THE MINISTRY AND THEIR MEASURES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 206, 9 October 1878, Page 4

THE MINISTRY AND THEIR MEASURES.

[From tha « Timaru Herald."]

There seems to be but one opinion as to ihe proceedings ia Parliament during the present session, and that is that they are of a highly unsatisfactory character. When the session be£?aD. two months ago. Ministers made a great parade of their desire to bring their measures forward at the earliest possible date, to take the decision of the representatives of the people upon them, and to enter in good time upon the practical work oF carrying them into execution. The Colonial Treasurer especially boa&ted that he delivered the Fioancial Statement earlier than it had ever been delivered before, and a great show was made of having all the leading public businese in an unusually complete and well prepared state. LoDg before the session began, we pointed out that it would be impossible for Ministers to have any of their measures carefully enough considered to form part of a well-balanced or trustworthy policy; and, in spite of all their boasts, and oil their pretence of preparedness events have amply justified our prediction. The Electoral Bill may or may not have been discussed and agreed upon beforehand by the Cabinet. If i 4 was so, and if they all approved of the measure, thsy have certainly displayed a wonderful faculty of mutual concession. Oar owe belief iB that it was never agreed upon afc all, but that the Attorney-General had iia conception and preparation pretty well all (o himself, and that his several colleagues only assented to it with very large°reservations. That belief is fully borne out by the fact that the Bill met with a great deal of opposition which it would not have met with if all the Ministers had been in accord, and further, that en some of iis leading principles, notably the plural property vote, and the arrangements at elections, the Ministers became free lances for the nonce, and voted on different sides. The finance is admittedly a thing of very recent birth, and nd serious uttempt was made to answer the statements of those who pointed out during the debate on the Land Tax Bill, that until within a few weeks o; ihe session, nothing like the proposals now had beeu decided upon by Ministers. Several of them are in fact directly antagonistic to the declarations of individual members of the Cabinet during the reces?, and it is impossible to befieve that Mr Ballance is at this moment at all heartily supported by his own colleaeues. Above all, it is manifest that if Ministers have come to some sort of general understanding among themselves as to the Bills which are supposed to embody the "liberal policy" they certainly have not taken nny pains to secure the accord of their parly in those Bills. There has literally been no opposition this year. Last year the Aikinaon Ministry were condemned, and justly condemned, because they were unable to carry their measures. In their case, however, there was the obvious excuse that they were faced by a vigorous, indefatigable, and uncompromising Opposition, numbering nearly half the Hoa*e, who were do^gfdly determined to assent to cothing that the Ministry brought down. Tl'u year the circumsrance3 are entirely different. No Opposition has been formed. On the contrary, those who might naturally be expected to lead such a party have parsistantly declined to act against the Government in any organised way; and have shown every readiness to afford facilities for the prcgress of business. Yet the Government, powerful as they appear to be in the mere number of their followers, seem powerless to carry forward even ihe measures wbich form the cardinal points of their policy. Week after week slips away, and nothing is done. Whole days are frequently occupied in unprofitable discussions on minor subjects, carried on for the most part against the Government by the professel supporters of the Government; but no effort is made to proceed with the real business of the year. There is a strong feeling prevalent amongst all sections of the House of dissatisfaction wiih the Government proposals; yet it suits too well the views of the great majority that the Ministry should remain in office for some time lon»er. to a-ltti, of that feeling being express d explicitly. In ebort, the Government are only strong for party purposes, an.l are as week as water for political purpose?. "Each Minister hiß bis own little following, who have their own little objects to serve; but scarcely one of them all ia artunted by eny admiration or enthusiasm for the Ministry or the Ministerial measures as a whole. That such a state of affairs is lamentably demorolu-iug, ia uufonu-jately ouiy too patent; and it woulj be useless to deny that :iio House, in the present position of parties, is fur more likely to do harm than good. The less they do, therefore, and ihe aooner ihey sep-irate Ihe better. No regret, we are sure, would be caused in the country by the withdrawal of the whole of ihe Gnannial ecbetne, land tax, beer tax, companies tax, und all. Eveo the revision of th^ CusJoms taiiff nobody cart c a fi"- for and the " poor working- man" would not' consider himself injured in the leist if the extremely problematical free bre<jkfißt table were postponed for another year. It would, of course, be inconvenient for poor Mr Ballance, after standing for neatly a fortnight "in the foremost racks of colonial etatesmen," to be obliged to confess that he i.« what we always thought him, a men. eoiemc windbag, no more capable o coaceiriDs; a iiutneial budget than he

is of composing a Greek comedy. We do not think it is at ail important, though that Mr Balance's feelings should be considered. He only got into his present position by the merest accident, and by the most questionable mains. Hnvin» resolved to play the part of Judas to the Atkt'cson Ministry last year, be had the good fortune to turn traitor in the nick of time; and, having carefully avoided identifying himself with the Grey Ministery until they were clear of their early peril, h<s complacently swallowed whatever principles he had formerly professed, and joined them as soon ac they were tafe. It is not, therefore, to be supposed that a poliiician whenever found it any wrench to abandon friends and associates who were far too good for him, would feel severely the abandonment of a few paltry Bills which are too bad even for him. To speak of the Colonial Treasurer as being sincerely attached to anything, indeed, is ridiculous; and we do not wish to make fun of a subject which is altogether void of the comic element. The best thing the Ministry con do is to put Mr Ballarce and his finance into the background, let Mr Stout carry the remainder of the Estimates through, arrange the preliminaries of the Public Works policy, and prorogue before the House gets out of temper with them. That course, we are sure, would meet with universal approval, and would afford the bent prospect of a policy being brought down next year such as the people de6ire and would be satisfied with.