MR. BALLANCE IN EXPLANATION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5352, 23 May 1878, Page 3

MR. BALLANCE IN EXPLANATION.

(From the Dunedin Herald, May 16),

The explanation given by Mr. Ballance to his Rangitikei constituents of the reasons which induced him to join the Ministry is au extremely interesting one. It seems that he became a supporter of Sir George Grey because “ the Premier was a man who was wedded to his principles, of which principles he mostly approved, and that Sir George Grey was a man of clean hands.” Bat Mr. Ballance has curiously overlooked the main point of the difficulty. Sir George possessed ail these excellent qualifications during tho whole period that Mr. Ballance was supporting the Atkinson Government, and enunciating principles diametrically opposed to those to which Sir George is _wedded ; but, nevertheless, Mr. Ballance never saw them until the Atkinson Government began descend? ing the hill rapidly, when, lucidly for himself, the scales fell, .from ; his eyes just in time to enable him to take a portfolio with Sir George Grey, and so escape having to waste his eloquence in the bleak deserts of Opposition. If, however, Mr. Ballance is to he believed, he is not . the only, member of the present Government who has relinquished his principles.- According to his account, the Ministry has abandoned both Provincialism and Separation, and determined to “ abide loyally by the decision of the Legislature,” notwithstanding the fact that both the Premier and Mr. Macandrew, before acceding to office, fought with an unexampled vigor against that decision, on the plea that it was subversive of the political liberties of the country, and would do serious injury to its material interest; affirming, moreover, that this decision was not a true exposition of the mind of the country, because the various electoral districts were not equally represented in the Assembly. Nor will the people of Dunedin forget that, long after that decision was given, Mr. Stout lectured them on the philosophy of the political position, in which he demonstrated that, from tlie very nature of things, the only two real parties which could exist in New Zealand were the Centralist and Provincialist parties, and that the destruction of provincial institutions was but an incident of their continual warfare. The obvious reflection suggests itself, and mnst surely have struck the minds of Sir George Grey and Mr. Macandrew, that if the Ministry hoists the centralist standard, and so constitutes itself tlie head of the centralist party, the rank and file of the provincialists will be freed from their former allegiance, and bo at liberty to take such a course as they may deem most conducive to the triumph of their own principles. Mr. Ballance’s remarks on the Electoral Bill'which the Government propose to introduce’ verify our prediction that the Bill : would not be of the broad character which the ' Premier’s earnest advocacy of the benefits of manhood suffrage had taught'many persons to expect, hilt would rather be a compromise necessitated by conflicting views in the Cabinet. Farther observations on this 1 subject may, however, be properly deferred until additional details' are given ;■ but as to the most important topic treated by Mr. Ballance, unless his remarks are to be regarded as the indiscreet utterances of an inexperienced politician, and not as l expounding the views of the chiefs of the Cabinet, they will be apt to lead the people of Otago to concur in Sir William Fitzherbert’s opinion that “ one Ministry is just about as bad as another.”