The Waikato Times "OMNE SOLUM FORTY PATRJA." THURSDAY,SEPTEMBER 5, 1872.

Waikato Times, Volume I, Issue 55, 5 September 1872, Page 2

The Waikato Times "OMNE SOLUM FORTY PATRJA." THURSDAY,SEPTEMBER 5, 1872.

Thk weary debate on Mr. Stafford's motion of want of confidence was expected to terminate last night. As will be seen by our telegraphic intelligence, Major Jaekson, tbe member for Waikato, moved a, resolution to t.ho effect that as the country was prosperous it was not desirable that there should beany e'lange of Minis iy. We* cam oi follow the now. gentleman; we are ut a loss to see the sequence ; if the country has besome prosperous under the disadvantages of want of administrative ability, so much the more so would it become if the management of its affairs fell into other and more able hands. As we have before pointed out. there is nob the field for party politics iu this country, and that ministry after ministry has loft oftiee for the reason that they really were, or were supposed to be incapable of carrying out any policy. It is to be regretted that our leading men are not willing to put aside their potty '"personal" differences (for they are little else) and consent to serve a ministry composed of the most able men in the House. There can be little doubt that the majority on the motion which has been before the House for the last fortnight will be with the opposition ; this will of course result in the tendering of their resignations by the members of the Pox-\ T ogel Ministry, and Mr. Stafford as the acknowledged leader of the

opposition party will be called upon to form another. There is an old saying abonfc dirty water and clean which the members of the Assembly should bear in miud before they record a vote which must result in the ousting, of a ministry from office. Iα running oar eyes over the names of those who muster under Mr. Stafford's standard, we are unable to fix upon a sufficient number of men capable of holding the necessary portfo'ios with credit to themselves, or probable benefit to the colony. The position then becomes —the present party have lost the confidence of the country, and if they leave office, how are we going , to replace them. The answer is clear —as there is not sufficient ability on either side to form a Ministry, and if the affairs of the country are not to drift into a most inextricable muddle, that the roost able men of each party must combine to form a Ministry. It should be obvious to these men that without neglecting , the duty they have taken upon themselves and proving themselves traitors to the colony that they should take this step. We are glad to observe that our contemporaries are advocating a coalition Ministry under Mr Stafford, aa being the most able leader, "and one under whom no member of the House- should eonsider it beneath him to serve. It is true that Mr Stafford when last in office failed to conduct the affairs of the colony in a manner either satisfactory to the House or the country. ifis most bitter enemies, however, miust allow that failuro was owing to the mediocre ability which political necessity compelled him to call to his- assistance. Neither Mr J. C. Richmond nor Colonel Haultain were fitted for the positions they held, and to their gross inefficiency is due the fall of the last Stafford Ministry ;: that Ministry differed from the present in that the Premier of this is the weak-point r and that Mr Stafford's subordinates were hi*. Mr Stafford has proved himself an able statesman, as has been tacitly acknowledged by his opponents by their adoption, after they had succeeded in turning him out of office, of the policy he had foreshadowed. No member of the House could on political grounds consider that he was noting in a manner derogatory to his position by serving under the present leader of the opposition. We sincerely hope that Mr Stafford will succeed in forming a Ministry composed of men capable of each managing his department, and commanding a sufficient number , of supporters to do , away with the necessity of truckling to short-sighted political cliques..