The Evening Star. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2708, 21 October 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1871.

It is fortunate for the Colony that Parliament has made no attempt to disturb the defence arrangements of the country. Judging by the tone taken by Mr Stafford and his followers, they would not have hesitated to do so ; in fact, it seems to us that he imagines the same cry on which he went into office some six years ago, will carry him into jwwcr again. But the wretched past is not so easily forgotten by the people who have smarted severely for misplaced confidence, Mr Stafford, before going into office professed just the same confidence in reducing expenditure as be does now ; but then, he had greater room for the exercise of his financhd ingenuity than at present. There had previously been reckless expenditure. War had done its work ; and worse still, it was a war badly managed. It had been carried on until it seemed likely to die out because the Natives were tired if it; not because they had been beaten. It had been carried on by English troops under English commanders, who felt that neither glory nor thanks could be reaped by achieving a victory over ill-armed and partially disciplined savages ; and worse than this, it was fostered by a number of contractors and graziers, who made large profits out of commissariat expenditure. Justus the Avar lulled, Mr Stafford stepped forward with a proposition to cut down expenses, and the way he went to work is evidence of his inability to organise or to form correct conceptions of the true functions of Government. Isaac Pitman tells a story of a reporter, who, being instructed to cut down a speech one-half to economise room in the London Times, gravely cut the proof into two pieces, and asked the Editor which half he would have. This was somewhat of Mr Stafford’s style of cutting down expenses. The easiest way that ho could imagine was to reduce the cost of one department, regardless altogether of whether or not it would remain useful for the purpose intended. So he cut down the Colonial forces so much in number, that he invited attack and escape: our readers remember too well the advantage that was taken of his unwise cheese-paring. The contrast between his administration and that of Mr Fox has been remarkable. Instead of saving, Mr Stafford’s plan proved wastefully extravagant. On a sudden a Colonial army had to he

raised at immense expense ; the defence i arrangements were imperfect and without unity of purpose : the Government . had not sufficient control over the commanders they employed, and had to confide to them too much discretionary power j the war, which was supposed nearly over, revived and spread, and the insane purpose of conquering a peace formed the settled purpose of .Mr Stafford’s administration. His dream of retrenchment was dissipated, and he himself was tried and found wanting in most of the essentials to successful legislation. If again his social theories are examined, the absence of organising ■ power will bo observed. In his attempts at remodelling the Provinces, the same imperfections that marked his Native policy are manifest. They wanted breadth. They proposed to destroy that which was defective, but they suggested nothing as compensation. His proposed road districts would have left matters pretty much as they are, so far as internal communication is concerned. At the end of fifty years, New Zealand on his system would have been still comparatively unpeopled a land abounding in mineral and agricultural wealth, capable of being the feeder and clothier and manufacturer of Australasia, but shut up to a slowly widening inhabited strip of land, skirting the coast. Contrast this with what MiFox’s Ministry has done. Marvellously, almost, success in Native affairs has attended them from the first. It is idle to attribute this to accident. There must be a cause for every event, and where means are taken to secure an end, it would be as unwise as ungenerous to deprive even a government of credit for achieving success. Upon what other theory than successful arrangements is it to be explained that a spirit of peaceful submission to law is gradually pervading all the Native tribes 1 Before the meeting of Parliament, the Opposition papers delighted to predict that peace had been purchased at immense cost by feeding and clothing the Natives: but this has proved to be only an idle guess, as notwithstanding adverse circumstances traceable to causes outside the Colony, the revenue has proved very nearly equal to the expenditure. The real cause is that instead of expediency there is organisation and settled purpose. The Natives are looked upon as fellow-subjects to Her Majesty, and not as foreign enemies. Instead of an array, whose success depends upon the innate bravery of races, all important passes are held by picked men, highly disciplined and efficiently armed ; the Natives themselves have been employed in forming roads leading to the interior, so that the bush is no longer the impregnable fortress it once was ; and instead of conquering a peace by force of arms, it has been achieved by impressing upon the Native mind that they are equally entitled to protection and justice with the Colonists. Then as to social arrangements the contrast is equally marked. Previous Govern ments borrowed money to waste it in war—hence the payment of interest became a heavy tax on the Colony. The present Government proposes to borrow for investment : hence loans become reproductive, and instead of a tax will prove a profit, if wisely laid out. Without approving all that the Fox Ministry have done or propose to do, judging by experience, we know of no greater danger to the country than that the government should pass into Mr Stafford’s hands. The majority in Wellington are of the same opinion, and corvider his prestige has departed.