The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, JUNE 5, 1883.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4498, 5 June 1883, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, JUNE 5, 1883.

« To mend their shattered fortunes'"' can only be the excuse of the Ministry for the elevation to the Upper House, of their recent additions to that peculiarly constituted Chamber. For years past the question of changing the method of selecting members of the Legislative Council has been agitating the public mind, and the present Ministry, in its -usual'toon-committing mariner of tackling troublesome subjects, has given a sort of consent to an elective system/ In the face of this, an announcement has been made that Messrs J. G. Richmond and "Barnicoatj of Nelsooy have been raised to the dignity of M.L.C, and another £400 per annum has been added to colonial expenditure. Why the appointments were made, is a question that is very naturally asked, but unless we come to the conclusion that party purposes are ith'e cause, we are at a loss for conjecture. "Thtrfossils at present "in clover " among the colonial peers, are sufficiently numerous to fulfil the onerous duties imposed on them, and it was straining a point to add to the list two individuals who can lend little lustre to the body they become members of. Neither of them have been politically luminous and beyond the" fact that one is a family connection of Major Atkinson, and both • are Government supporters; it i 3 difficult to account for their elevation. The Atkinsonian relic of bygone political glory, has been refused by every constituency he has offered himself to during the last 12 years'; and although he was previously a ''member of the body he is now pitchforked into, it appears that his talents are not recognised by people controlling representative- bodies. , The Atkinson-cum Richmond cum Hursthouse cum sisters' cousins' and' aunts' phalanx with which New Zealand taxpayers will soon have to combat Is becoming rather mighty. Probably the Government are foreseeing the array with which they will

have to" do^ttja^ in the corah,* J sea«on, nnd'iff^fc^ reinforce their arm's j^ the .^(jpiirt-f; chamber, they find it a'^ssble while the sun shines" in the6the|sjrfcDJ9| of the legislature.^ T!iey recognise tWffct that a stronc foiipe is combinifag ogM|ißVt^em>, and though* silent/the'mare!»V% rtiil •rogreßHi iig v^agrainst * their w'6rnj: -«iten barricades. Their vain effort: to draw their antagonists out by sending their blatant. Ma|or down south' lias not succeeded, .and" so as to ooflp't'erufit that Northern influence whicK^ney know will be fatal to them in dne chamber—if not in another.' They attempt—in execrable taste—=-not to use harsher words —to. foist some more of their creatures upon Parliament. Why the country stands this robbery of its rights from a representative point of view, and, the robbery of its treasury, it is rftil^ difficult to understand. The . a^ol, nial suzerainty to the Atkinson famil^V and connections is. becoming somewhat oppressive, and injaddition to^the' natural objection of coloniser to have one, more of them put upon tbe^ipension list, we '.assert that although Mr Barnicoat ' may tfe a very'respectaile old ■i^t&ii.as:*"' l^past Superintendent of the Nelson Pro-

prince uridoubtedlyj^ should be, his presence i 3 not required in the Legislative Council, and there is not the leasti reason in enabling him and_ the Atkinsonian fragment before referred to, to. draw between tbem £400 a year from the pockets of the people. Whether the election, of those men be- looked at in the light, of political expenditure or otherwise, it is an act of a nios.t disgraceful character, and similar to one which called forth all the indignation of the present Government party, when committed by a previous administration. \