The Oamaru Mail. THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 12 August 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 1880.

Never -svas a Ministerial Statement so ruthlessly condemned by friend and foe, by Parliament and Press, as tlie Public "Works Statement of the Hon. Mr. Oliver. Never "was a Minister so completely ■written down as incompetent by all sides of the Press as the Public Works Minister. Not a single journal in the Colony has had the courage to defend the Statement. A few certainly have put forth what may fairly be termed exceedingly lame apologies, borne upon wretchedly weak crutches; but all alike have declared the " official utterance" of Mr. Oliver ridiculous and barren. Nor is the unanimity—a wonderful unanimity indeed—confined to the Press, Members of Parliament have been equally imanLmous, for none, save the Premier, have had the courage to say a good word in favor of the Statement, and. if possible, Mr. Hall's defence was even weaker than the Statement itself. At best it was the lamest of lame defences, and we are forced to the conclusion that the cas.e must be beyond the pale of lippc when the Premier could find so little in the Statement to adduce in support of his contention that Mr. deliverance was a statesmanlike production. For ourselves we fail to find the slightest trace of statemansbip or even the very commonest of ability in the Statement. True Mr. Oliver had an unpleasant and unsatisfactory duty to perform, and he performed it in the most unpleasant and unsatisfactory manner. He had to tell \is that very little money remained to carry out public works, and that many pet projects would have to be deferred indefinitely, and he told us those tilings in the most curt and off-hand manner that could well be adopted by the most thoughtless of Ministers. While a mass of irrelevant matter was introduced with a flourish of trumpets and couched in the most verbose of language, important matters affecting the Public Works policy were either dismissed with a few brief sentences or passed over altogether. Thus he [ entered at some length upon the wonderful energy displayed by Mr. ! Firth in clearing a portion of the Waikato river of snags, though the matter had no bearing whatever upon the subject in hand. Seeing, too, that this Mr. Firth, who has been thus immortalised in the song of tlis Minister for Public Works, is the owner Gf miles of country in the Waikato district, and that his attentions to the state of the river were merely the result of a desire to obtain a lasting benefit for himself, we fail to see why his name should be paraded as a public j benefactor. Seeing also that Mr, Firth | has laid a claim for compensation for what he has done for his own especial advantage, the reference to the matter in the Public Works Statement is in the very worst of taste. While this and a host of other irrelevant matters are introduced into the Statement, it is astonishing to find Mr. Oliver neglecting to say a word with reference to the topics that may fairly be classed as of the utmost importance to the country. He has utterly failed to show that he possesses either tact or statesmanlike qualities. And yet what an opportunity he h;y.l before him! Had he been possessed of <?yen the ability of a tom-tit lie might have mada g. name for himself. He had abundance of materials of the first consequence to work upon and voluminous information upon all points at command. Still he missed hLs opportunity, and now instead of obtaining the glory of being classed as a statesman of ability, he must receive the ignominy of being designated a miserable pettifogger. Had he possessed the ability of even a second-rate Colonial politician he might have commanded the attention and respect of the Parliament and the country. He might have sketched out the history and progress of the Public Works policy during the last ten years; he might have shown how lamentably it has failed to accomplish the good which its propounded had promised would result from it; he might have shown in what direction we have erred in cariying out the policy of Kir Julius Vogel; he might have {Kjintcd out directions in which errors have been committed in the past, and liov» a recurrence of these mistakes might be lessened, if not entirely avoided, in the future. All these things he failed to do. He should have been prepared to demonstrate to the public the necessity for taking a new departure in regard to public works, but he failed to perform his very evident duty,

Again, he should have demonstrated clearly the value of the works upon ■which he purposes expending the balance of the loan, but'againrlie failed to do his duty, merely contenting himself with saying we will do this, that, and the other thing. Then again, what a fine field he had before..him to work upon in regard to the future management of the constructed l-ailways, but once more he missed liis mark. And yet the problem how to make our railways pay is one upon the solving of which depends the future prosperity of the country, and to * whom should we look at such a time for assistance in the solution of the problem of problems if not to the Public Works Minister '? Who should we expect to guide us in the matter if not the Minister having the control of the department 1 And yet not a particle of advice does j he give upon the question. Not a; single thought upon the subject does he i give utterance to. It may be that he lias an idea as to the successful working, of the railways in the future, but so far he has not given evidence of any capacity for doing moi'e than finnicking with the railways, and we have little hope that <i Minister who can deliver no better statement upon so large a subject is capable of evolving a practical scheme for the future successful working of tbe railways. He has not hitherto shown the capacity of the real head of a large army. He has pottered over little things, and failed to recognise the fact that on him devolves the duty of originating reforms and propounding new methods of carrying <m the work successfully. He has shown the ability of a drummer, and not that of a general. We might go on for an indefinite period pointing out \yhat hp has failed to accomplish, but what he has done might be stated in a few lines. To paraphrase the lines of Bulwer Lytton, what he has done briefly told, what he has npp done a volume. The whole statement is weak and impotent to the utmost degree, and if success is to attend our railways in the future, all lovers of their country may pray heaven to remove Mr. Oliver from the control of the department.