THE MINISTERIAL CRISIS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 55, 4 March 1873, Page 4

THE MINISTERIAL CRISIS.

Opinions' of the Pkebs, ' Evening Post, February \27.

,Mr Wstterh'ouse has resigned his seat in ihe Cabinet, and the formation of a new will therefore be .necessary. There cau be no .doubt on this point. After the strange manner in which; the present Ministry. ,ha;d'* been formed last session, Mr Stafford tabled a motion; for

the purpose of ascertaining the Premier'^ status, and, in anticipation of this motion, Mr.Vogel explained that Mr Waterhouse took, offi'ce with all ;(he rights, privileges, and. advantages which, the Premier of ; any other Government eDjoys; arid that, if he should die or resign, the Government would become defunct. The opinion of: authorities on constitutional law is unanimous ,on Jhe question . May affirms! that . " it is* the" first Minister alone who, of his own choice, can make changes in an administration, subject, of course, to the approbation of the Sovereign. If be himself should vacate his office by death or resignation, or be dismissed, the. Ministry is ipso facto dissolved." The practice at home has likewise been uniformly consistent with the law thus laid down; so it is obvious, that, should Mr Waterhouse's resignation be accepted, the Governor will have to ask some one to' construct a fresh Cabinet. His Excellency^ we unideVstand, has pointed this out to Mr Waterhouse, and urged that gentleman to summon Parliament immediately, but Mr Waterhouse takes up. the. position that, as the! Ministry was formed by Mr Vogel, and he was only its nominal Premier, while further, he was not in charge of ..any department, his retirement does not necessarily involve the dissolution of the Ministry, which can carry on the business of the country until Parliament meets in due course under its real head, Mr Vogel, and that all which is necessary to "be done .is to fill up the office of Colonial Secretary, vacant by Mr Hall's resignation. This position,, however, -seems to us to be quite untenable. It is opposed to constitutional law antf practice, and would prevent Parliament for a time from exercising its right of saying by whom the Government of the colony shall be administered. It would moreover amount to a sort of breach of faith with both Parliament and the country, since no Ministry with Mr Vogel as ostensible Premier could have lived through the session; and it was only under the* shadow of Mr Waterhouse's wing that the scratch Government which Mr Vogel had got together managed to exist until Parliament was prorogued. The only reason assigned by Mr Waterhouse for; taking so grave a step is, that he was not aware, until after he joined the Government, that Mr Hall had only accepted office temporarily; and that, had he been informed by Mr Vogel that such was the case, he would not have consented to become Premier. Having undertaken office however, he continued to hold it until Mr Hall actually resigned, when feeling that he : could no longer act as Premier with credit to himself, or advantage to the country, while his retirement would not involve important political consequences, he deemed it proper to resign. 'The fact isi that Mr Waterbpuse placed himself in an anomalous position, and injured His own reputation, by joining Mr Vogel at all. There has been a conflict of authority throughout, which has become irreconcilable lately, and has terminated' as we have seen, Mr Waterhouse having resisted all tire pressure 'brought to bear upon him to induce him to change his resolve. His resignation has not yet been accepted, and ! it is that nothing will be done until :i Mr Rogers return fronl Australia, Sir Fox, who has been consulted, having advised such, a delay.

: * The Auckland ;ZfcraW of the .same date strongly condemns the action of the Hon. Mr.rWaterhouse, and; says he knew of the flrrangem^nt with Mr Shephard to join the Ministry before he took office. He was -jparty to all^he; now objects T to., .He has. been guilty ,oifrfoii) play in taking a most inopportune moment to announce his resignation when. bis. colleagues are absent. He has over-eatimated his own importance. It verified Mr. Stafford's prediction, that Mr. Vogel would regret making Mr. Waterhouse Premier.

The Southern Gross says that most of the memberß of the JSouse had good reason to believe,' before the termination of the eessipn, that the Hon. J. Hall's health would ooimpel-li.him^ to i "Tesign/ The reputatiou .that 4ill Buffer most from this senseless 'crisis" will be the Hon. Mr. Waterhbuae'e, 'but'i^wiiriiot'affe'ct^he'MiQistry.;:' .; -,

Judge Mailotng's . work, "Old iNew\< - ZeaJa£(g* :i : wnictr ' I ;} ' inW taken byjEflrpp§»^tflations io; the rejoordi,