The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. TUESDAY, JANUARY 9, 1883. Sir Arthur Gordon’s Dispatches.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 837, 9 January 1883, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. TUESDAY, JANUARY 9, 1883. Sir Arthur Gordon’s Dispatches.

When it was announced that Sir Arthur Gordon was about to leave New Zealand, the news was received by a large majority of the people of this colony with great satisfaction. Indeed, it may be questioned if we have ever had a Governor who, during the term of his administration, rendered himself more unpopular than the latest occupant of the position. From the very first he showed himself out of harmony with the Ministry, and a further acquaintance with his peculiarities went to prove that he was far from being the right man in the right place. Gifted with but small intellectual power and with a mind incapable of viewing a question save from his own point of view, Sir Arthur Gordon came to this colony from Fiji, where he had earned an unenviable reputation for blindly supporting the native race against the settlers. A weak man, who for a time has been accorded the powers of a despot, is the very last person who should be sent as Governor of New Zealand. Sir Arthur Gordon, it soon became evident, wished to govern this colony in the same autocratic manner as he had Fiji, and he utterly failed to recognise the difference in the conditions of the two countries. But it is only recently that we have discovered how perfectly unfitted for the position of Governor of New Zealand Sir Arthur Gordon was. It was indeed known that he had sent Home certain dispatches to the Colonial office, but as to the contents of those documents no one seemed to care a button. Sir Arthur had attempted to interfere with the Government in respect to their dealing with Native affairs, but the will of the people made itself felt so strongly that even our late governor saw that to meddle with the Ministry would only serve to make him appear in a more ridiculous light than ever. One would have imagined that Sir Arthur Gordon would have accepted his defeat with a good grace, but vanity seems to be his strongest point and when this was wounded he sat down in a splenetic mood and penned a series of State papers, giving his own view of Native affairs in the colony. The mere fact that these dispatches were sent Home without consulting the cabinet is sufficient to show that our late governor was totally imeompetent for the post heoccupied. But before the contents of these dispatches which have only transpired during the last few days, were learnt, it is doubt

ful if even those who were least disposed to think well of Sir Arthur Gor 1 don would have credited him with the possession of so much petty spite. He seems to have regarded the Ministry as his natural enemies, whose object it was to thwart him in his endeavors to bring about a peaceful solution of the Native difficulty. If the misrepresentation to be found in theses dispatches is not wilful, it shows at any rate that Sir Arthur Gordon was, both on acof his obstinate temper and his ignorance of the native question, to say nothing of other palpable disqualifications, quite unsuited for the appointment he obtained through family interest, and it is fortunate for the peace of New Zealand that we had a Government in power that refused to pander to his prejudices. It is easy enough to sneer at the march ©n Parihaka, and Mr Bryce and his white horse have given small wits subject matter for their poor jokes, both in and out of Parliament, but no one who has taken the trouble to look at the question seriously can doubt that the course adopted was the only possible one to avert a disturbance. Now that Sir Arthur Gordon’s Governorship of New Zealand is a thing of the past, for which the colony is profoundly thankful, what he may have said concerning his whilom responsible advisers will not have the slightest effect here. But evidence is not wanting to show that Knglish newspapers, which have recently been showing a greater, if not more intelligent, interest in our affairs, are upholding the views expressed in Sir Arthur Gordon’s dispatches. The Pall Mall Gazette, for example, has published an article, in which the Ministry of the colony are condemned for the action they took at Parihaka, and although the arguments used are amusing enough to those who know the real state of the case, people at Home, who are only too ready to accept any official utterance as unanswerable, will take as true the facts given by our late Governor, and will consider the unjustifiable strictures passed upon the members of the Cabinet merited. At all events we can now rejoice even more heartily than before that Sir Arthur Gordon is no longer Governor of New Zealand, and it is to be hoped that the Imperial Government will never again appoint a man to the post whose ignorance of constitutional politics is only equalled by his vindictive and obstinate temper.