The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas Et Prevalebit THURSDAY, JULY 3, 1884. Mr Rolleston at Temuka.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1296, 3 July 1884, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas Et Prevalebit THURSDAY, JULY 3, 1884. Mr Rolleston at Temuka.

For obvious reasons, the speech of the Hon W. Rolleston at Temuka last evening was looked forward to with a more than common interest. Just prior to the dissolution the Premier had staled that, heavy as the deficit in the Estimates was, the Government would have been able, had they been allowed to retain office, to make it good without having recourse to increased taxation. No one could fairly blamO Major Atkinson for not being more explicit on this and other points of policy, under the circumstances existing then, but when the electoral campaign came on it was only natural that the colony should expect to hear some details as to the course it was proposed to pursue. From Mr Rolleston, as the first member of the Government who had spoken since the dissolution, these details, it was anticipated, would be forthcoming, and his last night’s address was expected to take the form of a Ministerial manifesto. To say that the speech will be a disappointment is to use a very mild term for there is nothing in it from beginning to end to show upon what grounds the present Administration is to ask the country to give them the confidence which the House of representatives by a substantial majority had declared they had lost. Instead of stating clearly and distinctly what was intended to be done in the future, Mr Rolleston contented himself with speaking in general terms of the past, and apologising for actions which have been already condemned by well nigh universal consent. And in the main it must be confessed that the apology was a very lame one. Regarding the much vexed grain tariff question, Mr Rolleston owned that the time for raising the rates, in the middle of a bad harvest, was very inopportune, but he argued that it was rendered necessary by the exigencies of our financial condition. This matter has been so thoroughly discussed that it is too late in the day for the people to be contented with a mere reiteration of the arguments already put forward by the Premier and others, and which have been as often proved to be thoroughly unsound. No amount of talk will convince the settlers of this island that the increase in the grain tariff was not a class tax, although the electors in the North are no doubt perfectly satisfied with the specious reasoning of the Government. Since Sir Julius Vogel’s return to the colony the question of colonial borrowing has been much discussed, and it is certain to be one of the points which the constituencies will take into account when determining who *will represent them in Parliament, and it would be naturally expected that a gentleman who has occupied so prominent a position in the Ministry would speak on this subject with some degree of certainty. Yet what do we find ? Mr Rolleston refers to it in merely general terms ; if we are to borrow foreign capital, we should take care that the money is carefully expended. This, we presume, is the theory that has always been considered right, albeit the practice up to the present has been very different, and it is scarcely treating the colony fairly to leave us in the dark as to what the Government intend to do if they obtain a majority. There is no need to follow Mr Rolleston through his long arguments in favor of his land policy—a policy that has met with the disapproval of all but the extreme Radicals, as likely to deter capitalists from investing money in New Zealand. These arguments we have heard both in and out of Parliament until we are thoroughly tired of them,|and at present we unquestionably have not the time to waste on such considerations. The remarks on the property tax and the necessity for not interfering with the existing educational system come within the sanje category, and although these things might be fit subjects to dilate upon had the speaker been an unknown man, asking for the suffrages of a constituency for the first time, they are singularly out of place coming from one who was regarded as the mouthpiece of a defeated M;n;stry. striving to regain the power they haye lost.

As a matter of fact, Mr Rolleston carefully avoided committing the Government to anything in the future.

The colony is asking for the bread of policy, and all that is given us is the stone of commonplace. Nor does the Minister for Lands seem to realise the position in which he is placed. For many years he has represented a constituency that was as certain to return him as if it had been a pocket borough. At last, however, the electors of Avon showed pretty plainly that they were dissatisfied with their member, and he had to beat a retreat and seek “ fresh woods and pastures new.” We cannot say what chance he has of securing the Geraldine seat, but it can hardly be asserted that he has commenced his campaign auspiciously, in spite of the vote of confidence accorded to him at the close of the meeting. If Mr Rolleston is to be considered as speaking for the Ministry, so far as we can gather, their future policy is that they are to pursue the same courses as were lately so emphatically condemned by the colony. This being so, it is not likely that, with the strong opposition that will probably be formed with Sir Julius Vogel at the head, the Atkinson Ministry will be accorded another lease of life. At any rate, last night’s speech cannot be regarded as what it was expected to be, a Ministerial manifesto, and if the Government have really a policy to enunciate we shall have to wait until the Premier himself discloses it.