New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4822, 5 September 1876, Page 2

New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5.

The policy of the Government- as indicated by tho Premier last night, largely coincides with the opinions expressed in the New Zealand Times on Saturday last. There is to be no delay in bringing the Abolition Act into operation ; and the Counties Bill is to be passed as a partly permissive measure, but permissive in this sense, that the districts which do not see fit to adopt it, shall not retain provincialism, but, must trust to the road board organisation for local self-government. We have shown in a former article that for all present purposes the road boards may be safely depended upon under such circumstances. It would, of course, have been impossible for any Ministerial statement to have been made without Sir George Grey and Messrs.. Bees and Stout having " a finger in the pie," in a figurative sense, on the constitutional or legal aspect of some point or another. Mr. Whitaker, the new AttorneyGeneral, did not condescend to argue with these gentlemen, but expressed every willingness to discuss the legal constitution of the Cabinet rrith them in the Supreme Court. Acting in harmonious concert, Mr. Waterhouse raised a similar constitutional question in the Upper House ; but there the Hon. Mr. Hall clearb showed that the objections of Mr. Waterhotjse had nothing in them. With regard to the appointment of Agent-General the utterance of the Cabinet is clear and distinct. It is proposed to offer the appointment almost immediately to Sir Julius Vogel, and the Government intimated by their consent to some words of Mr. Stout subsequently that .they will in the debate, on this matter stand or fall by the appointment. In some respects it is a pity that Mr. Andrew should have been in such a hurry to sound the tocsin of almost personal discussion by his notice of motion, disapproving of the appointment. It would have been a fitting and graceful act if the House had unanimously agreed to the appointment; but as sufficient evidence had been previously given that this would under no circumstances bethe case, it is perhaps, as well that the necessary discussion should come on as speedily as possible. And in this connection some remarks made by Mr. Stout on the subject may be noticed. He thought that Sir Julius Vogel should have resigned his seat, the Ministry should, then have made the appointment, and afterwards come to the House to confirm it, as it were. Mr. Stout is like the prisoner whom the' drummer when flogging him could not please under any circumstances, whether he hit high or hit low. Had the Ministry made the appointment in the manner suggested, Mr. Stout would probably have been the very first to denounce their mode of procedure as high-handed, arbitrary, and contemptuous to the House. Mr. Stout is one of the many members who have been most anxious in their inquiries as to this appointment, and the Ministry have now done exactly what he and others previously insisted they should do. They have announced to the House their intention to make this appointment, and they intend to regard it as a Ministerial question. By doing this they consult the House, but distinctly make the appointment an integral portion of their policy, thus so far as they go conferring it on Sir Julius Vogel.

It would almost be an insult to the late Premier to discuss his qualifications for the Agent-Generalship. Setting aside the testimony to his abilities given by a public career which has had no parallel in this colony, the success of his financial and other missions to England has been so marked as to point to him as the man best suited to represent us at Home. Whatever detractors may say, and whatever personal enmity may possibly urge, the foremost of Sir Julius ' Vogel's late political opponents do not hesitate to admit his qualifications for the AgentGeneralship. Should the question come to a division in the House, the Ministry may expect an overwhelming and decisive majority.