The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1871.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 11, 30 August 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1871.

" For the cause that lacks assistance. For the wrong that needs resistance. For the future in the distance,. And the good that we can do."

The " Distnal " has become absolutely frisky ! " Here we go ! Hurrah for the road !" Such is the buoyant exclamation with which our usually mournful contemporary the News introduces a leading article this morning -r>o-*l»«» pnl-ii;« wnnlt. of llio [Jiuvluce. The article is a sneer so broad as to be a grin; and the attempted merriment is of that grim character that makes one feel cad. But our contemporary so seldom essays the frolicksome that a feeling of humanity, not to say politeness, impels us to laugh too, and, accordingly, we feel very funny. The cause of it all is this.- The Superintendent's Executive have drawn up a scheme _of p.u,Wtc works ; in fact, when,- t^e cat's away the mice rosy play, and the • Exeeutivej iaving taken advantage of the,-#Dsenca o f the Superintendent, b/ive been playing ducks and drakes frith the/ millions Joan. The memofrmdiim, it is true, is dated August jj^jst, and is supposed to have been /dubtnifcted to the Superintendent, «but this, everyone knows, is ■jl subterfuge, and is a kindly HMe of the Executive to show that 1- 6 no^ at Ta"ance with His r in their views on colonization. 5 ,|« memorandum is jubilant about §'c Government policy, and depares that the distribution of the |||orks in the manner indicated IFwill largely vindicate the policy of the Government." Of this our contemporary, with the most exuberant gushing, declares that " Mr. Gillies is quite in accord with his Executive in reference to it," but we really do not know whether our contemporary i is laughing or crying—irreverently I scoffing, or in sober earnest. Can we think that His Honor having broken loose from the dismal influences under which he has been held, has really accepted the advice of his Executive as his own policy, and means to honestly work it out ? If this is so, it may account for the ghastly hilarity of our dismal contemporary, Time was when, we believe, Mr. Gillies was like other men, in fact, more—he was esteemed as a public man of buoyant hopes, and real energy. We cannot believe that this estimate could have been formed by the public from a total misapprehension, and we verily believe that the melancholy changa that has come over the once vigorous mind of Mr. Grillies is owing to association with the dismal influences that reign in the office of our contemporary. There it seems to us is the magic wand that has conjured up the weird spectres of insolvency, and presents to the mind of His Honor those gloomy phantom rocks and quicksands on which we are hopelessly driven by impelling fate. Can it be that Mr. Gillies has burst the spell, chased away the blue devils, and shaken off the horrid nightmare, and taking the advice of his political or medical advisers, begun to look abroad again with buoyancy and hop%? Andean it be W' tn© .dismal n&agioian wfcofi© incan-

tations have been set at naught, stands aghast, and laughs with a wild bewildered laugh as he gazes on the fugitive, and learns that " Mr. G-illies is" quite in accord with Lis Executive." Mourn we for the magician with the broken waud! Pity we the sorrows that find expression in the hysterical laugh, " Here we are ! Hurrah for the road !" But if we could but believe the statement made, that the Superintendent is in accord with the Executive, and that he really hopes to " vindicate the policy of the Government;" that the devils have gone out of him, and taken to the swine ; and that he is clothed and in his right mind; then sadly as we should sorrow for the magician whose spell is broken—for the Superintendent, for the province, and for its prosperity, we should indeed rejoice.