THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1263, 16 August 1872, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 1872.

The declaration made by Mr Fox— the Hon. Mr Fox— during the discussion on the covert motion of Mr Oswald Curtis regarding the subject which has ever and severely agitated Mr Oswald Curtis's inmost soul— the subject of properly cxc* cnting a policy of public works — will take no one by surprise. That declaration simply is that, should Mr Curtis'a motion be carried, the Ministry will accept the result not as an expression of want of confidence, but as a sufficient reason for their resignation, since it would be, by whatever unholy means procured, an affirmation of a policy precisely the opposite of that to which Parliament, equally with the Ministry, is pledged, as it would also be an expression of what is altogether opposed to public feeling. In making this declaration the Ministry assume a position which is due to themselves and to the country. There would be great weakness on their part if they were at all to admit as an expression of the country's want of confidence any catch -party motion brought forward by a combination of Superintendents and Provincial civil servants who, for the sweets of office, and for nothing else that is obvious to the senses, seek to strangle, almost at its birth, a policy which the Assembly and the country have adopted as a creation fair to look upon, and giving much promise for the future. It would be greater weakness to do this in the face of the fact that the spirit of nearly the entire population of the Colony is adverse to the retrograde movement which the passing of such a motion as that proposed by Mr Curtis would involve — directly adverse to snch a movement in a very strong degree. As to the movement itself there has not, so far as we have aeen throughout a pretty close examination of the public prints from all parts of the Colony, been a single expression in its favor either by mild Ministerial journals or by the most out-spoken organs of the Opposition, nor has there been any indication of approval of the man or men by whom the movement has been initiated. While the movement is condemned as retrograde, its movers are characterised, with sparse compliments, as a party whose self-seeking excludes them from the general sympathy. In this direction goes the general opinion as conveyed by the Press, and we do believe that if the resignation of the Ministry were to be followed by a dissolution, they would, on the question which this motion involves, find their principles at least approved, and the Provincial Executive Party relegated to the outer darkness in which old moons and other once useful but now used-up institutions are deposited. The probabilities are, however, that Mr Curtis's motion will never come as a question before the country — that it will simply be made the subject of discussion in the House — and, strongly backed as it may be by the Superintendents and their " tail," that it will fail to secure a majority or even come to a division. In that event, while the Ministry might not recognise its being carried as equivalent to a vote of want of confidence, they could, paradoxical as it may sound, accept its negation as, to a considerable extent, a vote of confidence— confidence a3 to the correctness of the course taken in pursuing the policy of the country irrespective of

Provincial obstructives, and confidence in I their conduct in the execution of that policy with Provincial aid when Provincial aid was available and faithfully given. Withdrawn or negatived, the occurrence of either alternative will exhibit the weakness of the Provincial party, and, at least favor the presumption that the Ministry have a sufficient party to support them through subsequent struggles of the session. It will then remain for the Opposition to shift their ground, and to test the strength of that party, as well as their own strength, by a more direct move than that which, in strange alliance, they have this time made. This may be either done by Mr Stafford moving, as he is said to be prepared to move, a direct vote of want of confidence, or by some fresh principle being raised which feeble-visioned outsiders have not yet been able to discover os a moot-point between parties in the House.

Contrary to all expectations, we received last night, and after the foregoing remarks were written, the information that tho debate on this question had ended, and that it ended, forsooth, by Mr Fitzherbert, the putative parent of the motion, moving the "previous question." This is one of the most cruel cases of infanticide that have happened iv the country for some time. It is only to be excused on the principle by which many good men since the days of Virginius have been inspired— that of slaying one's own offspring to avert a worse fate at the hands of others. The result, though peculiarly brought about, is precisely such as, it will be seen, we had indicated as likely to occur. The motion never came to a division ; its supporters secured this; and for the moment Ministers have reason to congratulate themselves upon a success. There may be more things, however, in Opposition tactics, as there are in heaven and earth, than are dreamt of in our philosophy.