Hawke's Bay Herald. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1893. COUNTING HEADS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9542, 30 November 1893, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1893. COUNTING HEADS.

There la a practice known to Old Bailey lawyero as " knocking the bralna oat of the jury." Wheu they have a bad case they keenly ecrutiulee the faces of the panel and challenge those who seem to be moat intelligent, in the hope that with a stupid jurj they may restore their client) to bis friends and bis relations. Ministers pursued similar tactica ia the late elections. When they had the choice of two or more candidates they invariably chose the one with the least thinking oapacity, That they have succeeded in theire^ >rt is but too evident. The new House . even more marked by intellectual deoadenoe than Its predecessors, and that ia saying a good deal. The Opposition has all but vanished. A list given elsewhere shows the Ministerial following to number 51, while the Opposition number bat 15, all told. Sir George Grey, Sir Robert Sbont, and Mr MGuire, whom we have classed as Independents, have leanings in the direction of the Ministerial policy, though they cannot be classed as followers of the Ministry, but the fourth Independent, Mr Fraser, is more likely to settle down into the recognised Opposition camp. The Opposition have lost moat of their best men — indeed Captain Russell, Mr Mltchelton, Mr G. Hnrohiaon, Mr Dathle, and Mr Allen repreaeat all that is left of the debating power of Mr RolJeston'e old following. They will be Btrongly reintoiced, however, by Mr H. D, Bell and

Mr Button, end Sir Robert Stont will also be a very keen critic of many items of tha Mil iiterhl policy and administration. Spoaklng from a colonial point of view, we regret that Ministers have such a large following, for it will enable them to inflict their own will on the country, and If they act up i 0 their promises their rule mail be disastrous to its best interests. But from an Opposition standpoint we are glad, seeing that Ministers have a majority, that it is fo large. The Opposition may criticise, but they will be powerless to amend, and the Legislative Council is not likely to stand in the way of measures which tbe oonntry has at least indireotly approved at the polls. Ministers will, therefore, have to accept fall r« spoatibility for the legislation of the next three years and Its results, BDd we are ranch mistaken if at the cud of that time there will not be an entire revulsion of public feeling. When men and women learn that they cannot be mitfe prosperous and happy by Act of Parliament, but that industries may be crippled and enterprise checked by unwise legislation, however wellintentioned, the reign of the Seddon Ministry will end. The p-ople will, in the end, learn that thongh to leap over a p.ecipice may be tbe most expeditions way to the bottom, the pleasant t and safer way is to make a well-graded road down the cliff.

Mioiatera themselves, we imagine, must stand aghast at the ex'ent of their victory. A compact party, fnced by a strong Opposition, can be easily brought into line urder the Ministerial whip. But with such an enormous following there will be apt to arise the old dispute as to whether the dog wags the tail or fie tall wags the dof?. Followers of the extreme Sociaimic vlbwb of Messrs J. A. Millar, O'Reean and Company, who would pull down the whole fabric of society at once, reduce everyone to a dead level, atd make the State the universal employer, will want their theories carried out, while the more modest members ot the party will stand aghast. The ultimate result will, no doabt, be a shortening of the Ministerial tail, but though the severed portion may wriggle after the Opposiiion dog, it ojn never effeot a union, For all practical good tho OppoBi'ion is powerless, and it is bad for any country when such is the case Mr Seddon at present towers as an irresponsible Dictator of New Zealand. There is a general concensus (f opiubn that the result is due to woman franchise. It is a Ibousa'"! piuea thac the women's votes were mk kepi, ilislinct from those of the men, for an exicu knowledge of the tendency of the female influence on politics in New Zealand would be a valuable object lesson to the rest of the world. As it Is, that tendency can oaly be roughly guessed at, But there can be little doubt thit, on tbe whole, it was cast very strongly in favor tl Ministerial candidates. Women ate led more by the emotions than by reason. la a recent article in the New Review by Professor Rudvig Biichner on "The Brain of Woman '' he remarks : —

If we consider that far thousands of years woman, by reason of her subordinate social position, has received a different edacatlon from her male partner, and that her training has led her in quite another direction than his, that her horizon hn bren a more limited one, and, moreover, that erery encourafrecnent has bren given to the play of her emotions at the expense of the activity of her intellect, and, finally, that this stale of affiirs has lasted from generation to generation through mother to daughi jr, then I say that from a physiologic*! standpoint there should be no cause for surprise that, as a result, woman should differ from man, that her brain should be inferior Co lib, or, at nny

rate, should have developed on different liaes, or, as we have been saying, that the fore part of her brain should be found to

be proportionately less, and the hind part proportionately greater than that if man. No doubt the Ministe..al policy, with its promises of universal prosperity to be brought about by p-seins a few Acts of Parliament, was much more calculated to catch the emotional element in the el< : tori tea than the colder reasoning and the policy of sure but slow progress of the Opposition Candida! i. There is, how-

ever, a practical side to woman's nature.

If an experiment does not produce what is promised from it she ia not only disinclined to repeat it, but to resent the advice which misled her and turn upon the advher. When women learn what is practicable and safe in politic-, and what 's vitionaiy and dangerous, they will not 1 ) so easily ltd by clap- trap, however brilliantly it may be disguised. We were not among those who favored woman suffrage, and the result bo f ir has justified the stiaiid we took, bub we are happy in the bel : e f that though at first it muy go in a wrong direction, id will ultimately work on safe lives. Id the meantime the coiinuy must accept the decision of King Demos and hii wife and daughters.