THE Grey River Argus. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1870.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 640, 24 February 1870, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1870.

Although the General Assembly will not in all probability meet before June, the leading public journals are already be- ' ginning to canvas the probabilities of the ensuing session, .A.S usual another great J conflict of political parties is confidently expected : indeed, it is doubtful if at any previous period in tho history of constitutional government in the Colony^ so many grave questions involving a large conflict of. opinion ever presented themselves, as must engage the attention of the General Assembly next session , There is sufficient material to be found in the domestic affairs of the Colony. Tho Ministry which was hoisted into power last year on its Native policy alone, will come before the House in a. much worse plight than its predecessors did last ses sion. The latter had indeed to bear the responsibilities and blame of the disasters and financial dislocations which invariably attend the fi^st period of a campaign, but they had at least something to show for what they had done, They had worked up out of the rawest and most unsuitable Materials, an efficient field force. They had proved that colonial troops could cope with the Maoris on, their own ground — the bush. They had driven Tito Kawaru from the West Coast, and they had vanquished T« Kopti on the Eastj and driven him a miserable fugitive into the mountains. But in what sort of position will the -Fox Ministry be in \yhei) llicj' meet

the Assembly 1 Unless some unfoyseen interr-piition of that Providence which sometimes watches over- Ministers as well as. over drunken men and children takes place, they will have literally nothing to stand on. The few advantages that have fallen ; U) their lqt have simply been the rpsults, of the actions of their predecessors. They have reaped whore they have noi sown, and they have gathered where they lpve not strawed. Their own individual original policy has proved a sham and a delusion. They nailed their i];y to the policy of mpre self-defpncp in its most rigid interpretatipn, and they have beer, forced by those circumstances which they must have knpwn beforehand they could not contrpl, into the qnly possible coursp of action. But what have they done ?To Kooti is still at large and likely to remain so fpr s,ome time to come. So far from keeping the King party aloof from the quarrel between the Government and the Haurhau fanatips, tjiey have allowed that powerful body to be tainted by thp views pf'Me'l&uixlcrer Te Kooti, and even now pantorily maintain friendly relations wiih them by means of the most humiliating nature. It is true that ie>v the prpsent our settlements, betwepn Wangauui and Taranaki are tolerably sepure., but the " front," as it has been tho fashion to call the borders of hostilities, has only been shifted. The position of tlje Patea setters may have been improved, but what is the position of the numerous settlements on the confiscated territory in the Waikato at the present time 1 They have not been overtly attacked, but we have sepn that the first appearance of Te Kooli in the. neighboorhood was sufficient to create a, wide-spread and not illrfounded panic. On the East Coast matters have not improved ; they have grown worse, It would have been simply impossible for Te Kooti to have passed through the Tauranga district in the manner he has done, had he made thp attempt a yea.r or nine months ago. Making all due allowance for the accidents of a state of war, wp have no hesitation in aQirtning that the policy of the Fox Ministry in relation to ' Native affairs has been a failure. However tho Government may palliate or explain away their conduct with respect to their Native policy, they will find it exceedingly difficult to dt fend the r O3ition they took up last session on the question of self-reliance versus dependence upon Imperial assistance. They have been singularly unfortunate. All the artificial aids whiph thpy brought to bear in the shape of sensational resolutions in the hou3e, and special Commissioners to Australia and England, have so far proved unavailing, and will prove unavailing to. the end. The question of Imperial military aid was a " Cardinal point" of their policy, and how lamentably it is likely to break down — indeed how completely it has already broken down — the removal of the 18lh Regiment proves. But they will have to answer for these, failures of policy. Those gushing young members who were led away by Mr Fox's pathetic periods will be inclined to doubt the ability of a Jeader \vb,o so str-angely mistook the bearings of his position. The " Cave " will want to know how it is that he has not been able to put down the Native insurrection at the remarkably cheap price at which he promised to do the job. And we expect that when the little bill comes in it will be found, to the chagrin of the Southern members who supported Mr Pox on tho grounds' of economy, that the "cheap and nasty " is the dearest pol\cy after all, ' How will the present Ministry face that most important question — the future relations between the Colonies and the Mother Country ? They cannot evade it ; but, judging from the experience of last session, we cannot imagine tho possibility of a more infirm Ministry than tho present bein* called upon to deal with it in a statesmanlike manner. Mr Fox is too much soldered to the old-fashioned ideas of what to his mind constitutes the palladium of the English race. He has a reverence approaching idolatry for British laws, British customs, and British ideas, however obsolete, however unsuitable, a.nd however inapplicable they may be in regard tp the circu instances under which we live. But it must be evident to all unprejudiced thinkers that the time has pome \vhen the grand question of the future of the Colony must be contemplated and considered. Nay, more ; for- with the evidence that we have before us of the feeling a.nd polipy of the Imperial Government, the question will have to be dealt with boldly, and those who meet it must be prepared to make some tenable proposition likely to secure the approval of the colonists. We dcu,bt the inclination, and we dqubt the capacity of the present Ministry, to dispose of this question ; and we may indulge the hope that it will be left to. those who, with statesmanlike vision, foresaw the policy of Great Britain towards her Colonies, and endeavored to. accommodate they: legislation, to that polipy.