The Fielding Star. SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 1889. The Cabinet

Feilding Star, Volume X, Issue 113, 30 March 1889, Page 2

The Fielding Star. SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 1889. The Cabinet

The present Ministry do not enjoy the reputation of being a very happy family, because they have not had the sense or prudence to hide their squabbles from the knowledge of the public. The Wellington papers- inspired or uninspired — all join in the outcry against Ministers, individually and collectively for their want of harmony, and tbeir consequent neglect and mismanagement of the affairs of the colony. The hardest blow is however delivered by the Post which thus sums them up : — " They have no policy, and as a Ministry they have no principles. They are not the representative men of any party, and have no party behind them on which to depend for support based on principle They are merely what we have termed them, a fortuitous collection of political atoms, drifted together, but not bound together, and placed in office not to carry out uny policy or because they weie trusted or deemed the best men, but simply as a stop-gap to keep certain other men, deemed still more unworthy, from filling the position That they have hung together so long may to some be a matter of surprise, but not to those who, being behind the scenes, know the reasons which have reconciled them to the various uupleasantuess they have all had *.o eucounter. To most of them office is a consideration, t>oth as to its emoluments and the power and patronage it carries with ii. This is why they cling so lovingly to their seats, and will put up almost with anything rather than budge. They cau talk openly of exposing each otber, of making the country ring with each other's iniquities, of opposing each other for the same scat when a general election takes place, but still they are content to remain colleagues until force is used to dissolve their unholy union. What a nice prospect the present disorganised condition of the Cabinet, witb its members ready to fly at each other's throats, opens up for the next session of Parliament. It is impossible to expect that any well-considered proposals will be submitted on any of the important questions whioh now demand Parliamentary consideration, and the session is likely to witness an almost unprece dented scene of confusion, and to be productive of very little, if any, benefit to the colony." This is a sweeping indictment of which some of the charges may be " capable of explanation," but there are few people in the colony who will not accept it as true in its main features.