The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, MARCH 17, 1888. MINISTERIAL BLUNDERS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1712, 17 March 1888, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, MARCH 17, 1888. MINISTERIAL BLUNDERS.

It is now becoming daily more and more apparent that in the whole history of New Zealand no more incompetent eeren men have«held power than the present Gorernment. Sir Frederick Whitaker has admittedly been a T»ry cleyer man, but he is about 77 years of age and certainly not the man he used to be. Sir H. A. Atkinson has got together a sort of reputation, but we feel pretty sure that it has been secured for him by others. His Compulsory Insurance Scheme was sufficient to brand him as a rery unpractical and incapable man j for e?er. There is W man of any note besides these two in the Mini*try, and probably that accounts for all the blundering that has occurred. At any rate, it is sad to find that the combined intelligence of these seren Minister*, together with what aasiifc ance all the " men of weight" in the House lent them, could not draft an

Act of Parliament under which they could go into the money market and raise the loan passed last session. G-reat inconvenience has been caused by this, and no doubt it will lead to great lose, for the Government have had to resort to borrowing at a high rate of interest in other quarters until such time as they can raise the loan. They will have to wait now until after next session before they can raise the loan, because another Act of Parliament is necessary to put the Act of last session right. It is not in this alone they have muddled things. The Wanganui Herald says:—" A deferred-payment selector is confined by law to 320 acres of first-class land, while the Minister of Lands issues a notice in the Gazette that he is entitled to 640 acres. The intention probably was to give him the same privilege in respect of area as the cash or perpetual-lease selector. We recommend the Minister to at once withdraw his notification, and tell the public plainly all about the mistake." Thus the Land Act is as defective as the Loan Act, and, what is still worse, the Government have not seen it until others have pointed it out to them. In the same way they did not see the flaw in the Loan Act until it was pointed out to them. It.is really humiliating to an intelligent people to have the government of the country in the hands of such incapables.

THE EDUCATION ACT.

During last election almost every candidate spoke in favor of reducing the expenditure on High Schools and Colleges, but no one for a moment advocated disturbing the common schools. The first thing the new Government did was to issue an Order-in-Council raising the school age to seven—a thing which would have shut up a great many of the country schools—but Parliament voted against this, and they had to abandon it. They, however, took good care not to touch the High Schools and Colleges —the nurseries for rich men's children —for it was that party that placed them in power. In this there is a lesson for the people—and it is, not to trust the Conservatives under any circumstances. The Conservatives would not scruplefto shut up the country schools against the children of the poor, but the children of their dear rich friends must have class legislation. The Wanganui Herald says: —" Mr Eisher, it would appear, in defiance of his election pledges, is anxious to work up an agitation in favor of raising the school age. The Government had to admit that the country schools would suffer, and they accordingly gave a promise that ' no country school should be closed.' The House saw the degradation to which the education system would be reduced if schools had to depend on doles from the Treasury according to the sweet will of the Minister, and 1 drew the line' of retrenchment on the brink of the proposal. Mr Ormond, who is bell-wether of the selfish classes, argued stoutly for the change, and, as we have before pointed out, the present Ministry have been placed in power to do the bidding of the interests named. There is no proposal to abridge the income of higher education. That is not a plank in the policy. The aim is to strike a blow at the working classes, who would be the principal sufferers by the change in the school age. The country must see that the conspiracy shall not succeed." No doubt the country will see it when a good deal of harm is done. __ « THE KUROW RUN. Yielding to pressure of public opinion the Government have decided to cut up the Kurow run into small grazing runs. A monster petition was got up in Oamaru, and without doubt it is this and the cry that was raised in all parts of the colony that has forced the Government to yield. But the question is, Do they deserve credit for this ? By no means. If they had it all their own way the N.Z. and A. Land Company would be allowed to remain in undisturbed possession of it. When Mr Richardson visited the place recently, he was waited upon by a deputation of men living in the locality, but he told them that it would not be cut up. His colleague Mr Hislop, who represents Oamaru, very probably felt that it would not be very safe for him to visit his constituency again if the run was not cut up, and doubtless brought forcible arguments to bear on the Minister of Lands. The run is to be cut up, but no credit is due to the Ministry for it. They would play into the hands of the Land Company if they could.