New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, JULY 28, 1877.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5100, 28 July 1877, Page 2

New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, JULY 28, 1877.

It is amusing and instructive to study the comments of certain journals in this colony which are habitual exponents of extreme opinions, upon the existing indefiniteness of parties in the Assembly, upon alleged'but imaginary dissension in ; the Cabinet, and upon what, from a party point of view, may be regarded as the' composite character of the Ministry which at present represents the purposes and; policy of the majority" of the House ofi Representatives. Conscious as we are of! the exigencies of party, and'judging' speculatively of the weight of the edi-j torial duties devolving upon them as self-] constituted divisional leaders • of publicj opinion, our sympathy, with those .jour-j hals is by no means imperfect; biifwei feel that in the interests of this colony; there are higher objects attainable than! the triumph of thisparty or of that, of| this set of men or of that set of men, of l Sir George Gkey and Mr. Tole on the! one hand or' of Sir Junus Vogei. and Mr. Gisborne on the other : we take the I pairs respectively as we have named 1 them as.representing the extremes between which • has grown up the 'great! middle party whose representatives now' occupy the Treasury benches. Now, the! cause of, the rise of this party .within a I few years is not far to seek. Manyji thoughtful men were grievously alarmed; when the Public Works policy was first propounded by Sir Julius Vogel, Its; instant denunciation by such men as Mr. •■ Gillies and Mr. Reader Wopi> found many echoes inside the House as well as out of it; and notwithstanding the acceptance or endorsement of that policy by the people at the general election which followed, the early results of that scramble for ex-

periditure which the Ministry of the day deliberately invited, .did hut intensify' the fears which were originally expressed and entertained, andishowed more and more clearly the danger' of making expenditure upon railways or roads, or water-races, in this or that, province, or district, the price of party votes or Government support. Supporters as we have always been, and are, of the Public "Works policy, and of its authors, it is impossible not to see that it was launched at great cost, and that the earliest appropriations were not all made for works which gave reasonable promise of being either useful or reproductive. Indeed, when Mr. Gisborne, then Minister for Public Works, upon a memorable occasion, in his weakness or despair, invited honorable gentlemen to help themselves, the danger of wreck to which-the whole scheme was exposed from a weak party Government became alarmingly evident. When Ministers, accepting as inevitable the evils of the situation, frankly admitted that some of the great works which they proposed had chiefly a political character, it was seen distinctly enough that as the colony was irrevocably committed to an enormous expenditure, financial ruin must ensue, if the reasonable _ men of both parties could not be induced to join together for the protection of the common interests, and to give the Public Works and Immigration policy a colonial and non-political character. Provincialism stood in the way of this consummation; but that obstacle has been removed, and the result is that which so puzzles and disturbs some of our contemporaries, a Ministry composed of mr-n honestly holding differing views upon certain, minor and speculative points in politics, but united in their desire with ! prudence and economy to carry on to completion that scheme of public works, I immigration, and settlement in which the !' colony has embarked its fortune and its | credit, and unanimous as to the mode in which chat great end can be best attained.