The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1884. WEIGHED AND FOUND WANTING.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 55, 1 February 1884, Page 2

The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1884. WEIGHED AND FOUND WANTING.

Repeatedly has the Opposition Press attacked the Ministry without the slightest consideration for the little good that has been effected by the exalted body,—repeatedly has the charge of incompetency been brought against the Government, although one, at least, of its members has done the State some excellent service, and there appears to be a modicum of stigma attached to the position of head of political affairs in this Colony. Although inclined to give the Government a certain amount of credit for what it has done, we cannot ourselves overlook the fact that there are a few “ old women ” in the ranks of the Ministry, and that its reconstruction is a consummation devoutly to be wished. Friends and foes alike will admit that the Minister for Native Affairs, the Hon, Mr. Bryce, has been well chosen, —he has clearly proved himself to be one of the most able men for the office he fills that ever did duty in that capacity, and yet his lines are not exactly east in pleasant places. Mr. Bryce’s tact, judgment, and firmness are the incentives that have induced the leading Maori chiefs to bow to his decisions, and he is not only feared but respected by a large number of the most obstinate Kingites ; still, the Native Minister is not quite competent to deal successfully with the affairs under his control, and this drawback can only, we think, be attributable to the mean, crawling, despicable movements of that class of bipeds who hang about the pahs—the PakehaMaoris. Of all “intelligent” creatures on God’s earth, there is no more contemptible character than the white loafers who pick up their livelihood by hanging about pahs, and instilling into the minds of the Natives such ideas and “information,” while tendering them advice, as have a tendency to counteract the effect of the good actions of the Maoris’ real friends—the true Pakehas ; and it is, it may be presumed, through the instrumentality of those disgraces to humanity, in a great measure, that the land-tenure trouble has been so extended. Under such circumstances, it must be admitted, Mr. Bbtce has deported himself manfully, and he is a bright

set-off to the ineapables who have, unfortunately, held. office for far too long a period. het us take the Hon. Thomas Dick, for instance. Few persons are, we should think, prepared to contend that he has proved himself to be " to the manner born,” —few even of those foolish individuals who sent him to the House will now affirm that he is a “ heavenborn” Minister. True, the peculiarlyconstituted gentleman is of a religious turn of mind, —like the Pharisee of old, his ways, in his own opinion, are righteous ; yet he it was, we believe, who sent the diabolical order to prevent the poor wretches in the Lyttelton Gaol getting a Christmas dinner ! Turn we then to the HonMr. Olives. Surely no one of his supporters will have the temerity to assert that he is an acquisition to the Ministry, or even capable of reflecting credit on those who were instrumental in placing him in a position above his proper sphere. Away with such pretenders to greatness I Over four years in office, in the receipt of large salaries which far better men are entitled to, when long since they were weighed in the balance and found wanting! and it is to such mental and physical material that the Colony is to look for its future prosperity ! How strikingly preposterous 1 On the other hand, the Premier is a gentleman of good parts,—he has played his cards well, in the wake of Sir John Hall, and through the assistance of the Hon. F, Whitaker—• whose ability is unquestionable™has managed to retain office for a lengthy period. There is, however, the fact of the degeneracy of the Legislature to be taken into consideration, and the retention of office by the present Ministry for a long period was not so difficult a matter as it would have been had some of the old politicians—such as Messrs. Ormond, Richardson, Wakefield, Reader Wood, Stout, Ballance, Donald Heid, and Fox—been in a position to be able to do battle in the political arena on behalf of the interests of their fellowcolonists. Retaining office at any price has been one of the most objectionable features of the present Ministry’s reign, and certain sops had, of course, to be dealt out to keep the ill-assorted crew in charge of the craft that has for a long time been drifting among financial breakers. The Ministry has, in fact, had its time, rolled the ball to suit its own peculiar proclivities, and most of the political mountebanks may shortly be relegated to obscurity—having been weighed and found wanting—with “ none so poor to do them reverence.” Indeed, we fail to see that—apart from the good work of the Native Minister and one or two of his colleagues—there has been left on record any measures which could give the least lustre to an epitaph on the demise of a body the majority of whose members have —to say the least of it—mistaken their vocation.