THE 'AUSTRALASIAN ON THE CRISIS IN VICTORIA.

Waikato Times, Volume XI, Issue 895, 19 March 1878, Page 3

THE 'AUSTRALASIAN ON THE CRISIS IN VICTORIA.

When m one °f ose memenfs of introspective reflection which are not unfrequent m cases of mental disorder, Mr Berry reminded the Legislative Assembly that madmen ought to be coerced and confined m a lunatic asylum, and aeked ' what would be thought if they saw a man walking about amid inflammable materials with a blazing torch,' it is a pity his friends did not act upon the hint and place him under restraint, so as to avoid the greater disasters that are likely to fall upon him. For since then he has set his hand to a work which could only

have been planned by a man whose mind is m a state of frenzy, and who has lost his head by being placed m a situation, and having to deal with an emergency, altogether beyond his grasp. He has committed himsell to the first .of a series of revolutionary proceedings, of which he certainty cannot forsee the issue, and which all historical precedents go to show invariably destroy the authors of them. ' The Governor, with the advice of th c Executive Council, has removed from their respective offices each and all of the persons now holding the offices of judges of county courts, courts of mines, and of the court of insolvency ; also chairmen of courts of general sessions of the peace and every person now holding the office of police magistrate and warden ;' as well as ' all persons holding the office of coroner or deputy coroner of Victoria respectively-' But the judges of the. Supreme Court, being only removable by an address from both Houses of Parliament, are left intact. Thus, to the utmost extent, to which it has been practicable, the Queen's representative, with the advice of hi s responsible Ministers, has suspended the administration of Justice, and taken the first step t owards the dissolution o f the bonds of society. And let the people of this colony mark well the motive and object of this scandalous proceeding. About fifty members of a legislature, numbering 116 representatives of the people of Victoria, have been prevented by legal and constitutional means, from obtaining a stipend of £300 per annum each, which had been promised to them by the leader of their party, as the reward of their steady voting during the last session This is the sole grievance, the sol pretext for a revolution, the sole pretence for abolishing the machiney by which justice is administered and crimes of secret violence are brought to light ; the sole excuse which can be truthfully put forward by the party of turbulence, lawlessness, and civil discord. We believe the records of ancient and modern history might be ransacked m vain for any parallel instance of a community having been plunged into confusion and possibly bloodshed from so altogether base, contemptible, and sordid a motive. "Give us .£3OO a year," is the exclamation of the followers of the Victorian Lord George Gordon, " or we will destroy the institutions of the country, " weaken, if not ruin, its credit, derange all the operations of commerce and industry, shatter public confidence m the stability of everything that has been hitherto supposed to be most stable, paralyze enterprise, drive capital oat of the country, subvert the constitution and dissolve society." For this is the plain English of the programme put forward by a member of the Assembly who is m the confidence of the Government, and who has announced that m the coming struggle the banks are to be the victims ! the banks, which are trustees and fiduciary agents of every class m the community, from the small contractor and the little tradesman up to the greatest employers of labor m the colony ; the banks, which hold about fifteen millions sterling belonging to all these, and have something like twenty millions afloat, as the mainsprings and motive power of productive indusery m every one of its multifarious and ramified channels. Surely it is unnecessary to utter a single \fOvd to convince our readers that this is the language of madmen, or to poi nt oufc the magnitude of the calamity o which would befall all classes Du * more particularly the wage-ear nrs — DV a sudden restriction of the issues, and a cailing m of the advances of the banks. However, this is tne programme put forward :— ' Money, so-called, m the shape of bank notes, will not be recognised (by Government). Gold alone will be received, and that must be paid into the National Treasury. Should this pressure be insufficient, pay off the judges, the magistrates, the heads of the departments, discharge the volunteers, close the post and telegraph offices, stop the railways, and pievent the vessels discharging or receiving cargo. f that be not enough for Collins-? reet, the palice force must go, and the last shilling kept to prevent the inmates of Pentridge from being let loose on society." The revolutionists do not condescend to inform us how, m the general dissolution of society, the payment of taxes, m gold or otherwise, is to be enforced; or how much, if there were any means of enforcement, the Custom house duties would yield, m the event of vessels being prevented from discharging or receiving cargo. Neither is auy explanation vouchsafed as to how the many hundreds of persons employed m connection with our shipping trade are likely to receive the proposition that they should undergo starvation because 60 sinecurists have been thwarted m iheir efforts to help themselves co £300 a year out of the public treasury. But it would be, of course, mere folly to expect anything rational m language or conduct from 'a man walking about amid in7ammable materials with a flaming torch.'