The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 1884. At Last

Feilding Star, Volume VI, Issue 4, 19 June 1884, Page 2

The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 1884. At Last

For two years this journal has steadily pursued a policy of opposition to the now moribund Atkinson Government. Our opposition was, in the beginning, caused by the neglect shown to this district by its representative, the Hon. Walteb Johnston, who was also Minister of Public Works. Gradually the collective incapacity of the whole Ministry was forced upon us, and now the whole Colony has experienced the same knowledge, for the day which we have been foretelling and hoping for has at last arrived. The continuous or Atkinson Ministry has been defeated and compelled to ask for a dissolution, that the country may decide the question as to who shall be the ruling party for the next year or two. Although we congratulate ourselves on the downfall ofthe Ministry, yet we cannot help regretting the manner of their defeat. The vote of want of confidence was not taken on the merits of their policy. No charge of maladministration was properly formulated and proved against them. In the speeches of the Opposition, Ministers found nothing to reply to. The Ministry were guilty of the common error ot despising their enemies, and of forgetting to conciliate their friends. During last session the contemptuous manner in which members on both sides of the House were treated by Major Atkinson and his colleagues, rankled in the breasts of men who had felt that they were humiliated in the eyes of their constituents and of the Colony generally. At the close of the session member after member threw off their allegiance to the Government, and although each gave a reason that had a certain political coloring, yet a strong suspicion of personal feeling seemed patent as a cause of each desertion. A great defect in the personal character of Ministers, from the Premier downwards, was the absence of the tact or power to inspire a feeling of loyalty to themselves, in their followers. Without this great gift no political or anyother leader can hope to retain his position for any length of time. Thus Ministers owe their defeat not only to the Opposition, but to their own want of power to retain a firm hold on the affections or loyalty of the rank and file of their party. They appear to have ignored the fact, which was patent to nearly every other observer, that during the last two sessions they have been kept in existence not because the people loved them, but because the country dreaded the mismanagement of a Ministry under the leadership of Sir Geobgb Gket. Who will be the ''chosen, of the people" as leaders for the future will be decided by the ballot box during the next few weeks.