PARTY JOBBERS.

Auckland Examiner, Volume 1, Issue 11, 26 February 1857, Page 1

PARTY JOBBERS.

It has been suggested that the next Provincial Council should be composed of women, who may or may not doo the “ continuations” while leaching all ha creatures how to govern. So bright an idea is worth considering, and we claim the credit due to us for being first to dazzle tbe public eye with it. Without doubt, there are in Auckland many “ strong-minded women” who would manage our affairs better than they have been managed of late by Lords of Creation who are also Lords of Misrule..

Governor Grey was not thanked for saying that the people of this Colony were unfit for representative institutions, and unprepared to carry out a system of political self-government. Thanks to the faction fights of party jobbers, in Auckland at this moment there are hundreds who not only think the thought of Governor Grey bui openly avow it. Popular feeling is impatient, and moreover is unmistakeably hostile to both Council and Superintendent. Yes I all classes are disgusted with “ the powers that be,” and amongst all classes there is a growing opinion that if we had neither Council nor Superintendent affairs could scarcely be worse, and might be visibly better. Representative Government is to this Province what the whistle was to infant Benjamin Franklin. He liked his whistle at first; was for whole days and nights almost constantly making it discourse very equivocal music ; but growing tired of whistling he sighed for the lot of money his whistle had cost him. So Franklin in after life, when seeing people pay far too much for any transient enjoyment, was wont to say, “Ah, Mr. So and So pays too dear for his whistle, or Mrs. So and So pays too dear for her whistle. Now, looking at the state of parties, at; the state of business, and last, though not least, at the state of finances in this Province, we cannot help thinking that for our Representative and Responsible Government “whistle” we have paid much too dear. In other w r ords that Provincial Representative and Responsible Government is so far a failure. Auckland ought to be the flourishing capital of a free, flourishing, and united Empire. What it is every citizen knows but too well. Capital without Confidence, Land without Laborers, Shops without

Canomers, ar»- stern fact". and enough to make the peoj le cry out, Oh, we certainly have paid mi ch top dear for our whistle.

Under this Parliamentary .but expensive system, :mr only political return for outlay rather liberal is in shape of faction fights, between gladiators the least intellectual ever known to exhibit for either love or money. Party jobbers are the only prosperous citizens. They grow fat on corruption and laugh at the idea of hard times. Old Engl wd had its swash bucklers who sold their swords*to the highest bidders. Young Auckland has its mercenaries who will sell you their pens and tongues, or even their souls “ for a consideration.” Agreegin with Poor Richard that it is hard for an empty sack to stand upright, they devote themselves to the one grand object, of making a well tilled purse. But name an abuse, and straightway up start these pests in its defence. They have in everything the whip hand of honest citizens, who are quite at a loss to understand what Government Would be doing or how the money is going. Meanwhile, neglect of almost every available resource is the order of the cay. Now in our harbour there is a ship which has come all the way from America with stores for American whale ships, whese owners realize handsomely by doing what we ought to be ashamed of giving them the chance to do. Who ever beard of New Zealand fisheries. The fact is we have no fisheries, and, what is more, never can have any while by party politicians we are ruled for especid benefit of party jobbers. Whales are our next door neighbours. They say, as only whales are able to say it, “ Come, catch us if you can. Here we arc, teeth, brains, blubber, and all, at vour service. Yankees keep a sharp look out upon us. Why should not you?” Were we ruled by a few sensible men of business, or by one man politically clear-sighted enough to know “a hawk from a beronshaw,” this Province would soon teem with whaling stations, and Yankees, or other clever believers in go-a-headism, who now oblige us by pocketing the profits derivable from whaling in the South Pacific, would be relieved of that trouble.

Perhaps some of our small wits may incline to srwer at the idea of Auckland people making a good round sum annually by the simple catching of whales, and say, After Polmiious, “ Very like a whale.” But wits, small or large, without wisdom will not discredit facts, nor disturb our conviction that the appearance in Auckland Harbour of American ships with stores for American whalers is a reflection upon the commercial activity and public spirit of the Province. But for party jobbers we should be spared this, and many another, equally humiliating spectacle.