There is a Ministerial crisis in Otago, the Turnbull-Heid Executive having been defeated on a want of confidence motion by Mr. Bastings. There is a kind of poetic justice in this, Mr. Bastings having been manoeuvred out of office last year in by no means a creditable way. On that occasion: Mr. Turnbull took office, to the surprise of many of his friends, with Mr. Reid, who, equally to the surprise of his many admirers, went iu with his old political opponents, and became subservient to Mr. Macandrew in all things. Now, Mr. Bastings has his revenge. He has expelled the Coalition Government from office, but what he is to put in its place does not yet appear. There is not much pick and choice in the Otago Provincial Council. Mediocrity there reigns supreme. But it would be difficult to find a more ill-assorted Executive thani the last, or in some respects a less capable one. The Goldfields Secretary was clearly a round man in a square hole, or to speak much more plainly, he was altogether inefficient. Mr. MoKellar was one of those political accidents which occur sometimes even in the construction of Colonial Ministries; —a man who serves thepurpose of the leaders, by occupying an imposing position before the public and doing.their bidding, without question, in private ; a handy, harmless, one-sided man, who never gives trouble, and is as innocent of convictions as he is of political intelligence. The non-official membevs were mere nobodys, as intended. . Mr. Stout, the Provincial Solicitor, was pressed into the service to please the mob, while Messrs. Turnbull, Reid, and Macandrew did precisely what they pleased, and how they pleased. We offer no opinion regarding the grounds of dissatisfaction on the part of the majority. Their cause of complaint may be well or ill founded : but we have this fact before us, namely, that the public service must be inconvenienced by frequent changes iu provincial administration. We are inclined to think that it would be better to allow Mr. Macandrew, as Superintendent of Otago, to manage its affairs in his own way. This was contemplated under the Constitution Act, to which Provincial Executives frantically appeal, forgetting that they have done their utmost to alter, in practice, the spirit and letter of the original Constitution. However, it must not be supposed that Mr. Bastings met an undeserved fate last year. On the contrary, he had justice' meted to him with his own measure. Mr. Bastings did not scruple to play his own cards when Mr. Tolmie took office, and after his resignation, in his alliance with Mr. Turnbuli, ; wherefore his old political allies did not pity his fall in the least. It is to be hoped, now that the revolution of the provincial, wheel of Otago has brought his spoke once more to the top, that he will act with greater prudence than before. There are many reforms to be effected, but we hardly tlnnk'Mr. Horace Bastings is the kind of man to make thing 3 unpleasant for anyone. Candidly, we do not think he has any of the reforming spirit in him, but contrariwise, inasmuch as it was under his administration, as Secretary of Public Works, that the management of the Port Chalmers railway got into such ; a discreditable muddle. ■■"..-;
This is an important time for Otago. Provincialism is on its trial all over the' colony; and as the hold it has on the minds of the people is very light, everything may depend, in the large provinces, on the character and capacity of the Provincial Executives. Otago "is 'closely watched on all sides; and if Mr., Bastrsras is the only possible provincial leader it can produce, then we say, in all seriousness, let the curtain fall upon the farce-of provincial legislation and responsible government.
Since the foregoing was in type, we received a telegram from our Dunedin correspondent, informing us that the now Otago Executive will consist of a great deal of Mr. Bastings, assisted by Messrs. Fish and Green. We cannot say that. we admire the mixture, nor do we think it is an Executive that will for long enjoy the confidence of the province. At the same time, we are pleased that Mr. Fish has got a chance of showing what is in him as an administrator. But that such an Executive is possible is strongly corroborative of the opinion that the days of provincialism are numbered.
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New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4421, 21 May 1875, Page 2
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737Untitled New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4421, 21 May 1875, Page 2
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