THE CONSTITUTIONAL PARTY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5710, 18 July 1879, Page 2

THE CONSTITUTIONAL PARTY.

The news of the formation of an organised party to', oppose the Gkey Ministry will be welcomed from one end of the colony to the other. The Ministerial organs, and those nondescript attaches of the Ministry whose function is to falsify the sources of public intelligence, have for months past persistently declared that no Opposition could possibly be formed in the present state of parties. They have represented the opponents of the Ministry as a mere pack of impraoticables, influenced by no higher motives than disappointed self-interest, and linked by no tie save a sympathy with faction. There were not wanting, of course, ample indications of a very different state of affairs. The public utterances of a great number of members of the Legislature were in - everybody’s hands, and it was observed by everybody that whilst all the avowed opponents of the Ministry condemned their administration in the severest terms, and with a singular unanimity of opinion, scarcely one, even among their most loyal supporters, was able to do more than extenuate their admitted shortcomings. Some of the most damaging speeches of the recess, indeed, came not from members of the ex-Ministerial party—not from the free lances who skirmished on their flanks last year, but from members of. their own party who had been elected in their interest, and had never wavered in their allegiance before. Any impartial observer must have known, therefore, that a widespread distrust and dread of the Ministry prevailed throughout the country, and that feeling arose, not from the efforts of faction, but solely from the glaring maladministration of the Ministry. To the last, however, the Ministerial videtles held to it that there were no signs of an Opposition, and even when Parliament met, declared that the position of the Ministry was unassailable. By that time though, members had had an opportunity to compare notes, and to arrive in a hurried way at that kind of understanding among themselves which it is so difficult for them to arrive at in this scattered country during the recess. As soon as they had that opportunity, it was found that an Opposition existed, which only needed a little organisation in order to be developed into a united and powerful Constitutional party. The diffi-

culty of finding a leader who, while 1 possessing the requisite abilities, would : be personally acceptable to any considerable section of the House, had been made the most of by the Ministers and their friends. It proved to bo no difficulty at all, but merely a matter of easy ' agreement. There were several members of one House or the other, any one of whom would have been cheerfully followed by a party quite large enough to constitute a formidable Opposition. The object of those who found themselves in hearty accord against Ministers, however, was to obtain, not only a good leader, but the best leader to suit the circumstances ; and, by a frank interchange of opinions, they speedily came to a unanimous conclusion on that point. The person whom they decided upon was Sir William Fox, and he, though when he arrived in Wellington last week, probably had no intention whatever of assuming such a position, accepted it with an excellent grace when he found that by doing so ho could serve the colony in its hour of need. From that moment the Opposition became an established fact, which no amount of swagger or misrepresentation could any longer conceal the existence of. It may yet be urged that the Opposition is without principles or policy, and is therefore but a rope of sand. The events of the next few days though, will, we have no doubt, dispose ot any such Supposition. The basis of the Opposition appears to us to be a very clearly defined one. The Ministry have so flagrantly betrayed the trust reposed in them, by their unconstitutional proceedings, their neglect of the administration, and their incredible disregard of public interests in respect of finance, that minor considerations of what may be called theoretical policy, are lost in the one grand consideration of the public safety. The Opposition, therefore, is an entirely new party, formed with a definite design of re-establishing constitutional government, and reorganising the administration which the present Ministry have utterly disorganised. It is not a “Conservative” party or a “ Radical ” party, least of all, let us hope, a great “ Liberal ” party. These names have been bandied about for the last two years without the slightest regard to propriety of application or to common sense. They have, in fact, long since degenerated into the purest claptrap ; and there are certainly not half-a-dozen members of the House, or a single constituency in the country, for whom any one of them has the smallest practical significance. The newly formed party very likely includes men of all shades of Liberalism and Conservatism; but as it is not now a question of anything of the kind they ..find themselves quiteable to work loyally together in the cause of constitutionalism. What the country was in want of was a party having for its main object the establishment of law and order, and the faithful administration of public affairs under Parliamentary control. Such a party has now been formed under the leadership of Sir William Fox ; and the country will look to it henceforward with confident hope. The first step to be taken, no doubt, is an unpleasant one. ft is the expulsion from office of the Ministry who came in two years ago on the strength of promises of reform, who had the grandest opportunity of effecting reform that any Ministry ever had, but who have acted as if the multiplication and exaggeration of abuses were the end and object of their being. The Native Minister said in the House last year, in his jaunty way, that it cost the Ministry too much trouble to get into office for them to be easily got out again ; and there is no doubt that if they had only conducted themselves with reasonable prudence and decorum they might have remained in office for a long time to come. But they have not conducted themselves with reasonable prudence or decorum; and their end is already near. The fact that the appointment of the Chairman of Committees has been abandoned to the Opposition, and that not ovon the high character, admirable qualifications, and universal popularity of Mi - . Bryce, sufficed to counterbalance the effect of his being regarded as the Government candidate, shows unmistakeably how matters stand. The Opposition has only been a few hours in existence as an organised party, and it already numbers an actual majority of the House. There are, naturally, many members who, though thoroughly disgusted with the Ministry, are loth to leave them at the first blush of the thing ; but these will soon find themselves compelled to do as others have done, and shake the dust from off their feet against the combination of perfidy, recklessness and incompotency, which at present occupies tho Treasury benches. In a word, the Opposition will harden from day to day ; and wo have every assurance that before the House can under any circumstances fairly settle down to business, there will be a change of Ministry in favor ot one worthy of the public confidence.