THE NEW MINISTRY.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 14, Issue 696, 1 July 1869, Page 2

THE NEW MINISTRY.

Ocr late remarks concerning the incongruous elements of the party that voted in favor of Mr Fox's " no confidence " motion have been singularly and fully borne out b} r the failure, up to the time of our latest advices, of that gentleman's attempt to form a Ministiy, That failure, however, has not prevented his assuming the reins of power on the assumption of possible success, even yet, in inducing other genjlemen to work with him. Up to the time of the meeting of the House on Tuesday evening only two besides himself had taken the oaths of oliice. These | wore—Mr Vogel as Treasure)', and Mr D. M'Lean as Defence and Native Minister; and \v e have no information of any addition to them as yet, though they were sworn in on Monday last. Mr Fox gave the House an outj line of his intended policy on Tues!day, which, if we may judge from (the telegraphic message, was sufficiently vague and unsatisfactory. It seems to consist primarily of an intention to. abandon all our outposts, by withdrawing all our forces from fh;m, and leaving the whole interior of this Island to the occupation of the rebel hordes, whom he, the Premier of the Colony, in his place in :he House of Representatives, has Shought proper to dignify as " THE ,a$£AT iam pajriyj." I

He says? he does not intend to restore any of the confiscated lands, but if he withdraws froni-alLthe outlying posts—falling- back on the centres of population, and only maintaining an attitude of defence- —he in effect does relinquish those lands to rebel occupation; and this at a time when Tawhaio is preparing for active hostilities, t and after he has plainly declared that he will have all "Waikato and all New Zealand back again, before he ill even talk about peace. During the late interview between Mr,Firth and the rebel chiefs at Orahiri, in reply to a question by Mr Davis—" Cannot you meet the Governor, and state what you want?"- Whitiora, on the part of Tawhiao, said :- I will answer that. We do not want any particular part of Waikato; we want all Waikato and all New Zealand back; for this is Waikato, and there is Waikato (meaning the confiscated lands through the country). The Taranaki land belongs to its own people ; the Manukau land belongs to its own people ; the Wanganui and Waikato lands belong to their own people. Let the Governor call back all yon Europeans, who are sojourners merely, throughout the Colony and not until then will we meet the Governor to talk about peace.

We cannot wonder at the difficulty Mr Fox has found in getting together a Ministry, when we consider the next item in his policy, viz, the' application to England for Imperial troops. Of course it is essential that a Ministry nmst be agreed on such a cardinal point as this. If the Colony had not already had sufficient experience of the failure of Imperial troops to satisfy its needs, there might be some hope of finding a Ministry agreeing in the desirability of trying the experiment; but leading politicians know that it is impracticable. England is far more likely co snub the Minister that makes the request than to grant it. But even if she were willing, politicians know that it is not desirable. Mr Fox knows as well as any one that if England can be prevailed on to send us her troops, she "nil retain the control of their operations here from the Colonial or War Office; and their presence would giv'e rise to all the evils of dual Government and its heart burnings, such as the Colony has already undergone. And to what end ? To the suppression of the rebellion 1 No : but merely to produce a temporary calm that should be followed on their departure by a repetition of our late experiences. We do not suppose that even Mr Fox contemplates the permanent stay of the troops in the Colony at whatever cost the Imperial Government may please to impose. But we may be sure that on their withdrawal—let that take place when it may—the colonists will find that the work of suppressing the rebellion is still to be done, and that it will be for them to do it.