The Globe. FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 1876.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 681, 25 August 1876, Page 2

The Globe. FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 1876.

The debate on the Central Prison question, which took place on "Wednesday night, is not calculated to raise the House in the estimation of those outside the colony. Here was an opportunity for members to exercise some of that public spirit about which they like to talk. The cheap form of patriotism which ends in nothing practical, is common enough at present, but the moment its exercise demands some small sacrifices, the hollowness of those professions is at once made evident. It is well known, and in fact is admitted on all hands, that our gaols are a scandal to the colony. During the debate scarcely any of the speakers ventured to call this fact in question. The utmost those opposing the erection of the central prison at Taranaki ventured to assert, was, that some delay was necessary in order to gain the benefit of the fresh experience which was daily being acquired in England, and that it would not be right to rush into such an expensive experiment without more information than the House had then before it. The real cause, of course, of opposition was jealousy of the benefit Taranaki was about to reap from the largo expenditure there. Mr Bees and others made this very evident; the real object of the central prison, it was said, was that a breakwater might be made at Taranaki, in order to secure to the G-overnraent the vote of that province. In vain did Ministers, and the more patriotic part of the Assembly, point out that the House had already arranged for a breakwater at'Taranaki, and whether the prison were erected there or not, that work would not be prejudiced. The present state of our prisons waa referred to in proof of the immediate necessity of a remedy. Either a central one would have to be gone on with, or a large expense incurred in improving the accommodation of some of the provincial gaols. But their appeals were unavailing. A great colonial work, urgently needed, has been sacrificed on the altar of provincialism. The other parts of the colony could not bear to see this large expenditure going on at Taranaki, and so they resolved that the money should not be spent at all. Such a thing could happen nowhere else but in JSew Zealand.

The Wellington telegram to the Otago Daily Times, giving out the probable mode of reconstruction of the Ministry can hardly be relied upon. It states, that on Sir Julius Yogel going home as Agent-General, Mr Stafford will assume the Premiership, Mr Ormond take the place of Sir Donald McLean in the management of Native affairs, while Messrs JReid and Stevens will be added to the Cabinet. Of course it is well known that Sir Julius Vogel has an eye to the Home Agency, and no better man could well be found for the post. But to find the present Administration under the leadership of Mr Stafford, when that gentleman, only the other day, emphatically declared that he would henceforward advocate the absorption by the colony of provincially raised land fund, cannot be credited. The Ministry have pinned their faith upon the localisation of the land revenue, and upon that alone has it been supported by a majority of the people, and of the Assembly. As to iVlr Eichardson vacating office, we doubt the fact very much. It is far more probable that the shuffling of cards will bring Mr Eitzherbert to the fore as the leader of the Government. In any case the cry still is—" Wanted —not rulers—but a Constitution."