THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 1762, 29 August 1885, Page 14

THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

MAJOR ATKINSON'S NO-CONFIDENCE MOTIONS.

(from our own correspondent.)

Wellington, August 26.

This morning a meeting of the Atkinson party decided upon their course of action. No particulars as to the meeting are available, members having been put upon their honour to maintain secrecy. That, however, is now a mere detail, for we have the notice given by Major Atkinson this afternoon to move the • following resolutions; to-morrow night : — *' That having in view the financial position of the Colony,, this House is of opinion (1) that the expenditure from the public works fund for the year 1885-86 should not exceed£l,ooo,ooo; (2) that it is not desirable at present that the Government should undertake the construction of the East and West and Nelson ancTWest Coast railways ; (3) that no new loan should be authorisedthis session ; (4) that one of the principal objects of the construction of the North Island Trunk railway being to' open the interior of the North Island for settlement, and seeing that the Government has failed to make arrangements for securing the land nedessary for this purpose, no further expenditure should be incurred beyond the present contract and for the completion of the working surveys until satisfactory arrangement have been made for the acquisition of not less than 500,000 acres of land for settlement ; (5) that a reduction of not' less than £30,000 upon the Estimates of the consolidated fund as brought down should be made for the year' 1885-86, and a reduction of not less than £80,000 for the .year 1886-87, without transferring any of the amounts now charged against the consolidated fund to loan; that the Government be requested to take immediate steps to give effect to the above resolutions." At the first glance the above resolutions do not seem to go far enough to meet the case, for, as the Government have done before, there is nothing much to prevent them eating the leek on this occasion. Some members are certainly of this opinion, but it is not shared in generally. They think that the only object the resolutions can have is as a protest, and 'to afford members an opportunity of addressing their constituents through "Hansard," and it is pointed out that upon some of the resolutions some members must give a negative vote, whilst upon others the same members must give an affirmative vote. For instance, some must vote against the East and West Coast railway, whilst admitting that another loan is required. The House will therefore be divided against itself in the general conflict of interests, for the question of the further construction of the North Island Main Trunk railway is also involved in the resolutions ; so also is the Otago Central, though only in an indirect way, and there is some fear that if the East and West Coast railway resolution is not agreed to the Canterbury, Westland, and Nelson members may be strong enough to damage the prospects of the Otago Central, Or main trunk line, by way of retaliation. Mr Pyke condemns the resolutions in unmeasured terms. He thinks they are not half stiff enough, and declares his intention of moving an amendment condemnatory of the Public Works proposals of the Government as a whole. I fanoy, however, that the general opinion leans in the other direction, and that the resolutions have been skilfully prepared with a view to obtaining the support of the strongest section of the House. This view will probably be Bharod > by your readers after a careful analysis of the different resolutions.

The question then comes, If the resolutions are carried, what is to follow ? and it is this consideration more than any other,that will decide the resulji of the debate, which will probably extend far into next week. There are very many members who are strongly opposed to Sir Julius' Vogel, and would gladly vote for anything that $yp,u).d jead to his expulsion from office ; but on £ihe other hand, fchay are as strongly opposed to Major Atkinsoil ; who has, ip }s thought, not done sufficient penance' yet iii-the pool shades of opposition to be trusted with office! These have not yet made up their mind as to what they will do, and as their votes will largely affect fche result of the division qd. the resolutions, it is qufte nselpqs afc present to attempt to arrive at even a probable result. Of course the East and West Coast railway question is the question of the hour, and it is a difficult matter for, the House to dispose of. The Canterbury, Westland, and Nelson mem-, bars from this time forward ape bound to stick together to demand the construction of the line now that their appetites have been whetted, They are sufficiently powerful to turn out any Ministry that may oppose their wishes, or so to obstruct business as to make the lives of Ministers unendurable. Although the majority of the House may be opposed to the proposal, it is thought that sooner or later the

work must be proceeded with, and the majority commanded by any Minister in the present Parliament may not be' worth' an hour's' purchase unless supplemented by the "railway" vote, the members interested apparently holding the balance of power. Members aro in cabinet this evening carefully considering the resolutions, and it is suspected by some people that an attempt may be made to turn the flanks of the Opposition by stratagem. For instance, it is suggested that if Major-At-kinson's resolutions are moved substantially, it will be competent for any member to move an amendment upon them ; whereas, if 'they had taken the shape of an amendment upon the next motion for going into Supply, this course would not have bee,n practicable. The idea is, therefore; that Ministers may put up one of their party to move as an amendment that all the ' words after " that" be Omitted, for the, purpose of inserting "some other words" in the form of a mere general declaration that any body might vote for, and would in reality mean nothing. However, it remains to be seen whether this will be done. It is said that Mr Stout. is at length determined not to hold office on sufferance any longer, but to force matters to a definite issue, which^jril make it clear and unmistakable whether or not his Government possesses sufficient support in the present House tp carry what it deems fundamental measures of policy.