PUBLIC OPINION.

Evening Star, Issue 4102, 20 April 1876, Page 3

PUBLIC OPINION.

THE SUPERINTENDENT’S MANIFESTO,

The action of the Superintendent in refusing to afford information to the General Government Commissioners respecting the internal workings of the Provincial system in Otago is one for which we think Mr Macandrew will not gain the thanks of the people, nor even the approbation of his more immediate following. It is now pretty generally recognised that his Honor has a weakness for parading his peculiar views on any public subject before the eyes of all men, especially when it can be done through the, medium of * Gazettes Extraordinary,’ issued at the public expense; but even this cheap means of fishing for popularity may be carried to excess. When the people made Mr Macandrew Superintendent, they had no idea whatever that therefore they appointed him arbiter of their destinies, nor that he should arrogate to himself an assumption of power ■which he has not the slightest right to exercise. It may be, and no doubt is, the truth that his Honor has acted in a manner which he conscientiously believes to he correct, aud for the advantageof his constituents as a whole; but it does not necessarily follow that the reasons he urges in his hostile and defiant letter to the Premier, represent the feelings of the Otago public on this matter. Indeed, there is no doubt that his ill-advised epistle is altogether in opposition to the feelings of the majority of the people—that is outside of Dunedin itself.—* Cromwell Argus.’

It is not always that we can agree with the ‘Daily Times,’ and when we do find ourselves a,t one with the Custom-house Square Jupiter the feeling is quite refreshing. We heartily endorse the views taken by our Dunedin contemporary in the matter of the refusal by the Superintendent nnd Executive to afford the Commissioners of Inquiry, Messrs" Gisborne, Seed, and Knowles, access to the Provincial archives,' and the information requested in their letter of instructions "We think that Sir Julius Vogel, whatever he has to fear next session, will have nothing to apprehend on the score of sending the Commissioners on their present tour. No reasonable member of the minority, let alone any of his own supporters, can call him to task tor action taken in a bonAJide spirit to make c ‘°^ r the way so as to give effect to the will of Parliament. . . . Consummate impudence, to take reasonable steps to prepare for discharging responsibilities devolving by law ! What next ?— ‘ Palmerston Times/

The ‘Lyttelton Times’ thinks that Mr Macandrew might very well have acceded to Premier s request, and that in fearing that his assistance to the Commissioners would compromise his position as a provinciahst chief, Mr Macandrew failed to apprehend the true situation.