WELLINGTON.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3283, 14 August 1872, Page 3

WELLINGTON.

(KKOM OCIt OWN COUREHPOMIKKT.) August 10th. I never remember, a session like the present one. There is absolute!}' nothing doing or likely to be done. The four weeks during whicli'tlic House has been in session have dragged their slow length along without any debate of interest, and totally devoid of anything in the shape of political contest What the meaning of this extraordinary quietness is, no one seems very well able to make oilt. There is no precedent for it, and it is impossible to do more than guess at the cames which have produced the present state < f affairs, or the results which arc likely t> flow from it. Usually while the Assembly is in session there are plenty of rumours in the lobbies and outside, and these, if not alwayr separate or telinble,; generally indicate more or less correctly how the current is setting. But this session tilings out of the House are almost as Vjtiiet* as they are in it. The only reason I'-liavo heard assigned, and it was of course a

jocular one, was Hi at Mr Rauglitou was no longer in the Honsc. A few interesting or useful Dills have been passed, a large number of petitions have been reported on, and an enormous mass o£ returns have bctm ordered ; and in this you have the result of the four weeks' session. In the Lower House the Government have not brought down a single measure or proposal of any political significance, for, or they have explained, the very sufficient reason that they have none Ut bring. The members opposed to the Government —I cannot call them by the iiaino of the Opposition, for they are at present merely fortuitous atoms, devoid of cohesion— don't seem quite to understand the fact of the Government giving them no measure to attack, and each seems afraid to open up the large questions on which the Ministry would really be most assailable. The Ministry is often reproached with its miserable vacillation, its disinclination to toko up a bold stand on anything, and its apparent desire to be led rather than to lead. There has not been very much done yet, or left undone, to justify those censures, as far as "the present session goes ; but it is felt that if the opportunity was afforded, the Government would in ail probability most fully justify them. At the same time, the leaders on the other side are really quite as much, if not more, open to the same charges. They had a splendid opportunity, but I think they missed it. When the House met it was ripe for revolt There was a strong reaction from the passive obedience which tho majority shewed last session. A bold and skilful leader might, from the materials - around him, have organised a strong party, and, I believe, have led it to victory. Had a want cf confidence motion been tabled boldly and straightforwardly, the Ministry might easily have been attacked with resistless force on the grounds of administrative failure and abuse of patronage. They could scarcely have escaped conviction on these grounds, and strong counts in the indictment against them migl.t have been flamed from the retention of his Superintendcncy by Mr Ormond, and the creation of the new oflice of Resident Minister for tho Middle Island. Such an attack would, I have no doubt, have proved successful, but there was no one to make it, and every day has rendered tho probabilities of success, if made, less. The reply or excuse will, I know, be that before such an attack con hi be made, it was necessary to collate materials and to move for retnx-ns. Logically, and as a matter of reasoning, these returns might afford the means of strengthening the attack ; but as a matter of fact, the logical strength of the roas« tin for declaring no confidence in the Government will not make up for what has been lost in the delay. If the Ministry had to be tried by a judge, it might bo very necessary to get up the evidence very carefully ; but. a question of this kind is rarely viewed by a popular assembly in a very judicial frame of mind, and a weak ease a fortnight ago would have gone further to secure conviction than a strong one will dc now. Every day adds to tho security of the Ministry. If they retain office until the Financial Statement is announced, there are always a number of members who say : Oh ! we must hear tho Statement before we do anything. Then, if the Statement its at all satisfactory, it greatly strengthens the Ministerial position, and, in any case, it incites members to look forward rather than backward. A reasonably satisfactory Budget amounts in practical eifect to an amnesty in regard to past events ; and this is especially tho ease when tho Statement is delayed till late in the session, for members then are getting anxious to get home- again, and are apt to think that a Ministerial crisis may mean another month or ho in Wellington. Thus every day that a Ministry holds oflico, its j chances of retaining office increase ; but there is another and special reason this session why the chances of retaining oflico grow every day stronger. This special reason is, that the only attempt'to organise an Opposition is of such a character as to force those most opposed to the Government to think of who will succeed the present men if they go out. A bold Opposition challenging the Government on the. score of maladministration of the policy to which tho Colony is committed, would, have found many adherents who refuse to endorse any attempt to alter that policy in some of its material points. I believe that a large-majority of the House would rather see the administration in the, hands of other than the present Ministry, and that the country would have approved, of a very extensive if not a total change in tha personnel ot tho Ministry ;but so far as I can judge, the country will not approve, even if the House does, of changing the policy < #i 8 well as the men. Yet this is really the issue which is now raised. Asamere-ab-stract proposition, thereisJittlein the notice of motion given by, Mr Curtis to find fault with. In fac, it literally proposes n i cha- ge whatever, but when it is viewed as the product of several caucuses of Superintendents and their tails, its aspect changes, and it affords a key to what the policy of its authors would be if they attained to office. Thus, men who have been opposed to the present Government for years past, who are aware of all its shortcomings, who admit its misdeeds and failures, and .who- have also been (probably long-before the present administration was formed) determine*! opponents of Provincialism^ are placed in a very peculiar and unenviable position. They are reduced to a choice of evils, and must select between the retention of a Ministry in whose administration they have,little or no confidence, but whose policy tends in the right direction, and a Ministry who will undo all that has been done towards the abolition of Provincialism, and will give the Provincial Governments new life, and extend their powers at the expense of those of the Government of the Colony. The choice is a difficult one, and it renders those who have to make it almost inclined to toss up. But even then, the toss up would not be a fair.one, for those who are reduced to the necessity are very much in the position of tossing with an opponent whose terms are—heads I win tails you lose. There seems no chance of a Ministry whose policy would be right, and who would carry "oxit that policy honestly and ably. Such a combination seems unfortunately unattainable, although it would not be very difficult to pick out from the two bides of the House the ma terials for it The difficulty is to bring these materials together. The constituent elements are at hand, but it is practically^ impossible to bring tliem sufficiently close to secure cohesion.