The Obserber.

Observer, Volume IV, Issue 84, 22 April 1882, Page 82

The Obserber.

Saturday, April 22itd; 1882

THE MINISTERIAL CRISIS,

The fact is now established beyond doubt that the illness of the late Premier was not the primary cause of Ministers' resignations. Mr Bryce was at variance with the majority of his colleagues on the question of his native policy, Major Atkinson and Mr ' Whitaker sided with, him, and the three resigned before the Premier. Mr Eolleston followed suit, and Mr Hall, whose health and peace of mind had been destroyed in futile attempts to reconcile the, conflicting views and aims of his colleagues, seized the opportunity of forestalling the vote of ani adverse majority in Parliament, and retiring with the honours of .war. It was Mr Bryce who upset the Ministerial apple-cart. ..The unexpected success, of his raid' on Parihaka — which was carried out in defiance' of law, and trampled ruthlessly on the, liberty of the subject — rendered the late Native Minister so truculent and overbearing that he endeavoured to impose Ms individual will upon th.e-wh.ole Ministry, and, failing that,' : pulled down the house of cards about his own ears.. The fact being established that the Ministry -fell to pieces by an internal prcees?" of disintegration, most of. the accusations that have been .levelled against the Grovernor, based on the supposition that the resignation of the Ministry was caused by the illness of the Premier and frora no other cause, fall to pieces with it. It has been argued that the constitutional course was to have followed the precedent when Lord Palmerston died, and Lord John Eussell was entrusted with the formation of an Administration, practically, the same as before with the single exception.

But if the Ministry considered this course constitutionally incumbent on the Governor, "why did they, slide in advice under cover of their resignations ? To oiu 1 mind, it is like one of the players at a game of wiiist attempting to "win the odd trick by producing an ace from his sleeve when he finds his first card trumped. But apart from this, it has been shown by quotations from Todd that the pretended precedent of forming a new Ministry from the ruins of the old has no existence. It matters not that in New Zealand the Continuous Ministry succeeded, by corrupt tactics in Parliament, and by ' wielding improper influence over the Crown's representative, to pack the political cards at every fresh deal, to keep the ace up their sleev.e, and ivia a series of eainfes by ! . cheating the House and the constituencies. The ruling precedents are based on wider and purer data than can be gathered from th<* political history of New Zealand j and, looking at all. the changes of Administration at Home for the past half -century, the almost invariable rule appears to be that where a Ministry resigns the Crown calls in the leader of the opposite party in Parliament, who in the case under discussion is unquestionably Sir George Grey. In IS'6O the Duke of Wellington resigned, and King William IV. sent for Earl Grey, the leader 6f the Whigs. In , 1832 Earl Grey resigned, and the King sent for;; Lord Lyndhurst, who recqmfiiended His M&jeßt^r : to call in the Duke of Wellington, one of ; v fcl£cj:£?

most strenuous 'opponents of the Reform Bill. The Duke, in turn, recommended that Sir Robert Peel, another uncompromising opponent of the measure, should be sent for, but ultimately Earl •Grey was recalled.

■ The case of Lord Melbourne is . hardly pertinent, because in this instance the King ' adopted the unusual course of dismissing Ms Ministers, when the Premier, in con_sequence of the death of Earl Spencer, ' proposed a reconstruction. His Majesty, being ■of opinion that the business of the country would not be efficiently carried on by the Ministry which lord Melbourne proposed to constitute, called in the Duke of Wellington, who advised the King to gend'for Sir Robert Peel, and the latter formed a Ministry. In 1859' Mr Disraeli resigned. Lord John Russell, and Lord Palmerston had just become reconciled, and were co-operating in opposition. Speculation was rife as to which of the two would hold first place in the succeeding administration. To the surprise of everybody the King, sent for Lord Gfranville, leader of the Liberal party in the House of Lords, on the ground that <f he might have greater facilities for uniting the whole Liberal party under one administration" than could be enjoyed by either of the others. When £10 "d Granville failed to form a Ministry the tails, was entrusted to Lord Palmerston.

But the latest English precedents are those •which most clearly cover the circumstances of the late resignation. In three cases the Bi'itish Ministers resigned, as the Hall Government, has clone, after the elections and prior to the meeting of Parliament, and in every instance the Crown followed precisely a similar course to that which has been adopted by Sir Arthur Gordon. Mr Disraeli, in 1868, perceiving that the verdict of the country was against his 23olicy, resigned, and the Queen sent for Mr Gladstone, leader of the Opposition. In 1874 the elections went against Mr Gladstone, and he made way for Mr Disraeli. Finally, in 1880, the elections again showed a majority against Mr Disraeli. Mr Gladstone, like Sir George Grey, had practically relinquished the lead of any party in the House, had declared his intention never again to accept office, and was occupied with, an indictment against the Papacy. But nevertheless he was summoned from his retirement and entrusted with the formation of a Ministry, ol which he is still the head. The cases here quoted are sufficient to show that when one set of men confess their inability to carry on the Government, the Crown, in the natural order of things, turns to the party whose superior strength and ability may be assumed to have brought about the change. It is only by this system of government by majorities, and cheek and counter-check that the Crown conforms to the balance of parties, and rules constitutionally according to the will of the people, as expressed through their representatives in Parliament, the Ministry standing in the relations of a Permanent Executive Committee to the Legislature. Suppose, for instance, that the resignation had come from Sir George Grey, the Hall party being in opposition. Had the Governor, under those circumstances, sent for one of Sir George Grey's colleagues, there would have been a howl of indignation from the friends of Major Atkinson and Mr Rolleston, who appear to labour under the delusion that they have acquired vested rights in the Government of the Colony, and constitute the " governing class," the fact being that they are the very opposites of hereditary peers or noblemen, but rather a party which is fast losing before the advance of Liberalism in this Colony, the hold which they succeeded by questionable mean's in getting upon the political machinery, at a time when a few snobocrats, squatters, and unscrupulous schemers were all powerful amongst a comparatively sparse and scattered population. The sooner the journals which support that party become "reconciled to the march of events, the better for themselves and the Colony at large. They were guilty of a piece of .discreditable supjpressio veri in concealing the fact that Brycc, Atkinson, Whitaker, and Eollcston resigned before the Premier, from causes above referred to, and they have shown an unscrupulous disregard of decency, and questionable loyalty in their attempts to stir up strife and set the people and the Crown by the ears.

The latest intelligence at tlie time of writing is that the Hon. E. Whitaker has been sent for by His Excellency, to be intrusted with the duty of forming a Ministry, and he will probably select his late colleagues, with the exception of Mr Hall. So far as the interests of Auckland are concerned they would probably be safer in the hands of a Ministry with Mr Whitaker as Premier, than in any Government in which Mr Macandrew filled the post of Minister of Public Works,or exercised a commanding influence ; but there are other and larger questions underlying the position to which we need not refer in this connexion. We venture, however, to predict that a Whitaker Ministry will Hot last more than a month or six weeks aftev the opening of the next session of Parliament. As to the statements made by the Wellington correspondent of the leading morning papers in the Colony, they are pure inventions, and exhibit in every line a degree of personal malice against Sir George Grey and his party that defeats their own object. The fact is that the late" Grovernment gave the correspondent a monopoly of certain official news, and used him as their tool in disseminating statements designed to influence public opinion. By this means he was enabled to more than double his income as editor of one of the Wellington papers.. Deprived of these ex : ■elusive advantages he would have to trust to his own enterprise and brains in obtaining information and would be inevitably beaten off the field. Thus in circulating misrepresentations to Sir George Grey, and prop up his opponents, the correspondent is only fighting for this bread and butter. The humiliating feature is ■that such, truckling tools, and toadies can be found on the Press willing to prostitute their ' honourable calling for mere pelf and patronage. IRTe have the best authority for stating that Sir •George Grey did not. go to Wellington with the /object of forming a Minstry, that he merely >obeyedthe Governor's summons, and gave the .iadvice asked of him, that he neither offered or *jr as; asked to -form a Ministry, that he reeom'

mended the Governor to send for Mr Whitaker, and that the statements made by the correspondent to the effect that Sir Greorge Grey was dismissed by the G-overnor, that Sir G-eorge G-rey " was enraged at his rejection," and that "there were some bitter passages between the two erstwhile old friends before they parted " are one and all malevolent inventions. The agent of the Press Association who is infinitely better informed than the special correspondent, and has no interest whatever in being biassed, gives the true version of affairs which led to Mr Hall's resignation, — the prior resignation of some of Ms colleagues.