Hawkes Bay Herald TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 1869.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1033, 23 March 1869, Page 2

Hawkes Bay Herald TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 1869.

The crowning act of folly on the part of Mr. Stafford and his colleagues, has been consummated iv the withdrawal from Mr. M'Lean of the General Government agency. Although, for some time past, the position he held was rendered almost ineffectual for good by the jealous interference of the Government and the envious inisrepiesentatious of smaller men, yet the very fact of his holding it, if only in name, imparted a degree of confidence and security which cauuot be said longer to exist. Ministers, by this act, have deliberately insulted a public man of long experience and high standing, — they have raised, ou the part of 95 per cent, of the European community the strongest feeling of indignation, — and they have lost the only hold they could be said to have upon the friendly tribes, more especially those of the East Coast. Such acts as the one we have alluded to, — taken in conjunction with the critical state of affairs as brought to light day by day, the absence of preparation or forethought to guard against the destruction of out-settlements, the indifference with which loss of life and property are regarded, and the total ignoriug by the Government of all warning, however well founded, — must surely rouse the country to a sense of the necessity for taking some immediate steps to strengthen the hands of the representative of Her Majesty iv displacing, before the utter ruin of the Colony is completed, a miuistry whose policy, or rather, whose want of policy is fast leading to that consummation. With the people alone rests the remedy for this state of things. They and they only are the sufferers ; and by their voice, clearly expressed, the Governor is empowered and called upon either immediately to dissolve the Assembly or to call to his couueils men who have not forfeited the confidence of the couutry. We are glad to find that Mr. Stafford's insolent treatment of the chief magistrate of this proviuce is not likely to be overlooked, either iv Hawke's Bay or other parts of New Zealand.