The Waikato Times.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1096, 3 July 1879, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatever state or persuasion, religious

or political. Here shall the Press the People's right

maintain,. Unawed by influence aud unbribed by gain.

THURSDAY, JULY 3, 1879.

What between Taranaki and Wellington the political horizon is heavily overcast at the present moment, and, of the two, the difficulty at Wellington appears to absorb the greater share of public attention. Farther secessions from the Ministry .need not, we believe, be anticipated, bnt coming within ten days of the opening of the session, the resignations of the Attorney-General and of the Xre'asurer, must be an almost insurmountable embarrassment to any except the most popular of Governments. Nor this alone ; the juncture is a most critical one, when a native outbreak is daily imminent, when (a watchful and bitter opposition is eager to give the coup de grace to a party which has shown it no mercy or consideration within or without the House, and with a Governor whose political predilections and sympathies can have little m common with them. The House will not brook delay m proceeding to the necessary business of the colony, and the. Governor, little as he might have before felt that the Ministry as a whole had some claim upon him for a dissolution, will feel all the more fortified m refusing it to the mere section of a Cabinet. As to tbe merits of the quarrol which • has forced the Colonial Treasurer to resign, we have but exfiarte statements from either side to judge from, but it is plain to see that m either case personal feeling and pique were the motive powers, not zeal for the public service, and the verdict of the colonists will be that both Premier and Treasurer have acted indiscreetly and have added neither to their own nor the dignity of the Colony m washing their dirty linen m public, and people will wish that the Native Minister's kindly attempt to throw oil upon the troubled waters of strife had been more successful. That Mr Ballance was ingeniously provoked into an indiscretion may or may not be the case, that he previously acted indiscreetly m assuming undue powers is unquestionable, but that the Premier's assumption of autocratic power, as Premier, was both unendurable to Ministers as individuals, and inconsistent with representative government, cannot be gainsaid. As chief of. the Cabinet, a certain deference is due to the Premier and his opinions; but individual Ministers owe a responsibility to the House and to the people, as well as to their chief, and cannot be expected to act as mere heads of departments, taking their instructions from him, and to be treated with Bcanter couitesy than would be extended to the messenger, as seems to be the case by the language reported to have been used by the Premier to the Treasurer. As yet there is nothing definite as to whom the portfolios of the late Attorney. General and Treasurer will be offered. The Premier has undertaken, temporarily of course, the duties of the latter, and various names have been mentioned (and notably those of Mr Moorhouse and Mr Wakefield) for either office. We cannot, however, see how such appointments could be either possible or satisfactory. Mr Moorhouse is a lawyer of considerable ability, and an experienced politician ; but were his health sufficiently good to enable him to undertake the somewhat onerous duties of Attorney-General, his strong political predilections and his former connection with the Atkinson Ministry would render it very improbable that he would accept the ofl.ee. So, too, m the

theoaso of Mr Wakefield — no member of the Opposition has been more pronounced m his scathing denunci. ations of the Ministry as a whole, or of individual member., of it, while, worse still, the brilliant attacks upon the Government have made the paper with which his name is connected famous throughout the colony. This fact remains en record. The onemight be forgotten, but m the case of the other, litem scripta manet. The portfolio of the Treasurer would be the political grav^e of tha honorable member for Gerafdine.