The Opunake Times. FRIDAY, JULY 31, 1896. NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION.

Opunake Times, Volume V, Issue 199, 31 July 1896, Page 2

The Opunake Times. FRIDAY, JULY 31, 1896. NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION.

The Leader of the Opposition, Captain Russell, has moved —That the administration of the Government has been unsatisfactory ; that whilst professing to be a non-borrowing Government they have increased the debt of the colony by about five millions during the past five years ; that they have diverted sinking funds of local bodies ; that they are depleting the Land Transfer Assurance Fund ; and that by the new Customs tariff they have increased taxation on the necessaries of life. The Premier did the only thing possible in the circumstances, and declared it a direct want of confidence in the Government. We do not suppose for one moment that Captain Russell moved it with any idea of its being carried, but it will have the effect of forcing the hands of a number of members, who have shown a tendency to get up on the rail, so that when they faced their constituents at the forthcoming election they could place their hands on their hearts and say, " We were guided by our conscience in opposing certain measures," and then turn to the Government supporters and say, " We also the Government in." There is a large section of the Government party which decried borrowing, and the members of which were returned solemnly pledged to veto any movement of the kind. It was expected that in the debate on the Financial Statement these members would have had to condemn the Government for their borrowing in the past, and also oppose the proposals contained in the Statement to borrow another million during the current year. By the collapse of the debate these members were freed from the unpleasant duty thus cast on them, and for the time being the Government scored a win. As, however, the motion moved by Captain Russell traverses the main points of the Financial Statement which these members have expressed dissatisfaction with, thew will now be called on to declare whether they will stand by their pledges and expressed convictions, or whether they deserve the approbious epithet cast at them on many occasions of being dumb dogs, and be whipped into the Government lobby blindly. The motion therefore will have the effect of properly branding and earmarking each member, so that when he returns to his constituency it will be definitely known to which flock he belongs.