POLITICAL NEWS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 4089, 29 August 1884, Page 3

POLITICAL NEWS.

j_BY TELEGRAPH.]

(From our Special Correspondent.) Wellington, This day. The announcement of the names of the Ministry has been received here in divers manners. Some aro intensely amused, while others ridicule the idea that such a team can last a fortnight. Exception was at oncetaken.whenthefirstfourwereannounced, to Mr Wakfield, whose wonderful abilities have been most conspicuous in regard to the maner in which he has been able to turn round on himself. Of course, _ now he has achieved the summit of his ambition and become a Cabinet Minister, but at a price of which the less said the better. He was quito willing to join the Stout team ; then he would follow either j-rey or Thomson, and now we find him in harness with Atkinson. During the last short session the Major told him they would be in a majority shortly, and he would be with them. Well, we have found the Major is not in a majority, but AVakefield is there on the Treasury Bench, because his thirst for office has ever been groater than either his patriotism or his principles. The team will never give satisfaction, and one of the results will be that Mr Hursthouse, who was a capital fellow, and the possessor of a large amount of dry humor, will be toned down and made serious. So accomplished a member will be ruined by becoming a fixture on a Tresury Bench, which he is not fitted to adOm. Strong objections are also taken to others, but it is needless to refer to these detail, because I have little faith in their being able to remain in power. There was a warm passage of arms when the House met last evening between Stout and the Major, which, however, seemed to please tho House most when each challenged the other as to his strength, and the cheering was very loud and warm when tho former gave notice that he would take the earliest opportunity of moving a vote of want of confidence. Then another passage of arms took place between Sir Julius and the Major, and the former evoked ringing cheers by a statement that payments by the Treasury for services rendered, especially in back parts of the colony, were very slow in being made. That was not right. The people of the colony, in his opinion, should fee on the same footing as all. Sir George Grey gave notice of his intention of introducing enough bills to make a policy of themselves. Included in the number was a Harbor Bill for Gisborne. AVhen the

Major announced the members who had joined his Administration with their offices, when he came to tho name of Captain Russell there was an awkword pause, as if he had forgotten his portfolio. AVas this ominous, as during the evening it was said that the member for Hawke's Bay would bo Treasurer.

Here is a nice little problem which is puzzling a few minds. Should Stout succeed in defeating- Atkinson, who is tho Governor to send for ? Ho can't send for Stout, because he was defeated tho other day when he formed a Ministry. He can't send for Vogel, because when the latter was sent for he handed the task over to another, and it would be unconstitutional, so it is said to call in the services of a member of a nonelective House, and, finally, Major Atkinson could not possibly get a dissolution, because the last one was at his request. Now, I think I have put the knot fairly before your readers, and it will take some undoing. I cannot for a moment believe tho team will v stand, and therefore the Major indulging in his usual blusterandbouncelasteveuingseems strangely inconsistent with the idea that, like the rest of tho leaders, he is fighting a losing battle. Parties, it appears, will neither break up nor coalesce. Members care not a fig for their leaders ; they will continue to play lOne hands, and there aro too many aspirants for office. Of course, by the time we have a few more turns at the wheel, at least half the House will have been in a Ministry, and by that time a man may be considered respected and honored who has managed to keep out of such a position. That the Ministry will not please is evident. The Major has followers and admirers, but can the same thing be said of any other Minister ? I think not. Hursthouse at once sends Shepherd into Opposition ; AVakefield opposed to a team must be points in their favor, but Wakefield in the team is a burden not easily to bo borne ; Mitchelson is popular, and like a wise man he never hence his popularity, but ho only vbrings two supporters to 'the team. I do not like to say it, but I am very much afraid Capt. Russell's inclusion will send our four local members in different directions, and so, to make a long stoiy short, we area's far as ever from getting out of the tupnel. "A very bitter article appears in the Post of Tuesday, and I make the following ex-'tr-.icts from it:—" A new phase of the continuous Ministry is to be entered upon this evening. Major Atkinson will again find himself at tho head of a Ministry composed of Ins own followers, and no reasonable expectation can bo entertained that his policy iv the future will be one whit better than it has been in tho past *, indeed, there seems reason to fear that the reverse may be the case, for the new men with whom he has surrounded himself are not in any way superior to the gentlemen with whom he was formerly associated, while in point of experience they are decidedly inferior. The result will, therefore, be that Major Atkinson's influence in the Cabinet will be greater than ever, which is not a desirable thing. It is very sad that the result of the general election, which, so far as the votes given by H;he electors were concerned, _ was distinctly adverse to tho Continuous Ministry, should, by a train of curious and not creditable circumstances, be the return of that Ministry to office. The colony bitterly panted for a change of administration; candidate after candidate declared himself

opposed to tho Atkinson Ministry and determined to oust them from office, no matter who took their places, and now, after wasting three weeks, we find Major Atkinson once more at the head of affairs and the Continuous Ministry."