THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 1881. A NEW DANGER.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2236, 28 April 1881, Page 2

THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 1881. A NEW DANGER.

A NEW danger threatens the Hall Ministry, and from a most unexpected quarter, illustrating the well - worn truism that causes are not to be measured by their apparent size. Islands are built by the coral insect, the robes of kings are devoured by the moth, and the present Government may possibly be overturned by the hen pheasant—at least, so thinks the Auckland “Herald.” For the Government have prohibited the shooting of these birds, and pheasants are becoming % pest, says our contemporary, in Auckland. Moreover, the Acclimatisation Society

are opposed to preservin, and a deputa tion are about to wait t the AttorneyGeneral on the subject and, finally, a general election will sooitake place, and the outraged farmer wi know how to vote in consequence of 10 extraordinary action of the present Mistry. The devotion of the Auckland members to Sir George Grey has of lat been becoming somewhat lukewarm. Co has no more sugar-plums to offer tl district, no now railway lines leading from somewhere to nowhere, and a future prospects, viewed as a jtron, are somewhat gloomy. Bui it may be possible to re-unite tl scattered Auckland phalanx on the lie pheasant ticket. Mr. Speight might go bout the country collecting statistics. Hmight endeavour to count the hen pheants in any particular locality. Ho light lecture surrounded by stuffed tecimons of that interesting creature. Ho might in a hundred other ways all down such a storm on the impaneled atrocity and bungling of the press; holders of power that the effect wouh be electrical. It certainly occurs to ushat, if the facts of the case are indeed a represented by the “ Herald,” the Govennent may possibly bo acting on false iformation received, as the great hen phisant question is not likely to interest the; much either one way or another. It majalso bo remarked that but lately a telegrai was published from Auckland to the ffect that pheasants, both male and finale, were becoming exceedingly scarce But what of this ? If the platform wro adopted by the Grey party it would srve as well as many another that thy have stood upon. Besides, anecdote about political animals are quite in & George Grey’s line. There is the eock anecdote about the rabbit, for the hooting of which an individual was, ii Sir George’s early youth, hung, drawn ad quartered—or punished in some slighly less rigorous fashion. This thrilling reminiscence, it will be remembered, s to be found in the late Premier’s one ;roat stock stumping speech, as illustratingtho cruelty of the haughty New Zealand aristocrat. Sir George himself mustwe fear, have always felt a painful conicousness that the antiquity of the incidot must have a good deal spoilt its aplication. But here, in the hen pheasait incident, he has an illustration of the carelessness of everybody lut himself to the general good, irawn from an absolutely modern souro—from events that are passing under hit very nose. If he can thrill an audience with the great rabbit incident, surely the effect of the hen pheasant incident will be infinitely more telling. If he can draw tears about the fossil roden and the fossilized malefactor, how about the result of an appeal to an audieice when the subject matter ia a live hm pheasant P Besides, Mr. Hall, as the “■ Herald” remarks, is “one of the very :'ew who succeeded in passing the first gone law in the colony many years ago.” It seems difficult to understand how such a very small minority could have mcceeded in passing this law of all othen; but Sir George might use the text of Ibe “ Herald ” without further inquiry. An examination into the real facts might be awkward, as might any investigation into the constitution of the various Acclimatisation Societies throughout the eeleny. Sir George’s arguments might not lo strengthened if it were shown that those societies were formed of representative men of all classes, and that a majority of them had, from sheer selfinterest, a strong fellow feeling for all farmers, being indeed farmers themselves, to whom any laws tending to encourage game to the detriment of agriculture, would be most distasteful. Luckily the leader of the Opposition is not deterred by facts or dates, or any considerations of such minor importance, and consequently we can recommend to his favorable notice the hen pheasant ticket. Kingdoms have won before now by the brute creation. The horse of Darius, by neighing at the proper moment, gave him the sceptre when the six nobles who murdered the Magian agreed that he whose horse should neigh first should bo crowned. The cleverness of Darius’ groom is said to have done the business. By carefully manipulating the hen pheasant question there is no knowing what Sir George may not effect. Darius had an equestrian statue erected with the following inscription :—“ Darius, son of Hyataspes, by the sagacity of his horse, and by the address of Abares, his groom, obtained the Empire of the Persians.” It may yet, perhaps, bo the duty for history to write some such epitaph as this on the present Government—“ The Hall Ministry owed its overthrow ta the hen pheasant grievance judiciously run by the great Pro-Consul.”