TUBSDAY, JUNE 2, 1885.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 2013, 2 June 1885, Page 2

TUBS DA Y, JUNE 2, 1885.

Til eh t, appears to be trouble brewing for the Government in the •South. Mr Montgomery, we are told, is beginning to kick o\ er the traces. The Honourable Member for Akaroa has just been on a visit to the Mother Country, and it is possible that in the contemplation of English politics at close quarters his \ iews have changed. Not that ji ti ip Home was altogether needed to effect this, because Mr Montgomery was 1 never known to carry < onsistency to an absuid extreme. What is probable is that the long sea voyage has given him ample time to chew the cud of discontent. Mr Montgomery is only human, like the rest of us, and it is not likely that he relished the treatment lie received at the hands of Sir Julius Vogel and Mr Stout during the memorable session of 1884. To have rounded ujxm his friends then ■would have necessitated his turning a painfully sharp corner, and Mr Montgomery has a little regard for the appearance of consistency. But a year has nearly winged its flight since, and the fashions have changed. The Member for Akaroa may claim that the results flowing from the coup which he assisted to perpetrate in 1884 have not come up to his expectations, and that he has a pei feet right in the circumstances to modify or, if need be, change his ■views. Mr Montgomery entertained the most cordial dislike for Major Atkinson and the continuous Ministry, and one of his chief reasons, if not the chief cause, of his opposition was his horror of their borrowing policy. To put them out of office, was from Mr Montgomery's point of \icw, a righteous thing to do ; but unless the honourable gentleman, like the Member for Egmont, believes in men and not measures, nothing was gained in this one particular by exchanging Major Atkinson for JSir Julius Vogel. It is true that when the deed was done, Mr Montgomery had a reversionary interest in the Cabinet, but he is too much of a patriot to be swayed by mercenary motives. It is, however, absurd to suppose that anybody

"in the swim " was ignorant of the nature of the policy which Sir Julius Vogel would pursue when he attained to power. His ele\ a~ tion was accepted by the country as an avowal that borrowing was to continue. We are of course assuming that the new born opposition o£ tlic MemWr for A.ka,ro.i is tho outcome of' his rooted antipathy to foreign capital. Allow ing that w e are right, it is strange to see Mr Macandrew mixed up in the plot. The Member for Port Chalmers is as distinctively the apostle of Progress as his worthy friend is the high priest of .Stagnation. On second thoughts, pei haps, the union is not surprising after , ill. The extraordinary events at last session taught us tli.it party ties in New Zealand are of little potency, and it would not be strange if the featuies of that remarkable session were reproduced with more or less exactness in the one which is now approaching us. There is little but rumour to guide us just now, but it seems to be based on a pretty solid foundation For one thing, Sir George Grey has openly a\ owed his opposition, and it is not at all odd that some of the disaffected should rally round him. But though the Atkinson party may properly he classed under the head of " disaffected,*' we do sincerely hope that they will not assist Sir George in the game of skittles which he evidently means to play this session. Both Major Atkinson and Mr Bryce (a repot t of whose addi ess will be found in .mother column) have declared war on tiie Ministry, but this declaration may not, and we opine it will not. lead them into an alliance a\ ith Sir George Gre\. Such an alliance could ha\e but one lesult -it would damage the reputation of the Atkinson pait\, and seriously retard the pi ogies-, of the iountr\.