THE EVENING MAIL. THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1877.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 314, 26 April 1877, Page 2

THE EVENING MAIL.

THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1877.

•* Wofife arc tiling"*, unit a cEroj> •>' ink fattinj: upon a thvotfUt may pfuntose that wbi«b makes thou-aniLi think."

it is n»>w pretty generally understood tltat Parliament will be called together within ten weeks, ami there is every likelihood of the session I wing both protracted and stormy. During last session the Ministry made promises almost without number in regard to measures to be considered and framed during the veces3, and it would be interesting; to know to what extent those 1 promises have been fulfilled. e fear that, were a searching inquiry made thereinto, theresnlt would be anything but satisfactory. Notwithstanding thatthc3linistry was most profuse in promises last session, not a single full meeting of the Cabinet has been held since the prorogation of Parliament. Ministers have been indulging in a round of little pleasure trips about th«i Colony, leaving the real work of administration to be performed by the one or two members of the 3linistry who, by chance, might be at Wellington for the time being ; but it is not saying too much to nifinn tltat the real work of government haa devolved principally upon the UnderSecretaries. With the exception, perhaps, of the nominal head of the Ministry, Major Atkinson, and Mr. Bowes, not one of the members of the Cabinet has resided for many weeks together at the Scat of Government. The Hon. Mr. WittT:\KER, the real head of the Ministry, so soon as the session was over, took up his abode in Auckland. Here lie has quietly enjoyed himself, and, while drawing hi# salary as a Mwixtor,

has failed to perform the duties appertaining to his position. As Attorney-General his residence in Wellington is indispensable to the proper discharge of his duties. Not a single advantage has been gained to the country by the office of AttorneyGeneral being made a political one, for, through Mr. WuiTAKEß'spersistentabsence from the Seat of Government, he has been unable to give proper assistance in the framing of the large number of important measures which the Ministry has promised to bring before Parliament during the coming session. This is not only an injustice to his colleagues, but it is a grave and unpardonable injustice to the Colony. As for the rest of the members of the Ministry, they may be set down as a number of peripatetics. The Hon. Dr. Pollen has been travelling through the North Island, interviewing the natives, and, under the care and guidance of his colleague, the Hon. Mr. Okmond, endeavouring to learn the duties devolving upon him in his new, and evidently uncomfortable, position of Native Minister. The Hon. George M'Lea>" and the Hon. Donald Reiu have turned their attention principally to Otago, and have unavailingly devoted their energies to the task of conciliating, after their peculiar fashion, the people of the South. Each and all of the members of the Ministry have been acting almost independently. There has been a total disregard for united action and united thought, and, as a natural consequence, uiisuiauagc:'.:eut and bungling have characterised the administration of the Colony's affairs. Tl:e Ministry is unquestionably a weak one, but the mediocrity of the atoms forming the Ministry might have been pardoned and overlooked had those atoms shown an earnest desire to work together and bring into play their united abilities. This they have failed to do, and it may safely be said that none of the Ministers know very much about the doings of their colleagues. Each has followed the bent of his own particular ideas, and shullled through the work of government in hisown particular fashion. They have individually made promises without end, and totally without regard for the opiuions of their colleagues, and without the slightest prospect cf a tithe of those promises being fulfilled. Indeed the recess, so far, may fairly be stated to have been fruitful in promises, but barren in results. The whole administration of the affairs of the Colony have been left to chance, while those who have been entrusted with the important work have been enjoying thr-ir little pleasure trips at the expense of flic country, and drawing their salaries for perpetrating a lot of mischief and leaving undone that which they ought to have done. As the Wellington A >';/!!••» —a journal which, by the way, has hitherto accorded the Ministry a very great amount of support —points out, nothing has been done to prepare for the coming session. We reprint in full the remarks of our contemporary, merely premising that the Artjvs is in a position to express a decided and correct opinion upon the subject. It says :—" If the Government was properly performing its functions, the principal measures intended for introduction next session would now be in a forward state of preparation, drafted and ready for the immediate consideration of Cabinet. W c venture to

assert t]it none of them are in tuis stnto. There may be a few rough drafts embodying tlic views of individual Ministers, but the united mind of the Cabinet lias not yet been brought to bear upon the details of any one of the important measures

which will have to be placed before Par-

liament.'* What will be the consequence of tliis state of affairs I Why, we shall have a host of half-prepared, crude, and l imperfect measures thrown upon the table I uf the House, with a general invitation t-> ; members i» mould thetn into any shape 1 they like, instead of the members of the Ministry carefully deciding upon the principles of the various Bills, and putting I themselves in a position to uphold them when they coine before the House. The tune of the Legislature will be wasted and the funds of the country squandered in the vain endeavour to do that which ! the Ministry should do before Parliament > meets, and that which they are paid to do. The consequence of all this will be iliat members will become wearied, and important measures will be rushed tlirough the Assembly in an unintelligible and con-

tradictory state, only to be found totally unworkable and inapplicable to the cases they are designed to meet. They will require amendment the next session, and again, most probably, the time of the Legislature will be wasted without any better results. This has been the case in the past, and it will continue to be the case again and again so long as the present mode of procedure is pursued. It rests with members of the House of Representatives to decide whether or not such a state of affairs shall be allowed to exist. When Parliament meets some effort should be made to bring about a sweeping change in the present unsatisfactory manner of administrating the government of the country. That some such reform is necessary no one will deny, not even the supporters of the Ministry.