THE POSITION OF THE GOVERNMENT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 206, 31 August 1877, Page 2

THE POSITION OF THE GOVERNMENT.

The Christchurch Press comments thus severely on the late vacillating action of the Ministers: — The Government has sadly lost prestige in regard to the Native Lands Court Bill and Mr Woolcock's motion, and even those journals favorable to them, speak very plainly As a Ministry, they are one of the weakest ever known ; it is singular that men individually of so much abilitv shonld be so feeble, both in counsel and' action, when taken collectively. They have no policy. It scarcely appears to have occurred to them ' that they ought to have one. Their prin- ■ cipal Ministerial function is to keep a vigilant watch on the movements of the Opposition, and to be ready to shape their •

course accordingly. They hold themselves prepared at any moment to trim their sails to meet the rising blast, or to turn before it wherever it may happen to drive them. Mr Woolcock's motion afforded an instance of the ease with which the Government succumb to opposition. It will be remembered that some while ago, on the House going into Committee of Suoply, Mr Woolcoc.? moved a resolution to the effect that a change ought to be made in the incidence of taxation. Nothing could be more contrary to the views of the Government. In his financial statement Major Atkinson had deprecated in the strongest I terms the attempt to take any steps in that ! direction. The ueed of the country, he maintained, was political rest. When the new institutions were consolidated, aud when the railway system was thoroughly completed then— and not till then— would be the time for consiering the incidence or the special character of the taxation. At present, in the opinion of Minivers, it was most undesirable to trouble the couutry with any i questions of the kind. This is an intellgible view, and one for which no doubt something may be said. Mr Woolcock's motion affirmed the opposite view in terms equally direct and positive, and thus raised a definite issue. At first Ministers were disposed to treat the motion with contempt. The mover held too insiguificant a position in the House to be worth their notice. But they soon found that it could not be disregarded. It met with much support; there seemed every reason indeed to believe that the members who would be in favor of it, if pushed to a division, formed a majority. Instantly the Government began to give way. They paltered with the motion for a while in the hope of getting it withdrawn; and, not succeeding in that, they quietly appropriated it. Mr Bowen was put up to express, on behalf of the Government, concurrence in the principle, and to move that the incidence of taxation needed readjustment, so as to relieve necessaries and to throw a greater burden on property, and that effect should be given to such a change in the financial proposal of the next session. A most deliberate self-contradiction on the part of Ministers. Mr Bowen's resolution simply stultifies Major Atkinson's appeal in the Financial Statement. What the one had declared to be altogether premature and inexpedient, the other represents as a matter of urgent necessity. It is evident that the Government have no mind of their own on the subject. They arc willing to take up with any notions that they may find acceptable among a majority ef the House. Their one great object is to gain time."