The Waikato Times. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1877.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 845, 15 November 1877, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1877.

Equal and exact justice to all men. Oi wnatever state or persuasion, religious • r political ilere shall the Presi the People's rig! t maintain, Unawed bv influence and uiabribed ! 'Y ar»m

The two parties in the Assembly have had a trial of strength upon a minor question, the result of which has been to show a majority of one for the Opposition. Clearly the Gove.nment does not command a majority in the House, and only holds its tenure of office by using, as its opponents have accused it. of doing, the forma of the House to prevent a direct vote of censure being passed upon it. Such a state of things is a burlesque upon Constitutional Government, is a hindrance to all veal business, and must

seriqusly ciaraage the Colony in the eyes of the outside world. Tho worst possible spirit of opposition is i aromed ou both sides, and all real business is deferred to make room for tho faction tights of party. It is true that tho Government may continue to stave ofF the putting of Major Atkinson's motion, bub it j will not bo surprising if such a menus of defeating the motion call forth as bitter and objectionable a course ou the part of the Opposition, and a policy of simple obstruction be initiated. This would be indeed the dernier resort of the opposition, but virtually as much is being done when day after day tho time of tho House *is frittered away ou parly and vexatious questions, while as yet nob even the Financial Statement of the Treasurer is before the country. Ib should have been clear to all, long- since, that there was but one outcome of such a position of entanglement as that in which parties had become involve.! — that the Gordinn knot could be alone cut by the sword of dissolution. This is what it i%nst end in sooner or later, and men of the Government party, as witness the speeches of Mr. Stout and Mi 1 . Rees, are coming 1 at last to this opinion. The position, we believe, points to this one event only, though rumours are afloat that a compromise is being sought to be ttFected by s-ici'iuoing Sir George Grey as leader. That his party will ever cansent to this we do not for a moment believe. Degraded as is the s aieof party feeling in the House, we cau scarcely deem it capable of political turpitude such as this. Moreover, if ib were, the expedient would be but a most temporary one. The Premier is by far too powerful a political Jonah to be summarily deiU with in this manner. Too many would follow him into the whale's belly, and virtually he would become the lea ter of a political party in the Mouse which could carry victory to whichever side it inclined. A. dissolution indeed is, as we have all along stated, the on y practical remedy for the present unsatisfactory state of things, and we wonder that the country, the press, anil the House are so long in coming to that conclusion. The people of Dimedin have commence I a movement in the matter which will doubtless be followed in other parts of the colony. The very money cost of this party struggle is enormous. The House has now sab some four months, aud more than a year's interest and sinkiug fun: l on half-a-million sterling have been thrown away in idle expenditure, the cost of the Legislation in session being something like £'250 a day. The colony is paying pretty smartly for party whistles, bnt if th'S were all we should know the cost, and could count it. Who, however, can count the cost of 1 faulty and imperfect legislation, of matters of vital importance — social, political, and commercial — hurried over, or neglected altogether, or distorted by the political bias of party 1 ? And this state of things will go on from bad to tvorse iu a House constituted as is the present A>sembly. Members have hardened down into two solid phalanxes, the opposing element in each being less a matter of principles than of intense personal feeling. The pol.cy of either party, is before the country, and each alike profess to take a popular view of the chief leading questions of the day. It is not indeed a question of measures bub of men. On the measures booh sides pretty well agree, but the bone of contention is which shall have the carrying them into effect. Tt is a struggle tor power, and the destruction of a hated foe at the s^me time, which animates the leaders of either side. Bub when it comes to such a state of things as this the time bis clearly arrived when both parlies alike shall be made to feel that they' are usui ping a power and prerogative which belongs to the people alone. The time has come when pnblic opinion speaking through the Governor shall stand between the two contending factions and banish them from the floor of a deliberative Asssembly which they have disgraced and degraded. It is with pleasuse that we see the public of Duuedin, the first city iu the colony, advocating that, a public memorial shall be gob up to the Governor calling uuon him to disolve the Assembly, and thus allotv the whole matter to be relegated to the constituencies. Each party in the Assembly cLiims that it is the representative of the popular policy. Grant this, and there can be no better crucial test than a general election. The question, however, will be less what the policy shall be, than who shall administer it ; for there will be littlo difference found, we believe, in tho huntings cries of either set of men. That which concerns the electors far more than the question of a policv is that, a policy ' having been agreed upon, men in. whoae integrity and honesty to carry it out they have full confidence shall be returned to the new parliament.