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New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4547, 16 October 1875, Page 2

We have again offended. We inserted a leader which any man not of the most ignorant type could have understood. Some one grossly perverted the meaning of that leader, and accused ns of countenancing swindling on the part of Sir Julius Vogel. We pointed out that we did nothing of the kind ; that Sir Julius Vogel had acted in the matter of the Ne.v Zealand loan honestly, and had benefited lenders and borrowers. We described what seemed to us the only class of person' likely to so pervert our meaning, as some one or another had perverted that meaning; and now it seems some honest gentleman thinks we meant to be personal. Nothing of the kind ; we indicated no particular journal or writer. We threw a cap in the air. Some one has had his head under it, met it in falling, found it a perfect fit, yet is angry with the maker. It is evident that with all our efforts to please we have failed, for where we expected thanks only revilings have come forth, and gratuitous advice to a newspaper proprietory, that could only not be impertinent if it were adopted for the adviser’s own benefit. However, we have one comfort left : we have compelled even Saul to rank himself amongst the prophets, and preach honor, virtue, and the like. If we mistake not, Saul before his conversion was in the company of “ asses.” It is not improbable that his most recent imitator has just quitted similar society.

The Wairarapa News, an enterprising upcountry newspaper, must have astonished its subscribers on Tuesday last. On that day it published as an extra, with the attractive headings —“Ministry defeated,” and “New Ministry Formed,” the following remarkable intelligence from its own correspondent in Wellington ;—“ There was a Ministerial crisis last night. Stafford’s amendment was carried. The new Ministry has taken office —Stafford, Premier; Atkinson, Treasurer ; Richardson, Minister of Public Works; Reid, Customs and Telegraphs; Pollen, Colonial Secretary ; Jackson, Immigration; Ormond, Native Affairs.” This seems clear enough, but is complicated by the next sentence —“ At the last moment the Opposition declined overtures, and the scheme was frustrated.” That is what makes the affair seem somewhat inexplicable; but that it must be quite clear to those who understand it is evidenced by what follows —“ The above was withheld from our columns this morning as we had some doubt of its authenticity; but we are now in possession of another telegram assuring us that it is quite correct.” What is quite correct ? That the Ministry was defeated and a new one formed, or that it was the intention of Mr. Stafford to have defeated the Ministry and to form a new one, but that at the last moment, finding himself unable to command a majority on his Postal Service amendment motion, he withdrew it, and his scheme did not come off ? Who can tell ? That there was some smoke to produce this fire is however evidenced by a special telegram in the Lyttelton Times, the tenor of ' which is that Mr. Stafford’s amendment was designed to procure a vote adverse to the Ministry, who woul<| then resign, after which Major Atkinson and Mr. Bowen would throw over their colleagues, and ■ jdid the'memfe 'ft)r TMma,hi, leaving Sir Donald McLean out in the cold. All this is very

singular to people who live in Wellington, and heard nothing about it, and we cannot bring ourselves to believe it. Are not all the parties concerned honorable men ? _ Are not their places even amongst the Dii Majores ? Tantcene animis coclestihts irae ? The thing is impossible. The only puzzle that remains is how it got to be telegraphed.