THE OPPOSITION.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1057, 2 June 1892, Page 31

THE OPPOSITION.

As the session comes near the Opposition finds that time has not fought for that side of the House during the recess. The Privy Council was the great card of the party, but that eminent authority has chosen to decide the other way. A desperate attempt will be made to prove that the Court of Appeal is more trustworthy in such matters than the Privy Council ; the attempt has, in fact, been begun, bub everbody sees through it readily. The PolhilL Gully Commission has deepened the shade in which the Opposition is living, by proving to fair minded people that the shade is the best place for its leaders. In Dunedin the Supreme Court lias decided that a dummy of the worst kind has been caught by the Minister of Lands, who in all probability has got on the track of a system. There was a fond hope that the Board of Review would whittle away the whole basis of the new finance, but with the exception of the Board of one. large district, the Reviewers do not seem to be quite alive to the Opposition interest. As for the old finance, it was fondly hoped long ago, that the Government would “ gallop to a deficit.” No one among the prophets of evil thought of the stability of the Atkinson Finance. They were all very ready to believe that the magic of the Atkinson name having been withdrawn, the Atkinson Finance would breakdown to the detriment of the men who were “ galloping to a deficit.” Those gentlemen, however, appear to have had the bad taste to gallop to a surplus. When this was made clear, the first reflection which occurred to the Opposition critics was that after all the Atkinson Finance must be rather a good tiring. Their second idea was to minimise the surplus, which they could not deny, and they minimised it at the handsome figure of L 160,000. The fact, of course, is that the minimum surplus will be considerably larger. Sir George Grey was, however, the strong power which was to make everything as it ought to be for trie Opposition. He would coalesce with Mr Rolleston and make a tremendou ly strong attack on the Government. But leading members of the Opposition, like Mr Duthie, took the earliest opportunity to disavow all intention of having anything to do with Sir George. They felt that the Opposition criticisms of the past, journalistic and otherwise, were too strong to be forgotten. Sir George Grey himself, moreover, showed that his only weapon of attack was the protest against the taxation of improvements. The Opposition have suddenly remembered that he was badly beaten last year when he made his protest, or~rather when Mr Shera made it for him. They have reflected that the question of exempting improvements is a question of finance. The Government has gone far in that direction by fixing the exemption at L3OOO, and no man who has any reputation to lose will ever commit himself to the view that the whole improvement taxation can be taken off with safety to the financial equilibrium. Prudent men have determined to wait for the Financial Statement before forming any opinions on tlie subject. So bard pressed have the / Opposition writers felt themselves in consequence of these egregious failures that they have in desperation made a personal attack on the Prenrier, and sought political capital in the Booth rumours. The knighthood of Sir Patrick Buckley has refuted the former, and General Booth has exploded the latter by announcing that he will send a delegate to New Zealand to try to get better terms than thoie offered by tlie Piemier, subject to the approval of Parliament. Over all these dismal Opposition failures lies the shadow of the success of the Ministerial land policy, which the fairest and most candid men of the Opposition, men like Mr J. G. Wilson, frankly admit. The only hope of the Opposition appears to be in that wonderfully discordant trio, consisting of Mr Fish, Mr Fisher and Mr George Hutchison. These are supposed to advance on the Government position after a cannonade of small articles written with the object of sowing dissension in the Cabinet. These articles are coining out regularly, declaring that some Ministers are strong and others weak, representing that the two qualities of Ministers are at daggers drawn, and making various other misrepresentations, which it is not necessary to detail. At the base

of these attacks lies a hope that S r George Grey may do something. What it i . these critics do not know and George has resisted all their attempts draw him on the suoject. They, _ ever, twist his oracular utterances into shapes encouraging to the diseordant trio and they persuade themselves that a time is coming. All this amuses them and serves, with bogus attacks on_ imagi; nary constitutional irregularities, to pass the brief remainder of the recess agre ablv It proves, moreover, to tne country that'the present Opposition is on the whole the weakest that has ever faced a Ministry in our annals.