THE KNIGHT AND THE MAJOR.

Saturday Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 124, 24 November 1877, Page 8

THE KNIGHT AND THE MAJOR.

(Nelson Daily Times.) ] Major Atkinson —with the very best intentions undoubtedly—on Wednesday evening exchanged the gold of silence for the silver of speech, and we venture to assert that if the prominent members of the Opposition had been in the gallery listening to their defenders, Messrs Atkinson and Oliver, they would have devoutly prayed the Providence that watches o’er the affairs of mortals to preserve them from their friends. Of the blue-blooded aristocratic sentiments enunciated by the latter, nothing need be said. “Parliament has got into a muddle, the people have no right to interfere,” might have been received seriously in the days of “ good King John,” but in the nineteenth century it can only be regarded as a good joke from t a, speaker who, despite -a somewhat unpromising exterior, evidently possesses an immense amount of innate humor. Mr Atkinson’s public attestation of the wretchedly complicated manner in which the public accounts have >. hitherto been and are-still'being, kept, is a more serious matter, and; although the statement was well met and ably parried by Mr Adams, it certainly seems, to deserve more'than a passing notice. Mr Atkinson s words were, “It is absolutely ridiculous for any man to talk of the finances of the colony unless he has made it a life, study,” and coming from a gentleman supposed to be well posted m the subject he was speaking upon, this is an

alarming .statement, insomuch that it really-> allots'io the electors of New Zealanda posi,i tion identical with; that pcpupied by a Bussian .serf or an. Egyptian fellah ;i (It is neither* i morer nor less than; ap impudent-Attempt to.estabiish a ruling class and;.a working classo in direct antagonism to the. true principles of representative Government. 'i -dgnon

(Hawke’s Bay Herald.)

Certainly • the stars in their courses are fighting for Sir George ; the G-eorgium Sidus is in the ascendant. We can imagine with what inward joy that wily old gentleman will look on at the triangular struggle for the leadership of the Opposition in progress between Messrs Atkinson, Travers, and Gisborne. Mr 'i Sheehan apparently did not know who his friends were when he poured out the vials of his irreverent humour on the head of the member for Wellington. This privilege question has been worth more to the Government than half-a-dozen vacated billets! It is a perfect stumbling-block in the. way of the Opposition. There is no getting over it, Or round it, or alongside of it by any means. Mr Stafford, the Parliamentary Nestor of the party, apparently saw what was coming when he suggested the adjournment of the House till next day,, in the hope probably of patching up in the interim the quarrel between its Agamemnon and its Achilles.

: ;■ (Southland Times.) However high-handedly Sir G-eorge Grey may, by the influence which he has managed to obtain over a. section of the House, carry on his reign, we hardly think that even his most ardent admirers and supporters will assert that he is occupying a dignified position, or that he has done other than detract from the honour of the office which he holds in that “ august assembly” of which he has talked so loudly. It is hard to understand how Sir George Grey reconciles his present position with kis past utterances, and how he proposes that the honest historian shall record the incidents of the present session without leaving a very considerable blur upon the escutcheon of the Premier. Although openly challenged upon two occasions by the Opposition to try his strength in the House upon a clear and legitimate issue, Sir George Grey has burked' the encounter, cleverly, we admit, but by no means creditably. He has had recourse to the meanest of tactics to retain office and assert his own autocracy, and has not scrupled indeed to boast of the method by which his party remains in power. The position is very cogently put by the New Zealand Mail, and we cannot do better than quote our contemporary’s exact words :“A Government that is content to. drag on a no-confidence debate by every dodge and scheme that could be devised to create delay; to snatch at an unexpected moment what the Speaker characterised as a ‘ catch ’ vote; and finally to accept as a triumph a division won by the casting vote of the Speaker, when three of the Opposition were out of the way; —such a Government is a sorry spectacle. Members of the House and strangers in the gallery looked on with amazement while the Premier of the Colony cheered and clapped in a frantic manner on disposing in this way of a vote of confidence. Ho wonder the tail wagged in response to this noisy head. And all the men in the House who have abandoned their independence of thought to do what Sir George Grey tells them were jubilant. If their leader has no sense of dignity or self-respect, why should they have any ? He is satisfied with his position, why should not they be satisfied ? It is a proud boast that they have enabled the leader of a small minority, by means of obstruction, of intrigue, and of every device for wearying Parliament, to snatch the reins of power, and for the moment to defy the majority of the representatives of the people. But they must know that such victories are really defeats. And the longer the defeat is delayed, the more ignominious and the 'more, crushing it will be.”