THE WELLINGTON PRESS ON THE POLITICAL CRISTS.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1097, 5 July 1879, Page 2

THE WELLINGTON PRESS ON THE POLITICAL CRISTS.

BOTH SIDES OF THE QUESTION,

Wellington.

The- ■ Chronicle ' has a very strong article. It says : — " Sir George Grey has thrown down the gauntlet to the people of New Zealand. He has issued a distinct challenge to them as to whether the ruler of this colony' shall be democratic or autocratic. That a man who had climbed into power on the shoulders of the people should use his power to subvert the constitution of the country, would appear somewhat startling, had not his story afforded so many similar examples of black-Jiearted treachery. It is the old, old story of confidence misplaced, of a man possessing the gift of deluding the people into placing him m a great and honourable position, only to discover that he, whom.th.-y idolised, was their deadliest enemy. Sir George Grey had scarcely got firmly seated m the chair of .the Premier, when he unmasks himself to his colleagues, m the Cabinet. Ever since the present Government took office, Sir George -Grey "has used every means to make himself an autocrat. He has tried to make the other members of the Cabinet mere machines to register his decree. ' The gentlemen who had too much patriotism to tamely submit to his usurpation, became odious to him, and he never missed an opportunity to thwart them, and to insult them m the most outrageous manner. Had his colleagues consulted their own personal feelings, they would all have deserted him long ago ; but they had the interests of Liberalism so greatly at heart, that they submitted to treatment; which, under other circumstances, would have been wholly unbeareble. But Sir G. Grey grew more aggressive as time went On, and at last bis colleagues had to make a deliberate stand for the preservation of responsible Government. Defeated m the Cabinet, the Premier made a cunning attempt to. virtually abolish the Cabinet altogether. Under the existing system, all matters are decided by a majority of the members present at a Cabinet meeting. The number of Cabinet Ministers is by law limited to seven. Questions, after being fully discussed, and practically settled m .the Cabinet, .come before the Executive Council for formal confirmation. Now, the' membership of this Council is not limited. The Premier has power to nominate his creatures to it. It seems hardly credible, but it is currently reported m well-informed circles, that Sir George Grey, finding the Cabinet would not submit to his autocracy, endeavoured to have aR questions brought before the Executive Council, discussed and. decided there; just as. if they had never been before the Cabinet at all, and that his Excellency the Governor interfered and prevented this revolutionary innovation. Let us see what would have been the effect of such a change. The Premier could have swamped the Executive Council with men who would have voted precisely as he directed them. All the decisions of the Cabinet -would have been reversed, and Sir George Grey would have obtained power virtually, as unlimited and despotic as if he were an absolute sovereign. Had we heard such a rumor concerning any other Prime Minister of a British.- colony, we should have scouted it as being utterly unworthy of belief, but where Sir George Grey is concerned no project however daring, however subversive of all the doctrines of true liberty, however antagonistic to constitutional rule need be wondered at. It is. said, and we believe truly, that the Premier, having failed to abolish the Cabinet, determined to accomplish his end by another means. Eor some time past he has not called the Cabinet together except at long intervals, and then only to tell his colleagues that he had dealt with such and such a question m such and such a way. By this means he obtained the dearest wish of his heart, the life-long dream of his ambition — autocratic power. The * New Zealander ' the published statement of the Ministerial scene to Mr Ballance, ana says : — " Here, then, we have a gentleman, before the ink could have been well dry upon the letter which conveyed his resignation, parading his version of an unhappy private scene before the eyes of a whole community. What object could Mr Ballance have had m thus actjng ? Two results only could be looked for. Ono, to defend his own act m forsaking the Ministry at a crisis of peculiar importance ; the other, to injure his late leader ahd colleagues m the esteem of the people. We think that a calm examination of his own article show that he has failed m both. If the real merits of this unhappy controversy were known, m place of the one-sided and evidently garbled statement published by Mr Ballance, we might find that the Premier was attempting to stay some high-handed and perchance illegal act. The parading of a personal altercation and quarrel is an offence against public decency, only rendered more unpardonable by the fact that it is a Minister of the Crown who parades it. Little importance must be attached' to the hundred flying reports afloat of Ministerial difference, least of all the statements that other members of the Ministry intend to resign. It is surely sufficently unsatisfactory to know that the Premier and his Treasurer have quarrelled, without increasing the awkwardness of the position by the circulation of reports that further disintegration mil now follow, and that the Paaliament on assembling will have no Ministry to meet or, at the best, a lot of Ministers new to office, and holding themselves altogether unaccountable for the acts of their predecessors. To imagine this is to ima°ine an utter absence of patriotism, hone-ty honor, and good intent on the part of the present Ministry. It may certainly be asserted that, notwithstanding the with nT^m the Att °mey-General and Colonial Treasurer at a critical time, the House o» assembling, will find the Ministry prepared to lay before it, a full account of their stewardship. It may be for the time being that Sir George Grey will himself accept the responsibility of the Colonial Treasurcrship, and that the office of Attorney-General, notinitself of vital importance to the immediate welfare of the colony, will, for at least a little while, remain vacant. There is, however one vacancy caused by the retirement of Mr Ballance, which cannot long remained unfilled, without serious detriment to the body politic." The 'Now Zealander' then suggests Mr Gisborne as a suitable J Minister' of Education,