South Canterbury Times, TUESDAY, JULY 5, 1881.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2586, 5 July 1881, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, TUESDAY, JULY 5, 1881.

Ministees hare suffered several defeats during the brief period which has elapsed since the commencement of the present session. “ The House is disorganised,” their friends say. No doubt it is, and the reason why is, that there is an exceedingly weak Ministry in power. A strong Government would control the House. If a majority ofmembers are really solicitious for the maintenance in power of the Ministry, the threat to resign would be a ready way to bring them to their senses. But Ministers appear to be afraid to take such a step, though it is a course which any self-respecting body of men would have adopted ere this. As it now stands, Ministers cannot rely upon carrying anything on which a majority on both sides of the House are not agreed. The strength of the Government lies in the want of a recognised leader of the Opposition, and there are no signs yet of a coming head. Sir George Grey nominally occupies the position, and so long as he does occupy it, the Hall Ministry are safe. Nothing is more apparent in the political present than the waning influence of the Knight of Kawau. As long as he remains a chief in the Parliamentary arena, the Ministry arc safe. The Tory party should bless Grey, instead of heaping curses on his head. Bad temper and little knowledge of detail have been sufficient to put the member for the Thames on the shelf. Still in a large degree lie created the Liberal party of New Zealand, and it does really seem hard that he should be ousted from the leadership. But the exigencies of the party require that he should be relegated to a more subordinate position. We are afraid that Sir George Grey will not retire gracefully. The love of power has become a second nature. He is really the disturbing element in the House. It is perfectly clear from

the recent divisions that the Ministry do not possess the confidence of the majority in Parliament. A principal cause of a vote of no confidence not being tabled is a distrust of Sir George Grey. Another reason may be that the general election will take place in the course of a few months, and the leading spirits of the Opposition desire to await the verdict of the constituencies. It will be unique in the history of Parliamentary government that a Ministry should remain in power through a whole session when from the very start Ministers lacked a majority. The sooner members go to the country the better.