The Waikato Times.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 859, 18 December 1877, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

Bqualand exact justice to all men, <)i wtiatover suite or persudsion, religi nis 1 political • * ' '# • # riere shall the Presi the People's rig 1 maintain, (Jnaweilbv influence and unbribed by gaii rUhSUA F, D tVBMBER 18 IB7T We have taken little notice of the telegraphed reports of correspond e.tts from Wellington as to what was the exact programme of the Ministerial party as they appeared lately in the colnrnns ot the Press for every man sees these matter* through a colored glass of his own, and vives them the peculiar tint us he' passes tbena on, but thf utterances of Sir Geo. Grey himself at the reception in Napier may be taken as ex cathedra. True^ these are confined to few subjects but' they touch upon one or twe burning questions of the day, and *re such as command serious attention and thought. The Land Fund question w« may, we suppose, consider as definite y settled. That we imiy leave behud us without far--1 her care. us the first of the lines carried in storming the citaiel of reform. "Every man," ways the Premier, "shoulcl be instructed iu political knowledge, so that he might •e able properly to <xorciso. the powei- which shotddbc in the possession of all mm of age to nave the fran-sbi.-e." Tuis ib manhood suffrage, Kid to thai, extent we do not think klitt col»*y is prepared t» go, or

that the community does possess political knowledge which would entitle it to the privilege. Tne qualification for an elector is liJUera.l enough, une would have thougbr, hS i" is; for the raau whociono qualify . himself to become a vo^r under tne existing electoral laws is not worthy of the privilege of ih« franchise at all. Nominally the law inquire* that a man shall .occupy a house of a supposed value or rental, or qualify for a freehold or le.ise hold of a certain value, bat the value is never c aisidered, and the neie fact of renting a lioutie, or 01 owning a leasehold or fre - • •old of any value whatevei qualifies the claimant. To go hirtner is to place power in the hands of a floiting- population which has no stake, little interest in the Colony, and even less kino »- ledge of its requirements. It wou.d give an undue preponderance to die great towns and cities, and swamp the county con- i * ncies, and to a very gre«texteaDtue 00Hfide electors 0' the to'wns also. Man aood sufferage, we fuel sure, will uotf he ucceptabSe to the people, and wilt wreck any government which stakes its existence on the issue, at least in this day. . '_ With the remaining sketch ofvthe Premier's poliey, however, w eafe au one. Undoubteuly. the representation requires readjustment, and even yet there are constituencies to be found in the middle island as rotten as the private boroughs which the Reform Bill sweept away in England. The views tald 'by the Premier on the laad question, both as regards en«ou x ra*eoidnt to b ? given to the industrious to acquire boi aea tends, and the imijosiug ujjoij the larger hoi i igs a din tt property tax have been loug argeU in the columns Ot this journal, anU will receive its consistent support . So, too, in the mattei ot dealing with the native lands, we have argued for freedom from government monopoly and interfUreuco. Che Native Lands Act of 1862 n)<ty have been a mistake, but it is » point from which the colony can neither with profit nor safety go back.