THE OPPOSITION:

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2700, 12 October 1871, Page 3

THE OPPOSITION:

ITS COMPOSITION. [From the Independent). Of all persons in the House we should suppose Mr Creighton commands the least confidence. His influence is confined to his own vote. Session by session, as the accidents of his position necessitate, he shifts from side to side : now the very humblest servant of Mr J. William'on; anon of Mr Vogel, and, at the present writing, '*>f Mr Gillies; “Sworn to no party, of no sect is fye.” His brief administration in Auckland leaves no doubt as to his powers in that direction ; affording a fair caution to those who kpow him what “ to avoid” in political places of confidence and trust. It may, we imagine be fairly assumed that, notwithstanding the unfavorable auspices under which the first absolute attack was made, i he minority upon the division represent the nucleus of the future Opposition ; that under any possible circumstances the fifteen gentlemen will record their votes against Ministers. It may be instructive therefore'" to look at the constitution of the gathering which followed Mr Creighton into the lobby and we shall be forced into the belief that' 7 little cougruity can be expected from such a combination of motley qpiuions, and that though their forces might be united to effect an expulsion, they can never blend for united action in any other direction. Mr Rolleston presents the curious paradox of being at the same time the most consistent and the most inconsistent politician in the colony : consistent in “.generals,” inconsistent in “ particular.” The country can only be saved by carrying out his special crotchets—all parties are equally wrong in his eyes but the Government of the day, whoever they may be, are his special aversion. He belongs to what we may call the “ Jeremiad ” school of politicians, being nearly the last survivor, fortunately, in Parliament, and like the prophet who has given the name to the designation, pours forth a constant Hood of lugubrious bewailings over everything in general and nothing in particular. With the assistance of his friend the Comptroller, and the dismal Stevens, he turned out the Stafford Ministry, and has been bewailing the fact ever since, and now he is singing dirges over his disappointed hopes, and, with all the force of funereal oratory, sighing to the House his utter want yf trust in the Ministry of his choice, and His aspirations to join his (late) arch-enemy in the possible Cabinet. Unlike Mr Creighton he has one follower, rather difficult to manage, and impossible to drive—Mr E. J. Wakefield. Of him we will say but this, that as yet he has shown no signs of ever being able, to regain that position of an orator and a thinker which he maintained of old, and that his continual display of petulance and petty pride do not tend in any way to restore his influence. Next we have Mr Donald Reid and his provincial —weweregoingto say ’‘tail,” but chat would be rude ; we will substitute “ following.” Mr Reid is. we believe, Provincial Secretary of Otago, and in forming his Executive upon the last occasion, judiciously selected two honorable members of the House, Messrs Bradshaw and Bathgate, as his colleagues. He may therefore bo looked upon with respect as absolutely commanding, upon all critical occasions, at least two votes besides his own. On the other hand, his conduct m provincial politics has necessarily alienated from him the majority of the Utago members, and has utterly destroyed any chance of his taking a position in the House. Numerically, no doubt, Air Reid is a gain to the Opposition; in any other way he is

by no means an acquisition, ■ being obstinate to a fault, narrow in his views, having been entirely carried off his head by the adnllation of the League party in Dunedin, who tried hard to return him for the Superintendency. Messrs Bradshaw and Bathgate are Mr Reid’s colleagues, and when we have said that we have said all that is necessary of these gentlemen who are neither of them likely to set the political Thames on tire. Mr J. (J. Brown may be counted another staunch follower of Mr Reid : he is the author of the celebrated dirge of the “dying member,” recorded for ever in the pages of Jlansnrd. Eloquence is not his forte, but he stands unequalled in'; what is understood by “lobbying,” and might ha possibly useful to bis party did he but possess those requisites for attaining personal popularity which are indispensable in the position bo assumes. Mr Reader Wood, we must confess, rather puzzles us, and though acknowledging the probability of his generally being found in opposition, wc hardly expect him to record his vote in favor of such a proposal as Mr Creighton’s. Mr Wood—Heaven save the mark—has been a Colonial Treasurer, and must have fully realised the humbug of the whole affair. Is it that those who have once tasted the sweets of office cannot view but with envy, jealousy, and all uncharitableness, the 'policy of the men who fill their places ? or is the remembrance of the mission to England to raise the ruuious three million loan become bitter from the consciousness that those halcyon days, or days like them, are but the “shadowy phantoms of a vision ?” Does Mr Wood think to regain office under Mr Stafford’s skirts ? We think he is making a mistake ; and, if we may do so without impertinence, amicably advise him to trim his sails, and work out of the shallows he has drifted into. Place an.c grands. We fhave passed over Mr T. B. Gillies, the heart and soul, we may say, of the Opposition. There is no doubt about his being in earnest; he has a mortal hatred of Ministers, and he shows it. His expression of countenance, his voice when addressing Government benches, is the reverse of angelic, whilst he claws his head with his hands, as if longing to rend his enemies limb from limb. Fortunately it is hrutum fnlmen, and nothing more, and has little effect, beyond amusement, upon the House. He rarely condescends to f argument, and' when he meddles with figures, as was clearly illustrated the other day, he makes a precious mess of it. As attempting to lead a party, Mr Gillies has always singularly failed ; as an adherent he has proved damaging; as a member of a Cabinet destructive. We may he allowed, therefore, to congratulate the Government that he is in the hostile camp ; he may be depended upon to make the life of the Opposition bitter to them, and, indeed, Stafford before long to wish that he had been horn in Hector’s prehistoric age. Mr Curtis has up to this time, we believe, not expressed himself in the House upon the subject of the Government policy ; we are, therefore, at a loss to account for the position he thought fit to take upon Friday. It would appear, however, that in the happy valley of Nelson strong parties of cliques exist, fostered by rival newspapers edited with exceptional talent. It is difficult, probably, to live there without imbibing strong party views, and the action of an individual member of the Government with regard to certain matters in dispute before the law courts, to which we need not now further allude, may have originated and intensified a hitter feeling, which has overcome the better judgment of the Superintendent and his friends We have the greatest respect for Mr Curtis, and trust we may yet see him assisting the Government in carrying out the details of a policy which cannot but prove advantageous to the progress of the Colony. One remark we make in conclusion. No fifteen members of th • House could he selected representing more widely divergent opinions. Stafford and Bathgate ! These names are to be seen together only once before, hut that is on an exceedingly wellexecuted cartoon, engraved in Dunedin, in which the defiant attitude of the latter, and the .supercilious contempt depicted on the face of the former, certainly do- not favor the idea of them working in couples. Rolleston and J. C. Brown ! These twp fiiffer in their political opinions, and in their modes of thought, perhqps more widely than even the pair just referred to. Some people’s heads are filled with only one idea : Mr Brown’s is filld with two : the first being “Hundreds,” and the second “Separation.” Mr Rolleston scouts both with equal scorn and aversion, the first as antiquated and absurd, the second as ungenerous and unpatriotic. And so it might he shown by pairing the rest, that on all important subject “the fifteen”, differ toto Nay, the very subjects that bulk largest in their estimation are those in which they differ the most. The land question and the native question must set them all by the ears. Mr Stafford must take warning by the fate of Acta-on.