New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 1875.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4433, 4 June 1875, Page 2

New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 1875 .

According to our recent telegraphic advices, the Victorian Ministry have come down with a policy, and something to spare. It may be remembered that when Mr. Kerfbrd’s predecessor went out of office on account of ill health, tho Treasurer, Mr. Langton, also retired, because Mr. Kerferd was given by his colleagues the leadership, which, in his (Mr. Langton’s) opinion, should have been his by right. Mr. Langton was the representative, in what was avowedly a coalition Ministry, of the Free-trade interest, and it was pretty generally considered that, as a man of considerable parliamentary and financial ability, his severance from the Ministry left them in a weak position. Mr. Kerferd, who took the Premiership, is a gentleman of that negative qualification which, whilst no one desires to predicate anything bad about it, is yet incapable of obtaining support and respect, because nothing much can be said in its favor. His chief colleague was Mr. J. J. Casey, who so long ago as 1863 was returned for Mandurang by a majority of sixty-six and a broken down railway engine, and whilst this gentleman’s vigorous administration of his department (that of Lands) has gained him some repute, the petty airs of office with which he has surrounded his Ministerial career, and more than one act of gaucherie and snobbishness which have distinguished the same, have prevented his holding that position in the eyes of the country which his undoubted abilities and industry would have otherwise commanded. The remaining members of the Cabinet are of the purely ornamental class, to which the experience of perhaps another colony might afford a parallel. During the last session of Parliament the Ministry, made upas we have described, got along without any policy, by a kind of sufferance, and thanks to the absence of an organised Opposition, there being little chance of union between Mr. Langton and Sir James McCulloch, in consequence of certain very serious accusations once made against the latter by the former. A condition of affairs which has ripened during the recess compelled the Ministry, however, to come down with definite proposals at the opening of the present session, yet their vacillating utterances and indecisive action, on more than one occasion during that recess, showed that they were altogether the creatures of circumstances, and that the policy they intended to adopt would be that which in their opinion would best please the constituencies, and enable them to retain office. The condition of public affairs was evidently their last consideration ; to deal with that condition in such a manner as to secure their seats the first. That condition of affairs was simply a generally bad state of financial matters, caused by the adoption and maintenance of a suicidal policy of Protection, which, amongst other disastrous consequences, involved the withdrawal of the Biverina and other trade, by the free-trade action of New South Wales. This was the main difficulty to meet, and evidently involved a large readjustment of taxation. But besides this, there were pending questions regarding the alteration of the Constitution so as to remove the obstructiveness of the Upper House. Education also, although the free and secular system adopted in Victoria was a thorough success, yet required a definite expression of opinion, whilst some after-dinner observations on more-than one public occasion served to show that an Australian Customs Union was a subject that would bear discussion. Now, as will bo seen, the Ministry, like most weak people, have plunged up to the neck into waters on the brink of which they long stood shivering with fear. As we said, they have literally come down with a policy, and something to spare. According to the Governor’s speech, a telegraphic summary of which we published a couple of days ago, they have tackled all the before-mentioned questions, and a good many others besides; and it is evident that in doing so they have prepared for themselves difficulties and dangers ; for, tho address in reply having been carried without a division, it seems clear that the Opposition admit that the questions touched upon all require dealing with, but that, as to the Ministerial manner of doing this, there may be considerable difference of opinion presently. It is not our intention just now to comment on the various questions which form the Ministerial programme for Victoria, though a similarity of circumstances render some of them of singular importance and application to New Zealand. We desire, however, at once to spoak distinctly upon that which the Victorian Ministry profess to deal with in common with the sister colonies of tho South—that is, in their words, to effect a free interchange of the growths, products, and manufactures of the. various colonies. Now, if tho Victorian Government were to propose the carrying out of this by the simple adoption of a Freetrade tariff for the various colonies, wo might know . how to look upon their proposal from a mutually advantageous point of view. But as it is, they propose to accomplish their end by such a Customs Union between tho colonies as shall secure a free mutual interchange of their products, but shall act as a thorougly preventive tariff against all the rest of the world. This, besides being protection of the bitterest type, and so most objectionable, would also for Victoria be a dreadfully one-sided bargain. It would take from New South Wales all the advantages which Free-trade has given her, and, in tho case of New Zealand, would simply compel ua to pay an extra price for many articles which we can now obtain more cheaply elsewhere. In return, we should have tho inestimable advantage of getting colonial wino cheap, and of sending into Victoria duty free the surplus oats (grown in tho South Island and converted into meal. Our insular position puts us fortunately independent altogether of Victoria. The wide stretch of latitude over which these islands extend gives us tho products of half-a-dozen different climates within a single colony.

We would have nothing to gain and all to lose if the Victorian Ministry carried out their hope with us of a successful negotiation, which would compel ua to become buyers in the dearest market, and would leave us, for export purposes, no market at all.