THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 1882. THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2564, 27 June 1882, Page 2

THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 1882. THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

The state of affairs that now obtains in the ranks of the Opposition, as shown by our special correspondent in Wellington, is, to say the least of it, curious. The singular spoctacle is presented of a body of men choosing as a leader an individual [whom no one thinks is competent for the post, and whose sole claim is stated to be that he is utterly harmless. Now, an Opposition must be critical and aggressive, or it is nothing. It is the attacking force in the political warfare, and for such an organization to deliberately place at its head a general who has neither the ingenuity to form plans or the firmness to carry them out, is, an ordinary on-looker would think, tantamount to inviting defeat—not defeat of an ordinary character, because, to be repulsed there must be an attack, but starvation in the trenches. Mr. Montgomery would have mede an excellent commander of one of those bodies of mercenaries which were hired by potentates in the later times of the middle ages, when the institution was on its?wane. These warriors were paid large sums of money by •rnployers, whom they generally succeeded in ruining financially. They stuck to their winter quarters as long as there was the slightest symptoms of frost on the ground, and when they took the field, all the general was required to do was to move his troops judiciously over the ground as over a chess board, and if he found that he had gained some slight advantage in position, a messenger was sent over ter the opposite camp, a conference was held, the relative positions were discussed, and arrangements were entered into according to the result of of the confabulation. As for any dashing surprise, midnight or any other sort of attack, it was never dreamt of. The soldiers drew their pay, and the potentate paid the piper. A position such as that of general to such a body would have suited Mr Montgomery to a nicety. The ordinary qualifications of a leader were at a discount—indeed, would have been exceedingly inconvenient. The soldiers elected their chief because they knew very well he had no intention whatever of shedding blood. The analogy between the two cases seems to us to be complete.

All this must be somewhat irksome to some of the fighting spirits amongst the Opposition, who long for war to the death. What the member for Christchurch South, for instance, suffers it would be difficult to say. Mr Holmes, from the moment of his arrival in Wellington, posed as a political desperado. He struck out right and left, careless whether he hit under the belt or over it. A sensation of some sort or other ho was bound to produce; and a sensation he did produce, though hardly of a pleasing character. Anyhow he showed this much, that he loved to live in troubled wafers, and that the fiercer the attack the bettor ho would be pleased. For such an individual to be placed under such a feather-bed as the lately-elected leader of the party must bo gall and wormwood to him. It must bo a sort of nightmare to have the mild platitudes of Mr. Montgomery overlaying his diatribes. As for Sir George Grey, he is still perfectly master of the situation. He and his devoted knot of followers rule the Opposition, notwithstanding all votes to the contrary. He is the Old Man of the Mountain, whom the more they strive to push him off, the weightier ha becomes. And lastly there are the other aspirants to the leadership, such as Messrs. Sheehan, Dargaville, and Thompson. These complete the state of disorganisation into which the Opposition has fallen. They are as little likely to obey the mild dictates of Mr. Montgomery as a young blood is likely to fall in with the views of a street preacher. The situation is altogether an interesting one from a peculiar point of view. Whether anything will be made out of such heterogeneous materials is rather more than doubtful. The fact of the case would seem to be that until circumstances create a new light in the political world, the Opposition will boat the air until the end, at all events, of the pro ent session.

THE REPORT OF THE INSPEC TOR OF PRISONS.

This document, which lias been laid on tho table of both Houses, is a fairly constructed and interesting document, setting forth in very readable language the present state of our prison arrangements and tho improvements that aro ia course of being effected. Tho Inspector, wo aro glad to seo, lays special stress on tho isolating of various classes of offenders, to bring about which a considerable amount of progress has been made einca ha first took charge. The classification of prisoners is, wo are told, “ receiving due attention, ia order that juvenile

o •indors and adults convicted o£ comparatively trivial crimes and those con7 10 ®. d more serious offerees, but aob ft i nal criminals, may, for obvious reasons bo kept apart from the V/-I or hardened criminals, and 811 J ec tsci to such corrective treatment as will be calculated to prouoe the most beneficial results, special consideration being given to the inculcation of habits of industry in connection with labor of a reproductive nature, which may act. as a sot off against the cost of the different prisons."’ The majority of prisoners are, we are glad to see, not of the hardened class, hut incidental offenders, who have been driven into crime under the stimulus of iiiuk, and such are naturally not looked upon as irreckim* able. “To give such men an opportunity of redeeming their characters is -what prison discipline should aim at. Every possible effort should be made to prevent the cultivation of such a criminal ck«a as springs from gregarious associations, some of the hortors of which th&t have come under my (the Inspector’s') notice bo‘h in Great Britain and India would baidly be credited.” r l be Inspector, while crediting the reformatories and industrial schools already in existence with effecting much good, recommends an establishment similar to the Philanthropic Society’s Farm School for the Reformation of Criminal Boys at Redhill, Surrey, where the boys, after learning farm work for a certain portion of their sentences, might bo apprenticed to farmers willing to take them. As the remarks made by the Inspector on the education of prisoners in his last report seem to have been misunderstood, be takes some trouble to explain the system he advocates. What he previously meant was simply a repudiation of the system of bringing together the prisoners for an hour or so in a body to ho taught. A proper system of cellular instruction would ha of great assistance, and in the smaller prisons many of the prisoners have made much use of the time they have had thus given them to improve their minds. But these general gatherings for instruction aro generally only used for pernicious purposes. The progressive system of classification used in the Lyttelton Gael is next referred to, and a general hope is expressed that the day may not he far distant when societies will bo established in all the larger towns of the colony for the aid of discharged, prisoners, “ which would hold out & helping hand to such of them as are desirous of retrieving their lost characters, not by actually giving them cash, but by affording them the means of procuring tools, clothes, &c., or by finding them suitable employment and taking an interest in their future well doing.” Many other suggestions are thrown out in the report, to which we have no time at present to allude, but which are well worthy of consideration.