THE CABINET AND DISPUTE. FISHER CORRESPONDENCE. Wellington, June 28.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 381, 3 July 1889, Page 3

THE CABINET AND DISPUTE. FISHER CORRESPONDENCE. Wellington, June 28.

Ther& is^n^doubb that spme of the language'employed in the correspondence between the, late Minister of Education and tho Prerttier, which has caused such a sensation throughout tiho cblony, is decidedly warm, and.thab more mud is cast/ in most recent ellusions than i* generally thrown between two' gentlemen who have had the honour of sitting together as Ministers of the Crown. Trouble really began over the beer duty prosecutions, in which Mr Fisher (as 'Commissioner' of Customs) is charged with having declined to instruct, prosecutions for mo&t flagrant breaches of the Act to be initiated, because ii is alleged that 'the offender was a p'erspnal friend of his. After" a few days' reflection •on the position, Mr "Fisher decided tb' resign -as a mjpmber. of the Executive, and ,in doing so, expressed the' conviction ,'that~his attitude in connection' with the beer duty eases had been merely used as a pretext for dismissing him trom "office, the actual facts being^ , that a seriou3 difference of opinion had arisen between the Premier and himsolf regarding' the trealmcut'of Mr Rae, a railway, expert trom Home, in connection with the appointment bf.tho Railway Boaid j also, as to the appointment of a successor x,o Judge Johnston, and over the property tax questions, the Premier's land nationalisation utterances, etc. " This letter drew 'from Sir Harry Atkinson a strongly--worded reply, in which he charged Mr Fisher with publishing, in. a most irregular and unwarrantable manner, a synopsis of bis Educatioh "Bill in the- ** Evening Post," before submitting it to the" Premier for the consideration of the Cabinet, and he says that though the Bill was prepared by rlircction of the Cabinet, and was drafted entirely by'Tns'pector-General-H.ibenp, it waf'never submitted to the Premier, and after the" ex-Minister of Education had had Several copies printed he ordered the type to be distributed without sending a single copy of the Bill to the' Education Office or returning the original manuscript, which wag an official document. The. Premier explains that he recomjnended His Excellency the 'acting Gcverijoy to dismiss Mr Fisher from the Executi'/e because during the last few days that he* held office he made such an. extraordinary use of ;his Ministerial •position thoj; fit , was' not right that ,he should lpnger remain in the position /which enabled nifn to deal with public re- ' cords in an'imdroper manner. Mr Fisher had^cifused to.be printed at-tlie public expense, but -for; his own ufie f papers relating to the brewery prosecutions, with official and Ministerial minutes, these 'being printed apparently for" distribution without die knowledge of-,the Premier. He felt f>h r at it would be a public scandal for Mr Fisher to remain a day longer than could be helped as a, MihisteY" of*" the Grown. As to the Hsti Of j 'larger questions on which Mr. FjsheiViclaimsi to bavle at; various times differed <[rom:jbhe Cabinet, Sir Harry Atkinson alleges tljat this is the first jbime he had had the Slightest, intimation of any serious difference between the late Minister of Education arid tlip Cabinet or himself upon any of these questions. Ihe foregoing extracts will give your readers some ; idea of the nature'of "the 'correspondence from a Minis-, terial standpoint that has : passed between the ' Premier'' 11 and his" late '• colleague. Nothing fuVtlicris being tlSne with regard to,' the- correspondence, and it is rumoured, that it; will not 1 be laid on v the table [pi the Houao for another fortnight :r ■ ■,