THE Bay of Plenty Times AND THAMES VALLEY WARDEN.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 2569, 19 December 1890, Page 2

THE Bay of Plenty Times AND THAMES VALLEY WARDEN.

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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1890.

In our telegraphic news it will be seen that Government have decided to call Parliament together on 23rd January, when, doubtless, the question of what party is to hold the reins of power Will be decided. To our minds it is not at all clear that any party in the House will be able to command a sufficient maiority so as to be able to suitably carry on the business of the country. Atkinson can supply a cabinet, but he cannot command a working majority. Ballance can only I supply himself, and it is not at all clear that he can command a majority. If either party assumes office we may expect a repetition of the stonewalling of recent sessions, the waste of the country's valuable time, and at the end of the sessionanotherstatute book conspicuous, as formerly, by its extreme thinness. This misfortune will certainly have to be charged to the present Government, who ought to have appealed to the country on some vital cruestion before the expiry of the last Parliament Had they gone to the country on the question of the incidence of taxation, native land, or retrenchment, a strong working majority would certainly have been secured for one or other of the parties. As it was the constituences voted for men rather than measures. It appears to usj therefore, j that to prevent a practical dead-lock for three years it will oe the duty of Government to appeal to the country on one or other of tnese issues. If new Zealand Parliaments are to continue to be composed of almost equally balanced parties, it is clearthat useful legislation will be impossible, and that axe-grinding and jobbery will be the order of the day j as either party, to retain office, will be tempted, s in fact compelled, to obtain support by means antagonistic to the good of the Colony^ If our , Parliaments are thus to continue to be minus quantities it would be far better that we reverted to our former condition of a crown Colony. Indeed in many other respects such a change would be advisable. Some few needy British nobs might get jobs, but they would be few and far between compared with those of our own people who have to be thus conciliated There would also be the advantages thatourColonial debt would be consolidated with the British one, stern retrenchment would be the rule, native land would be put on a proper footing, immigration of capitalists would be enormously increased, and better markets for our exports would be obtained. This was the dream of the young New Zealand party, which, as we hear nothing about it now, seems to have died a natural death. The meeting of Parliament on 23rd ultimo should show what course to pnrsue, and we are decidedly of opinion that, unless Atkinson or Ballance can get a working majority, or can form a strong coalition ministry, an immediate appeal should be made to the Country on a vital question which will secure a working majority for one or other to the present equally^ balanced parties. Whatever the result, Tauranga may congratulate herself on practically possessing two members, and on thus having some guarantee that her interests will no longer be contemptuously disregarded as in the past. ; ■••;