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Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1077, 2 October 1879, Page 2

We arc disappointed in Mr. Hall. His impeachment- was expected to set all doubts at rest as to whether the Ministry have or have not been guilty of the chcntery ami humbug Laid to their charge by old enemies and repeated parrot-like l.y ihe innocenis who form the tail of the ()(«p"?i;ion fathers. Vainly we have looked in .Mr. Hall's speech for a set of new charges—fresh evidences of the depravity of the Grey administration —but we find nothing but that which is stale and unprofitable. "We believe that the Ministry has been guilty of peccadilloes. What Ministry has not ? But we have heard all about that ad nauseam from tliij vanquished knight. We are surprised that Mr. Hall should have so thoroughly pitched his tune according I to the pitch-pipe of Sir William Fox. [The Opposition, the Ministry, the Par- . | liament, and the people, demand a | change from monotonous uncertainties I and puerilities to something specific 1 (and sufijcienily momentous to warrant i j opposition. The iiiugmoa. Mr. Luckie's | appointment, the imperfections of the '} advertising system, and such things, have I been dinned into the ears of Parliament \ and the country far too long already. The j extravagance of the Native Department, j too, a question upon which Sir William ! f„x displayed so much knowledge andex- | ponded so much eloquence, was dwelt 1111 pim in the amendment on the Address in ! Reply. Mr. Hall, during his period of ; I hibernation, appears to have forgotten that > i theexpciisivcnessoftlieXativ«iDepartment I was greater, and no questions were asked i: that were not deemed impertinent, during i Sirl>. M'Lean'sreignthan it has been since, and that the return wn.s imperceptible until now. Now we have the return. Mr. Hall was mistaken when he said that darkness and mystery were now hanging | over native atlairs. The Ministry has disj relied the darkness—it has lifted the j curtain —and exposed to the view of the ! C'-'lonv the sores that have been festering ; since the inauguration of the Native ; Otiiee and its ramifications. The j Ministry is answerable for having ' aiicd light upon these things, but | it is not responsible for their existence I either in fact, or in tha minds of those j v. ho can be educated or persuaded to ! believe anything. The Opposition say [ tint we had peace. So wj had, but we | were paying for it the price of an oc- | c tsional life and money we could ill I ati'"i.i, without realising anything like a | commensurate return. They say, too, | that the Minis::-;." sV:t!d have waged war J with tiie culpiit.i <»:! tiio West Coast, ami at To Aroha, without any re- ! fereiice to Parliament, At least, I aome of them Hay so, whilst others assert that the attitude of the Ministry ! has been too inconsiderate and bellicose. It i.-i palpable that these charges are only interested political cries that to adduce further proof that iliey should never have been made would be supererogatory. Then we were treated in Mr. Hall's speech to the old grievance of the three newspaper proprietors, who want to persuade the Government that they should adV(.r;ise in theirpapers whether it would be advantageous to (lo so or not. This is culled a great public question, and is the companion of another called the special wire injustice, but ill which there is no injustice at ail. A number of newspaper | proprietors banded themselves together in order t>» secure a separate wire during certain hours fur their -o!e use. Two or three other newspaper proprietors followed suit. The injustice, we arc told, exists in these two or three journalistsbeing j compelled to pay more individually than the ( MO or others paid individually who made ! the arrangement that excited the jealousv f ... - i [V>r v.rr.c'i they are now s;;ti'enng. Then | then- i.-> Mr. Luck i appointment, which [although we may not agree with the ; manner in which it was arranged, is one of ! t.'!*,* best of the kind over made, and the dep.utinsjit, we think, will give evidence of his. g.jo-.i management. We implied that there v.r.3 nothing new in Mr. Mali's indictment. We v.eic- niistaken. We had lost sigh: of his reference to iLs absence of a Police 31agistrate in Lyttelton and the smallness of the LytteUoi? Gaol. The accommodation in the Chrislchtirch lunatic Asylum, too, is insufficient to con-

tain all the Canterbury lunatics, and therefore the Ministry must be turnedout. What an indictment ? How wretched a cause must be that can find nothing better to bolster it up. We echo the statement of the independent press and people of the C<>!r>ny, ami say that we are disappointed at the speech of Mr. Hall. We want to see all these old accusations wiped off the slate, whether they are proven or not. We want to See parties light fairly, and not waste valuable time. Let the struggle be brought on at once, ;aul if the Ministry are in fault let them 1,0 supplanted by better men. if they can lie found.