The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 1866.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume I, Issue 34, 13 April 1866, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 1866.

By the Albion we learn that the crisis in Victoria has assumed another shape. Our former advices were that, in consequence of the Council having refused to pass the tariff which had been adopted by the Assembly, the Ministry had resigned, and that Mr. Fellows, the leader of the Opposition in the Upper House, had been entrusted by the Governor with the task of forming a Government, with the condition that it must be able to commaud a majority in the Assembly. We now learn that that gentleman has failed in his attempt, and that the reigns of power are agaiu in the hands of the former administration. The course which has been taken by the Governor of Victoria, and by his responsible advisers, has been very generally condemned outside the colony. But every question adraits of two views being taken of its merits, and as the course that has been taken by the Council has been ably defended by the Argus, and by means of the high character and exteusive circulation of that paper, it has been impressed upon the minds of those resident beyond that colony that they are exclusively in the right, it may be as well for us to hear the statements by the Ministerialists in their own favor. They allege that the protectionist tariff, of which we hear so much, was last year passed by the Assembly by a large majority, and that it was afterwards rejected by the Council. The Ministry then by means of a dissolution submitted the question to the country. The various constituencies during the election spoke out unmistakeably in favor of the principles of protection, and of the tariff which embodied those views, by returning a house three-fourths of whom were pledged to its support. The same tariff was passed by the new Assembly, and was again rejected by the Couucil. They consider that the country having so recently given its decision upon tho question at issue, it would have been

wrong for the Governor to have again put the Treasury to the expense of another election to decide a question -which had already been submitted to the electors, and that the Council should acquiesce in the verdict which had been arrived at, and should give way to the unmistakable wishes of the country. But there is another element which underlies the whole of the embroglio, and which must he taken into accouut if we wish to be able to arrive at a just estimate of the causes which gnve the ministry so large a majority in the Assembly. We allude to the universal feeling of dislike which is manifested towards the squatters, who form the dominant party in the Council. This feeling is universal in Australia, it was engendered in years gone by, through their attempts to acquire exclusive political power, and it has been kept alive by their persistent efforts to maintain entire possession of the public domain, and their opposition to the settlement of an agricultural population. In New South Wales, the question was settled some years ago by aa appeal to the country, upon the adoption of John Robertson's free selection scheme, and the Council was afterwards swamped (being nominative,) for the purpose of passing that measure. But in Victoria every effort to pass an equitable land law, has beeu defeated by the squatting element in the Council, which being elective, can more effectually obstruct any legislation prejudicial to its interests; the result is that universal feeling of hostility now manifested towards that body which threatens eventually to destroy the legitimate influence of the upper house over the destinies of the country.