The Evening Star MONDAY, MAY 19, 1873.

Evening Star, Issue 3196, 19 May 1873, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, MAY 19, 1873.

Either through defective information or design, whero the Superintendent is concerned, our contemporary the Daily Times, as usual, has contrived to misrepresent the events connected with “ the Provincial crisis. ” The following, received from a reliable source, we believe to be strictly and literally true^:—After the rising of the House on Thursday, both sides held separate meetings. On the Ministerial side, it was proposed to ask for a conference of three members from each party, to endeavor to solve the difficulty by forming' a coalition Executive ; and in order that the conference should succeed in such an arrangement, they were quite willing to allow 'a representative of the Keid party to be sent for—of course, with the consent of the Superintendent. Mr Tolmie then placed a document in Mr Peid’s hands, to which it was understood Mr Reid assented, but said ho wished to consult his party. The meeting of Ministerialists waited patiently for a reply, but none was given, and the first intimation that all appeared to be at an end was the noise on the stairs, caused by the adjournment of the Reid caucus, (in Friday, another meeting of Ministerialists was held to consider the position, and it was suggested that no further exertions on their part should be made to form an Executive, but that Dr Webster should be sent for, on the distinct understanding that his mission was to negotiate a coalition. In this Dr Webster failed, the Reid party saying to him, “We will not treat with you. The Superintendent must send for one of us.” So the matter stood up to to-day. Our report of the subsequent proceedings will be read with interest, but to one feature of them we must object. It is not often that we comment upon the course of action of men in authority : they have difficult duties to perform, and require support, even to overlooking an occasional error. But this leniency ought not to extend to passing ovtr cases of gross partisanship, and we have no hesitation in charging the Speaker of the Provincial Council with an exhibition of it during this afternoon’s sitting. He allowed objections to Mr Tolmie’s giving reasons for the advice given to the Superintendent—an explanation which he was fairly entitled to give, for It is absurd to say a man’s own reasons are debateable matter—and ruled that he was out of order. Having thus burked every statement calculated to justify the course the Executive had adopted, he read his Honor’s Message stating his intention to prorogue the Council. Immediately afterwards the Secretary to the Superintendent banded up a second Message containing his Honor's proclamation that the Council was prorogued. But it was not convenient to see that; so, as Nelson put his blind eye to the glass at Copenhagen, the Speaker allowed the document to remain unopened until Mr Reid had finished. In vain the Speaker’s attention was called to the proclamation. The Provincial Secretary presented him with a printed copy, which he refused to recognise ; the Secretary for the Goldfields, after vainly calling the attention of the House to it, at last plainly and very properly told him his authority was at an end ; but it was all to no use. He never discovered that the document lying on his table unopened contained an official prorogation of the Council, until Mr Fish rose to correct Mr Reid’s statement. He then found out be was no longer Speaker, and for the sake of the character of the Council it is to be hoped he never will be again. .