The Press. FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 1879.

Press, Volume XXXI, Issue 4286, 25 April 1879, Page 2

The Press. FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 1879.

Wb can well believe that Ministers are not at all anxious to meet Parliament till the latest possible moment. Their mutnal relations are of such an extraordinary nature, and their administration of the affairs of the colony such a complete failure that they may well shrink from the ordeal which no doubt awaits them as soon as the Assembly is convened. When it is openly asserted that the Premier is chuckling over the mess into which Mr. Ballance has got the finances of the colony, and is scarcely even on speaking terms with that gentleman; when it is remembered that Sir G. Grey fled from his post at a critical moment in Native affairs when war seemed inevitable in order that the blame might fall on Mr. Sheehan, and only came from his hiding place Vhen, he discovered that his conduct met with universal condemnation; when it is, moreover, understood that Ministers are not agreed on almost any one point of policy, it cannot be said that their mutual relations are of that cordial and friendly character which should mark the intercourse of a Cabinet. The results to the colony are consequently most serious. As long as one Minister is engaged in plotting against one or other of his colleagues, and enjoying with the malignant delight of a small-minded opponent his failures and shortcomings, it is plain that the publio service mnst materially suffer. If Ministers are not loyal to each other, what can be expected of them when important public questions have to be decided by them. I? the Premier was prepared to sacrifice Mr. Sheehan, and rejoices to find that Mr. Ballance has brought the finances of the colony into hopeless confusion, he will be equally prepared to sacrifice the coloay itself if it suits his purpose to do so. We have said, and we say it with regret, that Ministers hare succeeded only too well in proving their unfitness to administer the affairs of the country. They came into power on a cry of reform— electoral, financial, and administrative—■ of the most comprehensive character. The legislation of last session proved how completely they failed in deal--I —g -»i*i» .ftia-inwil , vftform in a statesmanlike manner, and subsequent experience has shown that they have succeeded no better with finance and administration. Look what they have done with the Natives. Daring the short time they have been in office they have taught the colony that she has still a Native difficulty. Till they came into power peace was absolutely secured; such is not the case now. Even if war is averted, they have succeeded in doing enormous mischief. They have created distrust; they have shaken confidence. As long as they remain in office an uneasy feeling will continue, and not till a change of Government has taken place will the mischief begun be undone.

But it is more to their financial and public works measures that we wish to refer at present. It may be remembered that previous to the commencement of last session it was vaguely rumored that a new and startling principle in colonial finance was to be enunciated. When at last it was made public it was found to be that oar land fond should be capitalised in the form of public works. Well, having laid down this great principle, how did they proceed to carry it outP Did they take any step to make its adoption practicable P Did they take any effective measures to establish our finances on such a basis as to enable tho land fond to be freed from tha calls made npon it by the ordinary expenditure P They did just exactly the opposite. They so arranged their budget that tbey had to make a demand upon the land fond to the extent of £1,229,677 during the present financial year. That enormous sum had to be provided before a penny of the land fund could be devoted to public works. And in order to render it still more impossible to pat our finances on a satisfactory fooling they proceeded to tinker with the Customs' tariff, and thereby threw away a sum which would have provided the means of paying into- : rest on two millions sterling. Then when they had done all this; when they had done their best to make it absolutely necessary that the land fund should be devoted to the payment of current expenses, the Minister for Public Works came down with his great scheme, involving an expenditure of over eight millions sterling in five years. That sum, he informed the House, would be derived from the following sources:—First of; all there remained on June 30 th, available for public works, about £2,000,000. Next he counted on receiving £3,500,000 from the ordinary revenue during the fire years, and there would remain about £3,000,000 to be raised by farther loans. When the colony had recovered from the bewildering effect of the proposal, people began to inquire what it all meant. The scheme of railway construction was admitted to be comprehensive enough to meet our requirements for many years to come, bat in its financial aspect it would not bear examination. It was pointed oat in these columns and elsewhere that it was hopeless to expect a surplus of £700,000, or anything approaching that amount, in aid of the public works fund. It ■ was contended that in all probability there would not be sufficient to meet the demands of the Colonial Treasurer, far less that there wonld be any money to carry forward te the Public Works account. These predictions nave, unfortunately, been more than realised- Instead of producing £2,000,000, tiie land fond will barely

reach £850,000. In these circumstances what becomes of Mr. Macandrew's grand scheme? Last session he took appropriations to tho extent of £2,910,000 under the Immigration and Public Works Appropriation Act. No such sum, of course, is available, and the Minister cannot undertake the works voted unless he were to repeat numberless Tapanui jobs. He is thus left to make a selection, and in the case of Mr Macandrew the colony can easily understand what that means.

With these facts before us, can it be said that Ministers have shown any capacity to grapple with the difficulties which surround them. Although they were warned at the 'time that their financial anticipations were preposterous, and that their schemes must inevitably lead to disappointment, they persisted in forcing their measures on the House. When urged to take steps to put an end to the system by which the colony lives upon its land fund they refused to listen. They persisted in weakening the consolidated fund in a totally uncalled for manner, and in blindly trusting to the chapter of accidents. The consequence is that they will have to face Parliament with the confession that they ! are incapable of dealing with such questions. They will have to tell the House that they have miscalculated the j revenue by over a million sterling, and it ! will be for the members to determine whether it is wise and prudent to continue to put confidence in a set of men who have shown such an ntter want of capacity in every department of administration.