THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1878. The Waikato Times.

Waikato Times, Volume XII, Issue 968, 5 September 1878, Page 2

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1878.

The Waikato Times.

EquaJ. and exact;- justice to aU- men, t Of wKatever eta^e orxjjersuusion, religjou/; or political. ' ~~ * * * * * Here shall the Press the People's right maintain, „ Unawed by. influence and cnbribed by gain.

The Native Minister's Statement was to have been delivered on Tues day night, but Mr Sheeban has declined to enter on the matter until the debate on the financial questions of the Government is concluded. The discission of the Land Tax has called forth the first display of anything like regular opposition, buti'tlie attack is neither hearty nor fairly jorganised, and can lead to nothing rnoreu than some possible amendments' m derail m [committee, which will not m any Iway affect the principles •of the measure. The attack was led by Mr . Wakefield m an able but erratic speech'jdiscursiyeiin 1 inconsequential, and far, more calculated to damage his prestige as an orator than to hurt the Ministry, against whom it was directed. Neither is that of Major Atkinson, which followed on Tuesday, remarkable for its brilliancy though he scored several good points against the Government when he showed that they had accepted the very estimates that they had m opposition condemned, that their promised reduction of expenditure to theaoipunt of .£IOO,OOO had resulted m an excess of £7000, and when he twiUed them with carrying money from loans to ordinary revenue. Bat when he came to criticise the railway proposal of the Minister of Works, and expressing his belief that the surplus revenue m part relied upon for their construction wouldr riot be available, and pointed, out that the wherewithal should rather have been provided for by loan, he lays himself open to the charge of being the head and front of the offending that the Government have, not the necessary money at its disposal. It was due to the factious opppsitian of Major Atkinson m the last session that the authority given by the Assembly to the Government to borrow was reduced by a million and a half. Yet. now, forsooth, Major Atkinson is the first to ridicule the Government for not having j taken, ...their stand upon the very j ground from which he and his party j drove them. The subscriptions which , poured m for the late loan showed j clearly enough that the colony could have borrowed twice the money that it did had it been only authorised

to do so. The tenor of the OpposiJ^VJjl^^ttjjL &s yet is rather character than Bdl^w-C^iruifici^toiy, and even Majoi^jn^spn, who, whether the leadei|||n W& party or not, is natjiv^r lo^tl upon as its chief exp'onffnt) dlpis rather inclined to tjiajpattack. Mr Stout, m re^lyiMjg!^^! not hesitate to throw down a fair challenge when he paid that the proper course for the Opposi tibrT "to ~~take '-" wtfs^Mot ••* to*^ muke accMsations and insinuations, but to come do.vn boldly with a w&fi<T M VJP^ iJTrnfidencfr-mofciom-^rhisr howeyej!^ Qpppsi tiqtpis abpu^as we[l prepared, and a«»' likely, to "do ai^We^e^ tlie)XM«6risrai years ago to come out upon tb^e^ open m Waikato and " fheir Jchkno'e ,upoji|a gene'i/l eng-ageraent. >7 The faot is that m the , rarioiis 'measlirfes' 6f refo'r ! m' : 'virhich the.Goverjtraent haye brflu^Jit^ft wn tjhe^ljiaye ,the fpeling r ,of the. country , strongly with them, know^it^ 1 •■"•'■ i n-^;; ■ i i i I i i i \ j 1 ( I i