West Coast Times, and Mr M. Browne, of the livening Star. At three o'clock the men, with their backers, appeared on the ground, Mr T. Gibson acting as judge, and Mr A. Roscow as starter. The, race wns for 100 yards, and, at the word " off," Kerr made a splendid start, heading his opponent by two or three yards, which distance he maintained to the finish, running in first-class style and time, keeping himself well together throughout, whilst the style of his opponent was rather loose. We understand that another match is on the iapis between the same parlies for larger stakes, which will probably come off on Saturday next.

Dr. Carr's mesmeric seance, held on Saturday evening at Hansen's Assembly Rooms, was attended by a crowded audience. The Hon. J. A . Bonar occupied the chair. A variety of interesting experiments were gone through, illustrating in the completest manner the control winch the mesmerist had over the volition of his subject. During the evening a number of local celebrities ascended the platform, and had their heads phrenologically examined by Dr. Carr, who gave a short generalisation of the character of each, accompanied by a comparative analysis of their respective phrenological organs. This part of the seance evidently greatly delighted the audience. This evening the chair will be taken by Mr Sale, and, as this is the last of Dr. Carr's seances in Hokitika, it is anticipated that the rooms will be crowded. Dr. Carr. starts on Tuesday on a professional visit to Ross and other country districts.

We are indebted to the courtesy of Captain Brown, of the Ocean Wave, for files of the Arffits to December Ist.

The following is the return of the state of 11. M. Gaol for the week ending 12th Dec, 1868 : — Males— Penal servitude, 9 ; hard labor, 24 ; default of bail, 2 ; debtors, 2.— Total, 37. Females— Hard labor, 5 ; imprisonment, 1 ; default of fine, 2 ; remanded, 2. — Total, 10. Received during the week, i ; discharged, 5.

The District Court will sit in Bankruptcy this morning, at 11 o'clock.

There wero no cases before the Resident Magistrate's Court on Saturday.

Don Delas Carreras has been returned by a large majority to the County Council as member for the Electoral District of Paroa The following is the slate of the poll : — Don Delas Carreras, 365 ; Mr E. B. Fox, 76 ; Mr W. Dale, 73.

The LyUelton Times of the 11th instant says :—": — " His Excellency the Governor has received a letter from Princo Alfred saying he will visit New Zealand in the Galatea about December 1869."

We tako the following from the LyUelton Times of the 11th instant : — " We understand that His Excellency the Governor has postponed his proposed visit until the middlo of

January, in order that he may be present at the Christchurch races. A letter has been received by His Honor the Superintendent aunouncing that Sir George Bowen will come to Canterbury on the 10th January. Lady Bowen being absent in the north, will not accompany the Governor, who will travel only with a small suite."

At the official declaration of the poll at Stafford Town, on Saturday, everything passed off quietly. There were but . few persons present. • It was reported in town on Saturday that a man named Richard Jenkins was missing from the Waimea. It appears that Jenkins had been despatcked to Fox's diggings, for the purpose of ascertaining the return of the polling there, and, on not returning to Stafford Town when expected by his mates, they had informed the police of his absence. Yesterday he was discovered at the tent occupied by him and his mates, and his explanation of his absence is that on reaching Goldsborough, on his return from Fox's, and hearing of the row in Stafford Town, he became alarmed, and at once proceeded on to the hut, instead of coming into Stafford Town.

Captain Nicoll, who bo long and ably commanded the p.s. Yarra, was a passenjrer to Melbourne by the s.s. Gothenburg, which B .dled on Saturday morning. Captain Nicol w s one of the oldest, if not the very oldest, steam-tug captain belonging to the port, and were Are likely to lose his services altogether it would be -with regret, but we sincerely trust that so experienced and painstaking an officer will not be lost to the port, and that We shall have the pleasure ere 'ongof welcominghim here again in command of a new boat. During the whole of the time he commanded the Yarra, from the time of her arrival here, and working a bar in itself most dangerous, we have riot to record one single act of carelessness on his part ; but, on the contrary, the passengers whom it has been his duty to convey inside? often under extreme difficulties, have been invariably treated by him with the greatest consideration and care ; ani when at last be had to succumb to' the elements he had so often successfully combatted, he did not leave his vessel until all that could be done to save her had been attempted, and it was with much pleasure we published in a former issue the record of his complete exhoneration from blame in the matter of the stranding of the Yarra, as delivered from the Board of Enquiry.

A despatch, sslys the Melbourne Age, has been received from the Government of New Zealand, requesting the Victorian Government to take part in the conference to bo held at Sydney, early next year, to take into consideration the expediency of establishing free trade between the colonies, not only in articles the produce thereof, but imports from America. It is also proposed to reconsider the subject of mail communication with Great Britain.

Saturday's &rey Ewer Argus states " that a public meeting was held at the Shamrock Hotel, Maori Gully, Arnold, on Saturday, sth iust., in reference to the formation of a company for carrying out the Lake Bruuner Water Race scheme. Mr J. Lawn, having been called to the chair, said he had much . .pleasure in introducing Mr A. Doyle, as oneof the promoters of the Lake Bruuner Race. Mr A. Doyle stated that in addressing the inhabitants of the Arnold District he labored under the disadvantage of being a stranger to most of them. He would not detain them jong, but at once introduce the subject to the meeting. He then read a copy o£ the report of the original company, and, commenting upou the suvvey report of Air Bull, said it was the opiniou of the present promoters tfiat a speculation of this kind was far more likely to be carried out by a party of miners* if supported by the business men of the district, than any other company-. He would inform the meeting that it was the intention of the promoters to form a company under the Mining Company's Act, to consist of thirty shareholders, of which number not less than twenty are to work upon the race, with the remaining ten it would be optional, they could either work upon the race or subscribe towards it. He thought that the race could be brought to. the head of Maori Gully by twenty men in fourteen months at a cost of .£SOOO. It is intended to flume the race the entire distance by boxes Gft. 6in. by 3ft. Gin ; to erect a sawmill at the head of the race, and cut the timber by motive power. He had no hesitation in saying that at the present time there was not a better speculation on the West Coast, as it was well-known that the whole of the country between Maori Gully and the Lake was gold-bearing, but could not be worked for want of water. In answer to Mr W. H. James, Mr Doyle stated that it was not the intention of the promoters to reserve any shares. In conclusion, Mr Dojie said he wished publicly to express his thanks to Mr J. Arnott, of the Grey River Argus, for the interest he had taken in this matter ; also to Mr M. Levy, merchant, of Greymouth, for his promise of support. The proceedings terminated with the usual vote of thanks to the Chairman.

The Adelaide Express states that some twenty-three years ago, Captain Harvey (then or afterwards, of South Australia) visited the Fiji Islands in a whaler. The presentking was then a yonng man, and so anxious to obtain some of the " white man's thunder and lightning " (a gun and powder and shot) that he would have given almost anything to be placed in possession of firearms. Captain Harvey gave him a gun and its case and some ammunition, and in payment the prince assigned to him an entire island, one of the most valuable- of the -group. This bargain was never acted upon, aud a year or more ago Captain Harvey died. His widow reminded the king of the circumstances, and in reply received a draft for JSSO, with a kind letter.