The Daily Telegraph. TUESDAY, MAY 3, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3073, 3 May 1881, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. TUESDAY, MAY 3, 1881.

The cause of Liberalism—as the term is understood, or rather misapplied in this colony—would be very much strengthened if by any persuasion Sir George Grey could be induced to hold his tongue, fto political party in the world has had more occasion to cry out for protection against its friends than has the Liberal party in New Zealand. And now another heavy blow has been levelled at it by the injudicious speech of Sir George Grey at the Thames on Saturday. Unreliable in his statements, nervously anxious to' elevate mole-hills into mountains, visionary.' in his ideas, Sir George stands alone in the art of repelling support. A thorough proficient in the detection of motes in his neighbours'eyes, be is as blind as a bat at noonday in discovering the beam in his,own. Eighteen months' reflection has not taught him to regard himself as the worst and most disappointing of administrators this colony has ever seen. And this want of perception, exhibiting ; as it apparently does all pervading vanity, leads to the opinion that he is utterly/incapable of criticising the works of others. His strictures upon the present Ministry, and his all-round hostility to existing administrative institutions, consequently fall flat, having no real weight, and bis speech becomes but empty verbiage; signifying nothing. His strength, hisj power over the people, is to be found in his capacity to produce a flow of words and of rounded sentences, but these will not bear investigation. As a rule only' the minority weigh what they hear ; the majority being charmed with eloquence applaud the speaker. Sir George's weakness is vanity, and seemingly it does not much matter to him what he says as long as can obtain applause. When he visited Napier he gave us a very fair sample either of his disregard for strict accuracy, or his remarkable forgetfulness. But be secured tbe cheers of the people, his vanity was flattered, and that is all we care to credit him with desiring. As it was here, so, from the telegraphic summary of his latest address, bas it been at the Thames. Whether Sir George Grey judgee all men by his own standard it is impossible to say, but that he wishes to convey an impression of the utter dishonesty and corruption of the present Ministry there can be no doubt. Referring to the Government system of life assurance Sir George is reported to have said :—"ln Great Britain individuals were allowed to insure their lives for small sums, say from £100 to £300, and tbe State was liable for those amounts; but what did they do in New Zealand ? Here the burthen was thrown on tbe people. The wealthy man insured for his thirty, forty, or fifty thousand pounds, and the Government used those sums in any way they liked, and after such an exposure as he had just made of what was done at Patea they could form a just opinion of how the money was used." The inference to be drawn from the above quotation is that the Government system enables a man to insure his life up to fifty thousand pounds. Provided the report of the speech is in the main correct, no other deduction can be drawn from it than that Sir George Grey was absolutely ignorant ot what he was talking about, or else that he endeavored to mislead his hearers. It is well enough known that the Government will not insure any one's life for a sum above £3000; but, careless as to whether he was speaking the truth or not, Sir George would have had his audience to believe that rich men insured their lives up to as much as £50,000, and that the Government made use of the annual premiums for corrupt purposes. But if Sir George Grey can be bitter and unfair towards Lis opponents he knows the uses of " Blarney" towards bis supporters. The following characteristic sentence is simply charming: —"I look round on this audience now before me ;' they have never asked me for a favor,

awl they have never got their phare !" When it is considered that these words were uttered to a Thames softness of the soap can be well imagined. Sir George Grey's memory again conveniently failed him ; he had forgotten all about that mcnstrousjob, the Thames railway. On the question of taxation Sir George was more obscure than he usually is when dealing with important subjects. Starting at all times with the assumption that every human institution is thoroughly bad, and should be swept away at once, Sir George Grey never offered anything more than shadows for the substance he would take from us.. For instance, he condemned the property tax as a most iniquitous imposition, and one that would have to be got rid of. He would have : an income tax instead, a tax, he stated, that would press heavily on'theman with 1000 acres, heavier on one with 10,000, and far heavier still on one with 100,000 acres. Now if Sir George knew much about, the social positions of colonists he would know that large incomes are riot bade from land. Hjs remarks would be applicable to England, but not to this colony. Later on he said both land and incomes must be taxed, presumably with the object of bursting up large estates, confiscating them, in fact, to enable the Government to parcel them out as leaseholds to the people. An attractive property indeed I would be a small leasehold farm, terminable at death, the income derived from it taxed to the uttermost farthing. Sir George's picture of human hapinejs is equality, equality in rights to land, a dead level equality in a state of universal poverty. Having proposed the destruction of our land tenure, and an equal division of wealth—" God gave wealth for the support of the human race to go in and pssess it, and it must not be locked up." —Sir George then advocated a central system of government. They must abolish Education Boards, so that school committees must in all things appeal to Caesar. County County Councils must also be swept away; the Legislative Council must go, and nothing should remain but a huge House of Representatives. This is what he thinks would be an improvement on the present state of things—destruction. And destruction for what purpose P—that when the clouds.of dust from the fallen institutions shall hare cleared away, there shall be seen standing over the ruins the mighty figure of Sir George—the President'of Chaos.