The Press. SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 1879.

Press, Volume XXXI, Issue 4204, 18 January 1879, Page 2

The Press. SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 1879.

The more that one compares the present ] position of the Government with the hopes which they allowed their friends to entertain of them when they entered upon office, the more impossible is it to resist the impression of a miserable anticlimax. The great oratorical powers of Sir George Grey had been made use of to the uttermost to create a high expectation of the great things which were to be done by the incoming Ministry, and his speeches unquestionably had a great effect. There was something so charming in the honorable gentleman's deliverances, such sweetly modulated periods, uttered in the most dulcet tones, and so set off by all the elegance of gesture and personal appearance, that even the hardest politicians, it was said, found themselves .unable to resist the delicious influence. When this was true in the House, we need not suggest what must have been its effect in the country at large. Wherever Sir George appeared opposition fell prone before him, and throughout the whole extent of both islands, whether the population was Maori or European, one only cry rose up from all quarters, " Great " is Sir George Grey, Premier of .New " Zealand." Never Ministry promised so much, and if the confidence of a I whole people gives power of fulfilment, never was Ministry so amply qualified to fulfil its self-imposed obligations. One i short session and all is changed. Sir I George Grey has found it necessary to make a public apology for the shortcomings of his Government—an apology which is rendered even the more criminating by the lame attempts at defence in which he has been followed by the leading members of his Cabinet.

Let us take a few of tho subjects on which, if on anything, the Government ought to place their reliance in reply to these imputations. If there was one thing rather than another for which the Government specially claimed credit, as distinguishing them beyond all force of contradiction from their predecessors, it was their power of dealing with the Native question. The late Sir Donald McLean, we were told, had not really any claim whatever to be looked upon as a Native Minister. It was trae that he was an adept in what was known as the sugar and floor policy. So long as he had unlimited funds placed at his disposal, and no questions were to be . asked as to the expenditure of the money, he was able to succeed in keeping things tolerably quiet. There were others probably, it was hinted, who on tho same terms might accomplish the same results. But this was a policy that nobody could be proud of. It could not be called high' statesmanship. It could scarcely be looked upon as respectable politics. Sir George Grey and Mr. Sheehan were men of another type. They were not the men to " parley with assassins" or take by the hand murderers reeking, it might be said, with the blood of their own kith and kin. No: they would go boldly into the Native fastnesses, see the rebellious chieftains face to face, and not leave them 1 until they had brought them to complete submission, and caused the j Queen's writ to run in the heart of the King country. What has come of it all ? j The Native chiefs have been interviewed. Sir George Grey and Mr. Sheehan have both had their say more than once, and have both spoken apparently as long and; j as often as they could find anyone to listen to them. And they have come hack again, reft, we are happy to say, neither of life nor of limb, but, on the contrary, having enjoyed their trips exceedingly and decidedly the better for the excursion. Bnt what have they done? What have they brought back? The favorable speeches which are reported as having been made to them by the Native chiefs are terribly misly, and as soon as anything does seem tp be got ont of one chieftain it is only, as far as we can see, to be immediately repudiated by another. If anything has really been accomplished there seems to be a wonderful difficulty in letting it be known what it is, and for anything that can be definitely stated Native matters are just where they were in Sir Donald • McLean's time. The only difference is that he kept everything quiet, and made no fuss about it, and the present Government make a great deal of talking and unsettle everything. No man ' in New Zealand now thinks for a moment of setting off the great deeds of the Government in the matter o£ Native policy against their acknowledged failures in every other direction. Let us look again-—since we are told of the high importance of social- legislation—at what they have done or rather left undone in this great department. A question actually awaiting settlement—a matter upon which the colony generally may, fairly be said to have made up its mind, and in which politicians of all classes were loudly* calling for ; legislation, and only anxious to be allowed to help in passing the necessary measures — is that of Charitable Ail It pressed at all points. Wheflier it was the relief of tie destitute, or the necessary provision for the lunatic, it wee the same cry everywhere,—that something must be done, and done at once. In the matter of charitable - sod, tho Government have pfnfced to w% yrtijte frith, regard, to ill©

lunatics, they have simply let the matter slide. And this last is a cruel case. So far as the first is concerned, it b probable, generally speaking, that only the public at large is injured. For those who really need relief, it may be hoped that, in the throng of applicants, they generally get something. The worst effect of the Government inaction probably is that in providing for the really destitute the public funds are also largely squandered upon indolence and crime. But such reports as Dr. Skae's about the condition of the Lunatic Asylums make the ear tingle. It is true, it seems, that lunatics are crowded two and three together in rooms intended for one only, and for want of the barest sleeping accommodation are put to he in tbe diningrooms, on the tables and under the tables, wherever they can be huddled. The conditions essential not merely to the restoration but to the mere comfort of these unhappy beings are perforce disregarded. And why ? Because A Government, boasting of a full Treasury, and insisting cm the high importance of social legislation, does not see it to be its duty to take the necessary steps to alter a ! state of things which has become the crying shame of New Zealand. We do not care to go further. "We have already followed up the Government in other matters for which a Government is generally wont to claim credit, and in respect of which Sir George Grey has lately apologised. We have now turned to these, and what we have just found it necessary to say comes to be not one whit less condemnatory than our former criticisms. We have pursued them through nearly the whole sphere of their action, administrative as well as legislative. The same answer comes from aIL They have either done nothing or. they have done harm. For what, we ask, does this Government exist ? What benefit can they profess it to be to the people of New Zealand that they should continue in power t In politics, they abandon thoir measures; their Native policy is ridiculous : in social economics, they do nothing, even where doing nothing is a crime.

In the telegraphic report of Mr. Sheehan's speech at the dinner lately given to him at the Thames, the Minister for Justice is said to have stated that Mr. Maeandrew, after inspecting the whole colony, had come to the conclusion that there is something more in it than Otago alone.. Mr. Sheehan pointed his statement by a little bit of praise of the Thames district, and wo grudge neither him nor his hearers the pleasure derived therefrom. But we confess that we should like to know a little more about this conversion of the Minister for Public Works. Certainly the telegram does not clearly show whether Mr. Sheehan was speaking only from his own knowledge of his colleague's opinions, or whether he was merely quoting what he had heard from others. But in either case it is satisfactory to have from a Minister of the Crown a confirmation of the prevailing sentiment as to Mr. Macandrew's proclivities, and a strong hint that he is undergoing the process of changing them. We have over and over again referred to Mr. Maeandrew as one of the most dangerous members of the Cabinet, not so much on account of any superiority of intellect as because of his apparent inability to look beyond his own favourite district. It may perhaps have been thought that we (in common, however, with many others) have herein been doing an injustice to a* Minister whose energy, at least, is undoubted, and who may perhaps be thought, in some quarters, an excellent administrator. It must be clear now, from the admission of his own colleague, that our opinion had good foundation in ftfet. Whether, in the future, we shall be enabled to .entirely throw off that opinion; whether we shall ever be able to welcome in Mr. Maeandrew a statesman who, possibly often wrong, can at least take large.and Colonial views of his duty, is doubtful Yet, ; on the principle. of being thankful for small mercies, we may gratefully accept the hint conveyed in Mr. Sheehan's speech to the effect that the Minister for Public Works is somewhat penitent for past shortcomings and means to do better hereafter. It is possible that, in so saying, we may be attributing to Mr. Sheehan a meaning which he did not intend his words to carry." But, as a Minister of the Crown is supposed always to be speaking to the whole country, and to weigh the full effect of what he proposes to say, we take it that there must have been some grave intention in the, phrase which we have quoted, and that intention could scarcely have been other than that which we have supposed it to be.

Assuming, then, that Mr. Maeandrew has been proposing to free himself from the trammels of a purely Otago policy, we give him all possible praise,for the change: at the same time we confess to a desire to sea some practical proof thereof. And we may suggest to him a mode of giving satisfaction. It may be within his recollection that several times during the late session he promised that the extension of the Northern .Railway beyond Amberley should be at once proceeded with. He may also remember that in the schedule of railways proposed by him was included the line from Amberley to Brunnerton. Here is a capital chance for him to retrieve his character. Several months have gone by since he officially assured the Assembly and the colony that the Northern extension shonld be proceeded with in seven weeks. He has not kept his promise, and occasion has thereby been taken for considering that he deceived the country and the Assembly. Bnt the time has not been so far prolonged, the delay has not been yet so excessive, that prompt action now may not rehabilitate him. Let him urge on the speedy construction of this work, and probably his fault in failing to fulfil the original promise may be condoned. Again, there is a still better chance for him in the Brunnerton-Amberley line. Humour has been busy with Mr. Macandrew's name in connection with the railway, or railways, to the West Coast. It has been freely asserted, and we do not know that it has ever been contradicted, that the Minister, although for form's sake he inserted the words Amberley to Brunnerton in hisl schedule, meant really Dunedin to Hokitika. We cannot imagine that any sane man could seriously intend any such thing. Independently of all other considerations, the line from Amberley would be less than half the length of the other, and the cost to the colony would of course be much less. But when we take into consideration the country ie ba traversed by either line, the wild, rugged, inhospitable ranges to be crossed and the rivers to be bridged between Hokitika and Otago, it is scarcely possible to understand how there could be two opinions about the matter, even in joke. Nevertheless, Mr. Maeandrew has been with cherishing the absurd idea;

nay, more, it is asserted not uncommonly that he intends, by all means in his power, to quash tho lino from Brunnerton to Amberley (even after proposing it himself) and to push on the lino from Hokitika to Otago. Here there is another splendid opportunity for him to show that he is prepared to take a colonial view of his duty. There can bo no comparison between the two lines which we have named. Tho first, although certainly useful to Canterbury, must bo useful also to the whole colony, and it will bo by far the cheaper of the two. The second will not only be enormously expensive, but itwill be mainly productive of benefit io Otago only. A Minister who looks purely to the interests of the colony could not hesitate in this matter. Lot Mr. Maeandrew, then, take advantage of ' the two opportunities now given him. Let him push on immediately the construction of the Northern extension promised by him many weeks ago; and let him also push on the surveys of the lino from Amberley to Brunnerton, so that he may be able next session to show that this wort too has arrived at a really practical stage. Should ho accept lour suggestion, we shall be in«lined to think that there is some truth in Mr. Sheehan's statement that Mr. Maeandrew "has " found that Otago is not New Zealand."