The Evening Star TUESDAY, MAY 18, 1875.

Evening Star, Issue 3816, 18 May 1875, Page 2

The Evening Star TUESDAY, MAY 18, 1875.

The motion to go into Committee of Supply to consider the Estimates was, as we antiei* pated, the signal lor parties in the Council to show their hands. Ip to yesterday a constant game of hide-and-seek had been the This is now at an end, and the diverse parties who practically keep the Government in office are pretty well committed to a course of opposition. The silenee as yet of several leaders who hold the key of the position, indicates that even they prefer to watch opportunities to the last. There can be no question that, while there has been a small and consistent opposition to the present coalition of members com posing., the Executive, the bulk of members who we expect now to see in the division list against the Government are merely speculating as to how they can best turn the position to their own account, or to that of the interest they particularly affect. This is an evil which occurs in every representative house, but more remarkably in our Provincial Council. It does not arise from any special self-seeking 01 the part of Otago representatives, but from the wretched jumble our land laws are in. 'these laws are quite able to be worked with a liberal interpretation, but at the same time they can quite a? f; irly be made to favor the wishes of those who desire to conserve Crown lands for their own ultimate purposes. Mr Rbid has man aged to stand in the gap with considerable courage and dexterity. We have seen him during the last few years carrying out, so far as he has been lawfully able, the policy he has always advocated. Our land administration in Mr IWD fll Bauds is, we beliovo, aofe. Ho ia not JiJtely to again the blunder of disposes oi huge areas of go-callud pastoral country. That lesson has been burnt iu too deeply to be forgotten. At the same time, when the member for Tuapeka lays his hand upon the deficiencies of the Works Department during the past year, he carries us with him. Mr Rsio has never shown a capability of grasping with real power the Works Department. His administration of this department has never exceeded the supervision to be expected from an average departmental head. It is a great pity he has so much confidence in his own ability to do everything, that he will not trnst his colleagues with a portion of the work he attempts to de single-handed. He should either trust them with practiced administrative power, or he should dispense with their services. The management of the large contracts already in hand is of the greatest importance. We quite endorse the expressed opinion that the member of the Executive who has that department under his control should not leave the Province for three or four months at the busiest part of the year. Bast year it certainly was the case that the spring of the year was entirely lost, and it was quite late in season before' important works, for which appropriations had been made, were placed in hand. The feeling of the Council, as a whole, seems to point to this absorbiton by one man of the whole Executive fane* turns as the main blot at present. Curiously enough, this was the ground of complaint against Mr Bastings, laid with great force b\ all the present members of the Executive, except Mr Turnbull, who adapted himself with political elasticity to circumstances Whatever may be the result of the amendment before the Counoil—which is, of course, a distinct vote of want of confidence—the present administration will need some alteratio? Mr Turnbull could be persuaded to do a fair share of the work, and M‘Kellae wore entrusted with a practical position in place of the nominal one ho at present enjoys, —enjoys is hardly the word—there would not be a great deal to be complained of. Possibly, in the debate this afternoon, Mr Reid may have been able to show that matters are not what they aiem, and that the ■ supervision over worka has been all it could have been. Making every allowance for the difficulties which have arisen owing to the two best officers in the department having lefo the service, it will require all the force and eloquence Mr Reid can bring to boar to convince the Council ihatthe public business could not have been much better controlled than it has been.