THE MINISTERIAL CRISIS. A History of the Event. [BY TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1863, 14 June 1884, Page 2

THE MINISTERIAL CRISIS. A History of the Event. [BY TELEGRAPH.— OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

Wellington, Fiiday Night. Ir will, I feel sure, bo interesting to your readers to have a short resume <>i the events which have taken place within the last tin oe 01 four days. As you will have learned, the Ministry have been defeated by nine votes. The leal maiority was 14, as 14 membei.s weie absent, the Luge majority belonging to the ->i<le which was opposing the Government. You will iceollect that soveial speakers, amongst whom was Mi Whitaker, in then pie-sessional spcoche-5, nidicatpd that, if the piogtamrnc announced by the Premier at Haweia were stnetly propounded in Parliament, it was pmbablc a hostile Note would be passed, Tlie .speech fiom the Thione embraced tlio major portion of the topics alluded to in that speech, and the leMilt was attnbutablo solely to the speech from the Tin one. It would be quite wrong to assume that the leason undei lying everything else was that ctMtain members of the Government having notions, weie detei mined to cany them through, at the co-it of the political considoiations of those who had ailoided them consistent suppoit for several years. The pel petiul leading fad of Mr Ixolleston had been, m a pievioiis session, advanced ,» stage by the vote of thoso who weie sine to seize upon the fir.st oppoitunity to hurl linn fiom nfiiec. The question is one of the most utal impoitance to the countiy poneially. Tmmigiants of the kind neces&.uy to settle our waste lands will not come fiom the va>t storehouses, of JOngland to occupy leaseholds. Theio has been no election since this measure was fu^t piopoandod, and the countiy has a right to be heard upon it. Theiefore a dissolution was and is absolutely necessary. That dissolution must liave come m its natural couise in No\ ember or December nevt, and it h but anticipating that inevitable event by a few months. Take, again, the grouping of town constituencies The countiy distiicts aheady groan undei the enormouspower that has become vested in the | dwellers in towns by icason of the gieat power they possess of rapid and effective oigcMUsatum and the facility of co operation by publ'c meeting and of otheiwi&cc.uiying out any idea they may conceive benohcj.il to them. Kow the idea of abolishing single constitueuce& in towns is to double then political powers and to greatly mciease that centi.ihsni winch all of us deploie A qnaitotte of lcd-hot radicals and ta\cis of the little means loft to coiinti y settk'rs will be for .1 ceitamty letmnud fot each of the tlnee piuicipal cities in JS r ew Zealand, wheioab now lea^onable and lellective men have a chance of being elected. Furthermore, when the Ilediitiibution of rieats ]jill became law it was distinctly understood that the single electorates ueie a main portion of the scheme, and infinite tiouble was taken to make the division as e^ual as possible. No appeal has .since been made to the countiy, and yet the Government piopose the measure within a very few months of the natural e\piry of the Parliament. The general feeling hcieisthat the couutiy must decide these questions, .and that a bill should be bi ought in making the payment of members a yearly payment instead of a sessional one, thus saving the double honorarium. Thoalternativo proposal of the Government, which ■svas publislied m theHeiaklbefoie it had bjon communicated to the House, of a loop-lino, involving over two millions of money is legaided here as a bid foi popularity at the expense of the line itself, because the Southern men, Mlnle ■willing to \ote for the million are not at all likely to agree to the increased siun. It is expected that a dissolution and not a lesignation will be the outcome of the ciisis.