THE REMAINING MINISTERS

Colonist, Volume VI, Issue 617, 22 September 1863, Page 3

THE REMAINING MINISTERS

(From the. Canterbury Press.)

A recent change in. the Ministry of the colony induces us to review the circumstances under which the present Government came into power, and the effect of recent changes. When Mr. Domett accepted the task of forming a Ministry, he called to his councils Mr. Bell as Native Minister, Mr. Gillies as Attorney-General, and Mr. Thomas Russell as the representative of Auckland in the Cabinet, but without office. Mr. Gillies, it was rumored, could not retain office after the session was over, and Mr. Russell was but an unattached ally. This Government soon created great uneasiness in the House, and matters were speedily approaching a crisis, when it was averted by the accession of Mr. Header Wood as Treasurer, and Mr. Orosbie Ward as Postmaster-General. Mr. Mantell shortly after added the weight of his name as a representative of Wellington interests, and as a man perhaps more thoroughly conversant with the native mind than any other in these islands. Mr. Domett was called by the Governor to power in the hope that he might be able to heal up the divisions in the General Assembly by an amalgamation of those parties into which it had been divided; for, it was well known, the Native question was becoming seriously complicated by the animosity, almost personal, to which it had given birth amongst the leaders of the opposite parties in the House. Mr. Stafford, who had himself refused office, had sufficient in? fluence to preclude Mr. Fox from power, though he was glad enough to see Mr. Fox's party broken up by the union of some of the members of that gentleman's Ministry with the tail of his own party. The Domett Ministry, then, was a coalition Ministry, excluding the leading men—at least, leading in debate—on all sides of the House. Such as it was, the House confided to it the administration of affairs, and gave it sufficient support to bring the session to a close. The composition of the Ministry was: Of the war party —Mr. Domett, Secretary; Mr. Bell, Native Minister; Mr. Russell, without office; and Mr. Tancred, without office, conducting the business in the Legislative Council; —of Fox's party— Mr. Ward, Postmaster-General; Mr. Reader Wood, Treasurer; and Mr. Mantell, without office. These were the gentlemen to whom the House entrusted, the government of the country. In what condition will the Government again meet the House on the 19th of next month ? In the first place the Government will appear as the representatives of the Governor in the Legislature, whilst very ugly reports are pervading the colony, and have found their way into the public journals, of differences between the Governor and his advisers, at all times inconvenient arid unseemly, but, in a time like the present, full of the most alarming consequences to the colony. Mr. Domett is still the pre-. mier. Mr. Bell, still holding the most important post of Native Minister, has deserted that post, and has undertaken the duties of a volunteer recruiting sergeant at Melbourne. That the head of that department on which ■, the whole interest of the colony is concentrated, on whose sagacity and firmness and intimate acquaintance with Native affairs we ought to rely for the guidance of the colony into better relations with the Native race —that a Minister holding the most important portfolio should at the present critical state of affairs absent himself from his duties, and abandon to others the task of disentangling the complications which have 80 rapidly grown up under his administration of the Native department—this is

one of the most unaccountable steps which we ever recollect to have heard of in a public man. It is fair to. say that Mr. Bell's health hap, we have heard, been seriously injured by his close attendance to his duties. This is very likely, for there is no more laborious or conscientious worker in existence than Mr. Bell. But however we may lament the cause, the result is quite inexcusable. If Mr. Bell is unable to attend to his office, it is monstrous to plead such an excuse at such a moment for his absence from the colony. It would be all-sufficient excuse for his resignation: none whatever for his absence if he continues to hold the office. In the next place Mr. Ward, the Postmaster-General, is gone to England. Mr. Gillies resigned before the end of the session. Mr. Tancred resigned immediately after it was over, and now Mr. Mantellhas thrown up his office also. Indeed we might add another; for when Mr. Gillies resigned the AttorneyGeneralship, Mr. Sewell took it for the end of the session, and immediately after gave way to Mr. Whitaker, who became AttorneyGeneral without a seat in the Executive i Council. So that of all the gentlemen who comprised the Government last session, only Mr. Domett, Mr. Wood, and Mr. Kussell will again meet the Assembly, with no representative of the Government in the Legislative Council. It will be almost a painful sight to see Mr. Domett making his first explanations to the House of Eepresentatives. But these things must be explained/ Of all things there is nothing Englishmen pardon so little as the desertion of a post in the hour of danger. Why has Mr.Bell left the Colony? And why has Mr. Mantell resigned ? The latter is the more important question of tlie two. Mr. Bell may possibly think that he will be more successful in raising troops than in negotiating with Natives, and he certainly cannot possibly be less so. But Mr. Mantell has deserted his post at the most critical moment. There can be but oue conceivable excuse for his doing so at such a time. Nothing can constitute an excuse except his wide and total dissension from his colleagues as to the policy they are adopting. It is quite true Mr. Mantell did not hold an office. He was only an unattached and unpaid member of the Cabinet; but he voluntarily placed himself in that position, and in time of danger he had no right to retire, unless he had made repeated remonstrances against what he thought wrong, and found that, being unable to change it, he must either become responsible: for it or retire. Then only had he a right to take such a course at such a moment. Mr. Mantell was or ought to have been the organ of the General Government at Wellington with the natives; and we confess to have been surprised that in all the recent communications between the Government and the Maoris, it has been the Superintendent who has been the organ of the Government; nor do we remember to have seen that Mr. Mantell was ever present at either of the meetings at Ofcaki or at the Wairarapa, Even now, when the Government is wholly disoraganized, we suppose there are some of the new constitutional advisers in whom we put confidence in this province who would prevent the meeting of the Assembly if they could.