The Waikato Times. TUESDAY, JULY 2, 1872.

Waikato Times, Volume I, Issue 27, 2 July 1872, Page 2

The Waikato Times. TUESDAY, JULY 2, 1872.

Immediately preceding each session of the Assembly, speculation becomes rife as to the probability of the party in power being- able to retain their seats on the ministerial bench to the end of tho sitting-. Presuming the existence of a judiciously organised opposition, thero should be little difficulty in predicting the probable result. Those members who disagree on certain points with the policy of tho Fox ministry are, however, without a leader. Mr. Stafford last session was either unable, or did not make the attempt, to organise his party, probably from a feeling that it would be useless to do so in the face of tho immense amount of Government patronage tho appropriation of the first instalment of the loan placed in the hands of the Ministry. It mattered not what scheme was brought forward by individual members, not only in the House but' in the lobbies. Ministers were enabled, from the undeveloped state of their public works scheme, to give doubtful answers, but couched in such terms as to lead members to believe that by supporting them they would succeed in securing the expenditure of some of the loan in the district each represented. It has now become An absolute certainty that the whole amount of the loan will not be sufficient to complete much more than one-third of the railway lines which political necessity compelled the Government to promise. We are justified in saying that by dint of promises, the fulfilment of which was known to be impossible, the Ministry suoceeded in securing the almost unprecedented majorities which repeatedly followed them into the lobby. These promises are now palpably capable of being estimated at their proper value; and it has to be seen how many of the former supporters of Government, now that they find they are to get none of the loan, will hold the same opinion as to the administration of affairs by the Fox-Vogel party. If forgotten out-of-doors, there is little probability of the many bitter enemies of the Ministry (in the House) forgetting that they came into power on the plea of retrenchment, the result of their action in this direction being a deficiency of £160,000 for the last financial year, and it is much to be feared that the Treasurer's budget, no matter how carefully the accounts may be manipulated, will show that our liabilities have been considerably added to during* the last financial year from our expenditure having exceeded our re-

venue. The interest on the £1,200,000 will j have to heme*-, and asyetthe workson which this j money has been expended, or rather frittered j away, are non-productive. Ministers will have to undergo a very close examination as to the reason of there being so little to show for the expenditure of so large a sum of money. It will be asked —Where are the railways and the immigrants ? Ihe only reply that can possibly be made is, They are tilings of the future. The money, however, is unfortunately a thing of the past!

For evidence of how far the promise of retrenchment has been carried out, we have only to turn to the list of civil servants of the Government. This list has now swollen to the respectable number of 1,663, holding 2,113 offices, giving a Government official for every 156 of the population, and an office for every 123 souls to be taken care of by a paternal Government. It will be a difficult task for Ministers to convince members that the Government of the Colony cannot be carried on without selecting one person in every 125 of the population to receive Government pay. There, can be no doubt that the only necessity for such an array of officials is a political one, namely, that of affording the Ministry, through their friends, the support necessary to maintain power. Tho state of affairs existing is doubtless the natural result of representative government in a thinly populated country, the population being too much taken up with their own affairs to watch or care much for tho doings of their rulers. We warn those who have for some years looked upon the Government of this colony as their pre-emptive right that the population are fast becoming awakened to its position, and that unless matters are remedied voluntarily the people will have to adopt some very unpleasant means of doing so for them.

The failure of nogociations with Victoria, in reference to the subsidy to the San Francisco mail route, will be a thorn in the side of Ministers. Mr. Vogel will again be told that he had no right to enter into so great a responsibility on behalf of New Zealand until he had finally ascertained that he could secure the co-operation of the other colonies. Whatever the opinion of the members may have been with regard to it, they will be ready in common with all men to condemn an unsuccessful negociations. This too, is fair on the grounds that as a Minister he had better means of judging of probabilities than they.

Tlie unpopularity which Mr. Fox has managed to secure to himself by his eccen- : tricities will not help ministers over the very I high stile they have to surmount. It isgenenerally believed, and naturally so, that the Premier is not a working man, and that in the present critical state of the colony he could have found much more useful, if not genial, employment than that of an amateur teetotal lecturer. The Education question is one which, very properly, it is not intended to make a ministerial measure, although it is announced that the Bill will receive the support of the Government. Notwithstanding its being a question on which the Ministry should not be called upon to resign, failure in carrying it will not add to the security of their position. Having glanced at the dark spots in the ministerial escutcheon, we will now wander in search of the light ones. The first that strikes us is the fact that the natives have remained quiet and that road work has been more or less vigorously proceeded with. This will have great weight with the House, as it is felt on all sides that a native outbreak just now would be more detrimental to the interests of the colony than that of any other catastrophe. It would stop the flow of immigration which is commencing to set in, and destroy the confidence of capitalists from whom we hope to borrow money for the prosecution of our public works; it would also prevent men of capital from the other colonies investing their money in this. Mr. McLean is the only member of the Ministry, who, with all their migrations, can be said to have succeeded in carrying out successfully the duties of his department. There is another bright spot shedding a favorable light on the Ministry, namely, the objection of members "and the country to constant changes of Government, they having learned by experience that changes are not always for the better, the only result, as a rule, being that a number of locusts in the shape of Government officials are added to the already enormous roll. On the above grounds we are not prepared to advocate the ousting of the present party. It is to be hoped, however, that the Opposition will be sufficiently strong to compel the partial eradicatiou of the many evils at present existing.

v - "A-ri inquest, was held yesterday at the Royal Mail Hotel, Rangiriri, by Dr. Beale, Coroner for the district, on the body of Edward llogersoa. James Shirley deposed—l am proprietor of the Rangiriri Hotel. Oil the loth June, about 7 o'clock, deceased Was at tea at my house, when a man named Loder came into the bar ind said he was going to Churchhill, about four miles distant. The deceased and a man named O'Hagan started with him in a small canoe to cross the river.—O'Hagan deposed that when about the centre of the river the canoe shipped a quantity of water and sank soon afterwards. Deceased jumped from the canoe and swam for the shore in my company. He must have become exhausted before reaching the shore, as I did not see him land, nor was he ashore before me. 1 was very much fatigued when I readied the shore. The jury returned tha following verdict : —That the deceased, Edward Rogerson, came to his death by being accidentally drowned from a canoe in the Waikato river near Rangiriri, on Saturday, the 15th day of June, 1872. Rather a serious drunken riot took place at Hamilton on Friday last, at the Hamilton hotel. The result was that tive natives found themselves in the lock-up. They were brought before W. N. Searancke, Esq., It.M., the next morning, and fined 1/ each and 5s costs.