THE Mount Ida Chronicle. FRIDAY, JULY 9, 1869.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 23, 9 July 1869, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle. FRIDAY, JULY 9, 1869.

The resignation of the Stafford Ministry is now an accomplished fact. Mr. Stafford has abdicated the office of Prime Minister, and Mr. Fox now reigns in his stead. When last we alluded to the probability of such a circumstance, there seemed to exist considerable doubt whether or not Mr. Yogel wonld be a member of the expected new Ministry. That doubt has been dissipated, and the late Treasurer of Otago has been gazetted to the highly, honorable and highly responsible office of Colonial Treasurer of New Zealand. Though often at issue with the late Provincial Treasurer on points of Provincial policy, we have ever awarded to him the honor of being an able and skillful financier. The statement recently made by the honorable gentleman, of the liabilities of the Colony requiring to be met, elicited from the late Premier a high eulogium for its fairness and its clearness, and, to a Bill introduced by Mr. Yogel, to authorise the issue of £150,000 of Treasury Bills to meet immediate expenses, no opposition was offered by the leader of the late Grovernment. It was hardly to have- been expected that Mr. Stafford could object to the passing of this Bill, seeing that the necessity for money to be raised had arisen during his own tenure of office, and the sums to be paid were not incurred by the present G-overnment, but inherited from himself and party. The stringent demands of party not lead men to mean tricks and paltry devices, and we are truly glad to see that Mr. Stafford will not, in his threatened opposition, lend himself to anything which would bear even the semblance of meanness or dishonor. The Fox Grovernment will,, no doubt, find in Mr. Stafford a stern opponent, but, at the same time, a brave and honorable enemv.

According to the statement of Mr. 1 Vogel, tlie " defence expenditure," in other words, the conduct of the war j during the last month cost the Colony ; £41,000, or at, in round numbers, the rate of half a million per annum. This statement was unchallenged by Mr. Stafford, vrho, however, asserted that " the last month's expenditure, under " the head of ' defence,' was entirely " exceptional, and was not a fair basis " on which to calculate the annual cost under this head." When our readers call .to mind that this enormous sum is entirely, independent of the ordinary expenses of the Government, they will, we think, agree with ns that, if they are not to be entirely overwhelmed and borne down by an insupportable amount of taxation, a change in the conduct of the war and in the direction of the affairs of the Colony has become not oniy imperative,^but necessary to very existence. The policy of the present Government, so far as it has yet been

enunciated, would seem to favor the idea that they are well aware of the necessity for the reduction of taxation; in fact, the Premier stated that they were " perfectly dismayed on discover- " ing the extensive nature of the mili- " tary operations in which the Colony " had become embarked, and their " enormous cost." Mr. Fox indicated something very much like a reversal of the war policy of the late Government, and intimated that the wild goose chases after Natives in the bush would be abandoned, and their policy be, so far as possible, defensive. The Premier attached much importance to obtaining Imperial assistance in troops, and stated " that the regiment now stationed in " ISTew Zealand could be had by paying " for it, and that the Government pro- " posed to ask for another regiment " specially enlisted and officered for " service in the Colony." In the course of his remarks upon the future Native policy of the Government, Mr. Pox intimated that "no territory would be " prematurely abandoned, though some " out settlements might be so for a " time."

There can be no doubt that the conquest of the "Waikato and Waipa countries has been an empty and expensive honor, as the occupation of that territory, with the means at present at the command of the Colony, would be irewere the Native King to assume '£> hiostile attitude- Such being the cast, we consider that not only would it be a graceful act to offer to restore to the Maori King a portion of the confiscated country, which, be it remembered, we are not in a position to retain, but an act of sound policy on bur part, which would be fully appreciated. and received with grateful acclamation by the "Waikatos, and that great and powerful tribe would again become what they were before the late ■war —the firmest friends of the Europeans, and their most faithful allies against hostile and disaffected tribes. The present time is in every way favor- 1 able for mating such an attempt, and 1 we trust that ere long we shall hear of 9 an effort being made in the direction I we have been bold enough to indicate 1 We hope much from the fact of f office of Defence Minister being held | Mr. Donald M'Lean, whose | ledge of Native affairs is not exceeded, -r if equalled, by that of any in-m in New j Zealand, and in whom both races repose r 1 the most implicit confidence. We are glad to find, from the genera l, tenor of the letters of our St. Bathaift j correspondent, that the residents of if that district appear determined to take •: | advantage of the anticipated visit of | Mr. Grillies, to obtain a redress of as 1 many as • possible of their grievances. 1 One of the many ills under which the 1 district would appear to labor, is the J present unsatisfactory and inconvenient J mail arrangement. Though it may be j beyond the power of Mr. Grillies to amend or alter the existing state of affairs, it might and, no doubt, would < be in his power, by an earnest recom- , mendation upon the subject to the { Postmaster- General, to obtain the biweekly mail of which the district stands so much in need. A single mail a week, j to a place of the importance of St. : Bathans as a mining centre, is an evident injustice, and one which should be at once remedied. No more fitting opportunity for moving in the matter . could offer itself than that which the j presence of Mr. Grillies "will afford, and | we heartily wish our St. Bathans friends success. We would take this opportunity of assuring our St. Bathans readers that not only shall our columns be at all times open to them, for the publication of any grievances under which they may labor, lyut our feeble pen shall be ever wielded in their be- - half, with a view of obtaining, if possible, their* redress.