THE SPEAKER ELECT.

Evening Star, Issue 4132, 25 May 1876, Page 4

THE SPEAKER ELECT.

j Here (to quote from the ‘ Press ’) is | an aged man, of great ability, excel- ; lent education, and about thirty years ;of public experience, who has proi fessed at one time or another everything, and believed nothing. He has never made a sacrifice for the public, and his administration has left . no marie upon the country, save peril haps the consolidation of the loans in 1867, when he proved his liberality of mind by abandoning his own plan in favor of that concocted by Mr Russell and the enemies of the Government. Being wholly free from inconvenient convictions or sentimental desire for the public welfare, his public character has exactly fitted him for the part of the soldier of fortune. He is in truth the Dugald Dalgetty of New Zealand politics. Equipped at all points, he has ever been ready for the fray; and although loyal enough so long as a fight could be maintained, when all was over he was equally ready to fight for somebody else. The result of so many years of manoeuvring is, that Mr Fitzherbert stands in the enviable position of being the most thoroughly distrusted man of any eminence in New Zealand, He has longed to be Premier of the Colony, but time after time the prize has slid from his grasp. He has of late been farther from it than ever; for if the Opposition obtained office, Sir George Grey would be first j and if Mr Fitzherbert carried his nine-hours’ eloquence over to the Government, he would meet with a cold welcome. Destitute alike of following, principle, and prospects, it is not unnatural that Mr Fitzherbert should take the advice given in vain to Falstaft' ‘ When wilt thou leave fighting o’ days and foining o’ nights, and begin to patch up thine old body for Heaven V —and should seek, as a species of preparation for a reputable exit, the presidency of the House of Representatives. Most people fail to see that their game is played out until the fact has been apparent to everybody else; but Mr Fitzherbert has the wisdom to understand his position, and to perceive with remarKable clearness that the process of repentence can be more satisfactorily conducted, ‘not in sackcloth and ashes, but in new silk and old sack.* ”