The Evening Star SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 1870.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2101, 29 January 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 1870.

Our Wellington telegram, published in Wednesday’s issue, contained an item of a significant character —“ Upon “ the Governor’s health being proposed “ at the ball, it was hissed." Although no particular admirers of Sir George Bowen, as a governor or a statesman, we cannot but deprecate the way the gentlemen of Wellington exhibit their gentlemanly and patriotic instincts. It was certainly discreditable to the Empire City, that, having invited a number of British officers to

a ball and banquet, it should have been made the occasion of insult to the invited guests and the Imperial flag. If we search history with the greatest minuteness, we can find no record to supply a precedent for such rude conduct as this. What could be the impression left upon the minds of the visitors other than that the “ invitation ball ” was a sham—a something got up for the purpose of allowing little Wellington to display its nutshell vindictiveness in its own peculiar way—by insulting the Chief Magistrate of the Colony in his absence, and the guests who it was pretended they had met to honor. This conduct was degrading to the parties concerned and an outrage on good breeding. Whatever may be our differences with the Imperial Government, or dissatisfaction with the actions of His Excellency the Governor, we have no right to evince it upon such an occasion, and, we believe, we express the opinions of all right-minded men, outside the Empire City, when we say that nothing could have been more distasteful to the majority of the 1 people, or detrimental to the character of the Colony, than this manifestation of ungcntlemanly political impulsiveness.

Had this display of feeling arisen from the intensity of indignation felt at the policy the Imperial Government had adopted, it might have been excused, although it could never have been justified. But it was nothing of the kind. From the tone and character of the articles appearing in the Wellington papers, wo conclude this ebullition of temper arose from two causes, viz ;— that His Excellency Sir George Bowen, elected to meet RearAdmiral Hornby at Auckland, instead of Wellington ; and that the Admiral had visited Canterbury, and therefore was compelled to limit his stay in the metropolitan Province to two days instead of five or six as they desired. The j Yew Zealand Advertiser, in an article upon the proceedings of the Flying Squadron, says : —“ It seems “ strange that the Admiral’s orders “ were not to visit Lyttelton, and yet “ lie does enter that harbor, and there “ remains for the space of four or five “ days.” And after attempting to show that the Hon. Hugh Childers, now at the head of the Admiralty, was a disappointed colonial politician, who is now revenging himself on the Colonies, continues, “ to us he seems to be carry- “ ing out his good intentions : he pro- “ cures the withdrawal of the troops in “ our time of difficulty; and as if by “ way of adding insult to injury, he “ sends out a squadron to look at us, “to mock us in our adversity; and the “ Admiral’s first act is in consonance “ with the wishes of his worthy chief. “ Wellington —much abused Welling- “ ton—is snubbed, and the great bubble “ city of Auckland is to have the honor “ of a more protacted visit, where His “ Excellency can entertain in princely “ Grecian style the Commander of a “ magnificent fleet. We can scarcely “ help making a remark on the conduct “ of His Excellency the Governor in “ this matter. Ever since his arrival “ he has, whenever it was possible for “ him to do so, remained out of Wel- “ lington.” In this we find the secret of the ball-goers’ indignation. When will the time come for the destruction of this miserable rivalry between the leading men of Wellington and Auckland 1

New Zealand has suffered as much, if not more, from the despicable selfishness of the Wellington and Auckland parties, than even from the Maori wax’. Had they displayed the large-hearted-ness which should ever characterise statesmen, and in time of difficulty been able to rise above their Lilliputian conceivings, and worked in unison to secure the peace and prosperity of the Colony, the rebellion would have been stamped out years since. But both aim more at snatching the crumbs arising from a governmental expenditure, than the progress of the Colony. If the Separation of the two Islands cannot be obtained, the South has a right to demand that the place for holding the General Assembly should not be permanently cither in Wellington or Auckland. It should, at equal periods, be held in the live original Provinces—Auckland, Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury, and Otago. Until this principle is adopted, the grasp-all proclivities of our Northern rulers will continue to expand, and the little Peddlington amusement of “ hissing ” a Governor, and thereby insulting invited guests at a public ball, will be repeated by the gentlemanly politicians of the “ Empire City.”