THE NEW PARLIAMENT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1746, 26 July 1884, Page 2

THE NEW PARLIAMENT.

(Christchurch Telegraph,) ( The appeal to the country has now', ( been settled, and it may be interesting; :| to see what is the result of it. Of the j ninety-one members of the last Parlia- j menfc, fifty-eight have secured seats in , the new one. A considerable number , of men—quite new to Parliamentary work—will be found among the new representatives, and a few members of former Parliaments who have been absent for a time from political life. ( Foremost among these latter are Messrs Stout, Ormond, Russell, Ballance, and Stewart, all of whom will be acquisitions to the House. Among the new men there are several likely to be useful, if not distinguished, members of the New Zealand Legislature, and they will, we doubt not, assist to wipe away the reproach which the proceedings of the last House 'ot Representatives brought upon the Parliament. As we anticipated yesterday,' the Ministry got much more support in the North Island than in the South. Auckland proved herself their best friend, returning no less than eleven Ministerialists out of the nineteen, five of the rest being Greyites. Wellington comes next with seven Ministerialists out of eloven; and T/ranaki sends two out of three. lirthe South'lsland Canterbury has only returned two of Major Atkinson's supporters out of her twenty members, and Otago only three out of twenty-four.' On the other hand, the two great,, Southern provinces send in more supporters of Sir J. Vogel than any of the other constituencies, Canterbury supplying ten and Otago seven. The former has nine avowed Opposition members in her list, who, however, are pledged neither to Sir J. Vogel nor Sir G. Grey, and the latter province numbers seven of these. Summing up, we estimate thßt; the new Parliament may be analysed as follows :—Thirty-one declared supporters of the present Government, twenty-two probable followers of Sir J. Yogel; twelve of Sir G. Grey; twenty-one avowed opponents of the Government committed to no leader; and five doubtful, viz., Messrs Gore, Johnston, Fitzherbert, Sir G. M. O'Rorke, and Captain Russell. Of course, our estimate is only an approximate one, but as it is based on the utterances of the gentlemen who now constitute the new Parliament, it ought not to be far wrong, It seems, pretty clear, at any rate, that the difficulties of the leading statesmen in the House are by no means over, and we await with considerable interest the next step in the political crisis. (Prom the Christchurch Press.) In reviewing the list of members of the new House, certain facts come out prominently. One is that if Ministers, accept the public avowals of those can-, didates who have been successful, their Administration is now in a ■. very decided minority. It is quite evident that they must retire .from i,office at, the earliest convenient date. The appeal to the electors has so very strongly diminished the number of their avowed supporters that they ' must simply be regarded as a proi visional Government carrying on the business of the country till a new Administration has been formed. This . brings us to the next point to be considered, in what manner can a Ministry, commanding the support of the House and the country, most conveniently be got together. In . England, where parties are clearly defined, the fact of a Ministry being in , a minority, is sufficient, as a rule, to settle who their successors are to be. ! The defeated Premier has no difficulty i in deciding what advice he shall tender to the Crown on the subject. There, of late years when a Ministerial crisis f has occurred, the Government placed j in a minority have not waited till they , were defeated in the House, but have , given up the seals before the new Parliament assembled. This was done \ by Mr Disraeli at the last general election, and it was also done by Mr Gladstone in 1874. Such a course is i undoubtedly most convenient in the p üblic interests when it can safely be ; followed, and in the present instance I we should be glad lo advocate its adoption did circumstances justify such a step, If, for example, Sir Julius , Vogel was shown to have a following equal to a majority or thereabouts ot , the total number of members, it would . be a safe and proper thing to indicate \ hini as the member who should immediately bo entrusted with the formation of a new Administration. Failing , such following, the same remarks would apply to any member amongst those opposed to the Government who might be in a position we have ; described.

Now, what do we actually find to be tbe case 1 It would appear that the results of the general election are about as follows, In a House of ninety-five members there are about twenty-eight Ministerialists, The declared followers of Sir Julius Yogel, including these who have promised to give him a conditional support, number about twenty. The Greyites do not muster more than ten. There remains, not counting tho Maori members, some, thirty-four (numbering more than either of the two parties we have just named), who are opposed to the Government, but who have not declared themselves either Vogelites or Greyites, When it is remembered that this considerable body includes such men as Messrs Orniond, Ballance, and Macandrew, all of whom have been Ministers, i and other members of prominence, notably Mr Wakefield, it cannot be considered safe at this stage to urge the immediate giving up office by its present holders, It is clear that before any course can be satisfactorily marked out sufficient time must be given to enable leading members to consult, with a view to see how far they can come together for the purpose of forming an Administration which shall command confidence and, at least some degree of permanence, Were precipitate action to be taken in the formation of a new Ministry, trusting to the chapter of accidents to pick up a majority, nothing but confusion and a weakening of the resources of the House must result. Members might in such circumstances get into grooves, which would prevent them from co-

operating, at least for a time, even if it did hot result in dividing the House once more into a number of rival sections, such as did so much to destroy the usefulness of the late House. On the whole Ministers will, we think, best consult the interests of the country if they retain office till the House reassembles, and thenaccept theirdefeat at the hands of Parliament.