The Evening Star SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2684, 23 September 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1871.

Judging by what took place in the House of .Representatives last night, Mr Stafford seems to think that the time has arrived when lie may show his colors. He has been evidently wavering for some time as to the course he should pursue, but now he seems to have arranged his forces, sent Mr Creighton to the front, and commissioned Mr Gillies to bring up the rear. These three are, without donbt, able men, but we should be sorry to see the policy toward the Natives in their hands. This has always been Mr Stafford’s weak point ; and this really ought to be considered one of the strong ones of the present government. We can easily understand the mortification that must be felt by Mr Stafford at witnessing the success that has followed the reversal of the measures proposed by himself for putting an end to the Maori war. No doubt he feels sore, and chafes to find that those ends which, in his hands, were attempted to be carried vi et armis, have been realised with comparative ease by a ministry whose policy is peace. Mr Stafford must imagine that the public opinion of the country is easily changed, and that the past is utterly forgotten, or he would not to seek to meddle with a system that, in spite of adverse auguries, has produced such happy results. He himself may not like to dwell upon u the wretched past.’ The remembrance that some few years ago he entered upon officeAvith precisely the same pretensions to cutting down expenses as he supports noAv, and of the utter failure of his efforts must be galling to him, for it is a Avarning to the country not to rush too hastily upon a change that may be for the worse. When he took office last time, there can be no doubt the country Avas in serious difficulties. War expenditure Avas going on at a frightful rate. For a time his plans seemed successful: but there is an evident inability in him to organise. He can pull doAvn, but not build up. His Ministry seemed quite incompetent to maintain the ground they gained: the Defence Department especially Avas allowed to fall into a state of utter inefficiency. Instead of a unity of purpose under one head, forces Avere scattered here and there over the country, ap parently without specific design; and a number of petty officers were permitted to make Avar on their own account, in order to keep their men employed, Mr Stafford’s administration permitted the Maori prisoners to escape, Ave believe, from Hawaii—certainly from the hulks at Wellington and from the Chatham Islands. Mr. Stafford's Ministry Avere employed in attacks upon the Provinces without showing that General Government rule Ayould be better than Provincial. Mr Stafford’s Ministry had a special down upon Otago, which in self-defence was almost driven to insurrection; Mr Stafford’s Ministry employed its time in devising schems of alteration of forms of Government; without com*

felt seems imdyv £0 join with him, denounced tw&; policy in the Princess yffheatre, jarah. was (raenpf arjjilit t-tepa&ili&o-. 1 We d 0.,,, not Min- ' istvy are_ free from ( fault ~ ,We ,do not agroe~veSili ,&« whole'or-the'details uPI any of their plans. ;._haUaL-Uls consider what has been the result of their administration First, we have peace, and that on no dishonorable conditions. , Secondly, instead of a disreputable illdisciplined force scarcely knowing how to employ their idle time, so lax in the performance" of their duties as to invite surprise as at Patea, on board the hulks, and at the Chatham Islands, we have a highly disciplined force of .picked men, hplding/ possession of important fortified passes, whose time is employed in forming military roads or other useful works, and who have means of mental culture placed in their hands when they have leisure to attend to it. Thirdly, "the Maori prisoners instead of being allowed to idle their time away under the care of an inefficient guard, easily overpowered when opportunity offered, have been removed to a safe and distant prison, where their labor has been utilised, and who have thus been made to a certain extent to recoup the cost ©f their detention. In the management of the Native Department, therefore, the contrast is so striking as to be calculated to lead to

uneasy apprehensions lest the system which has been productive of so beneficial a change should suffer through the rash onslaught of Mr CAisiohton supported by Mr Stafford. Then, what did that gentleman when in office propose in the way of social advancement 1 His idea seems altogether politically theoretical, that of the present Government politically practical, His problem was how to govern the people —the present Government are preparing the way for the people to govern themselves. Mr Stafford proposed to fritter away the revenue upon a number of petty districts which were nominally to be independent of Government ■ control, hut really subject to its i dictation. The present Government seek to unite the Colony in one common interest by a system of works that will tend to ren-

der the Provinces mutually dependent. If there are admirers of Mr Stafford because of his hostility to Provincialism, they may take comfort to themselves that his great blow at Provincialism, the Consolidation of Loans Act, has been followed by a series of measures that have done more to necessitate its abolition than all his most violent efforts ; but his North Island policy has been so hostile to Middle Island interests that his accession to office will render Separation—another name for localisation of expenditure—a necessity. Able as Mr Stafford is, past experience warns the country against his modes of retrenchment. When he last tried his hand at it, it meant simply disorganisation, and we have no reason to imagine he has changed his views.