THE VOTE OF CENSURE ON THE OPPOSITION LEADER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1618, 25 July 1887, Page 3

THE VOTE OF CENSURE ON THE OPPOSITION LEADER.

[Evening BaM.]. A vote of *' no-confidence" m M-jir Atklnßon, the leader of th.9 Opposition, by his own constituents is rather an ominous beginning of the great political campaign. On the day previous, at a meeting of the same constltte .ti, he had discoursed to them on local matters, and though the favours that have been at all times extended to Taranaki have been one of th 9 greatest Boaodale of our political life ; yet even the services rendered by their representative with reference to their railway their harbor, and other local interests could not blind them to the facb that he was being put forward by the Canterbury runholders to work the will of the Conservatives ; and so they did not actually condemn htm, they passed a vote of confidence m him, m relation to local services, only by a majority of one. That looked gloomy onough, bat on the succeeding day he summoned them to hear bis defence, not on Iccal but on political rnttters, and it was then they refused him a vote of thanks, but passed a vote of "no confidence" instead. It would appeat by what was U legraphed through by the Press Association, and which appeared m our columns sa well as those of our morning and evening contemporaries on Saturday, that the cttnost his friends had hoped to compass was a vote of thanks, and this was proposed accordiugly. However the proceedings which were prolonged till midnight, indicated the direction m which the current ran, and an amendment en the vote of thanks was proposed to tho rff o y . that the roeeS ing had "no confidedco " m the gallant Major, and it was so carried accordingly. We cannot say we are surprised nt this Maj >r Atklnßon is by nature a man of liberal and popular lnetinita, and no more honorable man exists m New. Zaaland.. But unfortunately for himself ho haabepn eeleoted by the runholdlog class as the safest man to put forward as their leader, ia the hope of being, through him, , enabled to effect what they would 6nd it impossible to eftect themselves. The mere fact that he is associated with Hall and Ormond — thit he ia backed op by the Studbolmes and their order, and that he is the rhing hope, the shield, end safety of those whose ideas of public life are that i the people were made only to be governed, and to yield all the prizas up to certain ' governing circles — is enough for any intelllgent Liberal m New Zealand to know ' what is m tho air ; and that the gallant ( and popular Major should have been condemned by his own people Is one of the most significant indications we have yet had of the powerful underonrrent that is sweeping m the direction of Liberalism, notwithstanding the billows on the surface that are raised by the boisterous and contrary and conflicting winds blowing from every point of the compass. Major Atkinson of course made the ablest defence of his party, and the best condemnation of the existing Government which bis skill In the manipulation of figures enabled him ; bat all hie legerdemain was not able to blind his constituents, who had seen him do the same thing times and agald before. Of oourae, aa often before, he showed that the Ministry of which he is not a part is ruining the country, while the whole world knows— and his constituents appear to be no exception — that it was tho " Continuous Ministry," of which the gallant Major wai the greatest part, that has mainly created the horrible burthens under whioh thb people of New Zealand rauet groan for generations to come. And as for retrenchment, there is something infinitely amusing m heating ■ retrenchment preached from the lips of I one who while m office himself retrenched m the form of adding many millions to the loan, increased the taxation at a bound by three or four hundred thousand a year, instituted the Property Tax o.f which he now complains as deterring capital from the country, and whose soubriquet of ''Deficiency Bill Atkinson " is a lasting memorial of his faolle method of balancing aooountß, Even now he says we can Dot atop borrowing, while the " roar " of the whole people says we must ; he Bays eohool buildings must continue to be bnilt from borrowed money till we can afford to build them ourselves ; he objects to a graduated property tax, because, of course, It would hit the wealthy landholders, who are at his back ; he sneers at the idea of me a living on 50 aores of land, as In the Village Settlement scheme, and acoordIngly predicts that it will end In disaster; and making all this the basis of hia argument, ho told his constituents that " tho Government should be-got rid of," and they replied by passing a resolution that th,ey had no confidence m him. "We have not the Blight 'jat doubt that as the election contest goes on, the publio will everywhere, as they have done at Hawera, »how that the light hoe dawned ou them, and that they are no longer humbupgedby this very old, and very stale game Of the outs abusing the ins m order that they may get m. The 0 ntinuous Minle* try, of whioh Hall and Atkinson and Ormond were themselves shining lights, was the greatest curse that ever bafel this country. The only break m this continuity was when Sir George Grey, m conjunction with Stout and Ballance, broke up the cabal for a couple or three years, and now again, when Stout and BaUance h ave made ano'hor break m the continuity, Of oourue the most desperate effoits will be made to restoro the "governing oirc.'tß" for whom the Almighty ia supposed to have created New Zealand : but this terrible rebuff to Major Atkimon m a " no confidence " vote m the very opening of the oampaign, is significant of the fact that the people of Now Zealand are not bo wtupid aa they look.