The Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1887. THE POLITICAL CRISIS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1646, 13 October 1887, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1887. THE POLITICAL CRISIS.

Seveeai rumors are afloat wi h regard to the policy the present Government will adopt. Some say themajority of the Ministers favor Protection, others hold that they are Freetraders j others again Bay that they are a mixture of Protectionists and Freetraders, and that their policy will be made up of a little of botb, while the consensus of public opioion is in favor of the theory that Protection will not be attempted this session, and that the new Ministry will devote themselves entirely to retrenchment. It was also said that they will retrench to the extent of £300,000, and sell £200,000 worth of land, but Major Atkinson has authorised the newspapers to contradict this. The reports floating about as regards the intention of the Government may therefore be put down as worthless, but there is one thing certain —they will make a bold bid for popularity by effecting retrenchment in the public expenditure. Economy is absolutely necessary, and any Ministry who undertakes it ought to get every consideration shown to them. Retrenchment is the most unpopular policy a Government can adopt. It is a very good and a very popular hustings cry, but one of the most awkward things to reduce to practice that any Government can undertake. No Government has been able to survive extensive retrenchment. With retrenchment they have generally thrown themselves out of office, and we have little doubt but that Major Atkinson knows it as well as any one can tell him. "We have frequently attempted to foretell events before now, and have very often managed to make a good guess at things, and this has emboldened us to try again, 'i he position at present is complicated, but careful study of the-:situation has led us to the conclusion that Major Atkinson is not sincere in the action he has taken. Major Atkinson is shrewd, if not brilliant or clever. He has — Low cunning which nature, kind, indulgent parent, gave To supply the place of wisdom to the knave.

He Recognises tvro things—lst, that there is a rage for fresh blood in the Ministry ; and 2nd, that there is a rage for retrenchment, and he has come to the conclusion that it is desirable to make a show of satisfying both. Yielding to the first-named pressure he has taken new men into his Cabinet, and now he will place before the House such a scheme of retrenchment as he knows full well members will not adopt and he will be defeated. He will thus have made a show of haying respected public prejudices, and will say " The country desires to see retrenchment carried out by a Cabinet of new men. I have done my best to comply with the public wish. The House will not support me; let the House now support whosoever it desires to see leading. I shall resign," and he will. A new Government will then be formed, and if it includes Sir Julius Vogel it will be defeated within a few days. The prejudice against Sir Julius Vogel appears to be so intense that there seems to be no hope of his success. The moment be reappear* on the Treasury Benches Mr Scobie Mackenzie will move a noconfidence motion, and after having carried it, he will be sent for, but be will not be able to form a Q-overn- i ment. Perhaps one or two Governments will be formed and defeated, and when the House is tired of making and unmaking Ministries, as was the case in 1884, Major Atkinson will come forward again, surrounded by such of his old colleagnes as are left to him, and he will carry on the Government of the country on the old lines. W> have not the slightest doubt but that the most of this prophecy will come true. Major Atkin. son would never hare selected Messrs 1 Hislop and Fisher aB permanent col leagues. He knows them too well, and he knows too that the oiler members will not stand being passed oyer in this way. It may be said that he Las taken them so that he may have it all his own way, but if he had any such intentions he would have selected more pliable tools than these. However, time will teii, but meantime the Liberal party would d" well to keep out of the fight as much as possible. They will gain nothing by turning out the present team as they are not strong enough to re-

place them. Their policy ought to be to let discontented Conservatives lead the attack on the present Government and by all means back them up. Their only chance is to wait; they can do nothing at present except to help the Conservatives to make themselves ridiculous, and to disgust the country with their conduct. The worst of the Liberal party is that they appear to lack stability. Messrs Hislop and Fisher are a sad example of this. Both of these profess democratic tendencies, but the moment they were offered a portfolio by the Conservative leader they at once jumped at it and flung principles to the winds. Major Atkinson has always worked on thin weakness of the Liberals. He has frequently recruited his Cabinet from the Liberal ranks; he has worked on the old Conservative plan of " divide and govern," and it was on this {>rinciple he accumulated Messrs Eoleston and Bryce. He will not find Messrs Fisher and Hislop such trusty friends as Messrs Eolleston and Bryce. He will find that the moment they cease to derive pay from associating with Major Atkinson, they will cease to be loyal to him, and if we mistake not that moment will come very soon. ■ ♦ —■ —■ — THE CONTINUOUS MINISTRY:. Whether Major Atkinson the present Ministry to live or not, there can be no doubt but that it is the Continuous Ministry still. Major Atkinson, Sir Frederick Whitaker, Mr Mitchelson, Mr E. C. J. Stevens, Mr Fergus, and Mr Richardson are &li Continuous Ministry men still. Messrs Hislop and Fisher are renegade Liberals, taken in to Bupply the places of Messrs Eolleston and Bryce. "We wish the new renegades no worse fate than that which has befallen those whose places they have supplied. We have little doubt but that their tergiversation will be rewarded in a similar manner. Messrs Hislop and Fisher will be pliable tools in the hands of their more experienced colleagues, and their experienced colleagues _ are, and always have been, but the pliable tools of banks and money-rings. Major Atkinson himself has been called "the book-keeper of the Bank of New Zealand." Sir Frederick Whitaker is one of the largest shareholders of the Bank, and its solicitor to boot. He has been connected with many land transactions which were considered very shady—the Piako swamp to wit. In 1877 Mr George Jones, of the Oamaru Mail, made direct charges of corruption against Sir F. Whittaker, with the result that Mr Jones was called before the bar of the House and that an action for libel was instituted against him. The case was tried in Dunedin, and Mr Jones won it. This arguas that Sir Frederick was not able to prove his innocence, yet he is now the guiding light of the new Ministry. Mr B. C. J. Stevens is well known as by far the largest representative of absentees and foreign capitalists in New Zealand. He has been looked upon as the coming man that never came for years. He haß come at last, and what he has come for must be the interest of the moneyrings. Both Sir Frederick Whitaker and Mr Stevens were raised to the Upper House because they could not get a constituency to elect them, and thus we shall be governed by Ministers in whom the country has no confidence. Mr Fergus is a gentleman who is suspected of having made a nice thing out of contracts under previous Continuous Governments, and has always been a faithful henchman of the Major's. It is therefore the Continuous Ministry, if not in its actual personnel, at any rate in the spirit of its policy. New members have been taken in, but the guiding genius is there ; it is still, and will be, the Government of the banks and money-rings. It may tone down its policy, but in its insensibility to the hardships of the poor it will remain as harsh and inhuman an ever.