The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning. Tuesday, December 23, 1890. THE STATE REFUGE.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 548, 23 December 1890, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning.

Tuesday, December 23, 1890. THE STATE REFUGE.

Be just and fear not; Let all the ends uh m t.ai’st at be thy country’s. Thy God’s, aud truth’s.

Mr Ballance makes out a very clear case when he protests against any further appointments being made to the Legislative Council, but the formality required in making a protest to the Governor only leaves the weakest side of the case to be given. Mr Ballance says that the Ministry are in a minority and therefore have no right to advise His Excellency on such a matter. He also states that one of the political issues raised in the recent contest was the reform of the Council and limiting all future appointments to a term of seven years. He further mentions that in 1887 the Premier gave an assurance that no more nominations would be made to the Council until the number had been reduced to one-half of that of the House t>f Representatives, but it is still in excess of that proportion. Mr Ballance concludes by urging that appointments cannot be justified on any ground of urgency before the meeting of Parliament unless it be under the apprehension that it would then be no longer possible to recommend them—a fear which should not commend itself to the Governor. A much more important reason has yet to be added—that the country is already overburdened with the cost of providing Ministers with such patronage to bestow upon their friends. The determination of the Atkinson Government to make further appointments to the Council at the present stage is one of the most brazen attempts that have yet been made to ignore the people of the colony. No shift seems too contemptible for these politicians to resort to, and the colony, is being treated as a hunting ground for the few favored individuals who can get pressure brought to bear in their behalf. The Premier has neither prece dent nor right on his side in the matter, and well he knows it, He shrinked from conferring such patronage prior to the election contest, as he knew then that his conduct would have been denounced from nearly every platform in the colony; but he has now done much worse. He has clearly indicated the intention of the Government to recommend that further appointments be made to the Council, and this while he.knows the Government are in a minority. This indecent haste is well known to be the outcome of the latter fact. The present Government fear that the will of the country will be upheld directly Parliament meets, that they will have to bow to that will, and thus be deprived of the power to appease a lot of their friends who are clamoring for patronage for which the country has to pay very dearly. The case of Mr Ormond in itself proves how little the public interest is to be regarded in the class of men who are to be given these appoint meets for life. Mr Ormond, according to his own showing, retired from life at a time when his services were most required. It was at such a time that he deserted the political arena, and now it is proposed to reward him with a seat for life in the Legislative Council, which will make him independent of the people, and give him the privilege of snapping his fingers at them for the rest of his days. But it is not on personal grounds that we protest against any further burdens of the kind being cast upon the country. It will be nothing short of a grave public scandal if those appointments are made in defiance of the pledge given, of the fact that no such appointments are necessary in the interests of the country, and of the fact that the Ministry are now in a minority.