, 1874-08-08
TN s..

people,-as you said, the tail being neither
long enough nor bright enough, by a
long shot. Later, the "Elffn Star" came
on the scene, and there was again some
disappointment,-wh'ch you have not said
as yet,-perhaps owing to her having lost
her "taiI'' in st. Thomas. The weather
has for years disappointed every body
without exception, and the Colonial
Council and Government, 1t would seem,
will disappoint most people more or less.
1t is true, the Council has done wonders,
and Governments, the present as we'll as
the past, have always been known to DO
wonderful things. Lately the Budget
Committee discovered what every body
had known long ago, who was not actually
sleeping-and, politically speaking we
have people here who never Sleep but
push on all matters with the same zeal as the
Chairman of the CounciI-viz. that the def
cheney in our public revenues is something
enormous, but that Committee acted very
wisely in doing nothing itself more than
requesting the Council to address the Co.
vernment, praying it to grapple with this
little evil, thus leaving it to what has
been called the "Masterly Inactivity" OF
Government, and to the "Masterly ActiVi-
ty" of the Chairman of the Council.
Between them, the matter will, | hope,
be disposed of after the manner Of good
nurses, with a real soporiferous lullaby
to the tune of the new ditty:
Central Factories all will cure,
And remove all troubles, sure, etc.
The Government has discovered q gold
mine or a diamond field somewhere, and
there is no reason to be frightened at
the deficit. In this respect there has,
however, been some slight disappointment
on the part of those who cannot, like my
self, take things coolly, for it was serious
Iy believed by these good people hat the
discovery of the bottom of the chest
would have brought Government to its
senses, as the expression goes, and led to
some huge undertaking on its part in the
line of retrenchments. Poor people! |
pity them they cannot see the mine, and
the lullaby has not the same effect upon
them as it invariably has upon met
puts me to sleep.
The honorable Budget Committee made
its eloquent appeal, and again acted very
wisely in simply copying the Remarks of
the Committee of last year, expressing the
hope that "this will be the last time that
they will be doomed to disappointment in
that respect" that is, in not having the
Drafts Of Ordinances by which retrench-
ments are to be made possible, laid before
the Council. There would have been ma
terial to make the Report at least SO times
longer, if the Committee had taken the
(for the rest unnecessary pains, to copy the
appeals of former times to the same effect.
But people we're again disappointed-it
they didn't expect SO much, they would
be less disappointed-they had expected
that the Committee would itself have in
troduced those Drafts, and not expose them
(he people, to the disappointment of seeing
their wishes again frustrated by the Mas
terly Inactivity Of the Government in mat
ters of that sort. The Committee did not,
however, as one would suppose, consist Of
young men. g~reenhorns in our local poll
tics, but of old veterans, who have fought
for years under the banner of Economical
Administration, and in every battle and
skirmish been defeated by tair promises
and "Masterly Inactivity" They were
~ II 1bo rY;1oro ~