The Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 1884. THE STOUT-VOGEL MINISTRY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1218, 16 August 1884, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 1884. THE STOUT-VOGEL MINISTRY.

We bare not hitherto countenanced Sir Julius Vogel, nor are we now inclined to bow down in meek obeisance to the Government he has formed, but we must confess that he has during the last week risen 50 per cent, in our estimation. Our greatest to Sir Julius Vogel arose out o. fear of his excessive borrowing propensities, and until we know his proposals on this point we cannot give in our adhesion to his Ministry. But if he displays the same tact and ability in devising a policy as he has in the formation of the Ministry, we feel confident his position will soon be a strong one. Politics for the last few months would be a most amusing study only for the fact that they betray extraordinary sefishness and want of patriotism in our public men. Lot us now review the matter. Pat-sing over the scandalous conduct of the last Parliament, we shall begin with - tli« re-appearance of Sir Julius V«se!. No sooner did he appear iu the field than constituency after constituency solicited the honor of being represented by him, and of course he was " as willing as Barkiss." His speech at Asliburloo was decidedly of the Conservative type, but it was swallowed without any gauce by Liberals and Conservatives. Previous to this several newspapers deprecated the idea of encouraging Sir Julius Vogel to re enter politics. The Timaru Herald said it was degrading to the intelligence of Nev Zealand to look to him as a leader, and the Christchurch papers were hardly iess outspoken. No sooner had he spoken, however, than all theee rushed under the shelter of his standard ; member after member declared he would follow the great leader, and this heaven-sent statesman became the idol of the day. Never before was such fetish-worship i witnessed an New Zealand. Parliament j was elected, members met, the Govern- j ment resigned, and the onus of forming a new Ministry was thrown on the shoulders of the Opposition. And j what an Opposition 1 First, there was Sir George Grey, though his tail had been considerably clipped, still confident of leadership ; second came Mr Ormond, looked upon as the strongest man of the party; third, Sir Julius Vogel, with the respectability of Canterbury looking to him as their guide, philosopher and friend ;. fourth, Messrs Macandrew and Stout, witU Mr Ballance, followed by the o!d identities of Otago; and, fifth, Mr Montgomery, not yet altogether crushed. In this conglomeration were combined the " unearned increment" of Kir George Grey ; the " land tax " of Mr Ormond ; the " free trade in land " of Sir Ju ius Vngel ; the "separation" of Mr Macandrew; the " land nationalisation " of Messrs Stout and Ballance ; and the " burstingup" policy of Mr Montgomery. Never before had a Cabinet'maker such extraordinary material to work upon. Mr Ormond appears to nave been the first consulted by the Governor, but he gave the matter up in. disgust, and went home to the bosom of his family. Next came Sir Julius, and the hopes of the " respectability" rose to the skies'. They thought of course they were to rush into power at once, and the freetrade in land was to be established so that they could acquire a monopoly of it. The sagacious Sir Julius, however, saw if he put his trust in this party his following wou>d be very select, but very small, and there was nothing for it but to cement together the discordant elements into one solid body. And this idea he. has carried out. No doubt he Has had, to trim his own sails considerably, and others of the party have bad to pocket their own Jittle "fads, I 'but all policies are made up of compromises. After all it is possible that the Opposition may be cemented together into a strong party with a well defined policy, and if that is done good must result. Hitherto the Opposition has been composed, of three or four parties, all with leaders envious of each other, as withnessed by the fact that not one of them dared to move the "no-confidence" motion. So long as these existed, no one could hope to see a change and if Sir Julius has succeeded in forming a party strong enough and united enough to carry out his policy, he has rendered good service to the colony. Still he has not given general satisfaction. The liruaru Herald has turned round on him now, but no one can lake any notice of that paper because everyone J knows that it must oppose every Ministry which does not include a certain wmld-be Postmaster-General. The Press condemns it because the "respectability " is not included, and the Otago Daily Times because its present editor does not understand politics at all. The common ground for complaint is that Messrs Ballance and Stout are too radical—to wit, their views on land 1 nationalisation. In taking Bucb able colleagues at these two gentlemen into his ship, Sir Julius Vogel has, we think, done a very wise thing. Without doubt, being in office will tend to considerably modify their views. Their views are certainly extreme when the character of the present Parliament in considered, but we hope they will be guided by Sir Julius Vogel to a course that can be regarded bb a *' happy ; medium," and sound legislation will he the result. The present crisis has had one effect already ; it lias thoroughly exposed two consummate political hum-

!)u«-s—viz., Sir George Grey and Mr Wakefield. Sir Grey has gr-ne over to Miijor Atkinson, for no -other reason than that lie was not made Premier, and Mr Wakefield has deserted Sir Julius Vogel because he was not included in the Ministry. No one who knows, Mr Wakefield can help pitying his vagaries. Will'o-the-wisp is said to be a poor departed spirit, who ootid not gain admittance into either af-aven, hell, or purgatory, hut was condemned to return to earth in the delusive form in which it appears to us. Mr ' Wakefield's political condition is almost equally lamentable—he will not be accepted by any party, and has to hover around as lonely, as sad, and as friendless as the picture which the poet has given us of the last man. oir George Grey is still, more objectionable. At his time of life he ought to care little for office, but perhaps the excuse for his conduct is to be found in the fact tiiat he is approaching, if he has not reached, the " second childhood" period. At any rate both have been unmasked, but,if we mistake, not many other masks will come off before the session comes to,nn end.