The Waikato Times.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 825, 29 September 1877, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

Equal and exact j ustice to all men, Of whatever state or persuasion, religious o political * * # » * Here shall the Presi the People's right maintain, Unawed hv inluenci and unbribed by sja SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1877

The crisis at, Wellington still re-mains-in statu. quo, though the* result is not difficult to guess at. The fact that Mr Sheehan, fertile m expedient, moved an adjournment before the House went into Committee of Supply, for the purpose of Btating that the Opposition were going to confine themselves to this motion and not go into any other, showed that his party were nob prepared to put the matter to the iaaue — that, m fact, a careful counting, of votes had revealed to them bhe impossibility of carrying a vote of waut of confidence against the Ministry. And it could have been wished that the party had seen and accepted the position laid down for them by Mr Sheehan. Of all the miserable issues on which to have staked the fate of the Government, that of the Waka Maori was the most inoppoitune, the least advisable m the interests of the Colony, or of theOpposition itself. When it came to the pomt — and the Opposition party must have known it before Mr Larnach got np — the main allegations against the Government could not be maintained. The Waka Maori was not published at the Government expense after the vote of the Assembly had been withdrawn, and the libel against Mr Russell, though the subject of recent action, was published antecedent to the period when the bouse no longer consented to be Ihe proprietors of the.journal. The Government was therefore, iti law and equity, the right and proper defendant m the late case, and its liability ex actly the same aa if the Waka Maori had been discontinued at the time the House refused to vote for its suppor*-, instead of bring, as it was, carried on by private contributors. The fault of which the Government has been guilty was that of allowing it to be i-üblished by the Government Printer, instead of issued from a private office. The gravamen of the charge has been wholly eliminated by the statement of facts, a statement not made for, the first time by the AttorneyGeneral m reply, but telegraphed throughout the Colony previous to .he debate, and consequently well known to all parties m the House. , In such case, we may j say it were a pity Mr Larnach j had not followed the lead 'of the 1 more experienced and astute member bf his party, instead of forcing on the motion m his name as one of a "no co fidence character." If as Mr Sheehan Snid, and we believe it is so, the Opposition could have found many other subjects on which to attack the Government, it is to be regretted that they had not selected one more important m itself, and which, embracing a question of principle, would have enabled the Government, if beaten, to have gone to the country, and have thus put an end to the political dedlock which for some time past has prevailed. The ship of State is m the doldrums, and we care little whence the breeze springs, so that the sails fill and the Government of the country, to pursue the metaphor, whichever flag ib hoists, becomes something more than "a painted ship upon a painted ocean." As it is, it is not difficult to determine the result of the debate. -The Ministry wiil pull through by the skin of its teeth —but will it then be any more able than ib has been to carry ita measures,- or will tbe Opposition be any the less inclined to hover relentlessly and threateningly upon its flank, able to impose a check upon its real capability for useful work, but too weak to overthrow it and

seize the reins itself. The only remedy for this is, a dissolution, a course whioh which bas become absolutely necessary to enable the affairs of the Colony to be efficiently administered.