NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 7343, 15 October 1887, Page 2

NOTES.

The honorable members of the House who, ; * led away, by their own estimate TlieDjs- of past services or by conceit of appointed, their abilities and Parliamentary position, " imagined a vain thing" during the Ministerial crisis, expecting to be included in the Cabinet, are now, it is "furiously raging" about the lobbies, the purlieus of the Legislature, and the Wellington wharves very much after the fashion of " the heathen," as described in one of the Psalms. The personal constitution of the Ministry does not please these gentlemen at all, and there seems little doubt that they will go into opposition on the first chance which offers. We hope, when they do, that such conduct will be duly noted by their constituents. The Premier must have been exceedingly troubled in selecting his colleagues, if only from the embarrass de richesse at his disposal. Whether in every instance he has taken the best man is open to question ; but so many considerations are involved that it is difficult to judge. Those members who on the hustings, although strong in denunciation of the Stout-Vogel policy, declared as strongly against the return of Major Atkinson, could hardly hope to be offered portfolios in his Ministry; so if they are disappointed they have only themselves to thank. It is the unexpected which almost invariably happens in politics, and certainly the present position of the Major and the growing feeling that there have been no reasonable grounds for his unpopularity is among things most unexpected. He has now the ball at his foot, and on his policy it depends whether he may not in a few weeks be the most popular man in the Colony.

few days ago there was a sitting of the District Court at Queenstown, judicial in criminal jurisdiction. Two Muddles, cases were set down for trial. Judge, jury, witnesses, and prisoners were in due attendance—the whole majesty of the law duly represented, at (we need hardly say) a very considerable expense to the country. Owing to almost inconceivable blundering on the part of the committing Magistrate all this trouble and expense was wasted. The thirty-six settlers summoned as jurymen, and the host of witnesses brought for many miles, might as well have stayed at home 5 the District Judge have been saved a long journey, and the Colony his travelling expenses. In the first case the Magistrate had _ absolutely committed the prisoner for trial on the unsworn statement of the principal witness —a child of tender years. That the law should require sworn testimony in such oases, where the victim may reasonably be presumed to be unacquainted with the nature of an oath, is an anomaly to which the attention of the Attorney-General might well be directed! but such, unfortunately, is the law—and every Magistrate must, we should suppose, know this. The Judge had no option but at once to direct an acquittal. The other case bordered somewhat on the ridiculous. The prisoner (a rabbitter) had contracted to clear a certain tract of country within a run of rabbits. After securing a lot of skins, he met with an accident, which prevented his being able to travel some forty odd miles to the home station so as to deliver the skins, and he therefore disposed of them to a local storekeeper. The runholder was bo ill-advised as to prosecute, and the sapient Magistrate committed the man for trial on the charge of larceny ! Rabbits are ferae natnrd, and no property rights can vest in them, nor as a necessary consequence in their skins, unless these have become property by appropriation in some form or another. The man was simply a contractor, who engaged to clear off the vermin at so much per skin ; but the runholder conceived that the rabbits belonged to him because they were on his run, and the worthy Magistrate took the same ignorant view. The District Judge (MrLowther Broad) expressed pretty strong opinions in reference to both cases ; and we may hope that he has considered it his duty to represent the circumstances to the Minister of Justice.

Mr Eugene O'Conor, the late and present member for the Buller, was an Unscrupulous out-and-out supporter of the Patronage, late Government, and was reelected on the ticket of thorough appreciation of the public moneys expended in his district. Just as for political reasons Ministers snubbed and obstructed the Otago Harbor Board and created a Trust for the raising an 4 expending borrowed money at Port Chalmers, so at Westport they practically handed over the harbor works and the large expenditure going On in the improvements to this faithful adherent. The term of office of the Board originally appointed under the Westport Harbor Board Act expired in June, and the Government, instead of reappointing the retiring members or selecting independent men, literally packed the Board with personal adherents of Mr O'Conor, who had indeed no other qualification. This was effected in an ingenious manner by referring the nomination to the County and Borough Councils, both bodies being well known to be under tlie thumb of the sitting member. The consequences have been that Mr Napier Bell, the Board's engineer, has resigned in disgust at the way things are being carried on. The number of men employed have been unnecessarily increased; the truok system is in full force for the benefit of storekeepers who are members of the Board; and the cost of the work has been already materially augmented —the cost of stone, for instanoe, having risen from 2a ljd per ton to 3s l|d I The sooner the constitution of this Board ia altered the better. One of the Board, by the way, is the once celebrated Mr Timothy Gallagher, erstwhile many yeara ago a member of the House of Representatives 1

THE special Maori representation in the Houaß is one of those pieces of A Patent downright humbug, originating Injustice, in the sugar and blanket policy of the late Sir Donald M'Lean t which ought to bo swept away along with the Native Office. There is no valid reason whatever for continuing this injustice ; for it is a decided injustice to the colonists. The Maoris enjoy, as a matter of fact, a double franchise. They vote, as Maoris, for their special representatives; and in their several districts, under freehold or residential qualification, for the European members. Many Northern constituencies are practically swamped by the Native electors. In one of the Wairarapa electorates, for instance, the defeated candidate polled a very large majority of the European votes; but the present member rolled up a big Native contingent, who turned the scale. We commend the consideration of this matter to Sir George Grey, Mr Barron, and other vehement opponents of plural voting. • ~

When Major Atkinson was being " drawn on Tuesday by Sir Julius Vogel Tlie , he said that although he could Spee"lK * not satisfv the Puriosrty of his opponent, the Governor's Speech would be a "nice little one." Members laughed, and the spectators in the galleries tittered respectfully. The Major was right. The Speech delivered on Wednesday was rea , lya"nice little one," and the Oppositionists must have been very miserable when they read the promised programme. The two first paragraphs were only of use as embalming the usual and necessary official acknowledgment of public events beyond the limits of the Colony. The third conveyed a just recognition of the public attitude during the general eleotion just concluded, pointingtoa firm resolve onthepartof the people to assure effective and substantial retrenchment in the cost of the public service. The mere reduction of a few clerks either in number or salary will not avail. Bat we await details, For the present it is enough to know that the Ministry acknowledge that the primary question to be considered and dealt with is retrenchment. The question of land administration is one to which we are assured Ministers "attach great importance." The phrases that follow this declaration are as vague and meaningless as all such passages in a Governor's speech always are. Ministers will make unceasing efforts to secure the location of a prosperous class of settlers upon the lands of the Colony. Well, there is not much in that. Take away the adjectives and the same thing might have been said by the late Ministry. This, however, has to be observed: that the members of the Ministry are not Communists; as a -considerable v proportion- of the last Ministry were, and therefore more sensible legislation may be expected from them. The relegation of any revision of the Tariff till next session U a wise determination, as the Governor is made to say by his Ministers "The recess will necessarily be a short one," and the first substantial necessary business before the House is retrenchment, <the^'roar" for which will j not be appeased until some- very- strong measures.have the;f»y^*#■ ■ ducing the ' public"expenditure.!-On the j whole the Speeoh is, as described by Major |

Atkinson, a "very nice little speech." Let us hope that the results will be equally "nice."

Thr present Opposition, if their calculations are not upset by the ProtecOuite tionist section kicking over the Possible, traces, have conceived a nice little design by which they hope to circumvent the enemy and get back to power with the certainty of a good long term. The Government are not to be impeded nor obstructed in the immediate work before them of retrenchment; and when people are, as it is expected they will be, downright mad at the withdrawal of all subsidies, the lessening of conveniences, the bursting up of billets, and other necessary consequences of really economical administration, then the reforming Ministry are to be turned out, and a new combination, which is'to include the late Premier, installed. The weak point of the scheme is the assumption that Major Atkinson and his colleagues are one-idea men, and will devote themselves to setting the finances straight, with little regard to other considerations. We venture to predict that, if their financial proposals are satisfactory to the country, they will be found quite able to look after themselves in other directions, and mav enjoy a long term of office. That they will have to keep their eyes open and their wits about them, faced as they will be by Sir J uliut Vogel as Leader of the Opposition, is sufficiently clear.

The speech of Sir Julius Vogel on the Address-in-Reply is not calcuNot in (Jood lated to inspire faith in the Taste. twenty-five or so who have elected him as leader. It was trivial to an extreme degree, and, worse still, it was ooarse and vulgar. The way in which he referred to individual Ministers stands unparalleled, most happily, in the history of the Parliament of New Zealand, and we trust it long may continue so. His jokes were witless and his sarcasms pointless. Will he be able to conduct himself with propriety in the position to which he is assuredly doomed for many years, perhaps for ever, as a leading spirit, in the oold shades of Opposition? Even his dearest followers would not follow him. Mr M'Kenzie, of Waihemo (there are so many of the clan in the House that it is neoessary to make a distinction), tried a diversion by way of moving an amendment for a reduotion of Ministers, but the "draw" was of no effect. Even so strong a supporter of the Opposition as Dr Fitchett refused to be a party to undue and premature forcing of Major Atkinson's hands. Sir Julius Vogel appears to have lost his old power of discernment. Can he not see that by their policy the Government must be judged ? and that, as they very properly refuse to give any explanation of their policy nntil such time as they have been able to overhaul the reoords of their predecessors, and to ascertain the faots as to the true financial position of the Colony, it is not to the public interest, nor even to that much smaller thing the interests of Sir Julius Vogel and the Opposition, that any premature disclosures should be made? Fortunately, the good sense of the Parliament prevented any injurious effects from the suicidal rasnness of Sir J. Vogel. The adjournment was carried, and in the fortnight's time prescribed thereby, Major Atkinson and his colleagues have it bounden on them to evolve a sound, satisfactory, and sufficient policy, on the strength of which they will be maintained in office; and, failing which, theirs will be but a short shrift. By their works they shall be known.

The organs of the late Ministry, especially in Canterbury, are in state of S reat wrath indignation at f wth. the constitution of the Cabinet. The wish had been further to the thought that Major Atkinson would have failed to form an Administration, and that he should not only have done so, but succeeded without the assistance of capitalists and land sharks, is an unpardonable sin in Canterbury eyes. The ' Lyttelton Times' affects to be facetious aud coutemning with the lofty sentiment of Christchurch " upper suckles " men raised from and identified with the people, nicknames Major Atkinson and his colleagues the " Blue-shirt Ministry." This is very poor as wit, but conclusively indicative of spite. It is, however, we must admit, annoying to drop from the exponent of Ministerial policies to be the mouthpiece of a disappointed politician and a querulous faction. A deadly sin also in the judgment of Canterbury is the large representation of Qt#go in the Cabinet. This does not bode well fox the little games so adroitly played with unvarying success ujider the Vogel rtgim. There is now a king who " knows not Joseph " ; or if he does, knows also what to avoid. Just now Canterbury, lately so elated at the return of such a big majority of Ministerial candidates, has the boot on the other leg, finds herself in the cold shade of opposition, with the Midland Railway not by any means in satisfactory form, and few loaves and fishes likely to come her way. Hinc ilia lacrymai!

The advocates of religious instruction in the State schools, having failed 1(I( . .„ signally with the last Parlia- « " 4"T»r m * nt) a re about to try it on strong with the new one. They base their demands on the false principle that the majority have the right to rule in the matter of religion, since their object undoubtedly is to stamp the schools with their own sectarianism. Qnoe admit religious teaching, whether in the form of exposition of the Bible texts or otherwise, and such teaching must praotically be very much what the several school committees, each in their own school district, please. This was, before the Education Act, the case moßt oertainly in Canterbury and Otago, and would be so again had the Bible-in-schools petitioners their own way. There is not much fear, however, that the Legislature Will accede to the prayer of these petitions, however numerously Bigned. The conviction is firm in the minds of most thinking men that there is no middle course between the present secular system and denominationalism. Touch the integrity of this system, and denominationalism will be the practical as it is the logical result.

The notorious Canterbury compact—which practically maintained the late The Price of Government in office a great Canterbury, deal too long for the good of the country—is likely one way or other to cost a good deal of money. Reference was made in His Excellency's Speech at the opening of Parliament to the Midland Railway; and it is understood that the syndicate who have undertaken the Construction stand out for very important additional concessions, and will not proceed further with the work unless these are granted. How far the Colony is committed in the business is not altogether clear, but it is sufficiently evident that the Company will have their "pound of flesh," and as much else as they can succeed in cajoling the Legislature out of. It is, under ordinary circumstances, proper that a Government should carry out the actual engagements of their predecessors in office, but the rule, like all others, is open to exceptions 3 and it is at least questionable whether the interests of the people would not be so distinctly served by abandoningthe whole business, and letting the syndicate withdraw, as they threaten, as to justify such a course. Whether this is practicable the information at disposal does not enable us to say, but we should imagine that it has been stated authoritatively that the Company are willing to proceed with the line, as originally proposed, provided that they are at once placed in possession of the area of land to which they would ultimately (i.e., on the completion of the section of theline)be entitled in respect to the sum'of L 250.000 alleged to have either been expended or hypothecated under contract. It may, therefore, be presumed that unless this is agreed to they will knock off work. They require further, it is said, that the Government should guarantee the valuation, and the Colony be thus made responsible for any difference between this and the price it may realise when offered for sale. If this really be one of the terms insisted upon, we should say the bargain is as good as off. The present Ministry are not likely to propose, nor the present Parliament to accede to, anv such one-sided arrangement. It would serve Canterbury right if after all the price of "political iniquity should not be paid.

The departure of Sir Robert Stout from YVellington was made the oceaM ore Bion of an ovation on the part of Bunkum, those aet supporters of the Stout- ' Vogel Ministry who have found seats in the new House, and other sympathising members. There can be no possible objection to the honorable gentlemen disporting themselves on the Wellington wharf in a high wind if it so pleased them, nor should the address presented to Sir Robert be cavilled at, nor even oriticiaed in its grammatical peculiarities. There have been great men before Sir Robert; possibly even his place may be filled; the country any way

is heartily rick of the fuss which has been made over his defeat at Dunedin East. Our concern just now is with the audacious impudence of the pro-progressionist taxation advocates who have brought affairs to the present pass, and swear by the reckless, extravagant finance of Sir Julius Vogel, arrogating to themselves the title of "Liberal members'." Heaven save the Colony from another era of such Liberalism as has been experienced during the last three years!