The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1872.

Evening Star, Issue 2990, 18 September 1872, Page 2

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1872.

Change for the sake of change is at all times an evil, hut especially where Governments are concerned. It is bad in domestic life to make changes of servants for trifling mistakes, to which all human beings are liable. It is very bad in mercantile life to make changes of employes, where the only faults are those which must happen to all who share our common •humanity'’; and it is an evil day for a country when the efforts of ignorant, prejudiced, and unprincipled men arc allowed to prevail in its councils, and to remove public servants whose whole career has been that of faithful effort for the public welfare. Perhaps in no other British Colony would the late Government have been unseated on such clemier and ill-supported grounds as sufficed to secure an adverse vote against them here. In Victoria there was some shew of truth in the allegations that the Duffy Administration had been guilty of nepotism, and attempts at purchasing the support of the Press by undue and unwise patronage. Similar allegations were made here, but they only proved the malice and nnscrupulousness of those who made them. In fact so far from those journals being the most heavily patronised that supported the Government, the balance was on the other side—at least in Otago. Just as unfounded'are the rest of the charges : the errors of the Fox Ministry have not been those of intention, nor were they of Ibgfc character that rendered correction by themselves impossible. The charges against them have been so general as to present no tangible points for denial, or, like the sophistries of the correspondents of the Daily Times, were so shallow as to need no refutation. It is difficult for honest men to judge of the real influences at work in causing these changes* still more difficult to imagine that any one can be so base as to weaken confidence in arrangements for public benefit. But that there are men whose intellects are so twisted as to imagine they are doing service when they are only doing mischief, or who ated by baser or more mercenary motives, is evident enough by the falsehoods that have appeared in print in reference to the Post Office Havings Banks. If there had been anything wrong in principle or practice connected with them, we should gladly have aided in remedying the error or condemning the administration. But so far from there being anything to condemn, we consider there is everything to boast of in institutions, the only aim and purpose of which are to afford persons struggling upwards the means of investing their savings profitably and safely. If the late Government have one reason for satisfaction more than another with the measures passed durtheir administration, it is in regard to those the object of which has been to afford means for the colonists securing themselves as far as possible against poverty, want, and their attendant degradation and misery. But this unO * principled opposition lias not been confined to Otago. It is bad enough when it is attempted to deceive and gull a civilised community, although as a rule it only requires men to rouse themselves to an enquiry into facts to dissipate any momentary false impression that may have been produced. When that takes place, the political juggler becomes an

object of contempt mixed with amusement. It is far otherwise when the same reckless game is played amongst uncivilised and ignorant men, and the disclosures on that point made by Mr Ormond in his speech on the “ no confidence” motion show that such a course has been pursued. That the men are supporters of Mr Stafford is sufficient to identify him with a policy that should excite the keenest suspicion on the part of every colonist. Our only surprise is that he can office with the consciousness that lie is sustained only by men whose unscrupulous practice is the surest proof of their I selfishness and insincerity. Let our readers ponder over the following extracts from Hansard , and then say whether they approve the change : When I joined the Government, towards the end of last year, 1 did so with the full understanding that 1 was to resign my position as Superintendent of the Province of Hawke’s Bay, and 1 fully intended to do so. I left Wellington I think about Christmas and was in my own Province about a week, after which I was absent for two or three months, visiting Auckland, Taranaki, and Wellington, and travelling all over those Provinces. 1 had hoped, on my return, to have been able to meet the Provincial Council of my Province, and to have handed over its affairs in a prosperous state. 1 left the Province, I may say, in as secure a position and with its .Native inhabitant! in as contented a state as had been the case for many years past, but when I returned I found the Natives in a very unsettled and, I may say, dangerous state as regards the peace of the Colony. Bir, there had been a mischievous and a dangerous excitement created among the Native people of the Province of Hawke’s Bay, by designing and interested Europeans, or European I should say, the effect of which was, that the Province, which when I left it was’secure and peace assured, was, on my return, in a more unsettled state than it ever had been siree the days when there was open war within its boundaries, lam not giving the House my own individual opinion only, but an opinion which has been rep rted to the Government by their Native officer, Mr Locke, and which was coincided in by the Bishop of Waiapu and the principal settlers, among whom I may mention one who is known in this House and acknowledged to have some acquaintance with such matters, Mr Colenso, and also Colonel Russell. These gentlemen, and, indeed, 1 may say, most of the leading settlers of Hawke’s Bay Province, came to me, and one and all said it was the duty of thc'Govcmment to take some steps to stop the mischievous and dangerous excitement which had been created in the Native mind in Hawke’s Bay. Mr Locke, the Native officer, has reported that that excitement, and the state which it engendered, was so dangerous that the peace of that part of the country was .really in jeopardy. When I arrived* in the Province, 1 saw for myself that there was growing up a feeling of very great hostility between the two races, and 1 saw every reason to believe that the peace of the district wpjild be broken if the existing state of thijigs continued.' Excited Meetings of the Natives ’]nul been held in different piqtspf tho Province, and a state of things had reverted which, I say, had not the time wq.en myself and my honorable friend ihc Natiye Ministor took charge of the Province, These things wore mainly brought about, I am sorry to say, by the evjl influence of ; an interested European, who was working from the.basest of motives, gain, greed, and revenge being amongst them. The people pf the Province, and all threading settlers, said fp me, “You and your fiiend Mr McLean have conducted the avail’s of this Province in.past years, and you must pot leave us now.; you must stop here and fulfil -your work. 1 ’ Sir, that was the kind of demand wbnffi l .\va,3 made upon mo when 1 returned to my Province. I devoted myself at once to the condition of things there. I consulted [the honorable member for the East Coast (Mr Takamoana), who is not now iu his place, and other leading chiefs of the district'. They {thoroughly agreed as to the dangerous state pf the district: they thoroughly agreed as to the shamcffil mcaup which liau been taken to incite this state of things.., amt 'they joined with mo iu endeavoring to remedy j£. It was in a large degree owing t,o Takamoana, Kenatanoa, and other leading chiefs, that this feeling was allayed, I think it right to say that it is only allayed now, pending the appeal of that honorable member for an inquiry into the state of affairs in that Province, and if the House does not make the ipqiliry, I shall look with very great con- ! ecru £3 to what may be the possible conseqnences, idea of these Native people was, the absolute repudiation of all laud agreements. In the srst pLee, t)iis was only in respect to contracts which had been entered into between Europeans and Natives. They were led to believe that, by giving false evidence and such like things, tjioy could upset sales which had boon properly effected from themselves to Europeans: that if they ficuld prove that married women had not been joined in the contracts they had made by their husbands, they could set them aside. The result was, that tliey immediately jumped to the conclusion that if they were able to upset private transactions, they could also repudiate the arrangements which had been made with them by the Crown. 1 think that those North Island members who have observed tho course of affairs, must be aware that this agitation has not been confined to the Province of Hawke’s Bay, but has spread to all parts of the Colony. The agitation soon got beyond tho control of the person who commenced it. He has since publicly appeared in connection with a case of land dealing with Natives, before the Native Frauds Commissioner in Hawke’s Bay, and it was attributed to him, in that gentleman’s decision, that he had been party to and assisted in a fraud. That decision has since been confirmed by a Judge of the Supreme Court, who stated that “a fraud was none the less a fraud because it had been unsuccessful.” The person to whom I refer is perfectly well known, and it is a matter for general regret in Hawke’s Bay that he should he allowed to continue in a public position, the holding which has to a large extent enabled him to bo so mischievous ; and I cannot help thinking that it is a discredit to the branch of the Legislature of ;which he is a member, that lie should be still allowed to occupy that position.