OPINIONS OF THE PRESS

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 1, Issue 87, 28 November 1890, Page 3

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS

The Waimea-Picton Contest.

The Atkinson Party. A Record. One of the most condemnatory articles on the Atkinson admioistralion which wo have s*en written for some time appears in the Marlborough Express of the 22ins. and from which we take the followingTo hoodwink the electors is their present game and if any one knows better how to do that than Sir Harry we know not where he is to he found in New Zealand. What has been -their record since 18/7, that is surely for enough back to go. We had then two years of '* political rest as it was termed, and it was the forerunner of that iniquitous 10 per cent all round reduction in 1879. In 1882 we K were told that thuy had a surplus of .OMfIEOOO, vet in 1881 they left office with a deficit of £150,000; that was hnrdlv good financing. But let us take their last term of office- Did they not come in on the “reticnchment ticket and what have they done ? First of all lake the Native Department, which, if not to be abolished altogether, was at any rale to be greatly reduced. In it they have added seven new Judges, and Mr Commissioner Edwards the latter of whom receives £ISOOO a year, with £IOOO for expenses. That looks like retrenchment. The Premier in his manifesto says helms saved £291,000, but wlqit he has m>t so'd in it i s that the additional taxation imposed since he o-upo into office has been nearly

£300,000. Anyone can retrench in that fashion. Then take the Blackett appointment. He is to get £OOO a year to live in Dnglend, to. inspect machinery for the New Zealand Government. Considering we have no money to spend on Public Works, nor’’are wc lik ly to have, it seems rather a', pity that if Mr Blackett was not wanted in the colony and could be done without he was not retrenched properly, .Of course the last Loan Act by which the colony was put to extra expense of £IOO,OOO was a mere trifle, but, wo have to pay for it. Of course, too, the character/of a Ministry which contained a Fisher, who when turned out was able to say that some of the others di.l the same, and a HUh.p who was c. ndemmed on all sides for his action as to,Judge Ward and the despicable manner hr which lie hept him from the Court Bench,; the avoidance of the Iltrchison charges ; the little mistake in the runs tear Oamaru l y which, owing ol cour.-c to a mere telegraphic error, a large estate passed into the hands of the Hon. t Robert Campbell, are mere nothings. We are supposed to forget and forgive, and if we like at. the same time to be foolish enough to go on paying to allow them to make blunders, so much the. worse for us.”

After referring to the potty party spite and the thrents and intimidation resorted to by Mr Jln rst house’s supporters to gag the Mar borough Press that journal thus refVrs to Mr MilU: —As far back as the comnuuceinent of Captain Kenny’s career in the political history of Marlborough, some twenty years ago, Mr Mills has. up to the time when he thought fit to come forward Inins If for the Waimca-Picton seat, been the righthand supporter of every candidate from Iho Piclon side of tin* old electorate in the interests of the Atkinson party, and we have no hesitation in saying that, if it had not been for Mr Mills’ personal exertions, the district would have been represented by entirely defferent men for several years. It certainly shows a poor return for such services to find (hose that Mr Mills so well supported resorting to prac ices that are, indeed, contemptible, in order to, if possible, defeat bis candidature at the present jiinctir’e. Like ourselves, Mr Mills had had his eyes opened to the fact that the electors have been led like sheep to the slaughter, for the benefit of the Atkinson party, squatoracy, and monopolists of various kinds, quite long enough, and it is most desirable that a new order of things should be instituted,” Land Acquisition. The need for a b'll such as is supported by Mr Macalister (says the Express) is shown by the following paragraph from a Napier paper; Nairn’s Pourere Run, containing 25,000 acres, has recently been leased for £B,OOO a year. It carries 50,000 sheep, and 2,000 head of cattle. In the early Provincial days that mighty magnate, J D. Ovmoud, gave this splendid estate away to a friend for 5s per acre, the purchase money being spent in making roads to it. There are thousands of people down in that district who cannot get a quarter acre section to build a cottage upon, while vast areas of splendid land (even better than this) are held by absentees and foreign syndicates. A Supporter on the Ministry. Speaking at Alexandria, Mr Vincent Pyke committed himself to the following statement: —“ Two sessions ago the Ministry were in a tight place. Everything depended on the votes of two members as to whether the Ministry went out or not. They were bribed to vote for Ministers —one by the promise of a seat in the Legislative Council, the other by the promise of Goverment advocacy of the diversion of public funds for the construction of a railway. His opinion was that this system should be abolished —scouted, in fact as unworthy —and no Ministry should bo allowed to resign office except upon a direct vote of censure or want of"confidonce.” As Mr Pyke was a Government man his remarks possess a special interest.