A DISSOLUTION.

Saturday Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 121, 3 November 1877, Page 8

A DISSOLUTION.

tiib- Jii'-J'iojla isx-LJ-.s: it prt .fci; -nolod -mili*! JU VO {Tuayeka Times.) ,

o.; The: new Government have not; found their position ;to' be a bed of roses since they possessed the Treasury benches. Before they )\v.ere; a few days in o,ffice*fthe chief members of the:outcast ministry were up in arms, and a : no-confidence tootion was tabled,, the debate on-which is riow. proceeding* .and Si likely to proceed for some days* if the threat! of Ministers to stick hard and fa st to their position is I carried into effect, r .It must. be acknowledged that Sir George Grey’s Government has got the. talking power on iits: side, and if anything ;is likely to be, gained by ;an unlimited: extension of the L debate, that object can. be attained, with very’ little difficulty. There can only he one object I :in inoving la want of confidence motion so hastily,-) viz.,,a strong desire to return to -the sweets of office. It is astonishing, how: attractive the flesh pots 'of Wellington': become s when / their savoury odours are once sniffed by ministerial nostrils. :; To the wily politician ho principal appears to he; so sacred that it cannot be sacrificed to place and power, and no dodge is left untried-by, which anopponent can.be circumvented ana overthrown, it The good of the country may be made the stalking horse, hut the greed, of power is undoubtedly the main spring.’ It is said that allis fair in love and war ana politics ; and truly when the course of our leading Colonial politicians,is watched, we must say that such a maxim would require to be true if their, conduct is to be exonerated., With regard to the present Ministry, although we : are far from being satisfied with its construction, we are decidedly of opinion that it should have a chance to show what it would do. . Give it a trial, by all means, and do not condemn it unheard. We believe .this to be the general feeling all over the country, by friend and foe alike. As the leader of the Opposition, Sir George Grey took a bold and determined stand, and while we have all along considered him as a politician too ethereal and unpractical, still there can be no doubting his sincerity; and, with, a band of good practical men around him, such as the Native Minister, Mr Sheehan, he might be able to steer the State ship clear of all the financial breakers that are looming ahead. . . . . . If the division in the present debate is a very close one, we see nothing for it but a dissolution, and a change as much as possible in the personnel of the House. - ; V . . ..-I 1. :<;

(Otago Daily Times)

Many combined circumstances render a dissolution desirable. However unwillingly colonial Governors may grant this demand which has often. been made on them, there are circumstances in which no Governor could well refuse a dissolution. We believe that this is one, and we have little doubt that the • Marquis of Normanby, whatever his general instructions from Home may be (and we understand that they are of a stringent nature in regard to this knotty question), will feel himself at liberty to exercise his own discretion. It is true, and this is the one good reason against dissolving the present Assembly, that there is no one great question on which Parliament is equally divided, but on which it can be held that the country at large has made up its mind. When this is the case, the demand for a dissolution becomes imperative, and is not on any account to be resisted. We do not say that this is our case just now. There are, however, other reasons that may often render the toil and trouble of a general election an absolutely necessary evil, and we think that these reasons are strong with us. In the first 'place, it is an admitted fact that the present Assembly does not represent the mind of the Colony on current topics. It was elected through the length and breadth of the country to decide one particular matter, and nothing else. There was one cry, and one alone, at the time of the elections and that was Abolition or Provincialism. The - ; men who now sit for the various districts of the Colony are not the men- who would be chosen to guide the affairs-of the country in ordinarily quiet times. ‘ . . V . V While we are distinctly of opinion that Sir George Grey's Ministry is the one which would do the best for the country, we could not wish that he should find himself in the utterly un-

1 position ppitouct jibe that anything like a strorig is ',two : ’years, 1 .’tliiere sliorild ho ha real difficulty ;in . ailowing;;the drisolutiop,^wliich' will he other. ‘. We shall only, regret. ;that no, redistribhtibh of sesito is possible btoore hand. A new Parliament ought to be chosen, after, and hot; before, a rCddjustomto of the fepretonta- , 'tioh; x ‘ Time is ’ how too' shorty‘trie.‘fear, and the session too far to'' hope for this j’ arid, as it is yriso ; policy of two evils to chobse^theTehsti.we! shall fi.ppe.r-to see a dissolhiion gratoed, and the cmestioh of the ■ redistribution bf f seats taken up next year.

o'irn ■ ' : ■ (JEHveiiing News.) ' " ; . ; At presept we have a ; Parliament bf divided atomri. w The., Opposition preisents ;a picture that is. anything but creditable to [the ing opposite, yieiys .and possessing conflicting ;ih,terests in reference; to nearly every question bf public importance, r Only in one thing arfirtfiey united, namely,-.the ’scramble, for 'place and povrer.; ' We, know not, ; at this ,‘distance from,the, scene of ; action, what, iuiquitous heen formed,: hut judging.from, the past life, of the late Minis'try,, rie fiavepyjery reason, to fear, that their restoration .'to ofliee wilLhe .the. immediate means .of' bringing about, a naore deplorable confusion in‘the administration- of public affairs, and a more. reckless squandering of public money than ever, ; 7 ; . -s , I ’ ' To the people of Otago/ whose interests have been so persistently and shamefully ignored by the late Ministry, their resuscitation would be., as neither more nor less than; a .great pubfic calattuty; ,’We are therefore'seriously interested in the struggle that is now going, 0n.... The Ministerial, life is hanging in the balance, and whatever may be_ the issue, it will fie well, that the public voice should be heard, and that without delay. If the party formed by Sir George Grey tb administer; the affairs of the colony is condemned unheard, immediate means should be taken to bring-about a dissolution*