Poverty Bay Standard. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 1882.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1122, 14 August 1882, Page 2

Poverty Bay Standard. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 1882.

The Government views on the Loan Bill have been carried by a majority of four. Thatthisjwas a foregone[conclusion is patent to the most superficial observer. The Opposition could not form a Ministry even if they ousted the present occupants of the Treasury Benches; and it is certainly not the object of the real leaders of the Opposition to place themselves in a quandary. Sir George Grey holds back, and while he holds back it is impossible for any of the present Opposition members to form an Opposition Ministry. It seems almost a farce to entrust the carrying of a vital measure to such men as Mr Montgomery, while the Knight of Kawau remains latent. That .Sir George Grey must be laughing in his sleeve at the impotent efforts made by the so-called leaders of the Opposition seems clear to us. The true Opposition as a body will not accept the leadership of those who now pretend to it, and, we think it evident, have only allowed them to take the lead so far in order to feel the pulse of the House, and without any real hope or intention of carrying the measure. If such politicians as Messrs. DeLautour, Montfomery, et hoc genus omne, ever hope to hold portfolios they will have to shine forth considerably more than they have hitherto done. They can never otherwise command that weight in the House so essentially necessary to Ministerial conduct of afiairs political. The Government are not strong, but the Opposition are not strong either. The Opposition, if working in unison, are strong enough to turn the Ministry out, but by reason of their being divided amongst themselves, the virtue is gone from them. No one ean read the debates without seeing that it was not the intention of those of the Grey party who are He facto the Opposition leaders, to oust

the present Ministry, or do anything beyond testing the feeling of the House. Neither members nor the country are desirous of a general election at present.