MINISTERIAL JUNKETINGS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2097, 3 May 1894, Page 3

MINISTERIAL JUNKETINGS.

The present Ministry is likely to be known in history as the Banqueting Ministry. Epithets less neutral and less pleasant may also be applied to it, hut o£ this distinction it is at least Sveeure. And considering the general Ministerial propensity towards conviviality, it would indeed be matter for surprise had the result of the last Waihemo election been allowed to go without its celebrative banquet to the tune of "Our Jack's come home today." Moreover, since one of these nights and suppers of the Ministers was to be celebrated, "what more appropriate place could be chosep than Shag Point? Was it not from that melodiously-named spot that "the boys" issued forth on the night before the election to have " a little diversion " by way of breaking-up Mr Scobie Mackenzie's meeting at Palmerston ? And is it not fitting that those same pleasant fellows should have their heads patted and their electoral methods blessed by Mr Scobie , Mackenzie's successful opponent? True, they did no good to their hero's cause, but they meant "well, and a politic man will not give the cold shoulder to ardent devotion. So at Shag Point the feast was held, and thither flocked the faithful, if not from the east, certainly from the west, from the north, and from the south. Dunedin and suburbs sent a considerable posse of legislators to swell the Ministerial triumph, and though that arch-banqueter, the Premier, had to send an apology, the Colonial Treasurer had an opportunity of observing the redoubtable Shag Pointers at close quarters, v Needless to say, all was peace and gladness and mutual adulation, with kindly and admiring references to the famous Palmerston demonstration of the night before the election, and suitable anathematising of Mr Scobib Mackenzie. Scrupulosity is felt to be out of place where song and mirth are high, and certainly the guest of the evening did not give way to overscrupulousness in his references to the campaign of last November, though we fear he must have suffered many a twinge of conscience later on in the stilly night, when the lights were fled, the garlands dead, and the banquet hall deserted. Still one must not be too hard upon post-prandial utterances at a Shag Point " diversion." • The principal speeches at the banquet (which, by the way, was not very happily fixed for the first anniversary of Mr Bailance's death) were naturally delivered by the two Ministers. The Colonial Treasurer does not appear to have been in his best vein, but he made the important announcement that there would be no borrowing during the present year. "His opinion was that there was no necessity for the colony to borrow at all, either at present or for some time to come ; and the present Government were determined, so far as they could, to indulge in a policy of selfabnegation for a time, believing that the colony could gather way without reverting to the old system of borrowed millions."' We think that this declaration is upon the whole satisfactory. The problem — to borrow or not to borrow ? — has lately begun once more to interest the public mind, and it is recognised that sooner or later the exigencies of reputable public works are likely to necessitate recourse to_the

money market. The uses of the next loan are beginning to be talked about, and rules for its management beginning to be laid down Still, though the days of further loar money are now being openly lookec forward to, it is much better to gel along without further loans as long as possible than to go to the monej market merely because the state oi New Zealand securities promises a cordial response to any demand which may be made. The question how far it is right to carry or public works out of ordinary revenue will, no doubt, call for discussion and settlement in the present Parliament; but it^ is the opinion of most people in the colony that meanwhile the decision of the Ministry should remain undisturbed. There is one almost amusingly disingenuous sentence in Mr Ward's speech to which we may draw attention : " While the Government had been accused of anxiety to go in for sly borrowing, he said that if the public took up some of the leading papers, they would find that it was being advocated that the Government should borrow, and that showed that while the press were anxious to kill the Ministry by stating they were going in for borrowing, they were really anxious that the colony should do what they were condemning." Now, Mr Ward is perfectly well aware that the main indictment against the Ministerial finance has been not so much that the Government were anxious to go in for sly borrowing as that they refused to regard their* sly borrowing as borrowing at all. For instance, we do not know that the conversion operations would have called for much criticism if the Government had frankly confessed what the nature and effect of those operations were. But Ministers persisted, even to the point of utter irritation, in boasting of what they had done with the finances of the colony without having recourse to any sort of borrowing ; and each time the audacious claim was advanced it became necessary for the independent press of the colony to expose the audacity. Mr Ward has not relished the exposure, but he has only himself to blame for the unpleasant experience. He says there is to be no borrowing " at present or for some time to come." Let us hope that the determination includes indirect borrowing as well as borrowing of the ordinary kind ; or at least let us hope that if any operations involving indirect borrowing should be promoted the Government will ingenuously acknowledge the true character of the business.

As for the Minister for Lands, we have already hinted at the character of the speech which he delivered at his own high festival. A sense of truth forbids anything like praise or congratulation. Mr John M'Kenzie's address at Shag Point suffers grievously from the inevitable comparison with Mr Scobie Mackenzie's recent speech at Palmerston. Between M'Kenzie and Mackenzie the difference is not great; but between these two speeches, in respect of style and tone and feeling, there runs an ocean o£ difference. A similar difference was observable at the time of the Waihemo campaign, when the Minister's most noteworthy method of argument was to style his - opponent the biggeßt liar in New Zealand. " High falutin" is the Minister's description of Mr Scobie Mackenzie's Palmerston speech: it is a favourite word with people who wish to belittle sentiment which they do not possess and are unable to appreciate. And what word can we find wherewith to describe Mr John M'Kenzie's extraordinary defence of the demonstration at Palmerston on the night before the election? "He was satisfied that nothing was done that night that was wiong or disgraceful." Here is a lesson for the electors of New Zealand worthy of being put side by side with that other lesson which the Premier recently taught at Waitemata ! Organised bands of obstructionists are to be allowed to set out from one part of a constituency with the deliberate intention of breaking up a lawful public meeting in another part of the constituency; they may behave like savages and make it impossible for would-be hearers to catch a word of what a candidate is saying ; and not only may they do this with impunity, but (provided they are of tlie right colour) they may depend on receiving the grateful benediction of one of her Majesty's Ministers, who will felicitate them on what he calls their " little diversion " and observe that " nothing wrs done that was wrong or disgraceful." The thing seems incredible. " Who would not laugh if ' such a man there be ? Who would not

weep i£ a Minister of the Crown "were he?"

Land Tonuro.

We are clad to find Sir Eobert Stout In his Auckland address saying that Parliament or the Liberal party ought to endeavour to restore the perpetual lease and abandon the so-called lease in perpetuity. We do not, however, deny that the latter may have its uses, and we do not think that it ought to be repealed, but restricted, for we are afraid that it will prove a huge mistake to attempt to settle large areas of fairly good open country like Cheviot by means of it. The public do not yet fully know that it is a syttem under which the tenant enters upon the land without necessarily embarking any substantial sum of his own money in improving it. He may manage to get a crop off it, ruiu it, and then abandon it. If he has to clear it of heavy bush, or scrub, or drain swamps, the necessary expenditure of labour or money adds so much to the value that security for permanency is at once obtained. The new system ought to be confined to such land and ought not to be adopted as a general method for settling the waste lands of the colony. Again, we are glad to see Sir Kobebt insistiDg that it is unjust to take a man's home away merely to give it to another under the pretence of takiDg land for settlement. Landed property, like any other property, may be taken with compensation where the exigencies of the State require it, but that ia hardly the principle on which the bill of last session proceeded, nor is it the principle on which the run of an Ofcago squatter has been taken away, divided into three, and given to three members of one family living in one house.

Honouring N.Z.s G.O.M.

We offer oar congratulations to the Bight Honourable Sir George Grey, X.0.8., on " his accession to his new honours. Those who are most familiar with his peculiar foibles have often to deal sharply with them, but in the loßg run there is no man more honoured in this colony, and even in the colonies generally. Throughout the civilised world, too, the Governor who first successfully dealt with the Maori difficulty is known and honoured, and most deservedly so. As to his modern political ideas, we can seldom follow them ; but the feeling of respect and admiration which his long and honourable career has engendered in the breasts. of colonists is unaffected by these manifestations. His great services in the past, fully recognised by the Imperial Government, can never be forgotten.

Midland Railway Company.

We do not know what meaning to attach to the telegraphic summary of the letter from the Midland Railway Company to the Premier. Last year the House, at the bidding of the Government, made a fatal mistake in committing the colony to a heavy liability on account of this unlucky venture. This was only the last of a great many unfortunate steps of successive Governments over which this company has managed to throw its spell. " They Believe," we are told, " that the intention of the resolution of the House last year is that they should show by the statement of a good financial house that they can raise the capital necessary to connect the two coasts." The passage is obscure, but it means apparently that the company has been trying hard to raise the wind on this improvident resolution of an improvident House, which, however, is only a resolution and not an Act of Parliament. We have got to the stage in which the resolution requires interpreting in order that its " intention " may be discovered. Naxt session, perhaps, it will be "interpreted" by the House itself, and then we shall have advanced a stage. The truth is that this cempany fetters New Zealand without doing itself much gocd. Between finance, boards of directors, general managers, engineers, and miscellaneous excrescences, its work has hitherto cost twice as much as similar work costs the colonial Government. Trading on a flat money market " a good financial house " seems to be a necessity of the situation.

Purging Electoral Soils.

"It is stated,' we are told, " tbat the striking off of the electors' names who did not exercise their rights at the licensing elections is becoming general throughout the colony, though no exact official information is yet obtainable." We are also informed, whether rightly or not we cannot cay, that in Wellington this has been done under Government orders. The law compels the strikiDg off the roll of persons who do not vote at a parliamentary election, but there seems to be absolutely no ground for depriving persons who do not vote at a licensing election of their parliamentary franchise. Oar attention has been called to the fact that in the last century it was solemnly decided that to refase to receive a freeholder's vote might involve a returning officer in an action for damages. We presume that to deprive a person wholly of the franchise without the authority of Parliament would be equally illegal and actionable. Prior to the last licensing election a large number of persons in Duntdin were found to have been disfranchised, presumably by mistake. It is a pity that there was not a test case to have the consequences of such an act made clear.

Legalised Privateers.

It is a fact worthy of passing notice fcbat the Admiralty has engaged no less than 28 passenger ships belonging to the Canard, Peninsular and Oriental, and Oanadian-Paoific lines as cruisers. During the Russian scare the Coptic was engaged- and commissioned in New Zealand, and at the same time many others were similarly engaged. Many of these vessels are so built that they may be easily strengthened, acd though they cannot carry heavy guns they can carry machine guns, quick-firing guns, torpedoes, and many other dangerous arms. When lectuiiDg here on the subject of defence some years ago Admiral Scott pointed out that five of the Union Company's boats were built as cruisers and might be so used. While our Govern-

merit was commissioning such vessels as cruisers the Russian Government was buying steamers in the United States. How that would have eventuated we do not know, as the lesson of the Alabama ought to have taught our cousins as much as it taught us. European authorities on suoh matters are i now beginning to raise awkward questions on the employment of such cruisers. If a war breaks out they will be suddenly acquired*by the Queen, commissioned and sent to sea to watch the trade routes and hunt down similar cruisers. They will probably be commanded and manned by officers and men of the Naval Reserve, but their stokers and firemen will have to be got by such means as offer themselves. Now at present they are largely so officered and manned so that all that will be necessary will be that commissions are issued, stations indicated, and cadres filled up. Then the question arises : How does all this square with existing treaties ? By common consent the naval Powers have agreed to give up privateering. Formerly the United States refused to consent. The result was unfortunate. The rebellious. Southern States issued letters of marque, and the Powers oould not treat them as pirates. What is the difference between a passenger ship with the Queen's commission on board and a privateer 1 We presume that the technical legal difference is sufficient, but evidently it gives the go-by to the treaty which it does not distinctly violate.

Colonisation and Conquest.

It Is curious as well as interesting to trace the waves of excitement; which occasionally pass over portions of Europe on the subject of colonisation and conquest. Nearly 50 jeara ago a good deal of discussion was excited by the French annexations and threatened annexations in the Pacific. A few years before that King Louis Philippe had vainly tried to get his Ministers to take a little interest in his pet project for annexing New Zealand. When the fever did set in it set in with fury, but toon burnt itself out. The same thiDg happened a few years since when the German rush for annexation exoited the French, and these in turn trod on our toes. England managed to seoure in one or two places treaty agreements to let matters alone. In this way the New Hebrides and Samoa were saved, and half of the Solomon Islands, for what they are worth, secured. Later, again, the extravagant ruth for territory in Africa took place. In this, which lasted some years, England, France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, and even Spain took part. What good any of them did for their subjects has never become very dear. This much ha?, however, become dear, that permanent extensions of the British Empire in Africa have ensued, and that some of these comprise valuable territory. Chartered companies, after spending vast sums of money, are now apparently failing to perform their duties/ and their territories are falling to the Grown to save abandonment. The assumption of direct sovereignty in Uganda brings a large part of the pick of Africa under the Queen's rule. Should it ever happen that Europe recognises a British Protectorate in Egypt the extraordinary result will follow that British sovereignty will extend from the Mediterranean — i.e., from the delta of the Nile — to the Gape of Good Hope, with only a small break connected by water navigation. These vast extensions of empire may or may not be valuable, but in Africa they are not, as in Asia, threatened by powerful ceighbours.

Tito Living Wage.

In an article by W. Cunningham in the " Contemporary " on the " LiviDg Wage," some striking faots are mentioned with reference to the great coal miners' strike of 1893. They are given with much brevity on the authority of Mr Sam. Woods, M.P. The men in Newcastle demanded a 10 per cent, advance. It was refused , bat the employers held a stormy meetiog, and in the end gave way and granted it. Then the Yorkshire and Derbyshire miners made the same demand, the news spreading like wildfire. The masters then combined and added 12 per cent, to the price of coal, whereupon the men demanded another increase of 10 per cent., whioh they easily got. Twice more this was repeated on both sides, until coal bad been put up 36 pep cent, and wages had risen 40 per cent. Then the men demanded another 10 per cent., and after a struggle and .much threatening language on both sides this was conceded, but not until after 300,000 miners had come out on strike. ;It is stated that no less than 100,000 men were added to the ranks of the miners, between 1888 and 1893 in consequence of- these attractive wages. This resulted- in Irregularity of employment and diminished incomes, which culminated in the great strike. This lamentable result waß to illustrate the proposition that there may be too good a tbiDg. Tho opportunity, which was an excellent one, was badly used by the leaders, who mistook a temporary rise fora permanent one, and also made the mistake of viewing a mere rise in money wages as a sure road to improved conditions. In this case it proved the reverse.

The Oamaru Mail waxes indignant over the tone adopted by some of the speakers at the prohibition social towards the Premier, and describes the third resolution as "a fitting climax to fanatical unreason."

Information was laid at Timaru on Thursday by the manager of one of the banks against George Edwin Best, a grain buyer and sampler, for obtaining £30 by false pretences. Best is believed to have left the colony by the last San Francisco boat. It is alleged that he has swindled over a dozen farmers by buying grain, reselling it, and clearing out with the proceeds. The amount of his defalcations so far as is known is about £1500. His wife and two children left Timaru for the north the day before and Beßt by the same train as the mail.

Epps's Cocoa.— Grateful and Comfobtino — " By a thorough knowledge of the natural lawa which govern the operations of digestion and nutrition, and by a careful application of the fine properties of well-selected Cocoa, Mr Epps has provided for our breakfast and supper a delicately flavoured beverage which may save us many heavy doctor's bills." — Civil Service Gazette. — Made simply with boiling water or milk. Sold only in ilb packets, by Grocers and Store-keepers, labelled — •• James Epps & Co., Homoeopathic Chemists, London, England."