The New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY). TUESDAY, JULY 22, 1879.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5713, 22 July 1879, Page 2

The New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY). TUESDAY, JULY 22, 1879.

The Wmt of Confidence debate will be

resumed to-day, and it is impossible to say how long it may last. The Opposition have no desire to prolong it. They are quite ready to go to a division at any time, and are most anxious, indeed, to see the crisis ended and the business of the country proceeded with. The Government paHy appear to be divided on this point. The more moderate of them are in favor of accepting the inevitable with a good grace, and of bringing the debate to a close as soon as the question at issue has been fairly discussed. The

more violent, that is to say Sir George Grey and his personal adherents, are for “ lighting to the last,” and for wrangling as long as their breath holds out. These, however, are few in number and weak in debating power, and the worst that they could do would be to waste a few days of valuable time. The Opposition, we take it for granted, will not answer them, or in any way assist them to prolong the struggle, so that they, and they only, will be to blame for any unnecessary delay that may occur. This “fighting to the last,” which the Premier talked about the other night with so much stage heroism, is really great nonsense. He has neither the occasion nor the material for doing anything of the kind. He has an overwhelming majority against him, and he will have to give way to that majority, just as plenty of better men have had to do before him. It is interesting now to look back to the time when the Atkinson Administration was tottering to its fall, and to observe what Sir George Grey’s ideas were then as to the becoming course to adopt under such circumstances. He held that the moment the Ministry found themselves in a minority, or nearly in a minority, they ought to retire, and he taunted Major Atkinson with not being a Weld, in allusion to Mr. Weld’s resignation in 1865 when in a minority of three. Yet now, when the Opposition are something like two to one against him, and when the Government have actually been beaten by a majority of ten, he raves about fighting to the last, and refuses to retire, though urged to do so by his own supporters. The fact is that he has never realised his constitutional position. He willingly enough acceptedat the hands of the House the power and patronage and pay of Premier; but he obstinately persists, nevertheless, in attempting to set himself above the control of the House, as soon as it becomes unfavorable to him, and in arrogating to himself the unconstitutional attributes of a dictator. In reality, of course, this all goes for nothing. If he had been fifty times Governor, if he had ruled a hundred empires in his time, he must relinquish his present position at the bidding of the body which entrusted him with it, just the same as if he had never been anything but an ordinary member of that body. The more he shrinks from doing so, the more ignominious will be his fall. We must say we are grievously disappointed with his conduct in this matter. The mighty Roman, when he found his end approaching, drew his robe around him that he might die decently ; but our little CiESAR seems determined to shock the spectators by the utter indignity of his demise. Had he, as soon as the hopelessness of his case became apparent, cheerfully and frankly acknowledged himself beaten for the time, and in a manly speech announced his intention of resigning with a view to furthering the public business, he would have gone into Opposition respected by all sides of the House, and supported by a powerful following. He might then haYe either retired from political life with prestige and influence little impaired, or headed a party again for the advocacy of those Liberal principles of which he claims to be the special guardian. The magnanimity of his defeat would have robbed the Opposition of half their victory ; and he would have set an example to all future public men, which would assuredly have gained for him the admiration and gratitude of the country. He is not capable, though, of such an action ; and we fear the last scene of his administration will be also the most discreditable. He and his “ dear and faithful friends”— who, by the bye, have been intriguing for a week past to be rid of him—will fight to the last, which in prosaic language means that they will talk against time, and put the colony to a useless expense of some thousands of pounds. Do what they will, the result must be the same. They are bound to exhaust themselves presently, and then the question will be put, and the division will be taken, and the Ministry will be 'defeated by a crushing majority. What will take place then cannot be foreseen with any certainty. We do not think, however, that Sir George Grey will be able to resist the temptation of having a quarrel with the Governor. He will probably, therefore, advise a dissolution, though he knows as well as anybody that he is not entitled to one ; and on its being refused, he will plunge into one of these memorandum matches which he is so partial to, and such a clever hand at. Sir Hercules Robinson, however, is more than -his master in that line, and, being perfectly sure of his ground, will no doubt easily dispose of his wily antagonist. Sir George Grey will be compelled, in short, to go out of office, either by resignation or by dismissal, and the degree of humiliation attending the process will depend entirely upon himself. For the credit of the political reputation of the colony, as well as for the sake of what was once a great name, it is to be hoped that he will not drive the Governor to the constitutional extremity. Our own feeling is that, if circumstances would admit of it, an appeal to the country just now would be a capital thing. The Grey Ministry, by their maladministration, their neglect of the people’s wants, their indecorous dissensions, and their shameless profligacy, -have become a by-word from one end of the colony to the other. They have literally no defenders, save two or three subsidised organs and a small section of the moat unthinking of the population. A general election would most assuredly result in their absolute discomfiture, such a discomfiture as they cannot possibly meet with otherwise. There are several very cogent reasons though why a dissolution is not to be expected. In the first place, it would be unconstitutional and against every-precedent for the Governor to grant,a dissolution to a Ministry who had been defeated on a vote of want of confidence in their administration only. There would clearly he no issue to go to the constituencies, except that of the fitness of the Ministry to perform their administrative functions ;■ and that, we need not explain, is a question which the House is far more competent to decide than the constituencies. Then it would be a grievous public wrong for a general election to take place prior to a redistribution of seats. The necessity for a redistribution before the next general election is admitted by both parties, and has been asserted by the present Ministry by the introduction

of a Bill for the purpose. The financial condition of the country, too, is such that a prolonged postponement of legislation would be most disastrous. It would not be possible, indeed, for the Government to go to the country at this juncture, without throwing public affairs into confusion. We have still sufficient faith in Sir Geoege Geby’s regard for the welfare of the colony to believe that he would not take a step so prejudicial to its interests. The commercial position of the community, too, is such that a general election would be extremely inexpedient. All classes of the people are too much embarrassed with their own affairs to give that careful attention, to politics which the situation demands ; and in the great majority of cases, the seats would be filled up at haphazard, or at all events in such a manner as would not at all answer the purpose of an appeal to the country. The power of wealth would be irresistible, and there would be great danger of a House being returned almost entirely in the interest of the moneyed class. There would, indeed, be no little difficulty in getting good men to come forward at all, and many constituencies would have to put up with adventurers seeking their bread and butter in politics, or with the agents of the rich. It will be seen, then, that a dissolution,

however desirable from a party point of view, would obviously be impossible from a constitutional point of view, and exceedingly inexpedient on other grounds. There must, therefore, be a change of Ministry within the next few days, and that being the case, we think all will agree that the sooner it takes place the better.