THE Otago Daily Times. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1872.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3363, 15 November 1872, Page 2

THE Otago Daily Times. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1872.

A ciKCULAK letter ha« been addressed to the Memlxsrs of tine Provincial Couiicil by the Secretary to the .Superintendent, in which, by the Su[>eriijtcudent's direction, he communicates to these gentlemen the actual terms of the correspondence which has passed between Mr Macanukkw ami Mr Rbijj' wince the hitter accepted the ofHce of Minister of Public Works. Tlie circular states that it has lxjen issued because ' there exists considerable misapprehension with resjKjct to the reasons which have led to Mr Reid ceasing to 3>t a member of the Provincial Executive.' After a perusal of the document, we are inclined to think that the Superintendent is in error in supposing that much misapprehension of this matter exists among the public. The letters 1 which have passed between His Honour and the late Provincial Secretary appear to embody a transaction exactly such as popular rumour has described it. They supjwrtthe account we have from time to time given of it precisely. Although this correspondence contains the arguments by which each party to the transaction defended and explained his own conduct, an well as the hiatory of the affair, it still contains nothing which can really \>t called news. If not actually known through rumour, originating in verbal statements made by the individuals chiefly concerned, these arguments lure been very shrewdly guessed at. Rumour has in no way misrepresented eitinj*party, and the reports that have l>een current, and the comments they have elicited, afford no ground for tho statement which Mr Logan makes of the reason for the issue of the circular we [ are referring to. Nevertheless the document is welcome. It defines for us exactly what has passed between the two most important political parsonages of our little Provincial world, assures us of the truth of that which we took somewhat on trust before, and opens owr mouths to comment with freedom on this latest of the anomalous circumstances to which our strange and troublesome method of 'getting ourselves governed ' has given rise. Mr Rkid took his seat on the Ministerial benches in the House of Representatives for the first time on tlie 10th September last. On the 1 Oth, the Superintendent addressed to him a letter, requesting in round-about terms that he would resign his ofKce a« head of the Pi'ovincial Executive. This letter is wordy and not very courteous, although it bears traces of a desire to cover ' incompatibility of tempemment' under formal commonplaces of courtesy. The effort to do this is palpable, but the fact that it is thus recognisable is evidence of its failure. Feeling was stronger than policy or politeness, but we see the feeling prancing only like a horse held in curb. Mr Reid, in his reply, makes no attempt to use the curb. His letter is a cold, hard, and contemptuous snub, and might have come from the pen of Mr Alexander Willis, or Mr William Giuy, or any other recognised master of the art of red tape snubbing. He must have been excessively angry before he condescended to this style, which, whilst it exasperates beyond bounds of sf jlf control the person against

whom it is used as a weapon, never serves the cause in aid of which it in invoked. In this reply Mr Reid did not distinctly say that he would not resign his oflice, but reminded the Superintendent that his primary responsibility was to the Provincial Council. A day or two after Mr MacAndrew again gave him an opportunity of resigning, and intimated that if ho did not do so he was prepared for the ' disagreeable duty of making fresh Executive arrangements other than in the usual way.' In the attempt to couch his letter in dignified terms, despite the strong feelings burning within him, His Honour waß more successful in this second letter than in the first. Mr Reid replied j with a simple acknowledgment of the receipt of the letter. The Supcrinten- j dent proceeded to Dunedin, but failed to eflecfc those ' other arrangements' which he had told Mr Reid he was so anxious to make. When he found that matters were not to be put in train so readily as he had hoped, he appears- to

have hesitated, and abandoned the attempt. Possibly he may also have been, influenced by information as to the probable fate of the Administration of which Mr Reid was a member. Had he boldly carried out his plans, dismissing all recusant Executive Council lore, and gathered toi gether a new Executive, the public would have admired his pluck, at anyrate. Had such new Executive set to work with a will to remedy the causes of those ' complaints of the neglect which has characterised the conduct of public business/ which he alleged to Mr Reid as his reason for the step he was about to take,hisc<mp d'etat mighthavebecome popular through the beneficial character of its results, and he might in the end have remained master of the situation. He preferred^ES}revolutionary courses, and quietly went back to Wellington without even gazetting or otherwise making public' the dismissal of Mr Reid. This temporising course may

have been the most prudent, but it has euded in protracting that practical interregnum which the absence of the chief members of the Government from Dunedin had caused. Immediately after the fall of the Stafford Ministrylie addressed to Mr Hkid a request that he should jt-esume his * former position in the Executive.' This letter drew from Mr Reid the|expostulation and explanation to which! he would not previously condescend, i He explains that, as he had distinctly taken the opinion of the Provincial <|ouncil on the subject of his retaining Ihis leadership of the Govdrnment whilst absent at Wellington, and as that opinion was favourable, he did

' not feel any impropriety in retaining the 1 office until his return. Moreover, them were gome things l>egun by himself which he desired to finish before he resigned. Also, he wished to be in a position to ensure, so far »s any action of the Executive Council can ensure it, that the Provincial Council should be called together at once after the close of the session of Assembly. Moreover, as the departmental duties of his ollice wen; being discharged in his absence by a deputy, «nd an neither h« nor the Superintendent could legally do any official aeis whilst absent from the Proviiuv, he did not sve that his immediate resignation was call«-d for by the-circum-stances that had ariden. Had MrlU:n> in temperate terms explained his views to the Superintendent on receipt of the j first ivquest for his resignation, he would b:iv<! cut the ground from under the feet of the latter, and would, if he had not absolutely prevented what followed, have been fully acquitted of having been in any sense the cause of it. We think it is very greatly to be regretted that he let temper dictate his earlier replies to Mr Mac.vndkkw. He has placed himself in the wrong, and that not through ignorance or mistake, but wilfully.

Wo f«fel fiiirc tlmt^ill our renders will agree with us that there is but one proper course t*» be taken now. Whether liis Honour succeeds in procuring anew Executive- Council or not, it. is manifestly desirable that the Provincial Council should ho called together at once. There are reasons why this .should be dour, over and licyoml those which connect themselves with the allUtt' we have under consideration. Mr Hkid, in his final letter to the Superintendent, 'states Home of these when he says that the Council should be convened 'in order to comply with an opinion vory generally expressed by members during the l;ist; session, to the efleet that it is desirable that the meetings of the j Council should in future be held im- j ni' diately after the meetings of the | Grneml Assembly, and also for the purpose ol bringing the " Highway Boards Empowering Act" into opera- j tion within the Province.' We are not advocates for frequent meetings jof the Provincial Council, but we deem this a most fitting opportunity to alter the date of those meetings, and of the commencement of the financial year of the Province. There can be no excuse for delaying this if Mr Macandkkyv is honestly minded to work with his Provincial Council, and not against it. There is no reason, so far as we can sec, why lie should hesitate to accept this advice. The course, so far as ho himself is concerned, would be as politic as it is proper. With regard to this affair with Mr Reid we think he has been foolish, but the matter is really after all ah insignificant one. Jf he meant what he said when he told Mr j Khid that he would 'be glad' if! he would resume his former position in j the Executive, he surely cares very j little whether Mr It kid returns to his ! office through the action of the Provin- J cial Council or of his own accord.