The Hastings Standard Published Daily MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1897. A COMING CRISIS.

Hastings Standard, Issue 453, 18 October 1897, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily

MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1897. A COMING CRISIS.

For the cause that lacks assistance. For the wrongs that need resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

There is unmistakeable evidence that Ministers will shortly be forced into a Cabinet crisis. There are two matters agitating the Liberal Party which in the near future will cause an explosion. The first matter is the administration of the Police Department. The strong indictment of the junior member for Christchurch, Mr T. E. Taylor, has been too much even for the docile followers of the Ministry and they are joining with the Left Wing in demanding an inquiry by a Royal Commission or a Select Committee of the House. On Friday last a deputation of Government supporters waited on the Minister of Justice to ascertain the views of the Cabinet, but as Mr T. Thompson is in a large measure responsible for the demoralisation of the police force, it was not to be expected that he would look upon the deputation with much favor. Indeed what was meant by the deputation, and what is the only inference to be drawn from their waiting on the Minister, is that a section of the followers of the Government has no confidence in the administrative abilities of the Hon. T. Thompson. It was too much to expect the Minister to endorse the adverse opinion respecting himself. Mr Thompson promised to place the views of the deputation before Cabinet. It seems almost a matter of certainty that the question of inquiring into the organisation and administration of the police force will be further pursued by the Left Wing, and the Government will find themselves in this predicament. To accede to the requests of the discontents of the Party is to record a vote of cenauro and want of confidence in the Minister of Justice, which of course means his retirement from Cabinet. If the inquiry is not held as suggested by the disaffected, then there is the other and more serious danger of having an adverse motion tabled in the House by some irresponsible member of the Opposition, and such a motion if accepted by the House will be_ equivalent to a vote of no-confidence in the Ministry, If a motion traversing the administration of the Police Department is brought down we fail to see how the turbulent members of the Government can consistently vote against the motion. It is suggested that the deputation of members which waited upon the Minister of Justice was engineered by the Premier ; that may be so, for Mr Seddon has the notoriety of being extremely crafty, but if he has done any such thing it is not likely that he would publish the fact to the world. The position appears to be tolerably uncomfortable for the Government, for they must either grant the Left Wing their demand for an inquiry, and so register a no-confi-dence veidict against the Ho"3. T. Thompson, or else decline the advances of the troublesome members and run the risk of a no-confideoce debate in the House. In addition to the trouble involved in the police force administration, there is danger in the Horowhenua Block Act Amendment Bill, which the Hon. the Minister of Lands js introducing. It is hardly possible that the House will submit to seeing any attempt at brow-beating Sir Walter Buller and Major Kemp. As unwilling litigants under the legislation of last session these gentlemen have won a protracted lawsuit with costs, against the Government. The paymeat of these costs is now tbe subject

of litigation, and we cannot therefore make any reference to the matter. The point is that Sir Walter Buller and Major Kemp after a hard fight in the Law Courts have gained a victory and to farther legislate against them would smack of persecution. The House will not stand that, but the Minister of Lands will insist upon his Bill being accepted, and then there will be a row. It is common gossip in the lobbies that a Cabinet crisis is pending.