The Waikato Times.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 836, 27 October 1877, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Oi whatever state or persuasion, religious o puiitical » * » • • . ilere shall the Pres* the People's right maintain, TJnawecl l>v influence and unbribed by Rain SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1877. The fat is m the fire, and the Parliamentary chimney is ablaze. Both factions are fighting it out to the bitter end — we say both factions, for it is neither more nor less than, a question of faction-fighting. Government m the Parliament of NewZealand has ceased to be one of principles, one of measures, or even one of party. It is simply one of men. It is Grey versus Atkinson, or Atkinson versus Gr.y, as the case may be, and not another view of the matter is taken into consider- j ation. Personal charges made by | the late Opposition, and retaliatory charges hurled back by the late Government have so embittered the leelings of the House, so consolidated parties, that they 9tand arrayed the one against the other as the two factions m Lilliput, whom Gulliver describes as going to war upon the question whether an egg should be broken at the small or large end. Tbe casus belliis the least important part of tbe affair. And unfortunately these factions are so evenly balanced that neither San stand. i» ground. Were it otherwise, we could hope for a settling down to work after one or other had been beaten, for the difference between tueir policies being aoout tue same as between tweedledum aud iweedledee, the Colony would care little who the work was done by so long as it was done. The Premier Jately enunciated the Government policyTo use the old simile, they had simply stolen the clothes of the late government, but they had trimmed them afresh, and overlaid them with " promises of retrenchment." Beyond this, ttie texture $?as literally the same. The desire— or, shall we say, the expression of the desire— fco pjaee the finances of the Colony upon a propep footing, to life m peace and harmony yfch and foster the welfare of the native rac/j-tp re-arrange the incidence of taxation, to consider favourably the impost tion of a land tax. All this, and more, each was professedly anxious to do. It was simply a case of, ! whether it should be Short or Codhn. i .« v Godlin ; s the friend, not bhort," whispered 'tlje one. » beware of that tta* GUUu," mutters the other. But, the jW^P, h * e -W e iNell, has'nt much opinion of etfher. Their experience of the late Goysrnr . ment is not such as to cause many to see it reinstated-the course which its Qm organs state tne present Government; » prepared to adopt, m order to defeat $lw pFWjeftt want of confidence motion, patnely, thafc Of wasting the time of the country by talking against time, cannot but lower it m the estimation even of its own admirers. What it it does drive the squ^rs away from Wellington who support £i.c Opposition - are its backbone, as one Government; organ says-and is thus enabled to outvote those who remain ; is this a constitutional, &v even an honest, proceeding? It *s government by chicanery, neither more nor less We believe, however, that the Government will be beaten by a small majority — but what then." They, too, must m a week succumb to a similar want of confidence motion. There is but one cure, tkU F.hich we have foreseen and pointed out nearly two months ago— a dissolution, the Assembly is unworkable. It is nke steel which im lost both strength and elasticity, it must be re-wrought and freshly tempered. W& must have a new set of men-men, perhaps, who will stand on the same political plaf i fWW as those whom they replace, but who will come to their work uninfluenced by the bitterness engendered of the strangle ,of Abolition and Provincialism, and intensified m hv*t session and m this by the pergonal attacks and unscrupulous denuncja- | tion of character which have characterised the present Parliament. That it must pffme to a dissolution, is forcing itseit #pon the minds of all. Since the abore was m type we have received the telegram of our Wellington correspondent, anrwun.cinsj Mr Reynolds' amendment on Major Atkinson's motion, which betokens one of two things— either that Mr Reynolds, and certainly others with him, have gone over to th<* .Government, or that the amendment is put forward m the interest of the Opposition to postpone a motion which cannot be carried, at any rate at the present stage of affairs.