THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, MARCH 10,1898.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10697, 10 March 1898, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 1898.

" Mene ! Mene ! Tekcl Upharsin I" This was the handwriting on the wall that seared the King of the Chaldeans. And when it was interpreted by the prophet, it read, " God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it; thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting ; thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Modes and Persians." And in that night was Belshazzar, the King of the Chaldeans, slain. We should be sorry indeed if the latter portion of this startling denouement should have a literal fulfilment in the case of Mr. Seddon. But we have very little doubt that as he last night read the handwriting on the wall, as the numbers were put up that told of the defeat of his chosen candidate, and the election of Mr. Duthie, "His countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against the Other." For at no time since ho first came to power has there been such a weighing in tlio balances as has been taking place in Wellington during the past few days, nor ever before has his policy been found so miserably wanting, and there is probably no one in the country who more clearly knows than the Premier himself that last night he saw the fatal handwriting on the wall. When we consider all the elements that had been brought into play in the Wellington election, wo can readily realise the magnitude of the stakes that wore in issue, and in proportion to the greatness of the struggle is, we may assume, the significance of the result. It is true that during last session there was a foreshadowing of fate in the disintegration of the Ministerial following, antlin the rare independence with which many of the members of that party comported themselves in their bearing towards their chief, and it was this fact that induced the Government to throw itself into this contest in the metropolitan centre with an abandon that showed the conviction of the Government that its fate and fortunes wera largely involved in the selection of a successor to Sir Robert Stout,

The country has been advised from time to time of the elaborate pains that were being taken to eliminate every element of discord from the Ministerial rauk3, so that they might present an unbroken front to tlio enemy, For once, at least, in view of the emergency, all budding ambitions wore ruthlessly nipped and obedience was the mot tfordre, and under the übiquitous personal presence of the Premier himself candidates were removed ono by one from the arena, until there remained but a single Ministerial nomineo to confront the Opposition candidate. We have been advised, also, how the redoubtable Minister of Lands and Agriculture, and the Colonial Secretary, and the Right Honorable Mr. Seddon, himself, with all his weight of honours and responsibilities as Premier, Colonial Treasurer, PostmasterGeneral, Electric Telegraphs Commissioner, Commissioner of Trade and Customs, Minister in Charge of the Government Life Assurance Department, Minister of Labour and Native Affairs, to say nothing of his Imperial dignities, had thrown themselves into the fray, orating at street corners and on public platforms, and at every vantage point, for impressing on the minds of electors the importance of the cccasiou ; while a crowd of minor satellites in the form of members of Par liameut from town and country circled around a very galaxy of political nminaries that should have been fairly

dazzling, if not bewildering, to the lieges, All the political organizations, male and female, appear to have been stimulated to a high if not a dangerous state of political electric tension, and so far as can be judged there was not a political force or element of strength in the whole political organization of the Government party that was not brought to bear on the devoted head of the Opposition candidate. To do them justice, the Opposition party were hardly a whit behind in the completeness and vigour of their political activities, and as a trial of strength in the metropolitan centre the struggle was a veritable tug of war. No side issues distracted the public attention from the one crucial question of confidence or no - confidence in the Government, and for once the people have delivered their verdict with a distinctness of utterance that cannot but be understood from end to end of the colony. It was a definite challenge from the Government on its policy ; it was accepted as such by the Opposition leaders and the people ; the battle lias been fought out hand-to-hand, and the Government lias been ignominiously defeated.

There is no mistaking the significance of this defeat, and when we consider the large official element embraced in that particular constituency, and the ruthless vigour with which political subserviency is enforced in the Civil Service, and more particularly at headquarters, that significance is enhanced. It shows beyond any misunderstanding the set of the current of political feeling, and in the weariness of the public mind under the incubus that has so long rested on every interest in the colony, there is not the slightest doubt that the victory at Wellington would be more than repeated at Dunedin, at Christen and at Auckland, if the opportunity were only similarly afforded for protesting against the arbitrary and unscrupulous rule under which the colony has been groaning. In Mr. Dutliis the country sees restored to a place in Parliament one of the ablest, most useful, and most valued servants of the public, and the one most feared, and consequently hated by the Government. But greater even than the value of such an acquisition to the House is the importance of the test applied in this election to the temper of the country, and it is hardly too much to say that last night's defeat rang the death knell of the Seddon Government.