The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 1870.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2152, 30 March 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 1870.

Wiiat next 1 as the frog said when his tail fell off. The spirit of change seems ever active in the counsels of the Daily Times. Not change of politics—for it has none—but change of mood. It is like the wind—veering round without apparent cause, and blowing in different directions seemingly without object. Only last week the mighty discovery was made that the Fox Ministiy had incurred unheard-of expenses in the Northern war—that there was no difference between the policies of Mr Stafford and Mr Fox, and that when Parliament met such revelations would be made as would shew the hollowness of all the Fox pretensions. The wind changed last night. Probably the telegram from the North, published in the Evening Star, announcing the rumored light expenditure, had some influence upon it; and this morning the weathercock points in another direction. It informs us that in all likelihood the vote of last session for Native purposes is not nearly expended ; but that it must be bor-ne in mind only nine months of the financial year have expired. This profound discovery is backed up by long quotations from the debates of last session, intended to be damaging to the reputation of Messrs Fox and Yogel in the eyes of the Middle Island constituencies. But these to all right-thinking men will go far to prove how much more they are to be depended upon than the faction headed by Mr Stafford. We know no acrobatic feat more difficult to perform than that of turning a literary somersault gracefully. It requires great skill and practice to whirl head over heels and regain an upright position firmly and without tottering. Had our contemporary frankly acknowledged he was mistaken, or had been misled by that undue influence that is evidently at work in the editorial column, or that he had unwittingly admitted an article penned by an avowed opponent of the Fox Administration ; or had he come out at once boldly as a Centralist, instead of trying to fight in ambush, there would have been some credit in the position. Everybody admires a straightforward opponent. But instead of that, some proselytising political advocate of the Stafford Government contrives to get Access to the columns of the Daily Times, for the purpose of putting a Stafford tool into a vacant constituency ; and forthwith statements are made that have to be retracted, and ingenuity is taxed to pervert, instead of to proclaim the honest truth. We do not bind ourselves to adopt or approve all that is done by the Fox administration. The policy of a Government must be judged by general—not by particular acts. Each act must be examined on its merits, and tested by them, the Stafford policy must be condemned. The Daily Times is now driven to the subterfuge that Mr Fox’s policy is not a defensive but an aggressive one, and bases its assumptions on the persistent effort to capture Te Kooti. By a parity of reasoning, the attempt of the police to capture criminals or suppress disorder may be called aggression. The fact is, that defensive and aggressive wars, from the very nature of the case differ only in degree. Consistently with public safety, the Fox administration could not have allowed Tf. Kooti, with his band of murderers, to roam unchecked in their career. It was a difficulty handed down to them by the iucompetcncy of the Stafford administration, and which, in spite of the complications introduced by that Government, has been mot with firmness and success that few were prepared to anticipate. But we are really taking too much pains to set our contemporary in the right track, for we are by no means sure that to-morrow another turn may not take place, and the discovery be made that the attempt to catch Te Kooti is a wise and defensive measure. There can be no doubt that the real object of this systematic inconsistency is to seat some supporter of Mr Stafford in the Caversham niche. Of this we warn the electors to beware. Personal attachment to a candidate must not be allowed to over-ride public duty. The object of every constituency in the Middle Island should be to get rid of the Northern war expenditure altogether. Mr Stafford’s policy was from first to last to deal with the revenue so as to render separate expenditure almost impossible. The Fox Ministry has already partially acknowledged the justice of the position that the North Island should bear the expenee of its own defence, and firm and distinct pledges should be insifted on from any candidate —from which no retractation should be allowed—to support financial separation and the ballot. Let no shuffling be tolerated. No matter who the person may be, whether Colonel Whitmore

or Mr Cutten, or any one else, let the understanding be clear and explicit : We will not pay for Northern improvements under the name of war expeuces nor for the employment of Northern troops. We have already been fleeced enough ; nor will we submit any longer to have the poll book examined, with a view to ascertaining what influence can bo brought to bear upon individual voters. We must have the ballot.