South Canterbury Times. WEDNESDAY, DEC. 3, 1879.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2090, 3 December 1879, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. WEDNESDAY, DEC. 3, 1879.

The Opposition is dead ! There is no doubt of it. It lias not been buried, but the body is undoubtedly inanimate. We lay no claims to previsionary powers, but wo predicted this result. We stated that when the Opposition threw over Sir George Grey it laid its head on a block. The act was one of deliberate suicide. Its later struggles were but the symptoms of departing vitality. The Opposition is dead, and for it there is no hope of resuscitation. When the present Premier assumed the leadership of his party he intended to play his political cards as well as he could, but his intentions were ruined. The country expected a rare exhibition of strategy, and had the duel been one between the Hon. John Hall and Sir George Grey the display of skill would have been something creditable to New Zealand. But the game was ruined at the outset by the deposition of Sir George and the bungling play of his followers. The electors have been cheated out of their exhibition by the sheer stupidity of the Otago-Auckland Party. This party tried to secure the destinies of New Zealand within their grasp, and they have got whatp Nothing ! The headsman stands with the axe in one hand and the head in another, and as he looks at the motionless body, he exclaims, “So perish all traitors!” “ So perish alltraitors !” is the verdict of press and people. And when the ATnccnt Pykes and Downie Stewarts, having been weighed and found wanting, are finally rejected by their thoroughly-awakened constituents, “So perish all traitors !” will be the popular verdict. The Opposition has died an ignominious death »t the hands of its worst enemy—itself.

Can there be a resuscitation—a resurrection? We think not. Between physical and. political life there is a remarkable resemblance. Cabinets and parties are singularly tenacious of life—thej' have as many lives under ordinary circumstances as a cat. They may be apparently drowned, or strangled, and yet at a fitting juncture they can bo galvanised into renewed activity. But they cannot be beheaded. When the vertebra is severed, life takes wing beyond the hope of returning. The case of the Opposition is therefore, in our opinion, hopeless. To restore it, is both a physical and a political impossibility. It has died the death of a traitor —self-murderer—perished by its ©vm hands. To say this of the depar-

ted seems harsh, but the verdict is a true one. Never has a political opposition that pretended to be liberal extinguished itself in such a shameful manner. There has been no sympathy; no public meetings ; and why ? Simply because sympathy in such a ease would have been entirely misplaced. The electors listened to the harangues and appeals of the professing liberals at the last election till they were dired, and it was assumed that they had been converted. Converted, perhaps, but there has been no awakening. The Government of promises have igonc out, Mr Hall, Mr Whitaker, and Major Atkinson have come in, and there is no sign, beyond the silence that implies consent. Perhaps there is an inward satisfaction at the fate that has overtaken the GreyMacandrew party. We can understand such a feeling as this. The party that includes men in its ranks whoso treachery to successive Ministeries is notorious, deserves no commiserati on. The corrupt elements, the rail-riders, the Jack-in-the-boxes, arc out in the cold, and we are glad of it. It is alleged that the present Government is doing things with a high hand. Journals that have hitherto supported the Ministry arc vigorously crying out against their financial proposals. Like ourselves, tlicy aro opposed to the property tax. They have called upon the people to assemble and protest against it, but the people will not respond. They have piped, but nobody will dance, and now they predict all kinds of evil. We differ from them in this respect —that we are not gloomily disposed. We are still inclined to think that the dreaded property tax will not be inflicted, and that it has only been set up by Major Atkinson as a kind of scarecrow to teach the necessity for retrenchment and keep the cormorants away. If it is passed in the House of Representatives we believe it will be thrown out in the Upper House, and if so, the Legislative Council will establish a claimon the gratitude and esteem of New Zealand that will-not readily be forgotten. We will not go so far as to say that this tax lias been introduced with the intention of enabling the Upper House to repair its partially shattered reputation. The Colonial Treasurer may be sincere enough in his proposals, but he has given the Council a splendid opportunity' of kicking aside one of the most formidable stumbling blocks that has ever been placed in the way of the prosperity of the people, and the mem* hers of that Chamber will be poor tacticians indeed if they' do not make use of their golden opportunity'. As for the insinuation that the country is asleep, we do not believe it. The people were nevermore watchful —more anxious—than they are at this moment. The electoral laws have been largely improved, and we have no doubt when next the decision rests with the ballotbox members will be weighed accurately by the light of the divisions that arc now taking place.