THE MINISTERIAL TEAM.

Evening Star, Issue 5050, 12 May 1879, Page 1

THE MINISTERIAL TEAM.

Desperate adventurers, even if reckless of the limits somewhat hazy and indisdinct which separate audacity from crime, are not infrequently favored most unduly by Fortune, and pursue their career, nefarious and mischievous though it may be,.* through long periods of success. Wicked- and indefensible as the coup d'ttat may have been, Napoleon 111. had a long and hot inglorious reigu. It is a question whether he did not lay as it were the second foundation of a historic dynasty—notwithstanding Sedan aud all which has therefrom resulted. The Kellys are still at large somewhere; nobody exactly knows where. They are still m office as the "boes" bushrangers, and, being amply provided with funds, do not seem likely to evacuate the position. They appear to have the sympathies of the people, at all events in the districts they frequent; and to all intents and purposes are a democratic institution, as such institutions are interpreted by Sir George Grey and his Attorney-General. Fortune, however, eccentric as that goddess is in the transaction, of her business—(we will not quote Horace, although he is exceedingly apposite here, because we do not care to be involved in a Gttry controversy)— Fortune, we repeat, has not been kind to that concentration of political ability which now, under the selfdesignated title of the Liberal Ministry, administers the revenues and runs the billet machinery of the Colony. Everything is adverse.

The Native policy of the Ministry is such a frightful fiasco that even the Opposition Press abstain from alluding to it. No man with British blood in his veins can read without indignation and disgust the of the Kopua meeting,, where the honor of the Crown is prostituted to the vagaries of a few half-tipsy savages, and a gentleman who has held Her Majesty's commission as viceroy of the Colony is waiting day after day on' the pleasure of Tawhiao and the truculent cutthroats who appear to form his court. The Native question, however, is one which we have never shruuk from dealing witfi on its merits, and entirely apart from party considerations ; and when the 'Kopua meeting js finally determined we shall .again do so, undeterred by either threats or remonstrances. It may suit the subsidised journals to hold their tongues or touch very gently so soro a point; but the taxpayers of this part of the Colony have a very close interest in these matters, aud so far as our knowledge goes they shall not be kept in the dark. A notable success in the wonderful Native negotiations has not been vouchsafed by Fortune, and the Ministry will not be able to play this card,. which has frequently proved a winning one, much oh the principle in which, at the very scientific game of poker, the player "bluffs "'on the turned-down hand, winning, not on its merits, but on the ignorance and apprehension of the other party.

In what is sometimes called the " continuous Ministry" there was always Sir Julius Vogel—strong in finance and invention, and Sir Donald M'Lean—absolutely unassailable in Native affairs'. " Look on this picture and on that!" The Honorable John Ballance (let us give him his full title, he will hardly hold it long) what an.awfulmesshehas made of the finance' Good luck might have pulled through even such an idiotic policy, but, fortunately we think, good luck has been wanting. Ihe land tax will not even be levied during the financial year; but the extraordinary and extravagant expenses of assessment and of organising the department must appear on the debit side of the account. The land revenue has, as a matter of course, seriously diminished, and there is a rather blissful state of uncertainty in the public mind as to what may be the next eccentricities in the way of class taxation which ignorance and presumption may initiate. The almoßt wicked stupidity of the existing land tax is nothing in its results, however, to be compared to the childish folly of the remission of the small proportions of the tea and sugar duties, regarding which so many pagans were sung in the camp of the Liberals. Nearly £IOO,OOO a year is lost to the revenue, and the consumer is not a penny the better. Argument here is unnecessary. Ask the social economical head of every family whether she has found out the difference, or whether she has not to pay precisely the same for high-fiavored hyson and sparkling loaf. The Customs return for the March quarter of this year is in every respect unsatisfactory. The yield from spirits is £7l less than in the correspondmg period of last year, while tobacco and cigars have fallen no Le S3 . s 1A,40i There is a slight rise in miscellaneous duties and in opium. Consumption of dutiable articles may not have perceptibly lessened but with the increase of population it should have perceptibly increased. There has been, no doubt, a scarcity of money and depression of trade, for neither of which we believe Ministerial policy is, responsible. Sir George Grey is harmless when discouraing about the rights of man and posterity. Mr Macandrew is ever beneficent, although, perhaps, the effulgence of his rays only strikes to warm within a limited orbit. Mr Sheehan won his- spurs too early, and, like one of the Spanish heroes in the " Critic," is rather apt to sit down on them. Colonel Whitmore is a questionable necessity. Mr Fisher represents Canterbury, respectability, and noodledom; but Mr Ballance is the Sir Harvey Vane of the Ministry. The Liberal party: may well say "The Lord deliver us from Mr JpHN Ballance."