The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1899.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 3129, 8 December 1899, Page 2

The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1899.

The composition of parties m the new House, as thus far shown by the returns, is as follows :—Government, 45 ; Opposition, 17 ; Independent, 4 ; Left Wing, 2. Those numbers give a total of 68. The full complement of members is 74, and to make up that total there are 6 more elections to be held, namely, 4 m the Maori electorates ; 1 at Lyttelton, and 1 at Rangitikei, a candidate having died m each of the two last-named electorates since the closing of the nominations, and the proceedings having therefore to be commenced over again. Under the circumstances it seems almost absurd to speak of a trial of strength between the Government and the Opposition, because if the Lyttelton and Rangitikei seats were to fall to the Opposition, and on an adverse motion the latter were to be supported by the Independents, the Left Wing, and all four of the Maoris, the division would be — Government, 45 ; and Opposition, 29. The Government would, however, lose 1 by Sir Maurice O'Rorke, who will m all probability be ajiain chosen Speaker. But, as far as we know, there is no reason for supposing that all the Maoris, all iho Independents, and both the Left .Wingers, would combine with the Opposition against the Government. It is obvious that the Premier occupies a splendid position, but the responsibility which now rests on him is greater than ever. Let us hope that he will be duly sensible of the fact, and that he will not use his great strength m an unconstitutional manner, by attempting to burke fair discussion, and by withholding information to which members on either side of the House are entitled as the representatives of the people. There was far too much of that sort oi thing m the last Parliament, and it is certain that it led to a great diminution of the Premier's influence and even lessened the number of his supporters. Towards the close of last session the Government on more than one occasion escaped defeat only by the assistance of the Maori vote. In our yesterday's issue we said that we Bhould take an opportunity of endeavouring to give what appeared to have been the reasons of the Premier's triumph on Wednesday. Those who choose to believe that, under such a wide franchise as prevails m New Zealand, the verdict of the ballot-box necessarily expresses the intelligent belief of the people are very much mistaken. Many thousands vote without an intelligent belief, and the reasons that they would give for the manner m which they exercised the franchise would" be absurd. The colony is prosperous, and there seems to be a strong probability of the prosperity continuing. The Premier and his colleagues have invariably taken credit to themselves for such a satisfactory state of things, whereas m reality they have had little or nothing to do with bringing it about. The prosperity is due to the expansion of the great industries, and that would have happened no matter what Government was m power. Still, there was the prosperity, and no doubt thousands of the electors connected it with the Premier and his policy, and voted accordingly. The old age pension scheme stood the Government m good stead on Wednesday. It'is probable that almost all the recipients of pensions and those who expect to get them voted for Government candidates, partly out of gratitude, and partly because they feared that if the Ministry were turned out their successors would make an end of the scheme. We need scarcely say that the fear was altogether groundless, though it is very likely that a Ministry with Captain Russell and Mr Rolleston as its leading members would have put the finance of the scheme on a more durable basis, would have enlarged its Bcope, and would have removed some of the unpleasantnesses which applicants are now subjected to when making their appeal to the authorities. Another matter which we dare say contributed to the general result on Wednesday was tho prompt action of the Government m respect of sending a Contingent to South Africa. The idea pleased the public mind, and we should never dream of denying the Premier's patriotism m the part that he played. But nevertheless he profited by his action when it became a question of whether the Government should be supported or not. Other reasons for the result on Wednesday might be given, bnt we have said enough. We notice that the Premier when speaking after most of the returns were m, claimed that the victory was a complete answer to all the charges which had been brought against the Government of maladministration, of extravagance, of favouritism, of "scandalous" proceedings, etc., etc. We have no desire to rake up old stories, but we cannot admit the truth of tbe Premier's contention. The most tb^t can truly be said is that the majority of the electors saw fit to condone the offences ; but assuredly those offences had been committed, and the " whitewashing," however complete it may have been, did not go to show that those who applied the brush bad a high sense of moral responsibility and moral right m matters political.