The Evening Star SATURDAY, JULY 15, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2624, 15 July 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, JULY 15, 1871.

We hardly cau conceive a more humiliating position than that in which the self-styled liberal party have placed themselves. Warning has been of no avail; the expressed opinion of the most able men in the country has been treated with contempt; no matter at what cost, every effort at conciliation has been rejected ; and now, as a stern necessity, they are compelled to a course that ail parties alike condemn — a block of 50,000 acres of land must be sold in order t) relieve the Province from its monetary difficulty. We have no wish to add to the mortification Mr Reid must feel, and which he expressed when he said “ he sympathised with the “ feelings experienced by the gentle- “ men on the opposite side of the u house : he could assure them that the “ same feeling was participated in by “ himself,” and “ that it was the sin- “ cerity with which they abided by “ their hustings pledges which placed “ the Province in its present position.” The lesson is not the less instnffitive because of those hustings pledges. Admitting that they were given, it only proves that faction, not judgment supplied the impulse. Every man of the party knew that in the last Provincial Council they only had a majority of one; and that by appealing to the country, they could not possibly increase that majority excepting by raising a hustings cry. To have been successful, the Council should have been dissolved two years ago ; for then the consequences of their factious opposition to progress would not have developed themselves. It was too late when the result of a dead lock began to be felt: when men were thrown out of work, public works were stopped, tradesmen failed, and all industries were at a stand-still. Had the Liberals been men of sound judgment, they would have foreseen that to cling to power amid the wi’eck of hopes and fortunes was to identify themselves with the cause of the disasters. Their true policy would have been to have allowed their opponents to take the helm, so that when the storm was at its worst they might have pointed to the wreck, and said of them at the hustings, ■“ See “ what these men have done.” Instead of that they kept heading on to the breakers. They closed the land sales, stopped settlement, refused to proceed with public works, and at the hustings gave pledges that they would hold on in that course until some ideal was obtained that was to lead to happiness and prosperity. Two circumstances have occurred to shake public faith in their ability. The General Government asserted its right to proceed with public works; and by the ease with which every obstacle was overcome in arranging for the construction of the Clutha Railway, they proved the fal-

lacy of the grounds on which the “ Liberals ” objected to them. The effect has been magical even on the party themselves. The “ hustings “ pledges ” formed no barrier to asking all sorts of wise, and some very foolish things; and the General Go-* vernment will have to show equal firmness in rejecting many of the resolutions in favor of public works, as they evinced in proceeding with them. The second opening out was, that the complete prostration of all public progress had only been averted through the liberality of one of our banks. Mr Reid must have known this when he spoke at the hustings—but he never told it. He even took credit to himself for having expended large amounts on public works during his Secretaryship, and drew comparisons favorable to himself with the doings of his predecessor. We think in this his supporters have great reason to complain, because in following in his wake they were deceived into giving pledges that in all likelihood would never have been given had they known the true state of the case. The retribution is righteous. As Mr Reid, through his reticence, has been the means of involving his party in this dilemma, it has fallen to his lot to propose the abandonment of their “ hustings pledges” in order to relieve the Province from the consequences, Mr Reid must not under the circumstances be surprised at defections from the ranks of his supporters. Many, with himself, now see that those “ hustings pledges” ought never to have been given, while others who have supported him never gave them, and arc therefore free to act. And now, after dawdling through a session of two months duration, Mr Cargill's bold and liberal land resolutions seem likely to supersede the move objectionable proposals of the Reid-Bathgate ministry. A call of the House is to be proposed on Monday, and thus this vexed question of the land may give another week’s employment to our members. Mr Cargill’s amendments go to the root of the evil and point to an effectual remedy. They propose a system under which settlement is likely to be rapid. The great obstacle to it in past .systems has been that capital has been absorbed in pur- ■ chasing land instead of being utilised in its cultivation. The consequence has been that greater inducements have been held .out to remain in old countries than to emigrate to the Colonies. But Mr Cargill’s amendments provide a simple plan by which bona fide settlers may be able to make the most of their .capital. The country will watch the result with interest.