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

At ah agricultural society's meeting in the West of England, the late lamented Albert the Good once said, " Kepresentative institutions are only on their trial." For this utterance His Royal Highness was severely handled by the extreme Liberal Press. Yet the more one sees of the gigantic frauds which are unblushingly perpetrated by those temporarily holding the reins of democratic institutions, the more-convinced one must be that more efficient checks must be used by the Press and the people, in. order to prevent responsible government becoming a perfected system of autocracy. We daily hear of monstrous wrongs inflicted by responsible Ministers, of gross pepotism and favoritism exhibited in various undesirable appointments to lucrative positions, and of valuable concessions made fco secure the votes of doubtful supporters ; and yet forsooth the Press must not individualise these acts of too palpable robbery of public funds. Nor can the Press step in to prevent the powers that be from carrying out some deeply-laid and well-matured plan,! having for its object the unjust alienation and spoliation of public lands. Should any member of the "Fourth Estate" dare, in this free and enlightened country, to publicly expose any such villainous political jobbery, the thunders of our responsible and well-paid Ministers roll about his devoted head. £To public money is spared in an endeavor to silence this champion of the people's rights, and the degrading spectacle is exhibited of our " collective wisdom " combining, as do bands of pirates, in defence of their intriguing and despoiling leaders. We know of one little political job in support of which a considerable portion of public time was expended. It proved abortive, but it cost tli.e public Treasury upwards of L2OOO. But what .did this paltry amount signify to the responsible Ministers of this free country. The public purse was at their disposal, and, if the strings are sometimes opened too widely in order to give gfjod pickings to supporters, they cannot be opened too widely to assist in crushing such as are too inquisitive and meddlesome. With such mingled feelings are we tilled that we hardly dare to handle the last piece of public scandal, and yet a stern sense of our duty as a public censor impells us to denounce as illegal the agreement which our responsible Ministers are said to have made with the delegates of the Lincolnshire farmers as to payment of their expenses out of the public purse. We confess we were somewhat surprised when we were informed of this agreement, and fail to see by what right our almost i exhausted public funds can be devoted to any such purpose. We have, in the Old Country, highly paid emigration lecturers and agents, aud an AgentGeneral and staff, find now we are tobe saddled with the expenses of the agents of intending land purchasers, who, coming to the Colony avowedly as delegates from gentlemen fanners, can surely have 110 earthly claim upon our treasury. We should like to get at the bottom of this transaction. How, where, and when the agreement was entered into ; who authorised this expenditure, and what are the public grounds on which the demand was made and acceded to. Until our Treasurer can satisfactorily explain this transaction we shall continue to emphatically affirm our opinion that our public funds have been used for purposes outside those for wliich we are so heavily taxed, and altogether outside of the authority held by our responsible Ministers,