The Manawatu Times. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1877.

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 107, 27 October 1877, Page 2

The Manawatu Times. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1877.

Mattehs political- are just now m a rery unsatisfactory condition. The •new Ministry are composed of heterogeneous, not to say conflicting elements. Moreover, tlfeF©,,jts. a, very general impression that .tfi^jr h&v& not the confidence of a majority m the House, and whether the impression be correct will be very speedily put to the test. ,-The complaint against the Ministry, so far, is that they have announced no policy. As. soon As their policy is declared, the complaint will be that such policy is inconsistent with the welfare of the country. It is perfectly safe to predict that however good or bad the diorama may h& which tne Cabinet opens •to view, the Opposition will see enough m it to excite their patriotic indignation, and will forthwith endeavour to turn the Ministry out. The Opposition are now earnestly 100 king- and longing. They are formidable,, m their unity of purpose to seize upon the very first pretext for giving another blow at the wheel of fortune m the hope that its revolution will bring themselves uppermost. "' A~ vote -of "no confidence" is the sword of Damocles^ that is no wt; suspended over the heads of the Mjtiisiry by & very fine hair. Thai hair will as r stiredly snap, and dawn will come the sword, and the only question is whether it will or will not annihilate the Ministry. If the Ministry come to grief then: it is to be hoped that the farce of setting up another m their place will not be acted. The events of every day shew wfth perfect clearness that the House wants such a purging as ofily a general election can give it. Scarcely 2t day passes that' does not evolve some new phase of disreputablene^s m connection with ! members of the House. A dissolution might, with a*ll propriety, have followed the fall of $he late Ministry. It would probably have prevented what has taken place and what still impends — combinations from the* ranks of effete* opponents. Constituted' as the House now is, no possible turn m the wheel of fortune '^an bring to the surface what taight be termed a. strong ministry. We believe the 6frey Cabinet to be an. improvement upon the Atkinson ; and the intense eagerness of the members of the* late Government to trip up the preseet Ministry is no evidence of the 1 incapacity of the latter. The" purpose of the Opposition is patent enough. So eager arle they to' bereseated ftpon the bencheß from which they -have just betn ousted that they can 'scarcely waiit for" the finitocial statement before tabling, a vote of censure. The new Government have, so far, worked right manfully. And if they have not disclosed their whole policy (juite so boob as the Opposition say ' they

should, outsiders are prepared to make allowances on account of their newness to the difficulties that Abolition and mismanagement have created. The Government are blamed, but as yet they have ddne nothing worthy of blame. Still we cannot help thinking that if Sir d-eorgfe G-rey is true to hie former self he can scarcely outlive the unfolding of his schemes. His preliminary statement dimly foreshadowed revolutionary measures for next session. Then, if not before, when he attempts to put to a practical issue his views of things political, he will most probably bftve to give place to a differently-minded, if not to a more earnest man.