The Marlborough Press. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1872.

Marlborough Press, Volume XIII, Issue 823, 16 October 1872, Page 2

The Marlborough Press. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1872.

During the interregnum of Mr Fox's party and the installation of Mr Stafford as Premier, the name of Mr Waterhouse was in the mouths of most politicians of the Colony as the fortunate individual who could, if he would, reconcile conflicting interests, and, by adding a little in one place and taking it from another, fuse the discordant factions. Such a task was about as practicable as attempting to mix oil and water, or to add acids and alkalies together and expect them to retain their relative properties. Many people now are anxious to know what Mr Waterhouse has done that he should be supposed capable of successfully accomplishing what other men, at least equally able, have failed in undertaking. His credentials are not such as to point him out as possessing an overwhelming amount of ability, and if he, is judged < from his official acts when holding office in South Australia, it js quite evident that the new Premier ,of New Zealand does not possess the requisite qualifications for the office in as great a degree as Mr Stafford, the gentleman he succeeds. The formation of the new Ministry, consequent upon Mr Vogel's no-confidence motion, seems to point out clearer than ever the great necessity that exists for a dissolution of the Assembly and an appeal to the country. As the Ministry formed by Mr Stafford was weaker and less likely to be cohesive than the one which preceded it, so is the new Ministry now formed by Mr Waterhouse strong than that which went out with Mr Stafford. This falling-away 19 no proof that political ambition is dead, but .tends rather to show that men who care for reputation will not risk joining si Cabinet with the press nt feeling in the House. None of the prominent jn mbers of either House has joined

Mr Waterhouse, except those who were in the Ministry with Mr Vogel previous to his ousting at the late contest. The names of the new members of the Government do not give an assurance of confidence, and it is not at all unlikely that, unless the session should terminate almost at once, the Opposition will so order their tactics that the new Ministry will have to resign, and an appeal to the electors terminate the unseemly display of personal feeling that has been exhibited during the session. When Mr Stafford succeeded in upsetting the Fox Government, it was rumored that Mr Waterhouse would likely join him in forming a new one, and the rumor was repeated with such circumstantiality of detail, that people really believed that in Mr Waterhouse would be found a decided acquisition to the strength of any Ministry, and one who from his previous training would do good service when he accepted office. The rumor to which reference is here made proved to he unfounded, and in his explanation in the Council, when announcing why he did not accept office, lie is reported to have said: 1 may state that, keeping aloof from all parties as far as possible, it is my intention, as far as I can, to aid the Government in carrying their measures through this Council. I wish to identify myself with no part}': I wish to maintain my position as an independent member of the Legislature ; and upon this matter I will at once say I am determined I will never place myself again in the position of painful perplexity in whiolr I have been placed during the last few days. Therefore, availing myself of the position in which 1 now stand, I state, and state publicly, that no consideration whatever will induce me to identify myself with any party or any administration in this country. Of course I recognize that, as an individual, one cannot evade altogether the responsibility of his position, but the only necessity that I will ever recognize for taking an active part in the administration of the country is one which, fortunately, is not likely to arise as regards a member of this branch of the Legislature. I state this because my name has been very much used in connection with this matter, and I am determined to escape being again fixed in the painful position I have been in for the last few days. Read in the light of recent events, the action of Mr Waterhouse in accepting office affords a strange commentary on his words. Vacillating, swaying to this party and then to that, such a man is not one who should be chosen to guide the ship of state in these perilous times. With an energetic, shrewd man as Mr Vogel is as lieutenant, the office of the new Premier will he a sinecure, and the new Treasurer will be again what he has hitherto been, the Government, and all other members of the Ministry will be heads only in name. The country will not be satisfied at this most recent change ; for the ballast Mr Waterhouse was supposed to possess is of too shifting a character to give the required stability to Mr Vogel's temperament. For the time, this latter gentleman is master of the position, hut he will need all his political tact to prevent himself from suffering a similar fate to that he so lately caused to befall Mr Stafford.