THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1892. THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2418, 29 October 1892, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1892. THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

The present Opposition is as unfortunate as the young lady whose hopes were always doomed to decay Their position is becoming reall • pathetic. They have a terribl v penchant for indulging in propheciese but so far they have not been success. ful, even in one single instanceThey started with prophecying that, the present Government’s extravagance would ruin the colony, but that proved untrue. Then they said we should undoubtedly have to swallow another loan, but instead of that over £117,000 of our indebtedness has been cleared off, and there is not the slightest intention of borrowing another penny. Then we were told the Government were galloping to a deficit, but instead of that there was a very large surplus. 1, / Then the capital was going to fly out of the colony, and blue ruin was to have followed, but the capital has not moved an inch, and thus all their efforts at foretelling events have proved a dismal failure. Even in the appointments to the Legislative Council . they have been disappointed. In connection with these they prophecied that the Council would be swamped with men of the right color, but now what do we find ? Simply that all the Conservative papers are better satisfied with the appointments than the Liberal papers, and this again takes away from the Opposition the only '■’prop by which their hopes were sup- [ ported, and they have not, so to speak, left a leg to stand on. The Opposition is therefore in a sorry plight; about this time twelve months they will have to face a general election, and unless something occurs in the meantime they will have no cry to go to the country on. At present the general opinion is that we have the best Government and the worst Opposition we have ever had. The Government is moderate and progressive, and exhibits a thorough regard for the interests of all classes , the Opposition is violent and obstructive, and disgusts even their admirers by the way they waste time s.pd violate the truth so frequently. It fa up t too much, therefore, to anticipate tUf Ml q Opposition will be nowhere after next nlyctl(f- n> As regards the appointments to the Legislative Council, it must be nutted tiiat the Government have acted ■ with extreme moderation, but the idea of swamping tUa Upper House ist altogether absurd. There- are nowr forty-seven members in the Council, and thus to constitute a bare majority the G overmnent must have twenty-ion'? 1 OH their side. Jhit this the Government hat'9 not. Ihey had til ways three or four faitiiTd adherents in the Council, and these together with the twelve new councillors will make sixteen Government supporters, as against ;»i supporters of the Opposition, llo\v how can 1(5 Government supporters sv/amp dl Oppositionists? The thing is absurd. ; The real truth is that the Government! will not be able to carry their measures in the council any more than before, and the ultimate result will be that fresh appointments will have to be made before long. There is, however, room to hope that the knowledge of the fact that the Government can swamp them if they like, will have a good effect on the minds of the old councillors, and that sooner than force the appointment of a fresh batch of members they will make a virtue of rieecfissity and allow Liberal measures to pass. If they do this things will go on smoothly, but if they insist; on mutilating Government measures in the future, as in the past, the ultimate result will be that twelve more councillors will have to be appointed :

before long. We sincerely trust that no necessity for this will arise; if it does the days of the Council are numbered.