The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, MAY 19, 1868.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 117, 19 May 1868, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, MAY 19, 1868.

Eeferking to financial reform, as premised by Mr Stafford, the Auckland Weekly Herald says that it would appear tnat the duties of that new and highly paid office, the .Comptroller Generalship? held by Mr James FitzGerald, a"c simply to see where the money comes from before ifc is spent, while another high official, the Audific-G-enera', h presumed to watch. how ifc goes out of the Treasury. What then, we would ask, are the Colonial Treasurer and his formidable array of assistants supposed to do iv the matter of colonial debits aud credits ? Mr FitzGerald, certainly the most daugerors political opponent the present Minis try would have had to contend with, and that in more waysthan one, and for many years the proprietor and editor of one of the leading newspapers of the Middle Island, suddenly found that his services were required in a more peaceable capacity, and retired from the field, most fortunately secured from doing any harm to his new friends. Determined, however, it would appear, to show his graieful appreciation of the reception he had met with, and at the same time desirous probably of indulging his old and favorit3 avocation, it is understood that he will again, to a certain ex lent, resume a portion of his former duties in connection with the Press, but under somewhat altered circumstances. We allude to the new ministerial organ, to the waufc of which, Mr Staffoid so pathetically alluded in his late speech delivered at the Provincial Hall, and which, the Government are at present endeavoring to establish in Wellington, prior to the meeting of the Assembly. i Some time ago, shares in the undertaking I were offered to a select few adherents of the present Administration in a circular, handed round for their approval, which I bore the mark of * Private and ConfidenJ tial.' The aim of the projected newspaper was stated in this circular in general terms to be that of upholding colonial politics, and promoting the pet scheme of j the Ministry, viz., the drawing with one ! supreme power the independent governj ing reius of the provinces. The literary • undertaking in question will not, indeed, lack vigorous and able writers, as the same pen which, wielded, during .. the last Session by Messrs: J;. C. Richmond, i Richardson, &c., usually filled the leading j columns of the defunct; Wellington Ad r i vertiser, will, it is understood, came. to the aid of the initiators of the new pap|er, when battling for dear political life at the next meeting of the Assembly, yrheve stormy debates and the now harmless and misnamed. '.Ministerial. Questions-, no longer bear in the minds of honorable members who attended last year's debates their former signification and importance. The. « plant. of. the_ Canterbury-Press wjillj' there^can now be little^ doubt, be removed by Mr FitzGerald 'fron/Ch^V .<^nj^-to^^^^-Ci^|r v ;Bß^it ; iß , also, affirmed that.thejate memberior. the 'City

of the Plains * will undertake its supervision. Itmay notbemal-a-proposhere to remark that, out of nearly half a hundred newspapers now published in this colony, the ! Canterbury Press has been the only one which has advocated on ail questions unexceplLonally the measures of the present Ministry. The political . handling to which the shortlived Daily New Zealand Times was subjected by the Premier, and his friends duriug its ephemeral career, had much to do with- ushering it within the precincts of the Bankruptcy Court. The 'unofficial Government Gazette' which is shortly expected to make its appearance, will probably enjoy a more fortunate career, since it is being started and created on a firmer foundation, one sine qua von element of success in similar . enterprises—we need hardly say, a fair amount of capital — not being wanting, arid as the undertaking is initiated to effect and answer a certain purpose without regard to remunerative returns, we may yet expect to see it live through at least oue political season, until its faintly dissembled object, that of contributing to assure the stability of fhe present Government, shaH perchance have bean accomplished.