THE MINISTRY ANALYSED.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 180, 29 August 1878, Page 4

THE MINISTRY ANALYSED.

[From the Timaru Herald, August 19.] Three weeks of the session are now gone, yrt llio real woik is Bcarcely touched, r.ml the prospect of t! c short sittin?, which lias beeu so coufiiently prelictsd, is rapidly passing away. Tf o fituto of parties is such lhat the whole Houso U diacr^anised and out of gea'. The Government parly i 8 as unwieldy and unmanageable as it appears to ba numerous, urj.l no enthuBiarm or hearty concord prevails arnons its mtrnbtrg. There is na denying tl at die ur.ir.6-! and devoted followiDg by which thn Ministry were kppt in place last year no longer exists ds it then existed. Dissatisfaction ond disunion i-ra rife, ami tho only rposon why macy now avowe.ily support the Government at, ell n becausn no other lender bns made r.ny sign. There a r e plentiful imiic&tiona net only of one spit. but of several. That the Ministry ore well a*,rare of t'.ss is rr anifeft, from their hf-sitatin^ to pre*? 3 on the business, wa3 openly admiUeJ by the Preniar hiraai-lf th« other evening. In the coui'B9 of his labored, nieaiuntflees, though highly rhetorical speech on the Elecforal Bill, he entreated those who had supported him last session, and had aasisted lo keep him in power in spite of such great difficulties, not to fly eff from him now merely because he had not deemed it advisable to {/o to the full li-ngth which sime of them desired. On tho whole we think that was one of tho weakest speeches that Sir George Grey ever made. It was a confession of having to some extent deceived his friends, and it was aa admission that tho Government depend for iheir existence upon the support of a section of the House whose opinions are not identical wkh theirs. Of couree, if, in mentioning that (hey ■were membnrs of extreme views who were distatitfi-d. becauss tlie Government would not go the full length in electoral and financiul changes, Sir George Grey hnd siatsd the whole extent of lha dissension, it would not have been anything serious. It is obvious, however, that iv putting tha cas9 as he diJ, he disguised the real foe, which is thct not the moderation, but the feebleness and novelty of the Ministerial proposals, have dissatisfied their followers. The feeliDg of the House unquestionably ia that the Premier has not stuck to bin colors, that he has allowed thosa of his colleagues who are new to the cabinet and have little in common with the Grey party, to take a position which puts a new aspect on affairs, and that as he has shifted co far, there is no depending upon him at all. Yet it is equally plain that Sir George Grey and Mr Sheehan are the life aad soul of the Ministry, and that without them Mr Stout and Mr Ballanee could not stand for twenty-four hours. The efforts of these latter as leading the House appear to be an utter failure. We ore assured by those who were present that Mr Ballanc&'a debut in the Committee of Supply was most pitiable. He knew nothing about the Estimates, and had not the wit to conceal bis ignorance. Major Atkinson dealt very tenderly with him and made no attempt to puzzle him. Yet, slight as the difficulty wns, for a man of any resolution, be ■was completely nonplussed, and could do nothing but stammer out excuses or git at the table looking horribly nervous nnd miserable while the AttorneyGeneral endeuvored by a bold dash to relieve him from his perplexities, Mr Stout, though never lacking in nervo, has no more (act than his colleague, sn-J his audacious attempts to bully the House inio sileuce are producing exactly the opposite result from" that Bought to be achieved. What could possibly have been mGre injudicious, for instance, than bis unseemly wrangle "with the Speaker, over the vote of b hundred pounds for theClerkof Writs? On those rare occasions when the Speaker chooses to appear on the floor of the House and take part in tha debates, he ia always listened to with great attention, sympathy, and deference; and. that could cot be but specially the case when he was asking the House to assist him in a matter in which he conceived their dignity and privileges to be involved. There seems, moreover, to have been nothing really in dispute between tha Speaker - and the Government, and if the vote hed been allowed to ba (ak9n when 'Sir William Fit zherbert eat down after ex-

plnining why it was aske.J for, all would have been weli. Moved, however, by his innate spirit of contradiction, nnd perfectly blind to the consaquences of his action, the Colonial Treasurer at once plunged into a violent aliercation with tha Speaker (renting him with as little respect aa if be had been some raw novice who had mai?e a-i impertinent speech, caetiug imputations on ii is boon fiJee, nnd hhn-iiing him in (ho roughest possible manner. Thera wera fhoau no doubf, who watch ing this lament able logomachy wnnirred bow the Ministry wore uot restrained by common }',ratitud>, if by no other considerations, from Uiub harshly demeaninjj ih-maelves towards the present Spe-ikar of the Hou9a of Representatives. That, though, is a sentiment which could hardly bo expressed in tho House; but it existed, we i;re sure, in many minds there, nevertheless. Neither gratitude nor ordioary prudence had any hold on Mr Stouf. A poiut was to ba nrguaJ, and ba would crj;ue it to the bitter end. Sir William Filzherbert was evidently quite equal to tha occasion, aud his eloquence, spirit, and sarcasm told heivily upon his rash antagonist, and would have" told him more heavily had the debate not been interruplfiii. And tbi.i ia leading the Hou9B ! Instead of sedulously contriving alwftyß to have a large us- jirity of this House with them, tho AttorneyGeneral does r.ot care a straw whether be h&B a single supporter. Io that particular case ho forced the whole House to be n»aicst him, for even his colleagues must have felt that he was damaging their prestige, as well as traversing 'their opinion?. A mere fcquabble with his colleaguep, though, is nothing to Mr Stouf. Hu entirely forgfti that he ia no longer a free la»:ce, aud rushes into a wraujj- j ling match with anybody, whether friend or foe, on the smallest provoca- ' tion. He b pugnacious, overbearing, RDd indiscre'.-f, hb Mr Biliance is heavy, unready, p.nd irressolate. Nether of tbem has any personal followers, and but for their admit. htr.Uive talents both must bo a source of anxiety to any Ministry. Very dill-rent is the rd«latiuti subsia iog between the Premier aoJ Native Minister end the Govorc.me,nt party. Sir George Grey has a very considerable band of suppoitirs who are wann'y ataehed to him, and are proud to acknowledge his influence. It cannot be doubted that the number of these has been diminished, aud thß confidence c-f the remainder shaken, by his recent vacillation, yet he still haß a numerous personal following. His bodily vceakua s, of course, is a seiious disadvacttga to him. Mr Shoelmn simply bus no enemies, for even in the " little lovings" which so frequently pa3s between him aud Mr Fox there is not a Jtrace of bitterness. He is the heart as well as the brains of the Minislry, and is without one exception the best leader of the Honse of any who now pretend to that position. But ho is in bad health, overworked and from the very nature of his office, somewhat unfhtbd for the role of political leader. The other Ministers are not worth considering, for though Mr Macandrew ia au able man of business, he is no debater, and lays no claim to Parliamentary control. Mr Fisher is merely a lump. It appears then, that in a House more disorganised than it baa ever, perhaps, been before, the Government have to depend on tho personal influence and rhetorical flights of an invalid Premier, and on the personal popularity and ready tact of an iuvalid and overworked Native Minister. Failing them they have only to fall back upon [two Ministers who are nothing more than units, and wero never intended by nature to be leaders of men. Ia the meantime, burning questions are cropping up in all directions, time is slipping away while the House remains in dangerous idleness, and nothing is being put forward to rally or consolidate the party. How it will all end it is impossible to say; bat we do not hesitate lo express the opinion that the strength of the Government is more apparent than real, that an accident might at any moment weakeu them fatally, or that any man of commanding qualities who should step forth with a bold and clearly defined policy, would have an excellent chance of gathering a powerful party round him. What we most fear is that tbe Ministry, feeling their weakness, will temporise with, concede to, and intrigue with, individuals or factions, without risking tbeir fate on measures ; and will thus reduce Parliamentary Government for tbe tims to a mere traffic in votes, v mere matter of political huckstering.