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ADELAIDE : SATURDAY, JULY 4, 1863.
With some difficulty Mr. Dutton has been
able to form a GoFernmenfc, and the following is
Kb list:—
Chief Secretary ? Mr. Hart.
Attorney-General ? Mr. Andrews.
Treasurer ? Mr, Grlyde.
Commissioner of Public Works Mr.Townsend.
Commissioner of Crown Lands Mr. Dutton.
This list will not a little astonish the out
siders, who will first of all wonder why no one
of tho Ministers is in the Upper House ; and in
the next place, will not be able to make oat how
such diametrically opposite and essentially an
tagonistic persons as Hart, G-lyde, and
Tovmsend, can for one single week hope to act
together. Well, there they are, and we shall
goon see what we shall see !
Mr. Hart's presence in the Ministry is the
result of Mr. Dutton not being able to induce
any member of the Council to join him. It is
not intended by Mr. Dutton as a slight to the
Coancil. Mr. Morphett was .first applied to,
but after fall consideration of all the circum
stances of the case, declined. Mr. Hall,
Mr. Ayers, and Mr. Barrow also declined ; and
we are not sure that others have not been
spoken to. But Mr. Dutton was uniformly un
successful, and rather than inform His Excel
lency that he could not form a Ministry,
be determined to form one out of the Assembly
exclusively. We believe, however, that the
feeling in the Council will be very strong against
the recognition of the principle involved in this
arrangement, considered even as a temporary
one. We feel sure that members of the Legis
lative Council will view such a precedent with
justifiable disapproval, and will consider that if
Mr. Button could not find in the Council one
Minister out of five, that his prospects of carrying
on legislation in a Parliament of two Houses
were very small ; and that it was bis duty to
advise bis Excellency to send for some one else
Mr. Ayers could have formed a Ministry, have
prorogued for a fortnight, and then brought in
a new Tariff Bill in a new session ; nor would it
be worse to have let the present Bill lapse than
to let it be thrown out. The great difficulty in
the Council is undoubtedly in connection with
the Tariff BilL Mr. Dutton is in favor of the
Bill, bnt several of those to whom he could look
for support in the Council are opposed to it. It
is true that Mr. Townsend, who is dead against
ad valorem duties, aad Mr. Glyde, who also
voted against them, have been, happier in their
efforts to surmount the difficulty of uniting with
gentlemen who ate in favor of those duties. How
ever, these are the simple facts of the case, and had
it not been for members in the Council who are
opposed to the ad valorem duties, refusing to
join a Ministry whose leader is in favour of them,
Mr. Button would have easily found * Chief
Secretary in the CounoiL We understand that
Mr. Ayers will formally eonduet the Govern
ment business, and that as soon as the Tariff
Bill is kicked out— an operation which fee hon.
gentleman will takeaa active part in— he will then
be quite teady to xeheve Captain Hart, and to
sswiatHstaT^TowvseDA Glyde, and Dutton to
harmonize tiieir widely diverging views on the!
subject of taxation
We bare great respect for these gentlemen,
personally,— but what would they themselves
bare said aweek ago of such a heterogeneous
combination t Mr. Townsend's best Parliamen
tary saying is that Mr. Hart is chiefly remark
able for making other people believe him when
he don't believe himself; and the dissimilarity,
both of views and of temperament, of the other
I hon. gentlemen, has been most palpably and ab
'surdly conspicuous ever since they have been in
[Parliament. A few days back Captain Hart
aaid. God forbid he should be die leader of such a
party as he is now going to toy to lead— unless,
indeed, the ex-Ministry intend to be the sheet
anchor of the present patch-work Cabinet.
However, it is just barely possible that the
responsibilities of office may have a consolidating
effect upon die rope of sand, and we hope it may.
It is not to the individual* constituting the new
Government that our remarks are applied, so
much as to the singular combination ; to the un
precedented fusion of heterogeneous ideas which
have now been collected from die various ex
tremea of political life. ?
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