MR STAFFORD'S NEW POLICY.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 952, 20 January 1876, Page 3

MR STAFFORD'S NEW POLICY.

Jtfost of our readers have no doubt ere this fwd the extraordinary speech made by the above ex-minister at the hustings, Timaru, upon the Occasion of his being returned unopposed. The >N*ttrZealand-¥im* has an article upon the subject troai which we make the following ♦xtracts : , .'•'.' ' As a speech it is conceived in the narrowest possible spirit. There is not a statesmanlike idea in it. Indeed, we defy any one to point to a single hustings speech during the elections which is so .peculiarly looal and parochial—" provincial" would he far too dignified a term to apply t6 it—as Mr fltafforn's. He is a member for Timan?, and IPimaru is New Zealand. Christchurch is a mistake, Fort Lyttleton is a blunder, therefore the OJovernreent should spend hundreds of thousands of pounds to make a firat-class port out of an open roadstead oh the plan of Sir John Coode, the new-found jffovidence of Timaru. "If we had not read this p|rt of Mr Stafford's speech we could not have believed him capable of such pandering to local prejudice. But so it is. ( The father and godfather of this provincial abolition goes in for the most exaggerated form of local antipathy, and is prepared to make, not " political railways" only, Dut political harbors as Well. The colony has now a pretty .clear idea of the course Mr Stafford is prepared to take in the next Parliament. Ho leaves ' art one in doubt on the" subject. " Only make the i Timam breakwater/' he _ says in effect, "and connect the railways with the port, and you will have my vote, and Mr Wakefield's vote, and I am certain we may also count upon the support of the other members from the southern division of the province.'"' Here we have the price of Ave of six Canterbury votes, at all events, unblushingly advertised. The consideration is a weighty one; and it involves a vital principle as well as money we-trust it will not be paid. The principle at stake is.that .of political morality. Public honor is involved in this' matter. We had expected better things than thw-from Mr Stafford. Then, again, when he tells his constituents that he had great trouble in getting a second member for the district, does he mean that he had any trouble in the House, or was his difficulty with the Government? If the former, he must .surely forget what transpired 'in the Assembly; 'if the latter, we can only say, after reading Mr Stafford's ■speech, that it would have been well if Ministers had stood firm and rejected his overtures. There /are now two-members, to "work up" the Timaru " Bill of Eights," to wit, Sir John Coode's plan and reportrott the proposed breakwater. -When he came to colonial questions, Mr Stafford did not show that he had in the least mastered the dSffienjiMt. of the position. On -the contrary, if properly reported, he appears to have been in a fog. He argued that it was necessary to abolish •the""provinces~dn account of the inequalities of colonial finance, caused by their continuance. So . far good; but does he propound any scheme of equalisation? Hot iu the least. He thinks the financial proposals in the Abolition of Provinces Aci the fairest that can be made, although the financial scheme, embodied in that Act would perpetuate those very inequalities in finance to remove which the provinces nave been abolished. This scheme was all very well last session, but it will not satisfy the country, and Mr Stafford may. take this assurance to heart, that unless he gets beyond his present, position he will not lead any powerful Earty in this country. Ihe old landmarks of party ave been removed. Old party ties have been relaxed. The General Assembly is now for the first time, face to face with the people, and the leader who will 'command their confidence must hold other views than those promulgated by Mr Stafford at Timaru. It will never do to risk the disruption of the colony to purchase the political support. o£ any man, or any section, however respectable in fittei General Assembly, except a. few generalities MrStafford had nothing to say regarding the settlement of immigrants on -waste lands of the colony, but he was lucid and particular regarding the Canterbury runs. This was to be expected, however. With regard to the new taxes, he thought an income and property'tax the fairest that could be imposed. ' In.conclusion, he recanted nearly everything he ever said in opposition. regarding the financial ruin which the Government were bringing upon tho cojprty. Mr Stafford thinks New Zealand prosperous and its financial position sound. For thia admission, at all evehti, the country has reason to be thankful r, v T" ' r / ' '" ■ '