The Te Wananga. Published every Saturday. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1876.

Wananga, Volume 3, Issue 35, 7 October 1876, Page 366

The Te Wananga. Published every Saturday. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1876.

By all accounts this session of Parliament is drawing rapidly to a close. The members, who will soon have been four months in attendance, are becoming worn out by the fierce struggle of parties which has occupied nearly the whole session, and are beginning to lose much of the fire and vigor which have hitherto sustained them. Most of the members have their sheep runs or farms or businesses to attend to, and we need not say how much these suffer from the'ion ocoutinned absence of their owners. It is only the professional politician, who gets himself elected in the expectation of selling his vote for the reward of some salaried office sinecure, that is not moved by anv such consideration; and it is well for New Zealand thatthis clans is much less numerous in ]t tii:ia it Lias Lcvii i:: 1110 t ■'

We trust that the corrupt era of the Fox-Yo°-el-M'Lean Governments is passing away, and place to a purer and more patriotic Regime, in "which economy will sweep away many useless offices, and the fitness of every " individual for really necessary appointments, will be the only passport. We do not join in the cry that the time and 7noney of the Colony have be3n wasted this session. On the contrary, we contend that the results have been very great. The country has managed, after a tremendous effort, to shake off its '-'Old man of the Sea;" and the great Sir Julius has been compelled to retire, certainly not covered with laurels, from his autocratic rule over the destinies of New Zealand, which he has exercised we may say almost uncontrolled, for the last seven years. And with what fatal results let the present state of our finances speak But the break up of the Vogel Cabinet has brought about another great deliverance. The Colony has virtually got rid of the Arch-Impostor, the Native Minister, by the almost magic influence of whose name the Governments, which have succeeded Mr. Stafford since ISH9, have alone been able to sustain themselves. His retirement at the end of the session is an understood thing ; and the fall of the once omnipotent Sir Donald adds another example of the ephemeral nature of all power, which has no other foundation than hollow pretensions, incapable of standing the strain of adverse circumstances. We almost are inclined to pity the fallen Potentate—for he has been for long and sad years a power in the country—bat tte of both races have suffered, and are suffering so much, from his misrule that time has not yet softened our feelings of resentment, or healed over our sense of injuries. A relentless Nemesis however is pursuing him : and his name, instead of being cherished by Natives and Europeans alike, as it might have been had his policy been a true and honest one, will disappear from the public arena of the Colony, to be only ever aud anon, in times of trouble of which he has bc-en the cause, remembered with anger and disgust.* _ Another important result has followed the downfall of \ ogel and M'Lean, the real pillars of the Government. The Colony has at last roused itself from its delicious dreams of unbounded and perpetual prosperitv, and has discovered that it stands on the verge of a precipice—tiie yawning gulf of Financial ruin. We have, however, such confidence in the resources of this voun<» country as to believe that, bv a svstem of ri <r id economy in the expenditure of the Colony, and after some period of comparative rest has succeeded the fitful feverishness of the last few years, we shall ret emerge from our difficulties, and niake a steady advance in population and wealth. So far as we can at present see, the session will be singularly barren in any legislation affecting the peculiar interests of the Natives. Sir Donald's proposed Land Bill, which was intended still further to enclose the administration of Native lands in th 6 Governmental embrace, has died a natural death, and will be no more heard of. We hear of a "Native Grantees Bill," the offspring of Mr. Randall Johnstone, of Poverty Bay, having l-asscd the I'jw-r in th»-> ::T.-■ •!!;•<> «•;' <". w' • . . • • .

still to undergo the ordeal of the Lower House, where > it vrill be closely scanned and watched by Sir George Grey and Mr. Sheehan. We do not exactly understand the object of this Bill, of which we have not seen a copy : but we confess to having great suspicions as to its scope and intention. In this we are justified by the many private ends which have been attempted j to be served by introducing clauses, or alterations of j clauses, apparently simple and harmless, into Native I Acts and amendments. One memorable instance, we j may remind our readers, occurred in ISO 9, when ■ '* The Apostles" contrived, without exciting suspicion, ! to get altered the proposed clause declaring that all j shares in a Crown Grant shall not be equal : and by ' the interpotation of a word or two, prevented the ap- j plication of the clause to the shares of T;<rehn, and ! Waka Kawatini, which they had dealt with. We j shall, therefore, draw attention to the Poverty Bay j Bill in our next issue. If all tales be true, the land j tronsactions in that favored district are 110 better than in Hawke's Bav.