THE NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION.

Bruce Herald, Volume x, Issue 957, 13 November 1877, Page 3

THE NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION.

AN INSTINCT FOILED.

Had Ministers been foolish enough to unfold their policy diirine the debate, they would 1 have made a deplorable mistake. - ; Diiring : the whole of the flesMon, the late Ministry displayed a most remarkable in- . Bticct. j ijVbatf ver vrasproposed, advanced. /;qr . suggießtedy thry appropriated in the most perfectly unblushing manner, a scheme of 3 taxalioli wa's oifere'd theroi, Tthej (3eclaredin the most offrHaiid, .'.niaut'tbatjt fprmed their fidaDciaj statement/ When the' subject of reprft-

mentation was forced upon; their reluctant attention; they; had the audacity to Jurgfe 1 that,' of aUthifags^ii the world' they had -for • : '&i6ns time concentrated their attention on representation. When their Na- ( tive^pplicy wag exploded, and the fragments were actual \y floating about their heads, they calmly said that tbey^had all along been ? prepared for this result. In short, when criticism was made good .against them, they observed with childlike astonishment that the critic's ideas coincided entirely with their own. The only time their expedient broke down, was when a direct vote of No Confidence was brought against them. They; fell then because it really would have been fop indecent to have told the House t.hat, they never tad confidence in themselves '•' and if they bad taken up that:^preposterous premise they couldnot have drawn from itthe conclusion that they were fit to boldoffice. Had such a conciusionbeen open, the history of their remarkable career proves that they would have adopted the pVemiee. declaring without hesitation their complete want of confidence in themselves. Under the circumstances it. is well for Sir George Grey's Ministry that their policy' has not. Been the Jjght of the debate. Had it done" so," it would have been appropri ated by their opponents, and flaunted in their faces by their majority as the best policyyet devised.—' Lyttelton Times.' ■'■■■'• •-■■;■ MAJOR ATKINSON". ... "Wrhether .Major Atkinson comes back with his,,old-,friendij or his new ones, or a mixture of both, there will neither be a plain statement of our financial position nor a financialpolicy worthy of the name. The' presence of Major Atkinson in any 3lirii«cry is sufficient 'to prevent any change in the vicious system of which -he was sg long the rhigh; priest. . Should be come back to office, we shall see a repeli : lion of .feebleness, muddle, and. drift : sounding words wpyen; into mottoes, and promises scattered to the* winds; sessions begun with parade of power, and dragged through without practical result; These things cannot again be endured; A fair trial to the Grey Ministry might have provided a remedy: : If that Ministry is to fall 'unfairly,, 'it' will have a right to appeal for justice to the country. A dissolution is better than an endless succession of Governments _ holding office during thiß breathing spaces in an endless Succession of ' "n'o-eonfi dence' debates. — Ibid. - ; A BLOW TO THE OLD BEGUME. r The only policy; which has ever taken real hold of the people of the Colony was the Yogel policy of "money in the 1 place." That t policy had its day, and ;ha's still its worshippers amongst , the , creatufei :of placed has bTed, The policy^ of paying; for the "money in the place" which; is occasionally mooted is not popular. Major Atkinson V! policy, 6ri T the other hand, of cevering, a deficit of £180,000 by uneeen robbery frpmra fund set aside by solemn compact is winked at, in case of a worse. The people, too negligent to interfere, perhaps too. busy to care, have allowed any jockey tp k ride who could in the dark obtain a mount. .The law .of survival of the fitted proving likely to assert its sway, a select ring ~was formed for rhe purpose of supplying Ministers for the_ State., ; Tb6 Staffords, I&chmqnda, At kin son's; &<s.,. turned up in every varie-y of combination - Sir Julius Yogel burst in, but, unfortunately, only to become the genius of the ring. The old memberß found the stamp of respf-ctability'; Sir Juiiua cootrjbuted the brains. >.The ;advent to power ofV Ministry, no member of which has ever been recognised as being of a governing family) is^ criiel bj°w to the"l)l3 ie|ime7^^Mount Ida ChTdnicle.' : <i THE^-CHEONICLE'S^JIESi:EI)T.>; it is Dot nice to believe that- the whip of want must be felt; before public interest will be aroused in the politics of tbe day. And jet tber*» are many excuses for the present pubjicinaciion. Life is, «o short j qb the whole, is bo comforcabla. Bread^ enough &n&, to sparejsin; the cupboard ;' the joint is i'a tfee larder. Shoes are oa the" children's feet, eicepi where., by liappy preference young toes go;uD« corned.- Thabis all true, but we shall ccc it changed- Thepa ib a.day of retri^bution tp: come for past ip4igWrenceß In the meantime, all that our piibii.G iseh can aim at who would do thelrduty and who are repelled by the ; verf deadhess of -the public life is;; To avoid Politici, Promote ; Economy, J?ear God, andi Do Viihe.Bight}..". -1. ... „ , ,;.■,;.■■ , ; .,_... \y''V ."A MISERABLE EXHIBITION." . ~-.,*f .A poor ex«ißße is better than none,"*ays the, prpverb, ftfid P° ( in V>* opinion of the '* Timaru Herald') the Honourable William Gisborne evidently thought when, on Tuesday evening he stjooid up ! in the House of Representatives to excuse ooe of the most, monstrous Acts of poli-*---lical tergivfcrßation recoriied in the annals of New' Zealand history.^ Hia attempt met mith contradictious in al| y directions. The" general Vierdict will certainly not eustain 'Mr Gisbornei Jt ia . necessary, ;..,. by which he seeks ,.to consider tin* rea?ona ; by which her. eeeks to justify hia (Bpp=r "\ duct, and excuse :j,| B^^^BcaijdeloUs breach ; 5 ? <>F/ "faitby The id fovor %f his. vb>fing given a deliberate: promiee to

supfiort any Miinsiry 1 iybicK' Vas formed, t<> prevent the return of ' the " fdrm'cr Ministry to power Woverwbeiniin'g. He himself admits this, but says it was 1 a prntnise with a reservation." The .'Herald.' : pomta out it was that no . bne ; other than ; Mr Gilborne knew of this reservation. ' '-Possessißd ,of a thorough* knowledge ; of Mr, GJa-? borne's. official iand < political -career, weare not 'aware of -any guiding principles which have been as a 'lights to his foo(t---1 B^epa ■ beyond the ; one point of al ways t^y- ' ing' to provide well Tor himself at the : ex- : the country."'' J , , ..^!*'l *^ The 'HeraWVcpticiiides :^r--'' EoHjuicfabsif of :Vhe^ G.isborne.cla'Bs are, ■after all,? yeV y r ;«iballpw,.;; Tbeir?. policy is-one oftmelfi^bnessjitheirprinciple selfyinterest.'and the" pubiic very soon comes to estimate* 'them' at their true wortb, : or 'rather worthlessness ; but, at the same timeV;ifc ddes ( not ofien ; happen that one' of ? tbe claps expresses '-.himself, in'; Hia. ''true?' colbiire, jso unbluahingiy aß4be^.Honburab|e- : 'jWilliam Gißbornehaß done.'.'., : ; THE PAIBNES'S GF SIE GEOEGE's REQUEST.' No unprejudiced person, whatever hie opinion of Sir George . Grey,, could quetttion thß fairness of his request for time for his- Government tp eiiqilire- into the finances of the' colony,. preaentjand prospective, and . then to bring down • a proper financial sfatement.- Thatwas all Sir George Grey allied; for, and although, on the apsumption of his certainty =of gaining office, it "mulct the ex honourable, and always "'gallant,"' Major^ 6f§ spmte: £25 a^week, common, decency . and gen-? tlemauly spirit might have induced hiiri to have granted his adversary the small favour he asked.— ' Southland Newe.' 1