The Evening Star SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 1873

Evening Star, Issue 3154, 29 March 1873, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 1873

Although no formal discussion of the subject has taken place at any of the meetings of the candidates for the representation of the City, there is an illconcealed purpose on the part of certain politicians to make the election a test of confidence or no confidence in the present Provincial Executive. Disguise it as they will—the old land feud is at the bottom of it; and with a disingenuosness that is singularly characteristic of Mr Reid’s supporters, it is sought to identify the Executive with the course of action forced upon the Province, through his persistent refusal to throw land into the market. We have always thought it unfortunate for Mr Reid that he was thrown into the hands of that party. Had he not been cramped and fettered by his nurses, his talent and energy would, in all probability, have been better directed, and he would have escaped those mistakes which rendered his administration of Provincial matters so detrimental to the interests of Otago. Unfortunately for Mr Reid’s reputation as a politician, he could not see that the mode of his determined opposition to a party, must naturally produce precisely the opposite effect to that which he intended. It is not so much in theory that Mr Reid was wrong, as in not discerning the adaptation of means to ends. He could see that by selling land in large blocks, fewer persons were likely to settle upon it than if it were subdivided into farms ; but in opposing particular propositions that did not interfere with selling in smaller areas, he rendered parting with it in large blocks a financial necessity. He set himself to oppose every proposal by the squatters, and actually, as apparently the price of support for his own particular theories, conceded to them greater privileges than they even dared to ask for themselves. Their pre-emption prior to his advent to office was limited to eighty acres, but this was extended by him to six hundred and forty; so that although, like the Prophet Balaam, he was set up to curse the large capitalists, he w’as compelled to bless them. Other contradictions might be pointed out, leading to the irresistible conclusion that the party is unpractical, incapable of discerning .the-signs of the times, and unequal to the task of governing. The characteristics of tho supporters of this party are that as a rule their conduct has been marked by stolid wrongheaded selfishness; and had their policy been adopted, Otago, instead of being perhaps the most progressive Province in the Colony, would have been what Sir David Monao would have New Zealand, a country of bush roads and bullock drays, with land in hundreds waiting until the few clodocrats settled on the soil could scrape up capital to add another section to their ill-cultivated farms. Just as that party has damaged Mr Reid, are they likely to injure the candidate, who, we believe against his will, has been taken in charge by them. He has disclaimed connection with them ; but Mr Stout, as the exponent of the opposition to the present Executive, has bid for his support. The present Provincial Government, as did Mr Fox in the affairs of the Colony, stepped in to relieve the Province from a difficulty. They have enunciated no policy, but have contented themselves with administering public affairs according to law. But before they have even explained their views in the Council, the question of no confidence in them is publicly discussed. They have not been proved to havo committed ono act detrimental to the public interests: in fact, so far as may be judged by the outer world, everything has been done that was requisite to the welfare of the Province; yet with singularly bad taste, this no con fideuce proposition is bandied about; and Mr Stout has set himself to prove that the sale of 10,000 acres of land shows that the present Executive arc at least as bad Mr Reid's. Now this, like many other political matters that Mr Stout takes in hand, is not the most straightforward. He knows perfectly well that the power of the Executive to deal with laud is reduced to

almost nothing by the new Land Act: that what was formerly an Executive matter is remitted to the Waste Land Board, and that the Board has no power by law, but to agree to such sales as Mr Logan’s if all the conditions laid down are fulfilled. And, knowing this, he is not justified in the statement he has made. Just in the same Jesuitical style did he deal with the constitutional matter of Mr Reid’s refusal to resume office. He assumed, inferentially, that the Executive must be appointed by the Council ; although, as a lawyer, he must have known that this was not true ; and that the power of appointment rests with the Superintendent. Had he stated that no Executive could continue in office that had not the confidence of the Council, he would have been clearly right; but to maintain that it was necessary to call the Council together to decide upon whether Mr Reid, having, in a pet, refused to resume office, like a spoiled child should be coaxed and patted on the back until he was in a good temper and would be no longer a martyr, was clearly putting the matter in a wrong light altogether. Mr Waterhouse did not consider it necessary to convene Parliament when he sulked himself out of office ; although the Governor wished to I’elieve himself from the responsibility of appointing an Executive. Mr Reid, as well as Mr Stout and his Jesuitical followers, may learn a lesson from the conduct of Mr Fox and Mr Gladstone. One had retired from office, the other wished to do so; but both sacrificed their private feelings to a sense of public duty; and there is reason to believe that His Honor's Provincial Executive were actuated by similarly high-minded motives. So far from deserving the covert condemnation of Mr Stout and his clique, they are worthy of the thanks of the community. They Avere not seekers after office ; they have nothing to gain by it, but probably something to lose; and it is only right to point out the true relationship in which they stand to the Council and the Province. The future, only, can reveal whether their measures will command public confidence. We know nothing of what they propose, so are not prepared to support or condemn them on those grounds. All that we affirm is that for what they have done they are entitled to the warmest thank* of the community. It does not matter whether a similar spirit is displayed in a Municipality, a Colony, or an Empire ; the field may vary, but the spirit is the same, and whether it animate a Gladstone, a Fox, or a Provincial Executive, should command equal commendation and respect.