OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 253, 29 January 1889, Page 3

OUR SYDNEY LETTER.

(from oub own correspondent.') Sydney, Jan, 16. The instability of colonial politics and colonial politicians has never been more strikingly displayed than during tbe last week. Since I last wrote, the Parkes Government has ingloriously slipped out of tbe responsibilities with which it had been invested by Parliament and by the people. Mr Want, a political outsider, has been sent for, has declined the task, and finally Mr Dibbs, the leader of the opposition, a man whose chance of power a week ago would have been considered worth very little, is a de facto Premier, with a Cabinet of bis own choosing, waiting only for the transaction of certain formalities to at once assume office.

No defeat on any great question of politics has brought about this change. The prestige of the Ministry was damaged by certain rumors charging them with jobbery, some of them so circumstantial that at the present moment they form subjects of enquiry by specially appointed Commissions. Wbat is likely to be the result of these enquiries no one on say. But no one can be better informed on that subject than the Premier himself. The fact that he greedily seized the first opportunity of “courting defeat” on a chance motion of adjournment, seems to speak for itself more loudly than any laboured special pleading could possibly do. The hostile vote was brought about by a display of arrogance which no self-respecting Assembly could tolerate. A serious charge was brought against tbe Administration by Mr Want, who bad been Attorney-General in a former Administration, and who may be credited with speaking under a sense of responsibility. He impugned the thoroughness of an enquiry which at bis instance had been made into the antecedents of Mr Fehon, one of the Railway Commissioners, and he stated that during his own term of office the advisableness of prosecuting Mr Fehon for complicity in the now notorious “ wool frauds ” had been seriously considered. The Premier obstinately refused to take notice of Mr Want, or to say a word in reply, though appealed to by a section of his own supporters. Half-a dozen sentences would have staved off tbe crisis, and the motion of adjournment would have passed off as harmlessly as others of the same kind. But they were not spoken. The motion was pressed to a division and resulted in a defeat, whereupon the Ministry, though still the leaders nominally of a party consisting uf two-thirds of the House, incontinently resigned. Subsequently the Premier expressed his gratification at being relieved from the cares of office, but denied the obvious imputation that he had deserted his party, claiming that the defeat was caused by the unfaithfulness of the latter and their neglect to rally to his support. Considering, however, that the coarse he chose to adopt, finds hardly a single apologist, and that the exercise of tbe simple political tactics would have deferred the division until the supporters of the Government could be mustered, avails very little. If Sir Henry is glad to retire from power, Mr Dibbs is no less pleased to get an opportunity of assuming it. And he has found no difficulty in getting together a Ministry which ie admitted even by his opponents to be a good one. He has been treated also with marked consideration by Sir Henry, who did all in his power to obtain supply for his successors. There is, however, a third party which is not nearly so well satisfied. This is the Free Trade majority aforesaid, who find themselves completely ignored in the transaction, although, as I said before, they comprise fully two-thirde of the House. As it is manifestly impossible for a Protectionist Ministry to govern the country under such circumstances many of the Free Traders maintain that some prominent man of the dominant party should have been sent for, and they bitterly resent the action which in the case of a good many of them, bids fait to terminate their political existence without warning. This feeling manifested itself very strongly last night when supply was asked for the new Ministry. Such a resolution is usually passed on the voices as a formal motion. But in this case several members objected, declaring that they would be no parties to the assumption of power by a Protectionist Ministry which was notoriously in a minority. Others talked about moving a vote of want of confidence without delay, and thus burking, as they imagined, the new Ministry before it went to its constituents for re-election. Such an expedient, however, would not have the desired effect. If the Hoose formally refuses its confidence iu this manner—a confidence for which it has never been asked—Mr Dibbs simply appeals from tbe House to the country which is as much above the Assembly as the Asaemby is above Mr Dibbs. It is understood that he has the power of dissolution in his pocket, for no sane politician would have undertaken the task of forming a Ministry under such circumstances without it. Any expression of dissent, therefore, on the part of the Assembly, would simply hasten its own rapidly approaching doom. To use a rough expression in vogue in the House, the Government • majority find themselves " bought and sold like bullocks at Smithfield.” They blame Parkes and Parkes blames them. Yet in the coming struggle it will be found that Parkes will place his reliance On the well-tried watchword “Free Trade” and the Free Traders wilt pin their faith to the equally talismanic name of “ Parkes.” A general election is inevitable, and that almost immediately. It is generally thought that it must result in the victory of a policy of moderate Protection. In the previous Assembly there wag as large a majority in favor of ad valorem duties as there is in this Assembly in favour of Freetrade. - The revulsion was brought about not so much by the fiscal question which was put in the forefront as the battle-cry, as by the need for retrenchment and reform in administration. Sir Henry Parkes by his persuasive eloquence had induced many people to believe that he was the Hercules who would cleanse the Augean stables. Thousands voted for "Parkes and reform" in reality, although their suffrages were claimed for “ Parkes and Freetrade." They would just as lief have voted for " Parkes and Protection ” if they could have indulged the same hopes respecting reform. But now this feeling has departed. People have been forced to recognise that the watchword " Parkes ” only means plausible talk and foolish propositions, not the steady self-denying work by which administration is purified and prosperity secured. Take away this force and there is nothing to prevent public opinion from finding its way into the groves which produced the Dibbs-Jennings majority. Apart from these considerations there is agrowing disgust with the soulless policy which casts overboard the welfare of the working clause® and condemns them either to remain in the condition of serfs of ths pastoral interests or to compete with the pauper labor of older countries. These cold-bleoded dogmatists tell us that it would be a high crime and misdemeanour against the creed of Cqbden to attempt tq secure a

preference for our own industries in' our own market. Bqt a great mqny people are beginning to discover that they care a great deal more for the industries off which the vigor and material prosperity of the community depend than they do for Cobden or the host of minor lights who have pinned themselves to his skirts. The natives of the colony are almost to a man Protectionists, believing that it is only by active assistance that its great resources can bo developed. Of the new Ministry no legs than seven are natives, and all are Protectionists. The escapades of the-Dibbs Jennings Ministry which helped to bring defeat two years ago have almost faded from view. The acts of their opponents who at that time had a reputation which was almost unstained have transferred the oppobrium to the other side. There seems, therefore, every reason to believe that in the struggle which iq about to take place the general belief that “ protection is coming ’’ will be justified. At the same' time it must be remembered that possession is nine points of the Jaw Mid that the traditional belief and policy of the colony cannot be changed without a desperate tussle.