TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3262, 15 December 1881, Page 2

TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1881.

The question that was generally asked before the elections was, " Who is to be the coming leader of the Opposition." Tbe question was answered differently iv various journals according to their respective political leanings. The general impression which prevailed at that time, however, was that the new Parliament would see the formation of a strong middle party, having Messrs Ormond, Reader Wood, and Richardson as its most prominent members. The elections have effectually disposed of any such idea by none of the leading men of that party succeeding in getting returned t And this being so, the question as to who is to be the bead of the Opposition is virtually answered. Through the whole list of new members there appear to be but two possible leaders of the two parties, the Premier of the one, and Sir George Grey of the other, the middle party being wiped out. The action that Sir George Grey has already taken, the offers ot allegiance that have already been made to him, point him out as the recognised leader of the Opposition, and the only man on bis side of the House that can command any sort of a following. The out-look is anything but reassuring. On tbe one hand we bave a Ministry whose continued existence is due to the fear of a return to power of Sir George Grey ; on the other an Opposition weakened by distrust in its leader. A very much similar state of things will be witnessed in the new Parliament as was seen in the last. For the result of the elections has not been to materially strengthen tbe Ministerial ranks further than the disappearance from the

House of the middle party. Ia the last Parliament Sir * George Grey was powerless, but there always existed the chance of a coalition so loDg as the middle party held together. The absence of that party removes that which wa3 a standing menace to, the stability of the Government, and the only fear that it has now is derived from imperfect knowledge concerning the strength of Sir George Grey's personal following. We notice in the prihcipal journals of the colony, that at least are credited with being better informed than we are, tbat many, nearly half, of the new members are classed as Opposition. But it does not follow in the new any more than it did in the late Parliament that the majority of the members cf the Opposition will unreservedly acknowledge Sir George Grey as a leader in any attempt that he may make to. oust the Hall Ministry from power, Sir George is too well-known to be unreservedly placed in a position to seize tbe reins of government, and no repetition of his former administration is desired by either his supporters or his opponents. It was not his policy so much as the scandalous waste and extravagance that characterised his term of office that brought his Government into such lasting disgrace; and the policy that he may enunciate next session may be commendable in every respect but just the one that to him tbe carrying of it oat would be entrusted. In a political sense Sir George Grey is not to be trusted further than he can be seen. The Christchurch Press says that it is only necessary " to mention the late Premier's action with respect to the Land Bill as an instance, when he endeavored to entrap the Governor into vetoing that measure after it had received the sanction of the Legislature. These and similar reasons induced the electors in 1879 to return a majority to the new Parliament opposed to the then existing Administration. But it was not till the present Government had been some time in office tbat the full extent of the mischief done to the colony by the late Government became perfectly apparent. It was only then that it was discovered that our finances were really in a deplorable condition. Enormous liabilities had been contracted without the slightest provision for finding the money with which to discharge them. The Colonial Treasurer was trusting to luck and the chapter of accidentsthat all would turn out right. The Minister of Public Works had muddled away two millions sterling, without apparently knowing what be had done, and then when tbe stern facts were placed before him, and it was shown what must be done in the way of taxation in order to put matters right, all he could do was to protest against such grinding taxation, and to confess to being " overborne as it were by a feeling of sadness." He did not know " where the country was going to" and his fear was that in his old age he must try another country in which to spend in peace and comfort the few remaining years that were left for him. Is the colony prepared to submit to another period of such administration P Are the electors willing to subject the country to the irretrievable injury which would be done both to its industrial progrees and the stability of its political institutions, by giving men who have done such things before a chance of doing them again ?"