Lake Wakatip Mail. QUEENSTOWN, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5,1897.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2181, 5 November 1897, Page 2

Lake Wakatip Mail. QUEENSTOWN, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5,1897.

The debate on the Financial Statement dragged its slow length along over 14 days, but the time can hardly be considered to have been wasted since the Government received a thorough scarification at the hands of the Opposition, and unmistakably demonstrated their inability to meet the charges so forcibly pressed home against them. The intelligence and debating power of the house are, it is now evident, with very few exceptions, on the Opposition benches; the Ministerialists make but a sorry show, and Mr Seddon must be pretty well disgusted at the feebleness and incapacity of his colleagues who are indeed the laughing stock of the country. Me John Mackenzie, it must be admitted, is neither feeble nor incapable, but his qualities are of a character more dangerous to his party, and he is playing just now somewhat the part of "the bull in the china shop "—rushing about and smashiug things. His conduct from first to last in the Horowhenua business has been indefensibly outrageous, and his announced intention to override the law and upset the judgment of the Supreme Court by retrospective legislation is universally condemned. His bounce, bluster, and reckless assertions in the House are being resented even by the

most subservient of the Seddonian adherents ; and there are manifest signs that he has about reached the end of his tether. Mr Rolleston caused some little stir at a late stage in the debate by moving as an amendment to the motion for going into supply " That, in the opinion of this House, it is inconsistent with the principles that should guide the administration of public affairs that Ministers of the Crown should hold positions on syndicates or companies, whose business would bring them into relations with departments of the State." The honorable gentleman in a calm and dignified address affirmed that he considered it was most undesirable for Ministers to hold positions in these companies, and he disclaimed any intention by his resolution of raising a a party question. He hoped the House would show the country that it was able to express a dispassionate opinion. The Prime Minister at once disabused Mr Rolleston's mind of any such notions by declaring that he had "no alternative " but to consider the amendment as a motion of "no confidence." There of are course always two alternatives in such cases, but the other ono could hardly be expected to commend itself to the Right Honorable gentleman, since it would invoke the resignation of his official position in the Anglo-Continental Mining Syndicate, and the handsome screw reported to be attached if the amendment had been carried—as it undoubtedly would were members left to use their own discretion. There can be no question as to the correctness of the view taken by Mr Rolleston, and although the Prime Minister by putting on the screw and threatening a dissolution of Parliament, should he be defeated, managed—if we may be excused the vulgarity of the expression—to "save his bacon " by a majority of six in a full House, he sincerely damaged his prestige and alienated three at least of the members upon whom he could ordinarily rely for unswerving support. It was a sorry victory at the best and could not have been gained at all, but that so many honorable gentlemen did not venture to risk the chances of reelection, dependent as they are for a livelihood on their salary as representatives. Such conduct of course is be* neath contempt; but apparently they care not how they are despised so long as the £2O a month comes in regularly. Most people will beyond doubt agree with Mr Rolleston that there is a great principle involved in the proposition which he submitted to the House. Mr Scobie Mackenzie, in speaking to the amendment, put the matter very clearly. "It cannot be right," he said, " for a responsible Minister of the Crown to take up a position in which his private interests may at any moment come into conflict with his duty to the country. May they not at any time so turn in the Mines Department? Suppose an application were made by the Anglo-Continental Syndicate that a river should be turned into a sludge channel, and the interests of thousands of farmers were dependent on the decision of the Government What confidence could people have as to the decision arrived at? Suppose again a question of boundary between two claims arose before a Warden? The Warden is at the beck and call of the Minister of the day. He may be dismissed, or his salary may be reduced, or he may be sent to the West Coast, which I understand is the severest form of punishment. Can it be right that those Wardens should be asked to give a decision against the Premier of the Colony, and can we be satisfied that they would under such trying circumstances deal with all such matters impartially and judicially as they should do? It is not possible, and however honest the Right Honorable gentleman may be and however much confidence he may have in himself, he is placing himself in a false position. It is a public scandal that it should be so; such a position has never existed before, and the sooner it is put an end to the better."