The Timaru Herald.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 1860, 16 October 1877, Page 3

The Timaru Herald.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1877. At last there is a clean sweep of the Ministerial benches. For upwards ot five years they have been occupied by what must be regarded as a continuous Ministry, although its atoms have frequently been shifted about and new elements occasionally introduced. For all practical purposes, indeed, the late Ministry may be regarded as a con-

tinuing- one from 1869, for its tenancy of the Truasurv benches was only interrupted (or one hrief term of twenty - eight flays m 1873. If the history of the Ministry which went into office on Mr Fox's want of confidence motion m 1869, arid went out of office the other | day on Mr Larnach's motion, ever I comes to be written, what an instrucI tive lesson it will be for the po irical student. It gained office by trading on the misfortunes of the coiony, by cruelly misrepresenting the facts of the unfortunate war then raging on the West and East Coasts of the North Island. Ifc managed at enormous cost and no slight loss of dignity, to purchase peace, and then it entered on a course of reckliss borrowing anil wholesale bribery to retain office. Circumstances conspired to favor it. and even when m 1872 the Legislature for once recovered its senses, members soon yielded again to the glamor ot unlimited expenditure, and a fresh departure took place. Having no fixed principles to Btart with, the Ministry of the lust nine years has been guided entirely by expediencj'. For a brief period Mr Waterhouse did indeed try to take up higher "round, but his well meant conscientious efforts found no sympathy from his colie;ij.'iies, and he retired m disgust. The two things which the Ministry depended on to carry out their policy of retaining their seats were the personal influence of Sir Donald McLean, not so much with the. Natives but over the minds of Middle Island men, who were carefully impressed with the idea of his being the one great " medicine man " who alone could preserve peace, and the lavish expenditure m indirect briber)' by means of public works So soon as there was any sign of Ministers getting shaky, another war was the bugbear used to frighten Southern men, and if this failed to bring the waverers submissively back to the Ministerial fold, it was hard indeed if a railway or something of the kind could not be projected to suit each j one. When, however, the Ministry lost Sir Donald McLean, unhappily, by , death, and Sir Julius Yogel by translation to another hemisphere, they lost their chief directors. They could no longer get up a Native scare by the name of the one, nor was there anyone left able, after the manner oi the other, j to convince members m what direction their interests lay. Having lost their anchors, they got frightened, and took on board a pilot who speedily managed to wreck them. They would have done better to have trusted to their captain. Mr Whitaker was a poor substitute for Sir Julius Yogel, and a worse leader than Major Atkinson. He has piloted the Ministerial vessel to utter and complete shipwreck. We have not space here to trace the various changes m policy and men which have distinguished the Ministry since 1869. It went into office on the shoulders of Provincialism, and it has destroyed Provincialism. It has from its ranks given one Resident Magistrate lo the country, and taken another from it. It has had the amplest means and opportunities of doirg good which any Colonial Government ever possessed, and it has abused and neglected them. It has eagerly bought up its opponents, nnd steadily provided for its friends. It has from time to time advocated, proposed, and opposed almost every possible political scheme which was ever known m the colony — one session the earnest advocate of Provincialism, borrowing* to an unlimited extent, the next the stern guardian of the public credit, refusing the provinces a penny ; one session the champion of provincial rights, another the destroyer of the very name of provinces; one time the denouncers of county government, and anon the authors of a county system ; advocating free trade one year, and imposing a duty on flour the next; using settlementon the land as a watchword now, and then carefully shutting up all land from settlement; declaring the pre-emptive right of the Crown to purchase Native lands absolutely necessary one moment, and the source of unmixed evil the next. It is, we think, a matter of deep thankfulness that the coiony has at last got rid of this ever-continuing, ever-changing Government, and is likely to get one which will be able to start fair without any perplexing questions arising as to when it began and for what it is or is not responsible. No doubt the new Government will have a difficult task before it m checking and altering 1 the system of wasteful expenditure which has been going on, and bringing the finances of the country back into a sound and satisfactory condition. It may have to give offence m many quarters m doing this, but we hope it will have a policy and stick to it, and be prepared to accept the full responsibility of what it does. This is what the late Ministry never has done, it was as easy to find the pea under the thimblerigger's little cone as to find who was responsible for anything done by Ministers between one session and another. Ministerial responsibility has been a sham under the system on which this country has been governed for the last nine years. How great a sham it has been will perhaps never be thoroughly understood until the political history of the period comes to be written, and its events impartially analysed and compared. We do not envy the man who undertakes the task, for his bjain will certuinly require to be a strong one. to avoid becoming oonr fused with the Protean changes which fas will have to trace m the Ministry collectively and individually, and the absence 'of all clearly defined outlines. The late Government has been like ft series of dissolving views cleverly managed, so as to leave no definite point where one begins and another ends. We hope 'he history of the next few years will show a marked contrast, and be as clear and distinct as the other is cloudy and confusing. » The great horsewhipping case m Wellington needs some explauatiou. It is a wrong thing that it should be barely Stated that Mr Hislop, M.H.8., hae

been thrashed by Mr Jame3 Mackay, on account of certain statements that have been made by tlie former. Mr Hislop ia a quiet, inoffensive, peaceable man, whom everybody who knows him likes, and who, probably, never said a really offensive word against anybody m his life. He is under the middle height m stature and alight m figure ; and, what is more to the point and is manifest to everybody who sees him just now, is a recent convalescent from a dangerous illness. Mr James Mackay, jun., is a giant m form and a giant m strength. He stands a good half-foot taller than Mr Hislop, and is the very picture of manly health and vigor. Endued by nature with an iron frame, and hardened and embrowned by out-door exercise and exposure, he looks the sort of man who would no more think of hitting one smaller than himself than he would of flying over the moon. | James Mackay striking Mr H ; slop m his ; present condition was at least as cowardly as a man hitting a woman. We learn, however, that Mr Hislop, weak and small as he was, showed great courage under tho brutal assault which was made upon him, and used every effort which his feeble strength admitted of, to defend his person. He succeeded m dragging tho whip from his overpowering adversary and breaking it, at which point his friends rescued him from further molestation. Wo trust that the Magistrates will teach Mr Mackay that ruffianly violence is no sign of courage, and that to be brave, a man ought to have a good cause. That Mr Mackay is a courageous man has been proved on many occasions. He it was who, at the peril of his life, penetrated into the King Country — when Sir Donald McLean dared not go — to demand the murderer of Sullivan from Tawhiao, and was wounded on the head m his sleep by a blow from a treacherous taiaha. Again and again he has shown equal indifference to danger. We admit his natural gallantry at once ; — but, we say, more shame for him that he should behave as he has done on this last occasion. It is reported that Mr Mackay struck Mr Hislop on account of his having mentioned that Mr Mackay had been concerned m making a Member drunk prior to the recent Ministerial division. Whether any Member was drunk prior or subsequent to the Ministerial division, we have no means of judging. We earnestly hope that no such thing took place. We are, however, assured that Mr Mackay openly boasted of having had a Eliare m so far jumbling up the ideas of a Member that he did not know that he was locked up by the Government party m an upper room of the Government buildings, whence he was forcibly rescued by the Opposition. It was the common talk of Wellington that Mr Mackay was one of the prime agents m the business, and, as we have said, he himself certainly did not discourage the rumor. Thus, it seems, that if all that is laid to Mr Hislo^'s charge is accurately stated, he was not far from the truth, and that Mr Mackay had little cause for complaint against him. Why, then, should he have got m such a fluster and behaved so disgracefully ? Mr Mackay, we fancy, is a living illustration of Charles Lamb's famous essay on popular fallacies, where he proves beyond dispute that cowards and bullies are not always identical. » The latest addition to the Cabinet certainly is not a very valuable acquisition. Mr Fisher is an excellent, worthy citizen, and decidedly a most consistent politician. But he is not exactly, or — not to put too fine a point upon it — m the remotest degree, suited for the position of a Minister of the Crown. He knows nothing of public affairs ; he is no speaker, and he has no influence m the House. He is not, however, at all lacking m virtues. He does what Mr Montgomery tells him, and he votes straight. We therefore wish him well, though we cannot congratulate the reat pro-consul on his last recruit,