The Globe. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1875

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 403, 27 September 1875, Page 2

The Globe. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1875

The Abolition Bill has passed through Committee, and the third reading is fixed for Wednesday. To the surprise of many the Q-overnment stood firm with reference to those clauses dealing with the sittings of the Provincial Councils, and the making of contracts by the Provincial Governments. It was rumoured that the Opposition had resolved to oppose those conditions to the utmost, and it was even said according to the correspondents of several of our contemporaries, that the Government would most likely yield the point. But they have had the boldness to say that they will not give way,, and they have been successful. They must have been astonished at their own temerity. With an insignificant majority of thirty at their back, they have yielded point after point at the demand of Sir George Grey and bis followers ; and we can only conclude that the Opposition have decided that the point is not worth contending for, or the result would no doubt have been different.

Whether any great opposition will be raised to thepasaage of the Bill through the Upper House, we are not informed at present. It is generally understood that that body is strongly in favour of abolition, but whether they will be prepared to accept the miserable apology for it which the House of Representatives is about to send up to them, is quite another question. We should not blame them if they threw the Bill out altogether, and refused to discuss a measure from which no practical result will follow. Every one is satisfied now that the question will have to be discussed over again when the new Parliament meets. It will be the great battle cry at the coming elections, and members will be returned, not on the question of abolition or non-abolition, but pledged to support, or seek the repeal of, the present Bill. The false issue which will thus be placed before the country, will almost necessarily, lead to the reopening of the question by the House of Representatives, and the Bill which may finally be passed may be a very different one indeed from the one now before the House. The Upper House may very justly say that they are not prepared to waste their own time and that of the country in empty and purposeless debate. They may therefore feel it their duty to throw out the Bill without discussion, intimating at the same time, that when the proper period arrives, they will give any measure which has for its object the abolition of the provinces, their careful consideration. Should any collision take place between the two branches of the Legislature on the question, the Government will be entirely to blame for it. Although at the head of an overwhelming majority they have permitted, the small but determined minority, to dictate to them the terms of the compromise. The Government have got the shadow, and the Opposition the substance. An indirect appeal to the people has been secured by Sir George Grey and his party, in a form most favourable to the return of a powerful party opposed to the measure; and the price which the Government will most likely pay for getting the Bill placed on the Statute Book, will be a war with the Upper House. We are inclined to

the opinion iJhat its rejection by that body woo’d on the whole be the best solution of the difficulty. Abolition or nou-abolition pure and simple would be the question at the coming elections, and the matter would then be settled with something like finality daring the next session of Parliament. The Bill in its present shape practically grants appeal to the people, and it be far more satisfactory if the appeal were direct.