THURSDAY, DEC. 16, 1875.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 75, 16 December 1875, Page 4

THURSDAY, DEC. 16, 1875.

Last week wj§i|gt)K|ie fijf.erty' of 4prar n^fintmg; u^M^tlre^agiifeness of "Sir Reynolds' reiriaiL'ks iippii tßpiliußjeßt^ 6f /■;' the;disposalj of -che ;rims wjign fbe lea'se|s, ! of the pre^ntjWn^n^^hall^pire^'Me': of coursef used, tae ,usuaiiol^p4^p;.terms of his-partYj anji* pointed, put ißetnee^sBity of- f J liberal , vie ws," , '•" proper /aclmiflistra.tion,'* aVd ' so forth, but cnrja-^ withheld an in^di^ion of the clhi/ £J to, iwhich ;it\vy;qs: tlj efin tQfitHgn ;bf TtKe^tqf vernment to extend the benefit of jtn&se liberal views./^eeing|that-Mrßeynoi(i8 ;i was" thus^silentp:we|^ : for informadon upon^th^pbint^to 'the v utterances of some of tfieinost faithful; : a and ardent :Bu^psrters'ro£^&^ Governs 1 meat. Mf^T^sgh* % maker, 'who repudiaites^Hefi^eWo^bis' X--being a s^untter's repreisVn'fa^ive^ aslhil^ position was that of a ffeeK6id& v . lie as a supporter of'^e^Goyewiffeent^ ! consideredjthat'when,; -the jleas^eli empire, v^ the^present niDhoMera jshoul'd^ay^tho^; first, refusal ,of ;the runs.,;, deed of opinion that^|hey Jia;d.Eleg:a|right: to, them, _ but^geßerousl^\ya^ived ; tbe^point. .OFeourse if it W that t'^ey showed have |he^unl, l it woiul.d// be urineeessary to test '%^^omt :^a't6 '■:.. whether th'eycbiildTe'gaHy^liaye^ claihiedX them. No doilbfc^byif gettiig--ithe Hundreds .Regulation ;As"t; passed, and by pther_ nieasures, the ■ lunhipWers h a^e^il " atpng D eftde'avoM for themsei yes /this legal r^%ktf-'pf to "get themselves; * 'and ;their^ ;runs4< in. such a relativeiposition'thatsit'lwduld be r a .difficult xnattei to rdeppyie thgni of possession, which proverbially Js. nine points of the law. The ' Erefrt in^ Star' takes v&> to taSk for -jquotib^ Mr Teschmakerr's; remarks as an indica* „ tion qf r what wits likely to be the policy ' of the. Govern naent uppn^ th^questidff. ■It says :-4r-iSThe :rdisiiigeiiu^ " the * Clutha lieader 'is unexampyd. , "In its leadip|p^iplumns it -puts fbrth ' " tyr ( .Teschma*p^^ 'Mida^/and^g^fep^ljltlect^ „ " for vGeijaldiff^ial of,.tn'Q " policy of the Go;ver^if|^;^n' tfie ques- , '^ion* pU^eaJing witn^^^ns ; h . It -* -will be ' Widetit to J^aii'tM^he x;^ yof^ve another^' ;styie;(>f fargumfiii; >w^uM?4)b the : most fitHn^ione<toJp,mpl^ in^Rjy to ;the^Star^ Kut?lo follow! '-ltf^!^tok' > . • ' " mkker o^qe^morejWe;^will- t<r^i9e^tH|^t point," and,asld|3^Hp^*?^^^y^^r|t; '/Star^; design atesffciß|MT-e|^M ai ;k ( ?f aB l the can'd^ that he is least likely to; be^£c>le v cted\for . Geraldine C -^f deniesTthkt; he is the squatting^jcandi^date; as Mis position is that oorf r at ; free^f holder^ 4 ' l If!' Bcf i's 'ttie'leiisti^likel^'tq -be ; elected,lwe.belieyAAtis,Jbecjju^e he is^?a 'rreehbide'rii andO-h*6tt JaCrunfiplS^r jrHe ; . this as it may, there would seeai^toliae another can4rd[aie|f^^raldine. . He;^ 'alsp'=''is -a? su fthe; " QpMiiim^njS^:; his statement T as , an^ >exposi|ipg : ofethe ; .^ ; -a%^t^e'i'Mei^ng^^^ '•Mth&?r^dsiaß!thete^^^ ?* the most exciting t b^cfam^rai|iin^s ■" '••'■''-■■' '".' ':y'--y''^ : -i : ty^Si^^ : '%y!£^ook

*?>a bonus of 9d per sheep and a rent of *' £d per slk^g;) annually. Mr N. Mact( donald, a squatter, proposed a vote of "•confidence. Mr Ailigon, a farmer, "seconded it, and it was carried unani- " mous-y." But it i > possible the ' gt:ir ' may demur accepting Mr Wakefield's utterances on the question. Well, we have yet another shot in our locker. We take a Minister this time, and again quote from the * Star '—the same issue in which appeared his reference to us. Tho Hon. E. Richardson, Minister of Works, addressed the electors of Christchurch, the previous evening, and said " His opinion in regard to the runs was " that they should be fairly assessed " and offered in the first place to the, "present holders. If put up to auction ''it would lead to jobbery and corrup<l tion, and the formation of such ring's " as even America has hardly seen." There is only one other door by which the ' Star * can get out, and that is by asserting that Mr Richardson only spoke for himself and not for the Ministry. This, however, is refuted in the ' Star's ' report referred to, in which Mr Richardson " strongly denied the "statement of. Mr Rolleston, made the " previous evening-, that the members "of the Government were not in ac- " cord." Thus the ' Star 'is shut up in a corner, out of which all the disin■genuousness he possesses will fail to extricate him. Although Mr Reynolds managed to smooth over the question with popular phrases it is now unmistakeably revealed that the policy of the Government with reference to the runs is to hand them over to the present holders in perpetuity. The excuse for this is something sublime. "If put tf.np to auction it would lead to jobbery 'J-Etnd corruption, and the formation of f'.sUeh rings as, even America has hardly ".'Seen " On whose part would the "jobbery and corruption "be ? The Government would have the matter in hand. They certainly have been strongly and repeatedly accused of such practices, but.an open confession of an -intention to persist in them is such a state of matters as assuredly even has hardly seen." Who is to form this monster ring 1 Only the present runholders are interested in preventing the runs being subdivided and let by auction. Then Mr Richardson enn only refer to them. Thus to prevent the terrible jobbery and cprruption, and the forming of a swindling ring, such as has not hitherto, been attempted, we are obliged, according to Ministers, to hand over the runs to the present occupiers without compet : tion. Humiliating, very ! It is clear the present -Government feel their utter incapacity to deal With the matter. We have no doubt they will .shortly be replaced by others who will know how to apply a remedy, and who will have the ability and power to apply it.

Mr Geobge M'Lean's speech at Wai'koiiiu'ti is in many respects superior to 'those that have been made by supporters of Government up to date. It is, however, marred by the same weak 'features that have shewn themselves everywhere else where the action of the Government has been. defended. We are unable, after perueing it, to s^y "what the Centralists propose for the future, or to discover in what way they propose to provide for- the administration of affairs. The programme is so distressingly vague, so ; alarmingly indistinct in its outline that, we cannot but fear the worst, even while giving Mr Jl'Lean himself credit for the best intentions. Indeed, if there is one thing that strikes us more than another in tbe speech of the member for Waikouaiti, it is this, that the motives and -tlesires that led him to support the Government last session might almost as well have made him a member of the Opposition.. He brings out in th-arp 'relief the very important differences of' opinion between himself and the originators of the Abolition measure. We observe with much pleasure that whenever "he put his foot down and differed from Government they had to yie'd, which is so far satisfactory, as evidencing the fact that Otago is a greater power in the Councils of the nation 'than we had any reason to suppose from a merely superficial survey of recent events. We are disposed, indeed, t>o. "reoTeft that Mi' George M'Lean did not demand a Fedeml policy from the Government since judging- by the uniform success which attended all his efforts, "we are justified in supposing that he had only to demand this boon in order to receive it. That he did not ..demand this must be a subject, of regret, not only to ourselves but his constituents. At anyrate, it is very 'satisfactory to know for certain whore our thanks are •due. It was not the Opposition, not the smalt band who have hitherto received the thanks of the public, but to tbat other power in the State, MiGeorge M'beari, that we return thanks. For instaiice, "with regard to the localization of the land fund, ie is almost impossible to be too grateful for the fact that Mr George M'Lean " h <d set his heart tipon it." If he had not, we understand that even the hesitating and easily evnded clauses by which that fund seems to be localised, would have been left out of tbe Abolition measure ; they were only inserted because "he ' would not have tolerated the Abolition Bill had it not had the provision described on tbe land question." So too with our Education Reserves. It is true they were in great peril, there was I; a time when tliey were almosj;.swallowed up. Their Sol>iestri John Hariip-

den, William Tell, and Garibaldi, all rolled up into one, and that one the . member for Waikouaiti, was at hand. '' He went to the Government, and the Government agreed to a clause, vesting all the Education Reserves in the Chairman of the Education Board.' 5 Those who are interested in education owe a deep debt of gratitude to Mr George M'Lean-— a debt they can never liquidate. As we proceed with the speech our debt becomes heavier and larger— Pelior upon Osse is nothing Ito that obligation which a grateful country can never hope to repay. Government proposed that the residue of the land fund should be voted by the General Assembly. To this Mr George M'Lean and others took exception. It had to be altered, and it was. "An alteration was made, by which the voting power was given to the local bodies." We have again and again drawn attention to the extravagant expenditure of the General Government, and it is satisfactory to learn from one who knows all about it, " that things have been conducted pretty extravagantly by the General Government." We should have been less concerned on the subject had we understood that there was one watchful eye among the old familiar friends who was successful in checking' wasteful expenditure. He says, and he lightens our fears very considerably by the announcement, " no one had done more to reduce expenditure than he (Mr George M'Lean), and he took part in the attempt at the beginning of last session, which was ill supported." One more instance and we close tlie list of Mr M 'Lean's successes. The rejection of the Local Government Bill was due to him in concert with others. We used to think i that measure like the building of an ! amateur, had caved in from its own internal weakness. We are pleased to find it met with no approval from the i most powerful of the supporters of the j Ministry, and was therefore shelved. We should gladly close the history of the last se>sion here, without adverting to diet wo defeats which even the member for Waikouaiti sustained. Even to a Napoleon, there must come, a Borodino and a Waterloo — successful in a hundred hard-fought fights, he failed twice at least. Should he fail a third time in his election for Waikouaiti, the magic number will be complete. We dare not, however, contemplate such an event, which would be the most disastrous recorded in our annals since our Constitution was granted. Mr M'Lean had set his great heart on two things, neither of which came to pass. He strongly urged on the Government that they should go to the country on the Local Government Bill, and he strongly objected to the clause in the Abolition Act closing the Provincial Councils this year/ We should have wished him success in both proposals. No one, however, we have understood "can be more wise than destiny,'' and in these matters the Government was inexorable.

Looking* upon Mr George M'Lean's speech as a whole, it will be apparent that the world, the colonial world that is, " still knows nothing- of its greatest men. We have at last got hold of that ig-nis-fatuus, that will-o-the-whisp ; that mirage, that we often speak of as the power behind the throne. The discovery of him, however interesting, seem to us unlikely to benefit Government. Evidently all that is good in Abolition came from Mr M'Lean ; all that is bad from the Ministry. We are therefore in this position, if Mr M'Lean is right, Government is wrong ; if Government is right, Mr M'Lean is — but here we close our eves and refuse

to contemplate, a possibility fraught with consequences so disastrous to humanity. The speech of the member for YVaikouaiti is the bpsr. wp hove had yet.