The Evening Star THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1873.

Evening Star, Issue 3301, 18 September 1873, Page 2

The Evening Star THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1873.

As was expected, the debate of the session is on the ill-success of the Immigrateoll arrangements. It would appear from what transpired in the Hpuse last night, that there are political gossips at Heme who think they know more of the doings of the Government; of New Zealand than do the Ministry' here. Who those gossips are, of course, cannot be known, but they have evidently been in communication with Mr Stafford and Mir Fitzherbert, and have furnished them with information which, although proved unreliable, was yet of such a character as to lead those gentlemen to use very uncourteous language towards the Ministry of the day.; The'main object of the attack on Mr! Y ogel’s Ministry was not directly oni account of the failure of the scheme.! It was indirect, and intended co bring discredit Upon them, because of alleged suppression of important information. Mr Stafford, who ought to have known better, went so far as to express the belief that several important letters had been suppressed, and based! his belief ©n letters he had received from London. This was very shallow and veiy short-sighted on his part. It was implicating the very man whom he apparently wanted to serve, in his patriotic zeal to damage the Ministry. If he had received information of suppressed letters, from whom could he have received it, excepting from some one who knew of their existence 1 And who could know of their existence but the man who wrote them 1 Or, at any rate, some one connected with his department ? In either case it must be evident that, if Mr Stafford spoke the truth, there iipist be some underhand; communication going ofi, most probably

of his own seeking, far from creditable to either him or his correspondents. We can appreciate the manly straightforwardness of Mr Yogel in asserting the right of any Government to reserve certain documents, the publication of which at a given moment may materially affect their relations with a public servant. As a constitutional question too, there can be no doubt that in every Colony the Governor has a right to express his opinion as to the propriety of any document being made public, Mr Stafford or Mr Fitzherbert notwithstanding. In Victoria, on many occasions, even reports of Select Committees have been recommended by the Governors not to be printed, when spreading the information abroad would hare had the effect of being detrimental to the public interest; and were Mr Stafford in office to-morrow, we know of no one more likely to make a stand on such, ground than he. In this instance he has iairly over-reached himself. The despatch sought to be withheld reflects no discredit- on the Government. It is evidently a last attempt to teach Dr Featherston the duties of his position, and, to,lead bin!' to fulfil them in a business-like manner for the benefit of the Colony. That it contains severe reproof none can deny ; but we should think few will be bold enough to affirm that it was undeo # # served. That its publication was necessary or advisable, if Dr FeathersTon’s services are to be retained, no reasonable man can hold; and now that its contents are spread abroad, we apprehend there can be but one conse-quence—-Dr Featherston will almost of necessity resign his appointment,, or the country will expect him to be superseded. The Government, in the first part of the‘debate, wer.e charged by Opposition members with endeavoring to make Dr Featherston the scapegoat, and thus to cast the blame of failure from their own shoulders. Of course the implication was that they were responsible for the expensive monopolies created in shipping immigrants, and for all the irregularities consequent upon mismanagement of affairs at Home. But so far from this- having been the case, it appears it was the desire of the Ministry to shield Dr Featherston as far as possible, and even at the risk of some inconvenience to themselves to try to work matters satisfactorily. Faction, for once, has over-reached itself. Mr Stafford is on the wrong tack : it is not the Ministry, but the Opposition who have sought to use the name of the Agent-General to forward their political aspirations. The only blame that can be thrown upon the Government is that of not securing the services of an efficient business man.