The Oamaru Mail TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1250, 20 April 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 1880.

The step that has been taken,, and that which it is contemplated to take, to fortify the position of the Ministry, preparatory to the struggle of the approaching session, meets with but little approval anywhere. Mr. Dick may be satisfied with the distinguished position to which he lias been promoted, and so may his friends. There are, too, those in whose minds considerations of never find a place when those of personal advantage, however fanciful and remote, are involved. Such are to be found in every constituency in New Zealand. Hie act of the Ministry in adding a second Otago member to the Cabinet may be viewed as one of those pieces of political byplay for which the present Government are more celebrated than they are for administrative capacity. Whatever may be the opinion of political opponents regarding the character of the Government in other respects, they will doubtless unanimously concede this point—for their Pharisaical protesta- | tions of sincere regard for the welfare of the people of the colony—for the quality of their feigned disgust at the alleged worthJessness of their predecessors—they have never been beaten. They are good "actors, and can maintain the characters of the "iirst villain' 5 and the philanthropist equally well. Insecurity of their ]>osition suddenly | developed within them heaven-born j indignation on account of Auckland's | wrongs. They wished to live ' but for one object, and that was that they might redress those wrongs, which some superior and secret revelation had laid bare to their privileged gaze in all theirenonnity. The shoulders of four Auckland members were necessary to assist in getting their vehicle lout of the mud, so that they might ! proceed on their journey and counterI poise the scale which had been over- | weighted with the good things meted | ont to southern pai*ts of the Colony by I former designing and unscrupulous adj ministrations. The wages these men | set on their services were high.. L 165,000, sundry railways, and the appointment of one of their number as a Minister of the Crown was to be the remuneration. Had it been double, in the estimation of the Ministry it would not have been too much. But the representatives of southern constituencies,

strange thotigli it may appear, wanted to know what they were to receive as a retaining fee. They were not seized with the same cosmopolitan spirit that had taken possession of the Ministry. It was a difficult game to play. But players who had. through long practice, learnt the art of concealing a trump card up their sleeve and producing it with a celerity, the brill an cy of which, whilgt it did not dazzle awl deceive their opponents, seemed their artifice from the detection of onlookers, were not easily to he cornered. Otago had already a representative in the ! Cabinet, but it should have another if ;it would only bow the knee. The only [difficulty in "the way of the fulfilment ! of the promises to Auckland and Otago was that there was only one vacancy in the Cabinet. There was not time to introduce an Act into Parliament to legalise an increase in the number of members, of the Cabinet so as to facilitate the carrying out of their plans. Besides, if there had been, there was no necessity to go to such trouble. An Auckland member was to be appointed to the seventh seat, and receive the usual emolument—an Otago member

was to be appointed to an eighth, -without any other salary than that which the liberality of his colleagues might induce them to spare from their salaries. Such self-denial is akin to that which shipwrecked men exercise when they each eat sparingly that all may exist. Actuated, of coarse, solely by a desire to equalise the representation of various parts of the Colony in the Ministry, the Government had recourse to this plan, with which some of its members are so familiar. In 1876 the Cabinet consisted of nine Ministers. Only seven—the full complement permitted by the Act in force at that time—drew pay, but the other two enjoyed travelling allowances, which amounted to LISOO, and other privileges, which considerably augmented that sum. Through the action of that lliorn in the .side of the j continuous Government—Mr. Sees—- ; tlti-i Ministry was disqualified, but absolved from the penalties of their i illegal act, and a reconstruction took place. Since then the law lias been amended, so as to permit additions to a Ministry, all over seven to receive tmvelling allowances, but no salary. Hie Government have signified their intention of taking advantage of this Act. But, although it is rumored that Mr. Header Wood is to be offered the eighth portfolio, it is not at all certain that that gentleman will consent to join a family in which he will be accorded the restricted privileges of an illegitimate meinbei*. The terms on which -he and his colleagues gave in their adhesion to the Government, wliich have gained for them an unenviable fame, was that he was to be the seventh member. Mr. Dick was responsible, it would appear, for the alteration in the programme. That gentleman's patriotism is not of an advanced character, and he objected to accept office without salaiy—indeed, it is said that he stipulated that he should have the seventh seat as the price of his support of the Government. What

j ever may liave been tbe intentions of the Government iii having recourse to the plan which brought disaster on their particular friends who held office in 1876, the principle involved is a bad one. True, the additional members

get no salary • but they get travelling expenses, and enable a weak Government to strengthen itself. If a Ministry of the number allowed by the Act cannot govern the country, it should give place to more capable administrators. It should not have recourse to a system, especially in times of financial difficulty, -whereby the country is- saddled with unnecessary expense in order to enable them to purchase political support. That the Government will get into trouble over this matter is by no means a remote probability.