The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 1888. A CANDID FRIEND.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1786, 10 March 1888, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 1888. A CANDID FRIEND.

Mr Mackenzie although last S' ssion one of those who supported the pment Ministry is evide tly not the staunch adherent of fir Harry Atkinson that m any pprsons have been led to suppose. That gentleman, we beli^v**, owns the Mouujt Ida " Chronicle," and as it is fair to assume that that journal expresses his views, it is quite clear from an article which appears m one of its recent issues that the member for Mount Ida by no means regards the present Premier as all that could be desired. For m the article m question we find the following : — " If ever a man was put into high office meiely as the lesser of two evils, 'and not for any good or ill he'd done afore ye ' that man was Major Atkinson m 1 887 . ' c might, with great appropriateness, have borne as president of the Cabinet, the title bestowed the other day by Punch on M. osthe new president of the French Hepublic : •M. le President Faute de-Mieux ; ' or as we should say « President For Want-of-a-Better," Nor does the "Chronicle" (or Mr Mackenzie, if that journal speaks his mind), believe that there will be any true economy uudrr the A tkinson-cum-tyros regime, for later on we 6nd the following : — " fc>ir Harry Atkinson, has surrounded himself with a selection of subordinate Ministers of high character and abilities, who will command the respect, though probably never the enthusiasm, of the country, and who m their several departments have set to work manfully to tackle the thaukless .and weary work of retrenchment and reorganisation, beginning with their own Balaries ; while he himself remains m almost uncontrolled command of the Treasury, free to plunge his hands to tjie elbows m the borrowed millions m which h.o revels, and to heap up tons of burdens upon tho phoulders of the tax payer, while his humble colleagues are mugging away at tjbe wr,etch,ea task of ! taking o& a few ounces here an,d. there, ; mainly at the cost of the un.lortuna.te officers whose business it is to $o t^ie > work of the public for them, homebody telegraphs to the papers from WellingtoD,uoior jjajßterioTW irjßpirftfon,

' the Government has already effected retrenchment m the Civil service to the tune of £100,000.' 'Goodl'j says the deluded public. "At last we shall see our burdens reduced and the equilibrium of the public finance secured." But what is £100,000 that the subordinate Ministers are saving, against the £200,000 to which Bir Harry Atkinson means to commit us as an increased annual interest for years to come upon. his new IN'orth Island Trunk and Public Works Loans ? The notion of a real saving is all humbug, and Sir Harry Atkinson is responsible for it. He is a good and able Minister, an honorable and capable statesmen, and even a ctfditable Premier ; but his love of borrowed millions is as great as his love of office, and both are as boundless as ever were Sir Julius Vogel's." All which is doubtless true, but is at the same time significant as to Mr Mackenzie's probable future action.