YESTERDAY’S NEWS.

Evening Star, Issue 3135, 7 March 1873, Page 3

YESTERDAY’S NEWS.

CONTEMPORARY OPINIONS ON CURRENT EVENTS.

THE WE.WJ LINE.

Whatever the grounds on which Congress has a third time declined to grant the subsidy, it is char that the existing service cannot he maintamed ; or rather, it is evident that New Zealand woiild be acting in an extremely foolish manner if it allowed Mr Webb to drag on for as long as he thinks desirable, in the sanguine hope that he will ultimately be able to “ lobby ” the subsidy Bill through Congress, and thereafter establish an efficient line of boats. He has been very leniently dealt with from the outset, and there is at least some ground for saying that the Colony has allowed him to lead it by the nose as tenderly as asses are. The time seems to have now arrived when it is both desirable and necessary to determine the contract under which we are bound to Mr Webb, on certain conditions, for a term of years These conditions have never been fulfilled by him, and the penalties to which he is subject for non-fulfilmeut have not been enforced, from a conviction that it was a far wiser policy to forego than to insist upon our legal pound of flesh, A further continuance of this leniency, in view of the latest intelligence from America, is out of the question, and the Government will no doubt see the necessity of making a definite and final arrangement with Mr Webb, —Lyttelton Times. MR WATERHOUSE. The moment taken by Mr Waterhouse for throwing up his position as Premier was singularly ill-chosen, and indeed public opinion generally will, if we mistake not, condemn the precipitancy which resulted in a crisis such as never before occurred in the Colony. —North Otago Times. The gist of Mr Waterhouse’s explanation ard the burden of hia complaint against Mr Vogel are, that the latter induced, or at any rate allowed, him to accept office on something like false pretences. The intended resignation of Mr Hall, and the pledge given to Mr Shephard were, he tells us, “ concealed ” from him, and the conclusion he apparently wishes us to draw is, that he would not have accepted office had he he"n better informed. On the other hand, we have all the facts connected with Cabinet-making during last session, and these induce a belief that, in Lis eager anxiety to be Premier of the Colony, Mr Waterhouse was not fastidious about the conditions on which he joined Mr Yogel, or careful to make Himself acquainted witli the political situation. It was the Premiership he wanted, and having allowed his ambition to get the better of his discretion, he now appeals to the public for sympathy, on the ground that he has been deceived and placed in a false position. The public will most probably reply that he should not have allowed himself to be deceived, and that the position was of hia own seeking. At the same time, they will not exonerate Mr Vogel, should it be shown that he “ concealed” certain arrangements, or that he was not so candid as, under the same or similar circumstances, all public men ought to be. And, while they suspend their judgment in fairness to the absent accused, they will ho of opinion that the mere personal relations of Ministers have for the time received more consideration than the proper administration of the policy on which the welfare of the Colony depends. —Lyttelton Times.