The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 1889.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2615, 16 April 1889, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 1889.

Ecjual ;ind exact luslico to all men, Of wha I soever state or persuasion, religious or political.

Fkom the Press Association's telegraphic version of the causes that led to Mr Fisher's retirement from the Ministry, it will be found that the general surmise of the rupture having its origin on other and more serious grounds than the beer duties prosecution was a correct one. The differences of opinions between the late Minister and the Premier have been in existence for a considerable time, long anterior to those which arose from the breaches of the Excise. Mr Fisher's views were opposed to those of the Premier's on questions of policy, and this divergence between them would eventually have led to a severance without the adventitious aid of the beer episode. The difficulty that sprung up in the Cabinet over the treatment of certain brewers for evading the law was magnified into a Ministerial question to suit Sir H. A. Atkinson's own purposes. It was iu reality a purely departmental matter, to bo dealt entirely by the Commissioner oi: Customs and his responsible officers. But the Premier seized it as a trump card with which to force Mr Fisher's hand, and push . him out of the Ministry. There was not the slightest appearance of any point of political importance in the cas.i. As Mr Fisher declares, it was a mere side issue, which was taken advantage of by the Premier to rid himself of lii-H colleague. The questions on which they were not agreed were the Railway Board appointments, including the treatment of Mr Kees, the English railway expert; the appointment to the vacant judgeship and the treatment of Mr Dudley Ward ; the Gasparini affair and the Te Kooti trouble; the leasing of the Canterbury runs and one or two other matters of colonial importance. Mr Fisher disapproved of Sir H. Atkinson's views on land nationalisation and pauper farms, and was in favour of modifying the Property-tax, lie was opposed to further expenditure being incurred in surveying the proposed line of deviation of the North Island Trunk Railway, when the condition of the colony does not warrant any more large public works being undertaken. One would have thought that with such a disparity of views between himself and his chief Mr Fisher would have cut the painter long ago. He, however, exculpates himself by saying he considered it a duty to sink personal feelings as much as possible to avoid breaking up the Ministry, and besides which he was anxious to complete the Education Bill he had been engaged upon for some months, and see it in the hands of the printer before he retired, although he had become conscious that his position in the Cabinet was already a false one. On the other hand the Premier is reported to have totally denied the existence of any other reason for Mr Fisher's resignation beyond the beer duty prosecutions, and that any other reasons are new to him. He declares Mr Fisher never displayed any opposition to the actions of the Cabinet on any other point. He asked his late colleague to resign solely on the ground already made known ; that is, the doer duty ease. The dispute between the two Ministers has created quite a diversion from the political quietude that has reigned over the. colony during the recess, and has been the occasion not only of much speculation in political circles as to the final outcome of it all, but has also afforded a most unique and interesting spectacle. We have the rare, if not previously unheard of, sight of the Premier of a constitutional Government addressing a letter to the pub lie press in reply to certain strictures passed on him in a newspaper article. The Premier wrote to tho Evening Post to rolmt its comments on his action in connection with the breich between him and his colleague. It was a most extraordinary course to take; there can bo no precedent for it. It is, also, questionable whether Sir H. A. Atkinson has added strength to his own position by his letter. Flat denials are not always convincing arguments. In tho published accounts of the imbroglio, Mr Fisher appears to have tho best of the affair. Mr Fisher is quite satisfied that when the matter is thrashed out in thu House his conduct will receive ample justification. That, too, appoars to bo current opinion. The latfs Minister of Education will not be content to sink into political obscuritv. He is the stamp of man that will" rise uppermost, audit may be found that the Ministerial scene is but tho first in a political drama to end in the triumph of tho stalking-horse.