The Standard AND PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.) WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 1875.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 289, 14 July 1875, Page 2

The Standard AND PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 1875.

“ We shall sell to no man justice or right: W • shall deny to no man justice or right: We .hall liefer to no man justice or right."

One of the most interesting and important items in the political world, to hand by the last mail, is the reconstruction of the Colonial Ministry, the particulars of which will be found in another, column. It appears that the resignation of the Government was rendered necessary in consequence of the continued absence of Sir Julius Vogel, and his not having been sworn in by the new Governor as a member of his Excellency’s Executive Council. The alteration in some of the portfolios is one of difference also ; Sir Julius Vogel sinks, for the nonce, to a subordinate position, —at least in dignity and pay —being now Postmaster-General and Commissioner of Telegraphs ; while his henchman, Dr. Pollen, has become Premier, retaining his portfolio of Colonial Secretary and leader of the Government in the Upper House. The change is one of mere political metempsychosis —an official transmutation of the shadow, without the substance that belongs to it. The telegrams inform us that this arrangement is one of expedient, so as to hold the Ministry, body and soul, together, until Sir Julius arrives in the Colony ; but as the bon. gentleman is not expected, according to the most authentic advices, until November, when the Assembly will be nearly over, it is hard to see what good purpose is served in maintaining such a sham; and entering upon a course of political shiftiness and intrigue, the very unsubsiantiality of which exposes the chief actors in it to a want of confidence and public censure. Practically, the Government in the Lower House will be without a leader —at any rate a competent one —for the greater part, if not all, of the session. They are understood as being prepared with a Total Abolition Bill ; but, unless Mr Stafford —who is reported as likely to form a strong antiProvincial party against Sir George Grey’s Provincial proclivities—comes to the front and takes up the real leadership in the fight on behalf of the Government forces, there will be little ehance of a decisive and satisfactory battle being fought. We thoroughly believe that Sir Julius Vogel means to do all he has promised ; and that he would prefer to meet the opponents of his scheme face to face ou the floor of the House, than hand the affairs of the Colony, even for a temporary season, over to the keeping of inferior men, whose incompetency none could gauge better than the ex-Premier himself. But it is neither honest nor expedient, iu the interests of the Colony at large, that any man should attempt to battle with impossibilities. The hon. gentleman must have known all along that he could not arrive in the Colony in time to meet Parliament at the iiritiation of the question, par excellence, of the day, by the side of which all others that have been submitted for the consideration of the New Zealand Legislature, sink into insignificance ; and to confide its organisation and parliamentary disposal to the hands of second rate men, in the hope that lie may be able to swoop down upon his enemies in the death scene, a la j/ladiateur, is an exhibition of political vanity,and a desire to secure a personal triumph at the probable risk and failure of the whole business. The Southern Cross, in a very lame attempt to shelve by stating its opinion thaf the law offices of the Crown have “ exhausted constitutional law and practice’’ in searching for precedents, nevertheless states that Sir Juuls will be in the Colony by November, even if he has to come out on crutches. But,, looking at the

matter without “ inspiration,” we fail to see why, if his anxiety be so grea f , he should delay until the question that most requires his presence has been decided on without his aid, and the moribund Parliament is in the throes of final dissolution. However, as the case stands now it is a matter of the first importance that the best men on the Abolition side should place their services at the disposal of the Colony, whether they are to be found on the Government benches or not.’ That the present Government, wanting an able leader in the Lower House, are quite unable to cope with the phalanx of opposition which will be brought to bear against them under the chieftainship of Sir George Grey, is a most unquestionable fact. Where, then, is our hope ? It is a fortunate circumstance for the Colony in its present straitthat Mr Stafford ranks amongst the number of those who wish for an altered form of local Government; and he may, in the absence of Sir'Julius Vogel, take up the cudgels which the Government eannot wield. But there is this contingency: Will Mr Stafford —will the Colony—be satisfied with the form of local Government the Ministry propose to substitute in the place of existing Provincial institutions? Willing as that gentleman may be to co-operate with the Government as an independent member in the passing of an Abolition Bill which is acceptable to the people, it is quite on the cards, that, if he disapprove, of their measure, he will join Sir George Grey's forces—at any rate upon the question of deferring the settlement of the Abolition question until a more convenient season. Therefore, under these circumstances, it would have been well for the Government to have made friends w'ith the mammon of unrighteousness. Perhaps they have made the attempt, and, having failed, are determined to pursue a course which may end in dividing the House into three parties instead of two. That, indeed, is our idea of the probable end of the matter, so far as the present Parliament is concerned ; for it must notbeforgotten,that,in express contradiction to the wishes of the people, the Ministry have not yet made known what they propose to substitute for the Provincial form of Government as it at present exists. Had they done so, we should have been able to reckon pretty closely on the Votes of those likely to support the Government, and which might have dispensed with the services of its prime mover and advocate. From any point of view we do not entertain a belief that the Provincial party will succeed in stifling the life out of the Abolition Hydra now rearing its heads all over the Colony. Should Mr Stafford—as the recognised head of a section in the Assembly favorable to Abolition, but unfavorable to the scheme before the House —suedeedin ousting the GovernwS, indubitably, be “sent for ” Undertake the formation of a minis’try'jxrssupport Abolition in some fotfls., iu\*prafeTence to Sir George Gkex; a defiapt and determined advocate and upholder of Provincialism, with its effete, cumbrous, and expensive machinery. ’ Under any circumstances, therefore, we may, so far, look hopefully the coming session ; althoughf'Wether Sir Julius Vogel be in his place in the Assembly or not, we incline to the belief that the battle of Provincialism versus Centralism, will not be concluded by the present Parliament.