The Globe. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1877.

Globe, Volume VII, Issue 796, 10 January 1877, Page 2

The Globe. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1877.

It seems that we have been all more or less asleep these few years past, and that this condition of torpid somnolency has engendered a somewhat remarkable state of hallucination. The Timaru Herald ha 3 at last condescended to open our eyes, and to describe to the people of New Zealand the exact political axis upon which their affairs and prospects revolve. This southern luminary has intermittent fits of gushing, when, like a dioptric light of the first order, it emits flashes at long intervals, sufficient to illuminate the interior of the dullest human fabric. This last outburst is indeed a startling one. " What is the present Ministry ?" exclaims our heraldic friend, " Is it a Fox Ministry? No. Is it a Waterhouse Ministry ? No. Is it a Vogel Ministry ? No. Is it a Pollen Ministry ? No. It is none of these. It is a Stafford Ministry I created without the member for Timaru accepting the least responsibility, or being at the pains of leading it." Poor, Sir Julius ! How has the mighty fallen! So, after all, the thousands of intelligent colonists who have credited him with those originalities of ideas, and that fertility of brains, out of which spring the public works and other schemes which caused the country so much rejoicings, have been egregiously hoodwinked. They have indeed put the saddle on the wrong animal. The Herald has said it, and its dictum of course cannot be disputed. " Mumbo Tumbo (meaning Sir Julius) has been all the while but a tool in Stafford's hand"—shreiks our contemporary, —"and having done the work allotted to him, he has vanished from the scene." Verily, our political lines, of late, have fallen into strange places ! Talk of constitutional G-overnment after those wonderful disclosures ! We have had, it seems, and still possess among us, a modern Monk, a species of king-maker in a frock-coat and trousers, the exploits of whom by far surpass those of that hero of the cavalier days. The latter played his cards boldly before the world; but, we have changed all this. In this nineteenth century, strings are pulled and puppets made to dance, all in profound silence and secrecy. It is too bad of the Herald to tear aside so ruthlessly the veil which shrouded so skilfully those little games which the ingenuous colonists do not understand. " Save me from my friends" has often been the cry, extracted from Mr. Stafford's unwilling lips by the injudicious antics of his friends. Wuat will he eay now at his own, hia pet

organ, exalting him so grotesquely I upon so unpopular a vantage ground ; impaling him upon a pinnacle where public opinion would be compelled to leave him to wither and politically perish ? The Herald does not stop half-way in its sudden career of indiscretion ; it lets out all the secrets and informs us further that, not only Major Atkinson was called to the Cabinet at Mr. Stafford's direct suggestion, but that Mr. Bowen shared the same fate together with —quite lately—Messrs Ormond and fieid. Che sara sara\ It was written and fore-ordained! The political wheel of fortune, evidently is in the hands of the member for Timaru. The Herald meekly designates him as " the Cincinnatus of New Zealand, who created a Ministry of his own puppets, to which Sir Julius Yogel and Major Atkinson tooted the pan-pipes, while he (Cincinnatus) pulled the strings." We can only submit and bow to the inevitable, to that which the Stars — whether journalistic luminaries of the first or second magnitude—have predestined. For our part, we say " Kismet," and are content to revolve as humble satellites, around the orbit of that Southern constellation, the selfconstituted organ of the great ruler of New Zealand. Of course, we fully endorse the final peroration of our " whole-souled" friend, when he piles on high the very essence of his pent-up outpourings and leudly ejaculates: — " Talk about the power and influence of the Eecluse of Kawau! The Recluse of Landsdowne actually governs New Zealand."