The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1878. POLITICAL SUMMARY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5449, 13 September 1878, Page 4

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1878. POLITICAL SUMMARY.

With regard to the political situation we said a month ago, in our last summary, that “ excepting from within, no danger “ appears to threaten Sir George Grey’s “ Ministry. Their measures and their “ administration are being, and will be, “ subjected to sharp criticism of a char- “ acter far from flattering by their own “ friends and followers ; but there is no “ organised Opposition or any sign of a “ Middle Party at present.” That description remains generally true up. to this ■ time. It fails in want of color because no one could reasonably anticipate that the “friendly” criticism of Ministerial measures and Ministerial administration could have turned out to be so withering as it has proved. Not one single measure embodying the great Ministerial policy has got beyond a second reading. The Electoral Bill and the Land Tax Bill are the two which have reached that stage. Both have been vigorously denounced by the most ardent supporters of the Government, and although they have been allowed to proceed so far, it is with the understanding that they must be utterly amended in committee. The Government talk big and threaten to go to the country ; but there must be some principle upon which to make such an appeal, and the radical defect of the Ministry, as of their measures, is that they have no political principle at all. The extremes of rampant Radicalism and of pronounced Toryism touch each other in the persons of Sir George Grey, Premier and leader of the House of Representatives, and Colonel Whitmore, Colonial Secretary and leader in the Legislative Council. The policy is a kind of mean of the two extremes; a weak promise between the wild extravagance of. the stump and the serious responsibility of office, which satisfies no person and subjects the Ministry to the damaging imputation of having obtained office under false pretences, and of abandoning all those principles which the Premier, in the House, and on many stumps in every part of the colony, declared to be those of himself and his colleagues. This is the true cause of the weakness of the Government in the Parliament, and/ added to other causes which do not operate so strongly with the representatives, it tends to increase the Ministerial unpopularity out of doors amongst the people. Offensiveness to the Governor, offensiveness to the Imperial authorities, unfairness and want of generosity to political opponents, and especially to Sir Jdlius .Vogel, are small sins on the part of Sir George Grey and his colleagues, which wound the public sentiment, and thus bring their own punishment in general loss of respect and of confidence. The annual Public Works Statement was made on the 27th August, three weeks after the Financial Statement, of which it is necessarily the complement. The Public Works Estimates, which ought to have accompanied it, are still wanting. The favor with which it was at first received has not been completely 'sustained as it comes to be critically read and examined by the light of subsequent events. The Statement itself, but without the tables, and without the appended reports of the District Engineer* which are voluminous, will be found in another place in our columns. The Minister of Public Works proposes to complete the trunk lines of railways in both Islands; that in the North connecting Wellington with Napier and Auckland; and that in the .South Island running from Invercargill, in Southland, to Amberley, in Canterbury, with a future connection with the West Coost, by the Haast Pass, or by a line from Amberley to Brunnerton. This proposal leaves the Provincial Districts of Nelson and Marlborough, in the South Island, out of the lino of railway communication, and iUakes no provision for Public Works in that wide district on the East Coast' of the North Island which lies between Napier and Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty. There is in consequence in these districts great indignation and load expressions of discontent. It is proposed to aid the Public Works Fund by large contributions from the Land Revenue, and with this view large tracts of land in the vicinity of th? projected linos of branch railways are to be withdrawn from sale, in order to be disposed of at an enhanced price as the railway lines to or through them are completed. If this policy wore fairly and loyally carried out in a broad colonial sense, it might bo called statesmanlike, and would be deservingof general approval. But unhappily the Government have furnishedan illustration of their mode of carrying it into operation which has not tended to recommend it, or to give any hope that the land, or the money derived from its sale, will be'used for any other than purely local purposes, in the bid Provincial fashion. In the new game of “grab ” Otago Inis already got aconsiderablo start, the scandal of. which we do not care to- spread abroad. in our summary number. We have 1052 miles of railway now open for traffic, and 325 miles under construction. This includes all the works in both islands. There are new proposals for 948 Jr miles, which will give a grand total of 2317 miles of railway. The new works are to be extended over five years. Their cost is estimated at £8,385,000, of which three and a half millions are to come out of the Land Fund, and the remainder out of the loan. We have no intimation as yet of the purposes of the Government in regard to immigration ; but we presume that they will be of some magnitude. Our population being now about 420,000 souls, we have already a greater length of railways in proportion to our number than any other known people. The working expenses on the South Island railways were equal to,(58’80 of receipts, and the profit 2*03 per cent, of the whole outlay. In the North Island the working expenses averaged 81 "81 per cent, of receipts, and the profits were fifteen shillings per cent, of the whole outlay. There was, however, a steady improvement in the receipts in both islands. Native affairs.are without change. The absurdity of the pretension to special personal influence on the part of the Premier has been demonstrated. Ah eager and extravagant bidder for Maori favor, he has overshot his mark. Rewi, the Ngatimaniapoto chief, is at Waitara keeping the "King’s gate” there, and waiting and working peacefully, as he has long been doing, towards the final reconciliation. It cannot be hurried, and as danger of serious disturbance in our relations with the Native people haS long since passed away, no special good has come out of the labor and expense of the past year. A Native Lands Bill* promised as one of the Ministerial measures of thesession, has

not yet made its appearance, and probably will not now be brought in; the’reception which the other measures of the Government have met with has not been encouraging. There is a general desire that the session shall not be prolonged, and that the Government should have another chance during the recess of coming to an agreement amongst themselves as to their future policy, so as to be prepared to meet the Parliament next year in better form than than they have been able to present on this occasion. In order to effect this, however, it has been proposed that the yacht Hinemoa shall be taken away, the use of special trains inhibited, and habitual absence from the seat of Government on the part of Ministers be made penal.