THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, MAY 10, 1881 MR. McLEAN AT WAIKOUAITI

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2246, 10 May 1881, Page 1

THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, MAY 10, 1881 MR. McLEAN AT WAIKOUAITI

Me. McLean's constituents, when listening to their member at Waikouaiti, must have experienced very different sensations from those which moved Mr. Ormond’s hearers at Waipawa. Although they will have gained some definite ideas as to what tho gentleman who was addressing them really thought on the leading questions of the day, they, probably, will not have been nearly so much amused as tho individuals who formed Mr. Ormond's audience. There s a well - worn

story told agaimt tho typical Englishman as to bis being in tho habit of saying when thoro is a clear morning, “ Ah ! it is a fine day, lot ns go and kill something.” Thorough enjoyment, according to this theory, is not to be gained by our nation unless the feathers are made to fly. It is ranch tho same with politics. The average English, elector likes to see “ tho feathers fly.” Mr. Ormond, at Waipawa, slashed into everything in the heavens above and tho earth beneath, politically speaking, of course. Ho sneered at tho Ministers all round, and more particularly at Major Atkinson j for devoting his late speech almost en- [ tirely to financial matters. Ho developed | no plans for tho future, but ho was infinitely entertaining from a certain point of view. He reminded one very considerably of tho picture in “ Punch ” representing an irritable man in pursuit of a blue-bottle fly. Tho furniture is there represented as being in a pitiable state, tho mirrors are smashed, the ornaments of tho rooms are reduced almost to their first elements, and yet tho blue-bottle is still knocking its obnoxious head against the ceiling. In like manner Mr. Ormond pursued the present Ministry quite regardless that he proposed to bring affairs in general to a chaos, and that, if he had his way, tho result would probably bo that his constituents would find themselves, in the cool and airy costume of our first parents, each man sitting under his own vine or fig tree, civil government having been abolished, and the world at large having been reduced to a second childhood. Now, Mr. McLean’s speech was naturally not half so amusing as one of this description. To begin with, he propounds the prosaic and uudiverting theory that tho great question of the day is the financial question, and ho is very far from sneering at Major Atkinson because he devoted himself to this one subject. Ho even goes the length of declaring that the real friend of the working man is the Minister who pays special attention to this branch of politics. Ho says, “ I need not go further into that than to point out how necessary it is for the finances of the colony to be conducted in a careful aud prudent manner. On that hangs a great deal. Although people will not look at figures, although they will not take the trouble to understand finance, on tho financial position of a country rests the position of the people —the position of the working men. Everything hangs upon it, and any disorder in finance means difficulties to the whole of the country.” Major Atkinson, according to Mr. McLean, was speaking specially to the working man, when he was endeavoring to elucidate his past financial policy and to point out his plans for the future.

The member for Waikouaiti was specially effective when he treated of the financial gulf into which the country was on the point of plunging when the present Ministry came into power. It has been the fashion in certain quarters to rail at Mr. Saunders for, on a certain occasion, raising the word “ repudiation.” We are not going to discuss whether the member for Cheviot really used the word or not, but we would like to point to the fact that the late Government were within an ace of bringing about something almost as ugly. Of course the stoppage of payment would have been a temporary affair, but none the less would the fact have remained that, for a time, wo should have been unable to meet our engagements. The inconceivable recklessness of the late

Government and the incapacity of Sir George Grey would have brought about this result as surely as the sun rises in the east, if the present holders of power had not relieved them of the burdens of State. The portion of the Agent-General’s letter read by Mr. McLean is absolutely pathetic in its intensity. Sir Julias Vogel writes : —“ I have been left literally without resources to contemplate engagements and commitments of hundreds of thousands of pounds. The credit of the colony hung upon the electric cable, and no more wonderful use has the electric cable ever been put to than that by which the engagements of New Zealand have been met through its agency, with the slenderest superstructure of prospective securities to obtain the enormous advances, immediate and contingent, required.” With regard to the Native difficulty Mr. McLean is not one of those who regards Mr. Bryce’s retirement as an unmitigated evil, at least he considered that his resignation has had an extraordinary effect on Te Whiti, as showing him the narrow escape he has had. Respecting the proper functions of County Councils and Road Boards, Mr. McLean is not so lucid as he might be. As far as can be gathered, his views on the powers to bo granted to these bodies are extreme. A proper and effective system of of local government, no doubt, is desirable ; but whore are the sinews of war for the General Government to be derived from if the power of direct taxation is to bo taken from it ? It may be said—relievo the Central Government of certain departments. Take, for instance, education. Why not place it under the supervision of local bodies, giving them powers of taxation to meet the requisite expenditure P But one of the first principles of all government is that the po wor of legislation on any subject must exist concurrent with the power of taxation. In the present instance, if such a course were not adopted, see what would result. The General Government would legislate on education, and a particular district objecting to the effects of such legislation, would refuse to vote taxes for its support, and the system in that district would utterly fail to be efficiently worked. If Mr McLean’s views were carried out to their logical conclusion there would be chaos in many of the principal departments, and we fancy that the country in its present state of development would not consent to the scheme for an instant. Practically the member for Waikouaiti seems to hold much the same views as Mr Ormond on this particular question, only his provinces would be smaller. Direct taxation no doubt is irksome, but it has yet to be proved that it would bo less so if it wero imposed by one’s next door neighbor. As to tho plea that the balance sheet would look prettier to tho English financier if the taxation by the General Government were reduced in amount, the very thought of such a manoeuvre appears to us utterly puerile. We are unable to follow Mr McLoan any further at present in his speech. He said many things worth considering on the property tax and other subjects, to which wo may revert on a future occasion.