The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1887. SLAVISH MEMBERS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1672, 13 December 1887, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1887. SLAVISH MEMBERS.

The conduct of our representatives in Parliament is humiliating, and shows quite plainly the fallacy of electing members on the independent ticket. Many of these men went into Parliament free and independent, ready to vote for measures notjmen. N ow they have allowed themselves to becomsthe miserable slaves of- Major Atkinson. They are bound hand and foot, and must choose one of the two courses left open to them, viz,: Obey Major Atkinson in everything he commands, or else submit to be politically extinguished. They have not got into this position without knowing it. Mr JDownie Stewart, whose conduct has frequently been erratic enough, deserves the thanks of the country for the efforts he made to prevent Major Atkinson from becoming such a complete master of the situation, and had not the House been composed principally of brainless noodles ha would have succeeded. We do not blame Major Atkinson. He has played his cards well, and has succeeded completely in bringing the House to his feet. He commenced by exacting from his followers complete obedience until he had brought down the whole of his policy. He has brought down the Financial Statement after having spent a fortnight in incubating it; but, though nearly three months have now passed over our heads, neither the Public Works Statement nor the Education Statement, nor the Mines Statement, nor any other Statement, has been brought down, and all that is known is that the Government promise to effect a saving of £300,000, but no one knows how.

But though Major Atkinson has not brought forward any details of -his policy he has succeeded in carrying through Parliament a measure which will secure to him his position for the next three years. This measure is the Representation Bill, which provides for reducing the number of members to 74. It had passed through all its stages, when Mr Downie Stewart, seeing the evil it would work, moved that it should not come into operation for two years. This motion was carried by a considerable majority, and Major Atkinson at once intimated that he would resign if the House did not reverse the decision. The next evening the refractory portion of his following bowed down in abject submission to his will, and carried tbe measure in its entirety. They thus placed in his hands power which no Premier has ever before held in this country. He has it in his power now to annihilate, politically speaking, 21 members any moment he desires to do so. He has only to dissolve Parliament, and that must mean that 21 members shall cease to have political existence, as the number will be reduced to 74 by the next election. Our free and independent representatives are, therefore, in this position; they must vote according to Major Atkinson’s desire, or run the risk of annihilation by a dissolution of Parliament. Twonty-one of them must inevitably be wiped off by a dissolution, and as none of them can fpej certain of being returned again they will undoubtedly exercise great care in dealing with Majop Atkins jn in future. Major Atkinson may therefore be said to be master of the -jtuation for the next three years; he has worked with admirable tact and cleverness j Be has brought the mem-

bers bound in chains of their owA making to his feet, and now he can whip and scourge them as he likes. "We do not blame the gallant Major; he has a right to carry hia point, and he has done it with such audacity and boldness as must command admiration. But we do blame the miserable things who are dignified by the name of men, and who have allowed themselves to be thus trodden on. It is said that a worm turns on that which treads upon it, but the creatures of which Parliament is composed at present turn only to kiss the hand that gives the blow. This is what has come of the rage for Young New Zealand; this is the result of the imsane work of sending beardless boys to Parliament. We are now completely in the power of Major Atkinson ; he is, literally speaking, absolute ruler of this colony, and if his legislation proves wise and useful it will be owing to his forbearance, and not to any check kept upon him by our re presentatives, that we shall owe it.

THE BRYCE-HUTCH ISON CASE. The decision in the Bryce-Hutchison election petition case will surprise no one. What will surprise people is that Mr Bryce could have been so insane ai to bring it into Court. It was a most groundless prosecution; there was not a title of evidence to show that Mr Hutchison had been guilty of corruption, but there was a great deal in it which proved clearly that Mr Bryce was actuated by splenetic motives. His conduct was cowardly and dastardly in the extreme, so far as his attempt to throw. odium on the late Government was concerned. The moment he intimated his intention of petitioning against Mr Hutchison’s election, he also stated that members of the late Cabinet would be implicated in it, and it was broadly hinted that the case would disclose fearful acts of corruption on the part of Messrs Buckley and Ballance. Sir Jobn Hall had the bad taste to bring the matter before Parliament, with a view of influencing the decision of the Judges, and everything was done that malice and malevolence could suggest to make Mr Hutchison’s position uncomfortable and bring odium on Messrs Buckley and Ballance. And now, when the case is all over, what does it all amount to ? Simply that Mr Ballance followed the usual custom of allowing Government survey-men to come to record their votes. Mr Ballance would have acted in a most extraordinary way if he had refused to allow them to come. To do so would bo a serious breach of the Corrupt Practices Act —for no one, neither master, nor mistress, nor Minister, is allowed to throw any impediment in the way of an elector that would prevent him from recording his vote. Some employers of labor in the Gladstone district during the last election prevented their employees from voting. Had these employers been prosecuted they would have been very heavily fined; yet it was for not doing what would render him liable to a fine that Mr Ballance’s name was mixed up in the case. It is impossible that Mr Bryce could be so foolish as not to know it, and it is less possible that his lawyer could be led into the delusion that Mr Ballance was not right in allowing these men to come to vote. Only one conclusion can therefore be come to, and it is that the object Mr Bryceand his confreres had in mixing up Mr Ballance’s name in the matter was to lead the public to believe that he had been guilty of a corrupt action. It was a part of the system that has been adopted to bring odium on the late Government, but it has signally failed, and Mr Bryce has had to pay dearly for it. It is said the cost of the case will amount to £IOOO, and that added to hia defeat at the recent election will doubtless make Mr Bryce both wiser and sadder. Serve him right. When the Government of which Mr Ballance was a member came into power in 1884 they treated their predecessors with all possible courtesy. They even went to the extent of recommending that they should hold the title of “ Honorable ” for life. Major Atkinson and Mr Bryce have returned this courteous behaviour by making most dastardly attempts to villify and slander the late Government, but though they have done their best to injure their reputation they have so far failed.