The Press. MONDAY, JUNE 17, 1878.

Press, Volume XXIX, Issue 4023, 17 June 1878, Page 2

The Press. MONDAY, JUNE 17, 1878.

The retirement of Mr. Larnach first from the Ministry, and recently from the House, has received very scant attention in the colony, the fact being that, although the late member for Dunedin played a prominent part in the events of last session, ho is not a man of any real mark as a politician, nor is any particular weight attached to his opinions. The prominence which he temporarily attained was not in any way a recognition of ability, but simply an accident. He was fortunate on one single occasion in being able to hit the humour of a large party in the House. By a similar happy chance one of the members for the Grey Valley, Mr. Woolcock, attained a transient importance last session to which his best friends will not claim that he was entitled on the score of ability or political knowledge. There was indeed this difference between the two—that Mr. Woolcock's motion on taxation was, as far as is known, the spontaneous product of his own genius, whereas Mr. Larnach was " put up " to move his no-confidence motion by others, who were then called tho Middle Party. The history of events subsequent to tho carriage of that resolution, the dilemma in which the party were placed, howin spito of themselves, they had to let the real Opposition, with Sir George Grey at their head, take office, is sufficiently well known. The upshot of the proceedings, as far as Mr Larnach was concerned, was that he became Colonial Treasurer, and was generally regarded as having, in common with his whole party, • bejen twisted round the little finger of the present Premier. The next event in tho late Treasurer's political career was tho delivery of the financial statement—that wonderful production which had been heralded with the utmost pomp and circumstance as being virtually a solemn indictment of the late Ministry for high crimes and misdemeanours in the administration of the public finance. The accusations which had been, made, and which were to be proved true by Mr. Lamach's speech, scarcely fell short of charges. of deliberate peculation. Bnt when the statement iiself came to be delivered, the worst that the Treasurer could say of his predecessors was !that theirs had been a system of pawnbroking finance, which he and his colleagues were determined to terminate. The charges of malversation were one aud all ..quietly dropped, the estimates of tho defeated Government wore adopted, and the land fund was token for colonial purposes. - Of Mr. Larnach's oratory, alike* as nominal leader of the Middle Party, and: as Minister; it ! may be said that the .weakness .of his speeches was the feature which most impresseji. his auditors and The effort of the political tyro to play the part of an expert was apparent .throughput, and Afforded not a, liitle "merriment to the colony. His elaborate calculation of the rate per diem at which the expenditure exceeded the revenue was simply childish, as it included in expenditure a large item, of over half a million on account of provincial liabilities, the amount of which was a mere conjecture, and which in any case it was proposed to charge to loan. It was fortunate indeed that the silliness of the calculation was so self-evident on the face of' it, otherwise few devicos ,could .have been adopted better calculated to damn the colony's credit.

The session ended, _r. Larnach took a short spell on the stump, receiving numbers of deputations, giving promises to some, and advice to many. Hβ then resigned and sailed for England. The precise nature of his mission Home lhas never been officially stated. At one time it was said he was to he Agent-General, . then he was to be loan agent, and it was even stated that he had been appointed to represent New Zealand at the Paris Exhibition. The fact that Sir Jnlins Vogel thought it worth while mentioning in a cable message that "Larnach had "arrived," seems to indicate that ;the traveller has some official position, although it is not clear what it is. That any public business which he could do at Home would have been equally well, if not better, done without him would proi bablynot.be considered. The, tenure of a nominal appointment would at least enable him to charge his travelling expenses against the colonyi even if his time should be mostly occupied with, the transaction of his own business;" ' The. discussion of this point, however, is beside our present purpose, which was to glance at Mr. Larnach'e parliamentary career, and exhibit upon how very slender a foundation of merit a man may acquire the position of a prominent politician in New Zealand at the present time. There are, of course, other striking instances of this to be found in the composition of the Cabinet. But the members to whom we refer have not made snch assumptions of superior sagacity as Mr. Larnach has; they hare not undertaken to teach before they have themselves learned. Mr. Larnach, to do him justice, did not play a dummy part at the conclusion of the session, bat in his attempt to be something more in politics than experience and nature had fitted him for, he made himself almost more ridiculous than, if he had been contented with the hmnbler role of dummy. His career js certainly instructive as far as it goes : but it is very little calculated to reflect lustre upon New Zealand politics, or to inspire outsiders with any great confidence in the opinions of the pnblic men of New Zealand simply because they happened to lie, or to have been Ministers of the Crown. As long as Ministerial offices are attainable through one happy hit, or one fortunate accident, so long will £he general administration of affairs fail to be characterised by that soundness and stability which the late member for Danedin City said he so earnestly wished for in the colony's finance. His presence in the Ministry was in itself a notable example of the want of calm deliberation or soundness in the colony's pnbKc life. To speak more pointedly, bis advent to and tenure of office was a remarkable result of the worst defect of colonial politics, that is the absence of orderly progression, and of any security that only (rieß merit shall reach ihW highest places in Government.

A vert strange proceeding on the part of the Ministry, and a very apt illustration of the manner in which one Minister snubs his colleagues and overrides their decisions, is furnished from Hokitika. The circumstances are these. In the Westland police force is a worthy officer named O'Donnell, who has been in the local force since 1865, having previously served in Canterbury, and who by & service of many years, in which no single complaint was made against him, has well earned his present grade of inspector. A short time ago "this officer received notice that his services were no longer required. Commenting upon the subject the Hokitika morning journal, a eupporter of the Ministry, said:—"No reason is assigned " for this harsh and unfair proceeding, "and no one can even guess at a reason " for it. If this is the way the Govern- " ment are going to act towards old and " faithful servants, the service must be- " come demoralised, and a reign of terror '■ will set in similar to that under the " Berry regime in Yietoria." S» stirred was public feeling" in the matter that strong representations were made to the Government by some of the leading people. Before the time for the dismissal being acted npon bad arrived the following telegram was received from the Premier:—" Mr. O'DonnelFs services " were to be dispensed with because it " was found necessary to make a rednc- " tion in the police force with a view of " saving public expenditure. There was i " no intention whatever to reflect on him, " and the value of his services is admitted. "It is admitted so strongly that backed "up as it is by representations from " gentlemen whose position entitles any- '• thing they say to great weight, I find, " on referring the case to the proper de- " partment, that the Government will re- " frain from dispensing with Mr. '* O'DonnelTs services. They will do this " thinking it possible that a vacancy may " take place before long in an office " similar to that which he holds, and a " reduction will then be made by not " filling up the vacancy, instead of dis- " pensing with Mr. O'Donnell's services " as originally contemplated.—G. Grey." The dat« -of the telegram is not given but it was made public some time subsequent to the publication of an earlier telegram from Sir George Grey, suggesting that his own nephew should be asked to stand for the Hokitika constituency. Considering the unpopularity of Inspector O'Donnell's dismissal, the favour with which a reversal of that di&missal would be received, and the absurdity of the ostensible plea upon which the revoreal is made, it is impossible to believe that the candidature of nophew George and the interference on behalf of Inspector O'Donnell have no relation one to the other. During the recess there have been many excellent officers dispensed with in various parts of the colony on the plea of economy, on whose behilf no one interfered, though their deserts were fully admitted. But in a case where it is the particular interest of the Premier to 6tand well with the electors and he finds that his interposition will tend to produce that effect, he interposes promptly,, throws all considerations of economy to the winds,'and ■conveys by implication a severe censure upon his colleague who had sanctioned the dismissal. He goes through" the formality of consulting what he calls the proper department 'but he takee' good care that the. intimation of the decision , being reversed shall not come through the proper channel, but directly from himself. Inspector O'Donnell is to;be much congratulated upon the happy coincidonce in time between his. contemplated dismissal and the political aspirations of Mr. Seymour Thome George, the " young, intelligent, and well-educated" nephew of the Premier, Sir George Grey. Whether the incident involves a covert insult to the electors of Hokitika, or whether their patron has correctly gauged their independence a very few weeks willshow.