The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning. Saturday, July 26, 1890. BAIT THAT WILL NOT TAKE.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 485, 26 July 1890, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning.

Saturday, July 26, 1890. BAIT THAT WILL NOT TAKE.

Be juat and fear not; Let all the ends thou alm’st at be thy country's, Thy God's, and

The avowed Opposition section of the Press, we are glad to see, has not gone into hysterics over Sir Robert Stout’s magnificent programme, shadowed forth in his capacity as the “coming man.” While some of the Ministerial journals as a matter of course attempt to laugh to scorn the borrowing proposals, those from whom support might be expected are by no means free in tendering it. The bait has not taken well at all, and so far there is good reason to be satisfied —it proves that the people of the colony have not again become so thoughtless as to rush into a further career of borrowing “ with a light heart." The Wellington journals of course applaud Sir Robert Stout’s proposals, but their applause or condemnation goes

a very short way in indicating the true feeling of the people of the colony. The Auckland Star is one ofthe most indepen dent journals on the Opposition side, and it very plainly expresses its opinions concerning the new prospect that has been opened up. “ Really,” says our contemporary', “one cannot but express a feeling of mild pity for the awkward handling of the old fishing tackle in the foregoing passage. How much more artistically Sir Julius Vogel or even Sir Harry Atkinson would have done the trick. The hook is so clumsily baited that the most stupid and hungriest of schnappers could not fail to detect it. A selfish and unpatriotic section in the South—let us hope it is a very small one—wants the Otago. Central railway continued, notwithstanding the proof contained in report after report by competent men that every sovereign spent upon the line will only increase the drain upon the vitality of the colony, already bleeding at every pore. To justify this expenditure, a dole must be given to Wellington by the continuation of a costly and useless railway through an absolutely unsettled district, another bribe to Hawke’s Bay, and a small bone flung at random to the North. One turns absolutely sick at heart in contemplating this miserable return to tactics which have cost the colony so dearly in the past.” We fear the headless, disorganised Ministry is more acceptable than a Ministry pledged to the renewal of the borrow-and-squander policy. If the present Ministry can do no good, an intelligent Opposition could prevent them doing much harm, and it will be wiser to retain a set of marionettes in office than give over the reins of Government to a band of profligates. Mr Ballance may have his faults, but he would never have made the mistake Sir Robert Stout has done. The only hope there is of an improvement in the present condition of things is for a different class of men to be sent to Parliament.