The Star. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1884.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5096, 2 September 1884, Page 2

The Star. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1884.

The " steep depression " which, according to tlie Weather Reports, existed down South yesterday, had its complimentary centre at Wellington, where the political barometer once more indicated bad weather. "What the weather was like is to some extent shown by the resolution which the Atkinson party adopted. In effect they declared an Atkinson-Stout- Vogcl coalition to be an impossibility, since they could secure no terms which were reasonable, or which did not involve a great sacrifice of principle. Of this resolution the Conservative journals will make much. They will claim that heroism and self-abnegation are qualities which exist only with the Conservative party. But our readers will at once perceive that the wonderful resolution 16 a two-edged weapon. If its

declaration be true, it follows that the j Stout- Vogel party have certain fixed prin- } ciples, and that under no circumstances will these be sacrificed. Setting personal considerations aside for the moment, we • find, from the information sent by our special correspondentb at the seat of Government, that one of the " reasonable concessions" which the Atkinson party wished they might get was the abandonment of a principal plank in the Yogel platform, — the substitution of a Land tax for the Property tax. That, it will be borne in mind, was made a sine qua non in nearly every election contest in this part of the country: it id one of the vital principles of the Liberal programme : it is a great constitutional question, the deletion of which would go far to destroy that party distinction which is so essential to a healthy political life, and which we hope ever to s<je maintained. The coalition policy, in fact, was to be made as nearly colourless as possible; and in order to effect this we were to have a dummy Premier,-— some neutral tinted man from the Upper House. Now, everybody who has studied colour effects is aware that to preserve upon the palette a perfectly neutral tint is not by any means i a simple matter ; Tory blue or Liberal yellow soon destroys the balance of the neutral composition. We should be torry to see the leading party lines blotted out ; we should be sorry to see a neutral - tinted " Government, which must of necessity go in for continuity on the peace-at-any-price system. This we shall not get, however, both sides having agreed to differ on certain well-defined questions. The aspect of affaire this morning is more promising. Mr Stout has to fall back upon the resources of the sections of Liberals, who in the calmer hovrs succeeding the recent storms should be found ready to ignore the minor differences which have been frothed up into angry foam, and to work heartily in the general interests. This is the crystallisation process so long hoped for. Mr Stout presides at the alembic once more, and it is pleasing to notice that some of his difficulties have been removed by the generous withdrawal of Messrs Montgomery and Macandrew. The issue becomes of absorbing interest.