THE PREMIER'S ADDRESS.

Inangahua Times, Volume IX, Issue 1399, 12 May 1884, Page 2

THE PREMIER'S ADDRESS.

... , * (I torn 'Timaru Herald. 1 ) The opening of the speech is thoroughly characteristic of Majot* Atkinson. Forgetting that he is Prime Minister of the Colony, that he is constitutionally responsible to Parliament and to the country for the due guidance of its affairs, and that the people have been anxiously waiting for many months for him to enlighten them as to the public policy, he begins by a pitiful attack on Mr Montgomery, the leader, as he calls him, of " a section of the Opposition." He is thinking of the party, not of the public ; and his first care is not to place himself in sympathy with the people, but to deal a blow at his party opponents. As if the public of New Zealand cared two staws at this state to hear what Mr Montgomery did, or did not do, last session ? "Itis a matter of great regret" the Premier says € that, there is not an Opposition capaple of doing its duty to the country." "It is a matter of very much greater regret, the public will reply, that there is not a Government capable of doing its duty to the country." A bad Opposition is a disadvantage to the country, 'undoubtedly;' but it is riot nearly so disastrous to the country as a bad Government. It will be time enough for MajoV Atkinson to , deride Mr Montgomery and his " section of the Opposition," when he • himself leaves nothing to be desired in ; the manage* - mentj of Hi&'own' party i • ;: "At a time ,whenj ail'fche most intelligent, experienced and right-minded _ # men among" thbse'who .have hitherto supported the Government, are protesting against .their proceedings, and looking forward .anxiously for a- change, : it ill becomes the head of the Government to begin a MinisteraV address by a I'ecjEure'bn the ' shortcomings of the Opposition. All through the speech we find this carking, combative tone maintained, as if the speaker were defending himself against a host of unscrupulous and unsparing enemies ; when, all th» while, the only enemy he had to' confront was his own consciousness of having mismanaged public affairs. No minister had ever less cause tp complain of the conduct of. the '■ Opposition, -.-.for ever Buice last session the'- Opposition have remained absolutely 'quiescent . Wliajteyer pistresses, the Government have led the country into, they have led it into entirely of their own accord ; and to lay the blame now on the Opposition is simply to expose and acknowledge their own incapacity. The Premier complains that " a

horrible picture " has been drawn of the state of the country, and declares that to talk of the deficit " as a serious matter," as the critics of ttie Government talk of it, is to misapprehend the position of the Colony. ' He has a conveniently short memory when it i suits him. He has lost all - recolleo tion, we suppose, of the' "horrible picture " he drew of the state of the country in 1879 r when that state was not one whit more alarming than it is at present j and it does not occur to him that if the critics of the Government represent his deficit as a serious matter, they only follow at a humble distance the example that he sei them in his criticism of his predecessor. We venture to say that if any other man iv the country had mpdt the mess of the finances that he has made this year, he would have been the first to denounce him for an incompetent muddler, ignorant of the rudiments of his own particular banch of poli ics. Himself, however he cannot treat too tenderly. Anything more audacious than that portion of tlie Premier's speech which is devoted to explaiuing away the deficit we think we never met Yet it has none of that flashing sort of audacity that often serves a bold original politician in such good stead, and puts all his hearers in good Jbeart Taking tbe Premier's own account of the deficit as correct, it is a miserable state of things that be describes, it is " a hoirible picture" that he draws, when he tells us that the finances of this magnificent young country can be thrown into disorder, by such trival causes. But, when we bear in mind that he also is responsible for the finances being affected by those causes, we cannot for a moment admit that his account is correct, or that the picture he draws, " horrible' 1 as it i may be, is nearly so horrible as the reality.