Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 1895. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXV, Issue 4252, 26 June 1895, Page 2

Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 1895. " MEASURES, NOT MEN."

The acceptance of office by the Marquis of Salisbury is certainly a very fino, a unique, illustration almost of the unexpected in politics. Precisely the very thing has happened that none of the prophets in their most inspired moments ever imagined to be possible; and for mouths past the political seers on the great London uewspapers have daily been reading the stars and communicating their messages to a profoundly interested public. The concensus of opinion on all sides was that the Eosebery Government sometime within the present year would dissolve and go to the country. And when that event took place, the mass of the best-informed and least prejudiced opinion agreed that the j constituencies would seada Conservative I

Administration into office. Is it possible, then, that the Government may have been " riding for a fall," and that, having accomplished their purpose, they have been able to avoid or postpone a defeat of a wider and more disastrous kind in the electorates P It may be now in their power to discredit and humiliate their opponents, and in doing so help to improve their own position in the eyes of the country. The majority in the House, we know, is still with the fallen Government. On an important amendment during the debate on the Welsh Disestablishment Bill, their majority fell to eleven, and the fact was accepted by the Unionist and Conservative forces as a sign of approaching dissolution. But since then majorities of over twenty in full Houses have been recorded in favor of the Government. From the division in which the defeat of the Government by a majority of seven took place, the cable tells us that seven Ministers were absent from the House. There was also not much more than one-third of the full strength of the House present — the aggregate votes on both sides being 257. Lord Salisbury, therefore, takes office with a decided minority — a minority that bas kept him in " the cold shades of opposition " since August 1892, when the last Gladstonian Administration was formed and still onward from the 10th March, 1894, when Lord Rosebery took office as Premier, and head of the Foreign Office. To whatever momentary causes the defeat of the Government may be due, it is clear they preferred throwing on the Opposition the onus of carrying on the affairs of the country rather than refer the question of supremacy to the constituencies. Thenew Administration can only remain in office on sufferance, tolerated by tho party they have just overthrown. During the last year or two, the cry of the Opposition and their newspapers was that a Government with a majority so slender and so liable to dangerous fluctuations Bhould resign at once and test the opinion of the country. But here we see the same party taking office without even the pretence of having a majority of any kind. They now have it in their power to do what they have been urging their opponents to do with such vehemence for some time. But it is hard to say what may happen ; for, as we have just seen, even the prophets who are every day and all day within the sound of the strife, spectators ot the struggle, are liable to be very much mistaken in their forecasts. And in any calculation that may be made on such a question the Irish Nationalists — Parnellifce and anti-Parnellite alike — must remain an uncertain and perplexing element. They are now in the market awaiting their price. They are merely opportunists, ready to throw the weight of their support into the scale of the party that pays most for ib. The temptation of the new Administration to " dish " their opponents and prolong their tenure of office by such means is very strong, whilst the opportuinty created by the situation for the purposes of the Irish Party could hardly be excelled, even though they had themselves the making of it.

The request of the County Council that the Government would place a sum of money on the Estimates for repairing the main road from Lawrence to the County boundary is both reasonable and entirely justified by the circumstances under which it is made. With these circumstanceß the Premier is perfectly familiar. An opportunity was taken on the occasion of his first visit to the district some years ago to explain the position of the Council to him in connection with the maintenance of the main road. The period of his visit was during the winter months, and he was consequently afforded ample, if unpleasant, proof of the condition of the main road and the difficulty its maintenance must impose on a local body with a declining revenue and constantly-increasing demands of expenditure. There was also the additional fact then brought forcibly under Mr Seddon'a notice that on grounds of equity and fairness alone the conveyance of the mails over the road entitled the County to assistance from the Government. Mr Seddon did not attempt to dispute the force of this claim, and, without committing the Government to any specific course, he spoke in sympathetic terms of the difficulties against which the Council had to contend. Durlast session some assistance was given by the Government, but not sufficient to allow of work of a large and permanent character being undertaken. The worst feature in regard to the maintenance of this road is that the money expended on it is productive of little permanent result. The system of desultory and periodical patching and mending, with which the Council for very manifest reasons has to content itself, is little more than an unprofitable waste of money. The road needs a thorough and substantial metalling and repairing right througk its entire length and at once, and to do this a larpe sum of money, much larger than the Council can aftVd, is required. The member for the district should be able to spoak eloquently or, perhaps, pathetically, of the state of the road during the winter months. He made acquaintance with the road at a season ot the year when it may be seen at its worst, and he is also cognisant of the financial inability of the County Council to discharge properly the duties which the maintenance of the road imposes on them. We recently suggested an expenditure of £400 or £450 on that part of the road from the Lawrence boundary to Munros Hill. If the amount of money named were expended on the metalling of that stretch of the road, ifc would remain in good repair for some years to come and would to some extent ease the financial strain to which the Council is constantly subjected. The same remark applies to the entire road, and we trust the reasonableness of the claim made by the Council will be recognised by the Government, and some amends made for many years of neglect and injustice.

The official declaration of the poll held under the Loans to Local Bodies' Act on the question of a contemplated loan by ths County has placed the proposed Millers Flat bridge outside the domain of doubt or controversy. The voting, it will be noted, was not large in a comparative sense, and the limit demanded by law was passed by jusfc a large enough majority to show the advocates of the measure and those locally interested in its success how very narrow was their escape from defeat, how very uncertain was jbhe issue, and how very much they owe the success of the poll to the energy with which the question was ventilated, explained, and advocated before being finally committed to the arbitrament of the public. Had there jwfc freea $he

awakening there was by the friends of the proposal in the last hours preceding ' the poll, the conclusion is unavoidable that the polling would have been a humiliating fiasco. As matters now stand the proposal, by a majority of fifty-one votes above half the number of votes exercisable, has received the sanction of the ratepayers, and the County Council is now in possession of the necessary authority to avail itself of the terms of a loan offered by the Government. That there was no active hostility to the proposal may be conclusively accepted ; indeed, it is difficult to understand how there could be after the public had been made acquainted with the conditions on which it rested and its entire freedom from atiy obligations _of an oppressive or burdensome character to the general body of tho ratepayers. But there waa yet, as the polling shows, a large, inert mass of indifference of an unimpenetrable, unintelligent, and irresponsible kind which no argument, appeal, or sense of duty or respomibility could move. That this element wonld prove large and overwhelming enough to destroy the practical value of the poll may be regarded as pretty certain were it not for the persistency with which the j question was debated and explained and impressed on the public mind. In the accomplishment of this task, the Chairman of the County Council (Mr Jas. Bennet) displayed conspicuous zeal and ability, and we have no hesitation in saying that the success of the poll is in a large measure due to his personal efforts. The other members of the Council also tendered valuable service both publicly and in private among their constituents. Indeed, had they been less warmly interested or less active in their efforts on behalf of the proposal the result mighl be very different from what it now is.