The New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY). THURSDAY, JULY 17, 1879.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5709, 17 July 1879, Page 2

The New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY). THURSDAY, JULY 17, 1879.

The occurrence which took place yesterday in the House of Representatives in connection with the passage of the Loan Bill was of so peculiar a character that it needs soma explanation in order to be clearly understood. The circumstances were briefly these ; On Tuesday the Premier gave notice that on the following day he would move the suspension of the standing orders in order that a Bill to authorise the raising of a loan of half a million, and an Imprest Supply Bill for •an equal ameunt, might be passed at a single Bitting. Mr. Shanks also gave

notice that on Friday next he would move the Address in Reply to the Governor’s Speech. Yesterday, when the Premier’s notice of motion for the suspension of the standing orders was arrived at, instead of making the motion, he suddenly asked leave to move, without notice, that the motionfor the Address in Reply, previously fixed for Friday, should be taken on Wednesday evening. The reason which he gave for this extraordinary proposal was that the Governor had intimated that he would not assent to any Bill until some reply to the Speech had been returned to him ; that it was desirable that the Loan Bill should be assented to in time for the debentures to be sent Homo by the mail leaving here on Friday, as the Government were advised that the state of the London money market would be less favorable after the end of September than before it; and that, therefore, unless a Reply to the Address were returned to the Governor before Friday, it would be impossible for the debentures to be despatched by the mail, and the public interests would thus suffer. The leader of the Opposition, in reply to this, stated that the House was entirely taken by surprise with regard to the Address in Reply, and that he was not prepared te debate that question. He went on to say that no obstruction whatever would be offered to the passage of the Loan Bill or the granting of the necessary supply ; but that it was the bounden duty of the House to require from the Government satisfactory information as to the purposes for which money was wanted so urgently. He invited the Premier to make such an explanation as would warrant the House in dispensing to an unprecedented extent with all the safeguards which existed against undue haste in the granting of supply ; and he concluded by reiterating the assurance that if such an explanation was made, the Opposition would give the Government ©very assistance in making the arrangements necessary for the public interests. The Premier refused, however, to give any further information, but made a vague threat that if the leader of the Opposition prevented his making the motion “by his single voice,” the raising of the loan would be imperilled. On the question being put that the Premie? have leave to make the motion, a number of members gave their voice “ No,” and the Speaker declared that the motion could not be put. The Premier then refused to move the suspension of the Standing Orders for the purpose of passing the Loan Bill, and the business next on the Order Paper was proceeded with. This affair took place so hurriedly that it was difficult to comprehend what it all meant, or whether it signified anything moire than a mere skirmish in party warfare. The impression which it gave was that the Premier had endeavored to trap the Opposition into a hurried debate on the Address in Reply, by representing that some terrible financial disaster would happen unless some decision was arrived at upon it that night. If that was the case it was a very shallow trick, and was completely defeated by leave to make the motion being refused. Some particulars which have since come lo our knowledge give the matter a somewhat more serious aspect. It is, we understand, true that the Governor drew the attention of the Premier yesterday to the fact that constitutional usage rendered it necessary that some reply to the Speech should be returned before he could assent to a Bill; and it was, therefore, essential that, if any action was to be taken under the Loan Act before the departure of the mail, the debate on the Address must be concluded without delay. In that case, however, it was clearly the duty of the Premier to have imparted to the leader of the Opposition at the earliest possible moment, his intention of asking for the debate on the Address to be taken sooner than had previously been arranged, and to have explained fully to him the circumstances which made such an unusual course desirable. This he entirely neglected to do*. Rext it was clearly the duty of the Premier to frankly disclose to the House all the reasons which made the immediate passage of the Loan Bill, and the despatch of the debentures by the outgoing mall, a matter of pressing urgency. This also he entirely neglected to do, and further, he distinctly refused when invited to do it in the most courteous manner by Sir William Fox. He made a proposal involving, on his own very weighty considerations, but which the House could not possibly accede to without first receiving a full explanation; and. at the same time he refused to give any explanation at all. If, therefore, any ill consequences arise from , the delay in the passing of the Loan Bill, the Premier will be solely responsible for them. An attempt will, of course, be made by the Ministerial party to throw the blame on the Opposition, ‘ and to make it believed that the Opposition have prevented a loan being raised when it was urgently needed. We have not the smallest fear, however, that the public will be deluded by any such pretence. They only have to know the facts to discern at once that the Government are entirely accountable for everything that has occurred. In the first place we may say that the Premier’s story about the London money market not being favorable for the raising of the loan later than September is the merest rubbish. It that was all that was to be feared there was no occasion to make any fuss about the matter. The real reason why the Government were so anxious to send the debentures Home by the next mail is that through their own gross and culpable neglect there is a payment coming due for interest on the public debt which they are not in a position to provide for without borrowing money to do it with. Such an operation is utterly indefensible from a financial point of view, and the fact that the Ministry have so mismanaged public affairs as to render it necessary, is quite sufficient in itself to demand their expulsion from office. With the finances in such a state as this, it was obviously their plain duty to call Parliament together at an earlier date, in order to make proper provision for the public necessities. Being in this lamentable, not to say disgraceful position, however, the least that the Premier might have done was to confide to the House the true condition of affairs, instead of coming down with a cock-and-bull story about the London money market, and persisting in keeping the House in the dark as to the real reasons why the

money was urgently required. It is impossible not to believe that in acting as he did, he purposely concealed the full extent of the emergency, in order to inveigle the Opposition into incurring the odium -of any consequences that might accrue from delay in raising the loan. The Government, in shore, are entirely to blame for any emergency existing, and the Premier is entirely to blame for that emergency not being tided over in the best available way. The Premier endeavored, as he has often done before, to shift responsibility from his own shoulders on to those of the Governor ; and there is no doubt that, if the Governor could bo responsible for any political act, he would be an important factor in this business. But he cannot be responsible for anything of the sort. Whether it is a question of assenting to Bills, or appointing a clerk, is of no moment whatever. The Governor acts only on the advice of his Ministers, and if he declines to act on that advice, they have their constitutional remedy by immediately resigning. It is absurd that the Premier should come to the Legislature and ask them to upset the ordinary course of business in order to provide against the anticipated consequences of the Governor’s action. Nothing could be more unconstitutional or improper, and we trust that the Legislature will never countenance such a practice in the slightest degree. It thus appears that whether the proposal of the Premier to take the debate on the Address last evening was only a cunning party trick, or whether it was really justified by circumstances which he omitted to disclose, the course taken by the leader of the Opposition was strictly the right one. It is imperatively incumbent upon the House to exercise the most careful control over the public purse and the public credit, and they cannot, without betraying the public confidence, give any Government either votes of money or power to borrow money before they are clearly informed of the purposes to which that money is to be applied. It would, of course, be highly reprehensible for any party or any member of the House to obstruct the passage of a money Bill for factious purposes, and we are very sure that that is the last thing that the present Opposition would dream of doing. Such a course is, indeed, only the forlorn hope of a party which is not strong enough to do anything else, whereas the Opposition are in command of the situation, and have not the least occasion to employ any such tactics. The Opposition are, moreover, quite as anxious as the Government that the credit of the colony should be maintained, and the public service be provided for; and they would no more do anything to prevent those objects being achieved, than they would wantonly inflict any other kind of injury upon the colony. We are very sure, though, that the public understand all this very well, and we need not dwell upon it any longer. Our desire, in making these remarks, is not to justify the Opposition —for they need no justification —but rather to lay clearly before the rmblic the facts of a matter which is involved in much obscurity. Those facts unmistakably show that the Government have allowed the finances of the colony to drift into a condition which is without precedent in its political history, and which could not have been conceived possible inviewof the wonderful buoyancy of its resources. They show further that the Premier and Colonial Treasurer is no more fit to occupy those important offices, than a mischievous dare-devil child is to be entrusted with the management of a high-pressure steam-engine.