The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1868.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 210, 4 September 1868, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1868.

Viewing the importance of the great changes in the financial position of the colony, which our telegraphic intelligence aunounced yesterday that the Government had proposed to the acceptance of the Assembly, and also that by the rejection of Mr. Fox's motion it has been determined to retain the present Ministry in office, it is impossible not to hope that the attention of our representatives may be steadily and uninterruptedly directed to fair and unprejudiced deliberation on the financial measures proposed by the Government. Those who have more confidence than we own that we possess in the persons who are likely to constitute a Government in the event of the threat-, ened dissolution resulting unfavorably to the present Ministry, of course may continue to precipitate that event. Bufc to us, who, in the present dearth of properly qualified statesmen in this colony, cannot entertain such a prospect with any amount of hopefulness, and therefore do not participate tn the anticipation of any relief from chaDge, it seems worse than absurd to keep public affairs in a continual agitation, not so much in reference, after all, to the nature of the measures proposed as to the persons by whom • they are to be administered. There is this excuse, however, for the Opposition, should they persevere in resisting the Government mea- j sures. The principle has been tacitly acknowledged that the confidence of the House in the persons of those who comprise the Government is to be determined, not by their administrative efficiency, but by personal antipathy to those who might become their successors. The result of the debate on Mr Fox's motion has, indeed, already practically struck away the sure constitutional test by which Ministerial authority and efficiency are to be gauged. Mr Fox, in the bold and resolute motion which he offered to the House, has not at | all impaired his reputatiou for pluck, although, perhaps, his character as an astute tactician has been somewhat obscured. No man will ultimately lose by doing openly and in a direct manner what he purposes to accomplish; and we trust that all who profess to follow his leadership and support his aspirations, will take a course equally open, and that the Assembly will not be harassed — as^has been too frequently the case lately — by petty motions originated for mere mischief, and will not be disgraced by the mere monkey tricks of debate or by insinuations which it is impossible for gentlemen either to offer or to eudure. The angry feeling which may have been kindled in the late debate has not at all events extended to the commumty at large, however dissatisfied it may be with the present regime. Perhaps never was a decision less approved on its own merits, or more willingly accepted in view of its threatened consequences, involving as they must have done, a most injurious delay in the administration of public affairs, and in the settlement of those great questions, the • solution of which could only have been

delayed for a , season, and which is now ' ! imminent. A majority of nine, and the absence of many ■who, while disapproving of the conduct pursued by the Ministry were not unwilling to accept the results of their undemonstrativeness, have placed the propriety of change at a considerable distance. It would be mere child's play to go over the same tactics to meet a result already foreseen, and which would probably end equally unsatisfactorily to the colony. The vote taken on the Ministeterial policy, or rather, we should, say, on the refusal of the Government to announce its policy, must at any rate be deemed conclusive for the present, especially as the Government have, by the production of the financial statement, published their programme as regards one important question towards the solution of which Mr Fox's motion was avowedly directed, though with the present meagre amount of information which we have at hand on the subject it would be manifestly premature and unfair to decide upon the merits of the scheme which is to decide the rival claims of Provincialism and Centralism. It may be possible, even with these clouds lowering on- the horizon, for the remainder of the session to be usefully spent, and atonement may yet be made for that waste of time of which so much complaint has reached us, which retards the progress of useful legislation, and holds in suspense interests which above all things require that the public policy should be distinct, clear, and dispassionate. We are now on the very threshold of a struggle, the nature of which, although it requires no prophetic eye to forecast its issue, must call forth the most careful and energetic deliberations of our legislators, who, if they be truly such, will consider themselves bound conscientiously to employ the public time in view of the public good.