THE GOVERNOR'S SALARY QUESTION.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 817, 29 August 1870, Page 4

THE GOVERNOR'S SALARY QUESTION.

[Evening Post, August 18. J Mr Bunny, when he suggested the other day in the House that the Imperial Government, if they wished to maintain a Governor as a medium of communication between them and us, and for other purposes purely Imperial, should also pay his salary, only expressed a feeling which is very generally entertained in the Colony. But while we are asking, in reference to his Excellency, cui bono ? it is a material point to understand what position he occupies in the eyes of the English Ministry. It might be worth our while to endure the present heavy burden on our resources for the sake of a Governor who would act as a friendly medium between us and the Colonial office in all the many matters arising in which the interests of the Colony appear to be antagonistic to those of Britain, and vice versa; who would hold the balance equally between us, and tone down asperities on the one side and rash petulance on. the other, thereby preserving the entente cordiale between us and the mother country, which is really the earnest wish of us all. To hold such a position it is very evident that a Governor must not only have the confidence of the Colonists, but also the respect of the Home Go vernment; and, without wishing to say anything harsh or disrespectful of Sir George Bowen, t& whose many estimable qnalities we are always ready to bear testimony, it is very evident from the tone of despatches from Earl Granville—not published in our Parliamentary papers, although they appear in English Blue Books—that he does not hold the position in the eyes of English Ministers which our Governor should occupy. In proof of this assertion we will notice a despatch, dated 28th January, 1870, from Earl Granville. It refers to a certain communication from Sir George Bowen as " a rhetorical denunciation by her Majesty's representative of what is now the avowed policy of her Government, and of the conduct of the Admiralty in a matter of discipline, upon which it was their province to decide." The noble Earl in his despatch seems to have taken the measure of the " representative." " Ehetorical denunciations" are perhaps Sir George's forte ; but it is rather hard to be snubbed for giving opinions upon matters as to which it is the province of others to decide. Further on, tiie correspondence is said to have had an undesirable character " forced upon it" by his Excellency, who is told that, though he is at liberty, or rather that it is his duty, to warn her Majesty's Government as to the state of public opinion in the Colony, yet the manner of doing so has been objectionable. A confusion among the opinions which his Excellency reports, adopts, or recommends is censured. He is told, "I do not think you clearly understand what has passed " ; he is informed that " it was hardly within your province to examine the grounds of their Lordships' decision" ; that " your criticism is mistaken: if it had been correct I. could have wished it otherwise expressed." In plain language, he is told what course he should have pursued in regard to the retention of the troops, and the reader of the despatch is forced to believe that, but for an ignorance of the duties attached to his station, the retention of the troops in our time of peril would have been permitted. Again, the language used is condemned, as calculated to embarrass the Imperial Government, and as unnecessary. That the Colony was left defenceless in its hour of danger because his Excellency did not understand the duties of his position, and did not express himself intelligibly, is what we must consider Earl Granville to mean. The whole of this despatch goes to show that the Governor is looked upon * by the noble Earl who then directed the affairs of the Colonial Office as simply an Imperial officer, bound to obey the behests of the Imperial Government, and not allowed, without censure, to advocate the interests of the colonists when they happen to run counter to the views of the English Ministry. It is evident that our Governor cannot hold a position midway between us and England; he is here in English interests solely, and the Imperial Government are as justly bound to pay him as they are their commanders of the squadrons in our waters, and the

troops that were stationed in our towDS. No question can either in justice or honor be raised as to the payment of the present Governor, but when his term of office expires, it will become a question of importance whether the same, or any, salary will be voted for a successor. If England wants us to pay a Governor of her appointing, there must be such a change in his instructions and in his position that he will become of use to us as well as ornament, and do something more for the large sum he costs us than write despatches for the Secretary of State for the Colonies to pull to pieces.