The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY). MONDAY, JUNE 2, 1879.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5670, 2 June 1879, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY). MONDAY, JUNE 2, 1879.

In October, 1877—now nearly two years ago—by a trick which, even in party warfare, was unfair and discreditable, Sir George Grey wriggled into office. By a succession of tricks and by shameless abuse of Parliamentary forms, of which the last has not yet been heard, the Premier maintained himself, and his colleagues of that time—Messrs. Larnach, Sheehan, Macandrew, and Fisher—in that position throughout the session, in the face of *a majority of the House of Representatives avowedly hostile, and absolutely without cou(idence|in the Government as then constituted. His opposition to the former Ministry had been so noisy and malevolent, and his promises of administrative and fiscal reform so large and so attractive to ignorant people, upon whose credulity he has known how to trade, that even in the ranks of the Opposition there was a contemptuous disposition to “give the ex- “ Governor a chance” of exhibiting his inability successfully to conduct the public business of a Colony in which parliamentary government was established, feeling assured that, from his previous training, and from his wellknown personal character, his failure might be confidently looked for. Probably few even of those who knew the Premier’s ways expected that the failure would be so complete as it has proved to be.

At the time now in question it was Sir George Grey’s delight to give rhetorical pictures of the condition of the Colony, which, if his representations had not been weakened by extravagance, or contradicted by patent facts, might have helped to bring ruin to the credit and to the resources of the people of New Zealand. It was his favorite practical illustration of the decadence of the Colony to make figures to show that the public expenditure exceeded the public income by some thousands of pounds every day in the year, and it remains on record that, in his Financial Statement, made on the 16th November, 1877, nearly a month after this auspicious accession to office, Mr. Larxach was made to declare that “ it will be observed that “ the present daily expenditure of the ‘ ‘ colony is in excess of its estimated re- “ venue— minus the land revenue “ £1926 that is to say that the Government was then spending some seven hundred thousand pounds a year more than itjhad got or was likely to get as ordinary revenue. If our financial condition and prospects were then bad, our relations with the native people, according to the Premier, were, if possible, worse ; but there was hope ! the Premier himself was, in his own opinion, a great “Maori “ Doctorbut he had in addition a special advantage, a real treasure, in Mr. Sheehan. “Of this,” he said, “lam “ sure—the fact of my having to aid me

“ as a colleague a gentleman born in New “ Zealand, knowing the natives from his “ childhood, and much regarded and 11 esteemed by them, will be to me an ad- “ vantage such as could not have been “ enjoyed by a Ministry in New Zealand “ at an earlier period of its history, because no person so born, so educated, “ and with such a knowledge of the feel- “ ings of the native race was then to be “ found in the country.” The cardinal points of the “great” policy, the saving policy, of that policy which alone could afford a raison d’etre of a Grey Ministry, were retrenchment in public expenditure on the one side, and, in dealing with the native difficulty, a policy of “continued “amalgamation, of instruction to the “ native race, of an attempt to encourage “ the most friendly relations with them.” Now, it may fairly be asked “ at last” how have the promises of retrenchment been fulfilled, and what has been the result of two years’ “personal” efforts, and of a most lavish expenditure of public money in endeavoring to effect a solution of the native difficulty by the means above specified—amalgamation, &c., &c. —on the part of the Native Minister and his chief ? The retrenchment was to have commenced, as we know, with the salaries of the Ministers themselves. Their residences, said to have been kept up at “ enormous” cost by the money of the “poor man” and of “little children” whose lollies and whose little boots and stockings were taxed—as Sir George Grey used dolorously to insist—for this wicked purpose, were to be immediately sold, and the money restored to the public Treasury. The Hinemoa, Government yacht, alleged to have been maintained for the special convenience of Ministers and of their relatives and friends, at a cost of £BOOO a year, was to be incontinently suppressed. But these wore, as Sir George Grey said, “minor matters;” the “great” savings were to be effected by the centralisation of administration in the powerful hand of one Government, and by reduction of expenditure in the management and working of the railways. The salaries of Ministers, however, are still exactly the same as the salaries of their predecessors in office; the travelling expenses of themselves, and what the Court journals always call their “suite,” are infinitely greater than those of their predecessors, for the reasons—firstly, that the present Ministers are, severally, very much more often absent from the seat of Government than former Ministers were used to be; and, secondly, because when former Ministers were out on public service in the colony they were content to travel, ordinarily, without a “ suite.” The Ministerial residences are still occupied by Ministers; and the Hinemoa is still the Ministers’ yacht, the officers and men being now in livery, and the expenditure more reckless and extravagant than ever. The great economy of centralising administration has not even been attempted to be made; on the contrary, departments have been multiplied, and in view of “ separa- “ tion” the administration of public works, of defence, and of other departments in the North and South Islands has been made distinct, with increase of cost and decrease of efficiency in all cases. Offices have moreover been created and officers multiplied everywhere without stint, in too many cases only to reward political party services rendered to the Government ; whilst advertising jobs, Tapanui jobs, special wire jobs, and Thames Valley railway jobs, have demonstrated the reckless disregard of Ministers for the restraints of law, for the will of the people, as that is expressed by their representatives in Parliament, and for that official husbandry of the people’s money, which is the paramount duty and obligation of a Government. It is notorious and cannot be denied that there has been no retrenchment, even apparently, except perhaps in the removal from office of individuals who have become personally obnoxious to the Premier or to the Honorable Mr. Sheehan, whilst the whole charge of public administration under the present Government has been greatly increased. Through the thick haze of official falsehood in which Ministerial dealings with the native people have been enshrouded, there now appears the fact that we are on the verge of a native rebellion ; that the “personal” influence of which such boast was made has no existence and never had ; that Ministers have been flouted and insulted publicly through their own fault; that very large sums of money have been wasted, often disreputably wasted; and that the patient labor of the last seven years, under Sir Donald McLean, has been foolishly undone in a few months by Sir George Grey and Mr. Sheehan.

Under these circumstances, no doubt the House of Representatives when it meets will remember and act upon the advice contained in the closing sentence of the Ministerial Statement of the Premier from which we have already quoted: —“lt in any respect we fail, I ask “ the House to do justice to New Zea- “ land, and to be regardless of myself and “ of those who sit upon those benches “ with me.” The failure has been complete in every respect, and the sins .of commission besides have been many and very grave.