The Press. THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 1888.

Press, Volume XLV, Issue 7140, 30 August 1888, Page 4

The Press. THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 1888.

Mb. Walkeb, "on Tuesday eyeningi undertook to perform the tisufalftask of the "leader of tKe Opposition, that, aainelyjof proving that -theMinistry" have failed to perf duty durrng flie'Ssssibn just "upon the point of closing, and that they stand before the jouiitry convicted of iineoinpetence and whatever woi*se crime a Ministry can be guilty of. : He undertook, ire say, this task. Whether, he performed it is a matter on suppose there will be 4MfeE§nt opinions, He began' by feelatidßng 4he geniarosity bt the Opposition tittd bewaflhig th4r

disorganisation. He as, with his views, he could not well fail to do—the excellence of the tariff, and appeared to be not displeased with: BpS. vTEe/ only %4*-W*fctttaJly J picked' a' hole in, and that was rather by way of prognqatieatioa than of criticism of the past, was the possible, deficiency of the. revenue* Wβ should have said for aught that appears in Mr speech that upon the whole he fonnd considerably more .to praise in the" sessional proceedings of the Ministry not only than-might be expected from, an avowed enemy, but even from a candid frientL ) : We feel no particular Interest in pursuing the matter further; Passing by Mr. Walker and his criticisms, it appears to ourselves that the Ministry have succeeded in carrying out a. great operation tinder alnJost unexampled difficulties. The Tariff Bill—think of it what else we may and no one can like it in the abstract less than ourselves—does promise to accomplish the one grf at purpose for which, it was introduced, -that of making a great, step towards equalising our revenue and expenditure. More than this in one session, even under more favorable circumstances, it would have been difficult;Jtir accomplish. In $he actual position in which the country was placed there has been no serious attempt to show that more could have been done. The deficit was so large, and the resources of the country had been so recklessly played with, that nothing short of an heroic measure would have made any impression. The most unquestioned principles of freetrade had to be disregarded. But the thing has been done, and it is simple truth to say that it is owing to the personal skill and knowledge ot finance of the Colonial Treasurer that it has been done so completely. There was probably not a single item of the tariff but had its separate enemy. But when it came before the House it was found to be so skilfully designed in its general scheme-that the House found that they had nothing for it but to pass it substantially as it stood. So much for the chief work of the session. At what cost in a party sense it has been accomplished yet remains to be seen. Mr Walker tells us that there are no distinct lines of party, and in this he appears to have the concurrence of Sir H. Atkinson. In the sense in which party is understood at Home this is no doubt true, and it will probably continue to be true for some time longer. There are not yet distinctly defined lines of colonial policy. In our administration we live. largely from hand to mouth. Each session has its work, and the i operations of the next may easily be of a totally different character from those of the present. Under such conditions it is inevitable that gentlemen whose bond of union is largely of a personal character must find themselves breaking up into different sets, according to the ■work there may be on hand. This [year it has been retrenchment and in- j [creased taxation. Next year other [ questions of scarcely less importance i will come undef consideration. We i are promised an" inquiry into the system of charitable aid, into the working of the Education Act, and the consideration, moreover, of a land and income tax in proposed substitution for the present tax upon property. Taking.all these subjects together, it is difficult to say into what ; cdjnbmations the House that, has to deal with them may finally thrcfw itself. The initiative of general policy rests with the existing Government. iTo them it belongs to decide what measure.sthey shall themselves bring and what others without themselves- sup/porting, they j may'think it" right to facilities for discussing. ... We do not doubt, 'not-; withstanding the severe ordeal through \ which party/allegiance has : during the present' session, that the j necessity will be felt of hearing what I are the Lfinisterialiplans for the future I "before • other ■combinations can bej entered upon. It 'will be remembered, ■we catmot but"thlt!(k, Ijythe freetrade section more particularly? Sir H. Atkinson has entered upon -& Irate of policy which they regretted he "has refused in the most absolute terms toi. agf*ee-f-ta4anyi reconstru"oH£6nJofi his Ministry such as has been so anxiously looked for by theft "oppio•_S6nts. ;Wfr T ntay also i . referr*o the passage i-i his speech in which he thanked his freetrade friends for not having withdrawn their,support,- asr anj intimation of the feeling with whichhe contiiiraes'tb lit -must not be forgotten, moreover, that thereis more 'still to bS : dbne' : &' the /vra,£:of : retrenebinent j and' it'&to tb.e,piese4t Ministry'that the country has learned toiook forrthe full relation of this rpolicy. -They bav-e, now, the» .recess before them,,. in f whicij they will have time toconsider ~.#&& further • can be €fftect«L k li. Ip , ia found tb,it !fhey 'are' rprep&r'ed to Wmplete/this?JUne of their;ppHcy as judiciously and effectively as they h&4e commenced it, they will do-much "both. tokeepi their cjjarty together in the ; House, and to secure,, tie ; /s4ppois of the country for" their lurther continu-, ance in office. Wirnave *no in* Ihisisstte *tb do justice to the extremely, interesting and instructive address delivered yesterday by the Hon. E. W. 'Vjueksß at the annual meeting of the Chamber of Commerce. We propose, however, to analyse the address in a future issue, and in the meantime we desire to commend to the careful attention of onr the *f ads and ftgtrres cited in~ the short speech subsequently deliveredby Mr. Stbad. A perusal of th&report' of the meeting of "the* fctfamber cannot fail to impress upon the reader-the-conviction fchatp w^, are on ? the eve of much "bYtter times. Mr. Stead calculates that for the current year'our" exports those of 1887 by no less a sum than one million sterling. Should Mr: -STEktM antioipaJaona. he realiaed, And he quotes very cony|nci.ng fijjureg, in v? support of them, we may look forward with the utmost confidence *etux : eaYly < and very decided improvement in_thfi_ commercial condition pi : the colony.. r