THE Grey River Argus. TUESDAY, JUNE 29, 1869.

Grey River Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 538, 29 June 1869, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. TUESDAY, JUNE 29, 1869.

Mb. Fox, the leader of the Opposition, has not been long iv forming a Government, and when the House of Representatives re-assembles to-day it will be informed that Mr. Fox has assumed the portfolio of Colonial Secretary ; Mr. Yogel that of Colonial Treasurer ; Mr. M'L.eau the post of Native aud Defence Minister,- 4»d Mr, J. Cargill the Post-master-Generalship, The selections are not good ones, even from the ranks of the Provincialists, wheu such men as Featherstone, Stevens, and Bell aie passed over and left " out in the cold. ' On one question only are they united — the perpetuation of the Provincial form of Government. Even upon the Native question their speeches exhibit great differences in the details, and upon many important questions they have frequently been found on differeut sides of the House. It. is a House divided against itself, and must soon meet the fate of all such unhappy structures. We have only to refer bade to the last session of the Assembly to remember the serious differences of opinion which took place between the leader of the Opposition aud Mr. Yogel, his unruly second in command, whose ambition to supplant his chief destroyed, for a time, the chances of the Opposition. But now that the sweets of office wei'e within easy grasp, and there was the opportunity which Mr. Yogel has so eagerly sought for years of becoming Colonial Treasurer, he has, we imagiue, sunk, those small differences in order to reach the height of his ambition. From such ft combination the country has nothing to expect bub a period of disasters apd discouragement, the result of divided counsels. Even supposing Mr, Fox had secured as his assistants the ablest meu of his party, what improvement could we expect in the conduct of Native affairs from the Minister who failed to suppress a rebellion in the North Islaud, during his second tenure of office, when he had the upending of three millions of money, the unanimous support of the Assembly (which no Ministry has had before or since), and the assistance of 15,000 troops to caiTy out the work ?■ Besides, it must be

borne in nrind that the rebellion which Mr. Fox was formerly called upon to deal with was confined, to one locality of the Jshind, Compared with these advantages, what has been the position of the Stafford Ministry? They wore called upon suddenly to suppress rebellion aud punish massacres and outrages committed simultaneously, on both sides of the North Island, with tb,e constant feat that the torch of war would be lit in the very heart o.f the Waikato, necessitating great caution and nine]) watchfulness, and at a ttnie too when, with little or no money, they were suddenly called upon to raise, equip, and drill a force capable of meeting the enemy upon his own ground, and nghting him upon his own terms, And all this to do when the Colony was abandoned co its fate by the Home Government, and tlie qu]y regiment left in it ordered to withdraw, no matter what the consequences were to tlje Colony. Beset by difficulties and dangers on all sides, the Stafford Ministry faced their troubles manfully, and for their conduct at a time when th.c very existeuce of the North Island was in danger, deserve the lasting gratitude of the Colony, We repeat that we expect nothing froua Mr. Fox; he has already il been weighed in the balaupe and fp.iind wanting." His Treasurer, Mr. Yogel, is undoubtedly a clever but a most unscrupulous politician, and a financier whose heft' l is tilled with chimerical schemes. When the Provincial Government of which he was a member in Qtago was defeated, he betook himself to Auckland, and obtained the appointment of editor of the "Southern Cross," This fact, taken iv connection with the statement in one of our telegrams, leads us to believe that he has only consented to hold the portfolio duriug the session, should the Government of which he is a member live through it, We hope so, for Mr. Yogel, with all his ability, is not the man to be Colonial Treasurer for New Zealand. Mr. M'Lean, the uew Native and Defence Minister, was lately the Agent of the Stafford Government on the East Coast of the North Island, aud was dismissed from that office iv a very summary manner for an act of gross insubordination. At a very critical time, when help was wanted on the West Coast, the Government ordered a tribe of Friendlies to be removed from the East Coast, but Mr. M'Lean would not allow them to go. His dismissal drew around him a large number of sympathisers — personal friends in the House — who adopted his quarrel wirh the Government, and this accounts for the large majority against the Government, He is a man of much ability, courage, aud determination, enjoys the full confidence of the Natives in Hawke's Bay, and has on many occasions done good service to the Colony. But he and Mr. Fox have not always been friends, for in 1860 Mr. Fox accused him in the House of having wilfully destroyed the most hopeful scheme ever suggested for the pacification of the Natives, simply because he was jealous of the gentleman who propounded it — Mr. Fenton. These are the incongruous elements of which the new Ministry is composed, for of Mr. Cargill nothing can be said except that he is a quiet inoffensive man of very ordinary ability, strongly endowed with Provincialism, which was implanted in him in his earliest days by his father, Captain Cargill, the founder of the Province of Otago. Until the new Government has declared its policy, what the combined action of the Opposition will be is not known; but it is very easy to foresee that we are only at the beginuing of our Parliamentary troubles, and that another crisis wili soon be impending. Should they, however, manage to retain office, the movement for the extension of the County system throughout the Colony will be nipped iv the bud, the County of Westland will be regarded with anything but favorable eyes, arid the present postal arrangements are sure to lie altered, if the new contract was not signed before the Ministry resigned. There are many other aspects in which the present change may be regarded as detrimental to the interests of Westland, but these cannot all be considered within the scope of one article.