The Southland Times. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22,1872.

Southland Times, Issue 1666, 22 November 1872, Page 2

The Southland Times. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22,1872.

The recent changes in the Provincial Executive furnish an illustration of the extraordinary results which are sometimes brought about by the action of our cumbrous and complicated political sy3tem. Mr Dojtald Reid, chief of the late Provincial Executive, is also a member of Assembly. So is his official superior, Mr Macajsdbew, Superintendent of the Province. The Superintendent and the Provincial Secretary sit on opposite sides of the House. The Government of which the Superintendent is a supporter is defeated, and resigns. A new Ministry is formed, of which Mr Donald Eeid is one of the members. It is evident that his position with regard to the Superintendent thus at once becomes anomalous. It would not be strictly correct to say that a Colonial Minister is the superior of the Superintendent of a Province, yet the relation has something of that character. Matters are further complicated when the Superintendent supports the Opposition, and the Minister is a member of the Provincial Executive. So that there is nothing at all surprising in the fact that Mr Macandbew should have thought it right that Mr Eeid, being Minister of Public "Works for the Colony, should retire from his position as Provincial Secretary of Otago. We say nothing of the obvious impossibility of one man discharging the duties of both offices, from sheer want of time, even if the respective spheres of action had not been separated so widely as by the distance between Wellington and Dunedin. But we cannot ignore the fact that there ia a handsome salary attached to both offices, for according to the ordinary motives of human action, this fact may be reasonably supposed to have had a good deal to do with the turn affairs ultimately took. Mr Reid, it mav be assumed, and indeed he now saya so himself, never intended to retain both positions for any length of time. The Provincial Secretaryship must sooner or later have been resigned. But when? Not certainly, ia the name of common sense, while the Assembly continues to sit, and the ranks of the Government and the Opposition are so evenly balanced. The portfolio of Minister of Public "Works, with all its accompanying honors and advantages, might elude the grasp of the Provincial Secretary, and -vanish into thin air, at any moment while the session lasted. Mr Reid doubtless felt, in common with the Otago Daily Times, that although the 250,000 inhabitants of the Colony might not long enjoy the advantage of his services, it would be little short of a public calamity if the 70,000 inhabitants of Otago should be deprived of them also. Mr Macakdeew may be excused for being less anxious on the suVjeet, and aa Mr Keid would not tell him what he meant to do, it is not very surprising that he took the matter into his own hands. Mr Beid's subsequent assurance that Mr Macandbew must have known that he could not continue long to hold the two offices comes rather too late. Had he said so at once Mr Macandbew could hardly have dismissed him. But the inference which might be drawn from such a statement, made at the time, would have been too obviously unpleasant to be needlessly courted by any politician of Mr Eeid's high sense of what is due to himself. Therefore it happens that like many other men of great talents before him, Mr Eeid has fallen between two ! stools, and in that unpleasant position j must remain until the Council meets, when, as his admirers fondly hope, he may again obtain possession of the little one, which, in the absence of the other, is by no means to be despised. In the meantime the Province is to have a new Executive. The action of the Superintendent, in thus changing his advisers during the recess, and the grave constitutional questions which it involves, have been discussed with due solemnity by the Dunedin papers. To the majority of intelligent colonists, who regard the Provincial system simply as a nuisance, to be abated as speedily as possible, such discussions will present little interest. The practical point of importance is whether the business of the Province will be less efficiently conducted by the new administration than by their predecessors. And on this score, we are happy to Bay,

we see no reason for anxiety. Mr Tolmie i and Mr Turnbull are both men of high character, and large and successful commercial experience, quite as good qualifications for managing the affairs of the Province as Mr Reid's liberal professions — to which he seems to owe hia popularity with hia own admirers — and less satisfactory performances — for -wkiohj' he J deserves to lose it. Of Mr M'Dermid we know little, except that he is -an old j settler, and a respectable man. Mr M'A.bthur is well known in Southland, and possesses the advantage of a thorough knowledge of the capabili- ; ties and requirements of this part of the country. The special interests of this district will never be overlooked by any Executive of which he is a member. The new Executive, while from the circumstances of its appointment it cannot be said to represent any expression of public policy adopted by the Council, or even to command the confidence of thai body, as it has yet had no opportunity of coming into contact with it, may nevertheless, by wise and successful administration, establish a [claim to such confidence by the time the Council re-assembles, and, what will be even better, do much substantial good by^the judicious and successful management of, the affairs of the Province.