The Oamaru Mail. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. TUESDAY DECEMBER 23, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1151, 23 December 1879, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. TUESDAY DECEMBER 23, 1879.

AceoftDixo to a return called for by Mr. Swanson, showing the amounts of the loans expended in the several Provincial Districts of the Colony proportionate to their revenue, Auckland has received only L144,11S baa than what the people of Auckland call a fair share. The return must have somewhat surprised Mr. Swanson, Parliament, and the country, for the wail that has been uttered by Auckland would have been ample for a much greater hardship. Auckland ha 3 now been deprived of her grievance. The Government, having felt it more important that Auckland's mouth should be closed, and that an attempt should be made to still more safelv entrench their position, than that the "Colonial funds should bo conserved. cajoled Parliament into granting Auckland L 105,000 for roads. Other Parliaments were able to exist without making: such a corrupt concession. Bad as they were in some other respects, and sadly as they wanted the support which such finessing would have won for them, they never fell into the trap which has ensnared the Hali Government. What a sublimely ridiculous spectacle—the arcatvners of all other C'averninents —whose spotless purity was that of a reformed rtrih-, are up to their necks again in their dtd failings. They wiil excuse themselves, and so they may—alt such do. The transgression is palpable—too heiimt3. But we cannot gather roses oil thorns or off thistles. We judge of politicians by their performances in the past. They may be hybridised, but they may also be mado worst- through the operation. \\ hen Mr. Hall first reappeared upon the political platform as a principal actor, we ventured to assert that he would so act as to er.ni the admiration and thanks of the C->lo»v. We were mistaken ; not that lie is either unwilling or incompetent, but he is unwise. Gotthl there have been a mure unjust or politically-inexpedient move than the calling of Mr. F. W hitaker to> the Upper House and giving him the Attorney-Generalship I We are told that he is an able man. But there arc various kinds of able men. We have known men whose intellect has elicited the admiration of their fellows, but whose failings have necessitated their ascension of the scaffold. Clevernes3is no recommendation, unless directed into a proper channel. Tiie electors of Eden knew 3lr. Whitaker well. Had they not every reason to be aware of his cleverness ? and yet they preferred as their representative the les3 clever Mr. Tole. Mr. Whitaker was shut out from every constituency in the North Island. Where In? was known best he was liked least ; and yet Mr. Hall said that the people of Auckland and the people of the jColony should have this man as one of their rulers. One would have thought that, having been exposed before the Colony and rejected by even his friends as a politician, he would have taken the t hint, and abstained from accepting Mr. Hall's offer. But not being thin-skinned, he joined the Ministry, and he had | scarcely done so when Mr. Thomas S IJrtssell—his co-partner in numerous land f transactions and in other respects—wrote [from London claiming 30,000 or 40,000 I acres-of the Te Aroha "Estate as compcnsaj tion for his retirement from some useless • {and transaction in which Mr. .Jamc3 ' Mackay had acted for the Atkinson Goi vernnient. He had applied to the Grey | Government, and, of course, received no satisfaction. We want to know whether or not this large share of one of the very few valuable landed estates of the north is to «.» into the capacious maw of this I land shark I Surely Mr. Russell's dc- | niand will not be granted rjuietly, [like some similar things in the past. Yet Major Atkinson and Mr. Whitaker have the power to ratify their own actions, and the}- will, perhaps, do it. There is, [of course, some good elements in the Ministry, but they are neutralised by the bud. A review of the session just over Steads us to wonder how so little could have been done, and that little done so badly, after so much profession and fussiness." The Opposition placed no obstacles in the way. The Government's course was clear, and they ran it, although Mr. [Hali occasionally, when wishing to produce a salutary effect on the minds of | weak members, complained bitterly and sometimes unnecessarily insultingly of the itl-(reacmcnt he was receiving at the hands of the Opposition. The policy I that ha* been carried ont is not the liberal j potiey that the Colony demanded, and on I what they gained power. It is one | peculiarly their own, and we hope that it | will satisfy the country. The Property I Tax, the principal of their measures, be- ! tokens strength and stupidity. The physic is unnecessarily strong for the Colony s malady. But it wa3 introduced in a weak moment, and, although thoy saw their error, the Government could not withdraw from the position they had taken up. The Ministry have proved themselves worse than any of its predecessors. They tho worst Government the Colony has ever had, and their days are numbered. Pandering to Auckland in the present condition" of the Colony will do much to cause their downfall.