MR O'CONOR'S MEETING.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 689, 26 July 1870, Page 2

MR O'CONOR'S MEETING.

Shortly after the advertised time on Saturday evening Mr O'Couor, one of the local representatives, met the Westport electors at the Masonic Hall, Gladstone street, and, having been introduced to the assemblage by Mr Munro (chairman), briefly explained the part he had taken in the proceedings during the past session of the Council. He was dissatisfied with the Executive Ordinance, and had voted against it on the third readiug, as under its provisions the Superintendent was as untrammelled as ever. The Executive consisted, under the new Act, of five, three of whom were removable by an adverse vote of the Council. The Superintendent nominated all the members, and as he exercised a deliberative and casting vote, he could always calculate upon tour votes out of the seven. He proposed that the Superintendent should only have one vote, that the Council might be more fairly represented in the Executive, and as the Council were not disposed to adopt that suggestion, he withdrew his support on the third reading of the bill. He disapproved altogether of the appointment of Mr Shephard, and the dismissal of a really efficient servant in Mr Harris to make room for his appointment. With respect to the appointment of Mr Keid, he believed he was a good man, — (Applause,) and of all the members of the Council he preferred Mr lveid to any other as a member of the Executive (Applause.) At the same time he considered it an office no independent man should have taken, as it was impossible under the Act, as now constituted for those members of the Executive, who were responsible to the Council, to get a majority in the Executive. The Superintendent, in fact, was as untrammelled and irresponsible as ever. He had voted against the appointment of Mr Kynnersley, as he believed it would be undesirable that a man of his recognised ability should be located in a district so unimportant, and where the field for the exercise of his zeal and activity was so limited, as the Upper Buller and Wangapeka. He certainly did not expect that the services of an experienced officer, at a salary of £530 per annum, would be replaced by the appointment of inexperienced men at a yearly cost of £BSO. He referred to the necessity of a redistribution of seats, aud the preponderance of members representing the settled and least important portions of the Province. He had endeavored to obtain two additional Groldfields members, representing Collingwood and Upper Buller. His fellow Goldfields members did not lend their assistance in the matter, and thequestion of increased representation was shelved for the present. He had succeeded in placing £SOO on the Estimates to subsidise prospecting, also £SO for the local Fire Brigade, and he had also, he believed, lent considerable assistance in expediting the letting of a second contract for the river protective works. He exerted himself to get the work let while the Council were sitting, which was the only guarantee that it would be carried out, and he feared that, if it had been left to the Executive to perform after the Council had been prorogued, the subject ran the risk of being shelved indefinitely. The contract was now satisfactorily let, and would, he believed, be as satisfactorily executed. He referred to the wasteful expendi-

ture by a reckless and prodigal system | of advertising by the Government in the .Nelson papers, and made allusion to the unfair manner in which he had heen reported and his actions criticised by the Nelsqu Press as also the Westport paper:- Committee had been formed, at* to consider the best means of developing the Mount lio'chlbfß'coalfields. They had found, however! that the mines formed a portion of the'proposed grant to the Nelson and Oobden Kailway Co. and that nothiug could be done. They recommended the Government to hasten negotiations and bring the railway question to a definite settlement as quickly as possible, but he had not the slightest hope that it would ever be constructed. Mr O'Conor expressed his disapproval of the present form of Provincial institutions as cumbersome and expensive, and unadapted to the requirements of the country, and, in conclusion, expressed his willingness to answer any questions or to explain any matters that might bo desired. A vote of confidence, moved by Mr J. Graham, and seconded by Mr George Jervis, was then passed, and a vote of thanks having been accorded to the Chair, the meeting terminated.