The Evening Star THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4282, 16 November 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1876.

The uselessness of any appeal to Her Majesty from the decision of the Colonial Parliament’s Abolition of Provinces Act should be manifest from the tenor of Earl Carnarvon’s dispatch of September 13. The Secretary for the Colonies does not appear to have acted carelessly or without inquiry in the decisions arrived at. There is no mistaking the explicitness sf his language—

You will be so good as to inform Sir Qeoeoe Gkev that previously to acquainting your Lordship, in my dispatch of February 17, that Her Majesty would not bo advised to exercise her power of disallowance in respect of the Act “ to provide for the Abolition of the Provinces,” I had satisfied myself that the passing of the Act was within the competency of the Colonial Legislature.

This is but a repetition of what the Secretary for the Colonies has already stated, and should be sufficient answer to those smatterers in law who profess to believe the Act to be ultra vires. Sir George Grey, however, has friends and admirers even in Otago. What there is specially to admire in him as a statesman is difficult to discover. He has neither displayed discretion nor ability, and, especially with regard to Otago, he has shown an utter disregard to its interests. The main fear of many who opposed Abolition was that the land fund of Otago would be made general revenue, and to secure it to the Province was the ostensible reason of the fusion of parties with Auckland on the part of Otago, Yet this was a leading feature in Sir George’s political programme. He denounced the compact of 1856, which the Ministry had expressed its determination to uphold, and has not hesitated to commit himself to statements libellous of the Colony, and tending to damage its reputation throughout the world. That some of the bush politicians who gathered together in Convention, in response to Mr Mac Andrew’s invitation, should believe in Sir George’s statesmanship is not surprising, when it is known for a truth that until their arrival in Dunedin there were those who did not even know that Sir Julius Vogel had resigned his seat and accepted the office of Agent General. Probably very few who were present from the country dia-

trief-s had had ennortnn’ty of knowing uj v ti'- - * of i ll(- 1 '.1;*,,;;- . V\ l.’*. H' ■ fitjui toe oobuMi,'’. O- '.h.osv veracious p'-vr j t* ■' * Guardian* : Dailv Tiir*:-,!?, - ’ and o oeldy bundles of misleading selections, the ' Witness’ and ‘.Southern Mercury.’ However binitod the amount of damage the daily morning journals can perpetrate, it is certain that the weeklies do find readers in remote corners, where shepherds while away their Sunday hours In spelling over their columns, ordiggers glance overthemin the in- 1 tervalsbetween their Sunday dozings. When, therefore, one was continually blackening Sir Julius Vogel, and the other perpetually polishing Sir George Grey with gold filched from the Marquis of Normanbv, there is no wonder that the one was regarded as an ogre and the other as an angel by the astute politicians who had faith in those imaginings. But surely the sins of those journals will find them out. We congratulate the ‘ Times ’ on behaving itself at least respectably amid the changes that have taken place. We do not by any means think it has taken the best course for the interests of New Zealand; but there has been almost an absence from those indecent attacks upon the Governor which have disgraced the columns of the ‘Guardian.’ We should have thought Sir George Grey’s folly in predicting the bombardment of Auckland sufficiently established to silence any comments in excuse of it. Regarding it as a political ruse, it was childish; and admitting it to have been uttered as a jest in answer to some club badinage, a prudent man would have hastened to have given a clear explanation to the world, when he found it was magnified into a part of his politic:! creed. But no such retractions took place until Sir George Grey found it likely to bring discredit upon himself and damage to his party. Even then there was no manliness in the explanation; but instead, it was attempted to give the lie to the person who reported it to a friend. What would the ‘ Guardian ’ have the Governor do ? Allow himself to be the butt for the folly of Sir George and its own coarse ribaldry, although the sayings of the one were calculated to carry weight with the people as the expression of an ex-Govemor, and of the other may deceive the digger and the shepherd when read during their Sunday afternoon’s lounge ? If a Governor failed to report even the first breathings of sedition in a Colony, he might be blamed by the Executive at Home, should consequences ensue such as have taken place 4 in many instances —in the West Indies, in Canada, and elsewhere. It is not true that he has misrepresented Sir George, but it is true that he has shown more courtesy to that gentleman than the course adopted by him should have led him to expect; and more than Sir George himself, when Governor, would have shown to any man. If Sir George Grey and Mr Mac Andrew, when they hinted at a physical force resistance to Abolition never intended to be understood as believing in the possibility of such a contingency, they should have avoided any allusions to the bombardment of Auckland to compel submission or of “a law-ab ; ding people in Otago.” We do uot wish to do cither of them injustice, but we never can help thinking of the old story, “There is a pump—l do not advise you to put him under it,” whenever such remote ideas are pub into people’s heads. If they meant nothing, they should have said nothing ; if they meant anything they meant their words to be reported and spread broadcast among the people. They are in this dilemma—they were either foolish or wicked, and those who defend them partake of one or the other imputation. Opposition to Abolition should have been shown to be founded cu something more tangible than the mere “I think” of a minority ; especially when the evils of Provincialism stood in such strong relief in Auckland, and were not far to seek in Canterbury and Otago.