The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 1884.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXI, Issue 7223, 24 April 1884, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 1884.

The Hon Me Conollt has added his little quota to the weight of Ministerial utterances, and has received a vote of thanks and confidence from that enlightened and progressive constituency which he so worthily represents. It is probably not to be expected that a Picton audience should do more than receive with dutiful reverence the wisdom dropping from the lips of a Minister. To be represented by a Minister at all is an immense honour; and nobody could expect any other result from Mr Conolly’s meeting than that which actually happened. If, indeed, he had outraged the susceptibilities of his constituents by suggesting that a new pile on their wharf would be too heavy an expense to the country, or that two constables were too many for their large but most peaceful district, they might have flamed up into huge discontent. But, naturally, no such thing could occur, and so he kept on the even tenor of his way, and made a beautiful speech, and was received with immense favour; and we should not have thought it necessary to bring him under the notice of our readers, had he not unluckily thought of repeating something which Major Atkinson had previously uttered as a sort of argument. Even so, it might not be requisite to dwell on the point, if it were not clear that this particular thing is to be one of the main weapons

of tho ■ Ministerial armoury. The Premier brought it out first. Mr Bolloaton hinted at a use for it, Mr Conolly now shows that he is going to keep it slurp and bright for his foes in Parliament, and altogether there is no doubt that very much will bo heard and seen of it before tho light is done. Englishmen are, of all people, probably tho most illogical: direct sequence of thought is not congenial to them, and they are not at all prone to consider where an assertion, or an argument, is going to land them in tho end. It is by taking advantage of this weakness of theirs that astute politicians manage to secure their ends. Major Atkinson is very astute; hiding beneath a rough bluffness of manner a serpentine craftiness; and he seems to have known perfectly well what he was about when he gave tho keynote to his followers by calmly asserting that all the impossibilities of retrenchment were the fault of the Opposition, or rather, of the Assembly itself. “ Retrench !” he says—“ Why, there is nothing I should like better; nothing that the Government, are more ready, nay, more anxious, to do. Only you won’t let us; you cry out the moment we propose to reduce a policeman or a gatekeeper. You accuse us of extravagance, but although we are simply hungering for economy, craving with all our hearts for it, pining away to thread-paper because we can’t get it, you, the reckless and hardhearted members of Parliament won’t give us a bit of it. Retrench ! Oh, if you only would not force me to spend money, how cheaply I would govern the country !” And then Mr Rolleston says much the same, and Mr Conolly says it, and all the Ministerial hangers-on will repeat it, and the public, not at all given to strict logic, is fairly expected to accept it. Now, if anybody chose to take this matter up in its legitimate way, the reply is quite a simple one, though Major Atkinson may ftot care to hear it. And that reply is, in one brief sentence : “ Why did you not resign?” Nothing can be simpler, nothing more straightforward, nothing more impossible to answer. To assert that a Ministry is kept in office by the distinct and peremptory command of their own majority, solely for the veiy purpose of doing that which the majority knows to be exactly contrary to the Ministerial wish, is more than absurd, it is an insult to the community. No spectacle can be more degrading than that of five or six gentlemen, ostensibly of high position, honour, and intelligence, sitting day after day on the Government Benches, praying and begging the Parliament of the country to allow them to curtail expenditure, because retrenchment is a necessity, but sticking fast to their places in spite of constant refusals to entertain the request. We wonder if this is what the Premier means. We wonder if he thinks the people are going to swallow so monstrous a proposition. He seems to think it, but one can scarcely realise' the fact. There have been three courses spen to him ;* either to resign his office because Parliament was extravagant; or to accept like a man the responsibility of his own acts as long as he retained power; or, lastly, to hang on to power like a leech on the plea that he was an unwilling tool of his own followers. He has chosen the third of these courses, and his colleagues are satisfied to help him in it. A more flagrantly unworthy argument has not been employed: unw6rthy of the Parliament, of the Government, of the country. Indeed, the very name of Government would seem to be a misnomer in the present case. Major Atkinson stands without disguise as the leader of a band of Ministers, using the word in its strictest sense, slaves of a parcel of people whose dictates they detest, but whom they dare not disobey. It has always bitlierto been supposed to be one of the attributes of an English Premier that he, whether he were always right or not, at least never refused to bear the responsibility of his own acts; and such a man can be respected if not followed. But a Premier who repudiates responsibility is no longer fit for his office on that ground alone. Major Atkinson has plainly shown the white feather; he has forgotten one of the first traditions of his order. He is going to address the people of Christchurch in a few days, and we sincerely trust that the argument which he has used will not be forgotten. On his own showing he has abdicated one of the principal Ministerial functions; he ought to be asked distinctly and peremptorily why he did not take the honourable course of resigning, in consequence, all the rest.