MATTERS POLITICAL.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 13, Issue 671, 8 April 1869, Page 3

MATTERS POLITICAL.

To the Editor of the llaivke's Ban Times.

Silt,—To an observer, especially a disinterested one, without the pale of our political influences, the state of affairs in our little Tecilington must be at once alarming and instructive —alarming inasmuch us l hey give signs of a want of cohesion and unanimity in our systems of double Government; instructive in that they betray the weakness and incapacity of public action; when the motive power springs from sources none of the most pure; and when the Vox Popdi does not belch forth its utterings at the proper time. The apathy which is generally displayed by the people on ail public questions until there ia some great error to correct is astonishing. The Education Act is a sufficient proof of this. JS'ot until the shoe pinched from nine mouths' wearing did the people of Hawke's J3a> become alive to the fact that they had to support education in a different way from what they had been accustomed to. And then, stand clear all ye iniquitous powers : Beware the vengeance of an oppressed and tax-ground-down people, who have One Pound to pay in a whole year to fill the schools and keep the gaols empty ! To help to build another storey to that noble fabric whose glory we desire to hand down uuBulhed to posterity!

Now I should like to take the opportunity afforded me by recent events to say a word or two on certain questions which should rivet every man's attention to their true bearing, and cause him to ponder well how to remove the sting whicii they carry in their train. One of those questions is a sad perversity of political conduct exhibited at elections. Another that there is no organised opposition. A third that the opposition fall foul of each other too much in the "Jiiikenny <Jats " style. A fourth that the wishes and views of constituents are not made sufficiently known to their representatives; —and many others. Ought we not to reflect, while we ai\ growling over the Education Tax, that « t keep on electing, time after time, the same men to go in again and perpetuate the evils from which we seek to be delivered ? Ah alterations are not improvements, I know, but it is simply impossible to alter the personnel of the present effete and incompetent executive of Hawke's Jjny witnoul improving it j and without doubt the Council would not suffer by the election ot a few men who would and could be unin ilucnced by interested motives. "We shall never succeed, we shall never be satisfied while we elect to the Legislature men who are incompetent and servilely helpless, in thought, word, and deed, to do anything but look after their own interests. Many ot the present members have been in the, groove too long, and they seem to be able to move in no direction but that in which they are guided. They have been planed anu iongued to such a nicety, and nailed to the ratters of the .Provincial Treasury with each security, that the Government have a solid foundation on which to tread the " paths of peace," and a shelter from the stormy blasts which annually threaten tUat

ancient pile (of vouchers), —but without effect. Sir, a change is necessary here, and a change is coming. The shadows that we see so fitfully crossing our path are but indicative of the coming of those events which will, we trust, purify our'political system. I turn to that other quesiion which some believe will overwhelm us with destruction. Hope is unavailing; mere} will be denied ; charity hath no compassion; truth will become a liar-; the sun, and moon, and stars—nay, the whole firmament, will be shaken at the awful overthrow of the Maori's chief. The great DOxVALD M'Lean has "fallen from his high estate," therefore mat caelum! And truly indeed may all those thi: «s come to pass if we mako our daily pr ,yors to Mm for deliverance, albeit it is a deliverance from

■ho curse whicli has followed his long and patiently bora misrule. I am inclined to a little free thinking in this matter. Has France been annihilated because she lost her .Napoleon ? Has England suffered by >die loss of her Nelson and Wellington ? When Palmers'on was removed, the political world was at a loss to find his like, but his place is filled. And thus it will over be. It is not, cannot, be permitted that any man should be so interwoven with the af fairs of the world that he cannot be replaced. But let justice be done. Mr M'Lean has "done the State some service," but it was in a bad cause. The political malaria which is infecting our Maori population with disease, springs from the rottenness of a system which has been putrifying for years. Mr M'Lean has been the prime mover in that system,—the circumference of the circle round which his Maori satellites have revolved, reflecting his glory to the other ends of the world. But it was a had system, and his the glory which brings no laurels to testify to its worth The motives which have ever guided him were admittedly intended for the good of the country ; but the consequences show how misdirected his energies have been j and there is a daily-increasing body of colonists who look upon his removal from (the influence he has over the natives with satisfaction, although they may not agree with the manner of that removal. I do not like to see Dublic officers, who have spent their lives in the service, suffer contumelj and insult. But has not Mr M'Lean brought all the vengeance of the Government on himself by his own conduct ? His nssumed independent position while acting as the subordinate agent of that Government is not tenable. And here is the whole character of the man in one short act. He loves the power, the prestige, and applause which spending public money secures ; but he refuses the responsibility which it imposes. With an inordinate self-love he sought to reign as Autocrat from Wairarapa to the East Cape, and might have done so as a Responsible Minister. That, however, being declined, he and his cunning coadjutor sought to consummate their designs in the ranks of the opposition ; but they counted noses tco soon, and lost! Ibis " limpet-like tenacity " in supporting a waning reputation led him step by step to committing a huge diplomatic blunder, and schismatically endeavor to defeat the aciionsofthe Government whoso servant he was. There needs no plausible logic to bolster him up in having done wrong ; he disobeyed the instructions of his official superiors, and nothing could follow but removal. Besides, let Mr M'Lean comfort himself in his affliction with the reason of analogy. Does ho not find a parallel in the dismissal of some three or four officers of his own Government—quite as important, I have no doubt, in their sphere as Mr M'Lean in his—because they chose to think for themselves ? Their's was no insubordination ; they merely declined to toady to a man they knew to be in every respect of capacity (except money) their great inferior ; —a man perfectly, innocently ignorant of the first principles of administration and political economy. And is Mr M'Lean so infatuated witli his Maori popularity as to believe that Mr Stafford will allow a man, tacked on to the opposition, to le.ird him in the House and remain as a subordinate in his service? Wa3 not Mr Colenso coerced out of his office as Provincial Treasurer because h? opposed tho Government in Council? That was a nasty act, insidiously done. Mr Stafford's act is worthy of commenda tion, as in a political sense there can be no mistake about his real meaning. Sir, my letter has grown so under my pen that iu apologising I must conclude ; and by your favor will finish on a future occasion.—lours, &c, Napier, April 2, 1869. Alpha.