RECALL OF SIR GEORGE GREY.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 1, Issue 38, 16 September 1867, Page 228

RECALL OF SIR GEORGE GREY.

(From the Evening Po3t.)

The news of the recall of Sir George Grey, brought by the last Panama mail, cannot fail to give very general dissatisfactiou throughout the and he a source of great regret to those Who, conversant with the history of our late native difficulties, can fully .appreciate the importance of the new era about to be .initiated by the immediate . adoption of what has. so frequently, been styled. the self-reliant policy, the .introduction. of which will cause the state , of New Zealand affairs to assume features of quite a novel character,, requiring at the head of the: Government the assistance. ol' men .qualified .and versed.in .New Zealand politics, and. thoroughly experienced in Colonial wants, and requirements; -Without wishing to; look, back and touch upon matters. irretrievably belonging, to th® past,-'we .cannot help remembering the few. warnings, .uttered, at:.the-, time itho question.: of: .doing .away .with’ Imperial military assistance was first..seriously considered by some of the oldest politicians we (fossess'ainongsfc'us, and whose opinions were silenced by the * expressed-wishes of the‘ greater - number,' naturally anxious to be relieved ’ from 7 the unpleasant state of

expensive -and inoperative Imperial bondage into which,constitutionally constituted interests have gradually drawn the inhabitants of these'lslands. It was urged-at the time that however disastrous to the welfare of the colonists the action taken with regard to the native and * military matters by Imperial authorities might have proved to be,’ and notwithstanding the use* less expenditure forced upon us to no real purpose by the Home Government, and their assumption of controlling the management, while at the same time we had. the expense connected with military affairs, still, looking further into the future, it. appeared more than doubtful whether > the desired freedom so unanimously asked for by the people; of this Colony would ever become sufficiently divested of contingent ties aiidbarthens to prove any amelioration on the already unpleasant state of things existing, thought almost unbearable by many.

The removal of Sir George Grey at the present moment will greatly complicate matters, and the appointment of his- successor he looked forward to with considerable anxiety. We could hardly find in our midst a man whose political knowledge and lengthy experience of all subjects relating to Ifew Zealand and its interests equalled that of our present Governor, and however injudicious the execution of his views and ideas with regard to native affairs' may have been thought some years ago, it cannot be bat universally admitted that Sir George’s .firm and steadfast adherence to Colonial interests, and his late noble defence of himself, Ministry, and colonists generally, against the attacks so unwarrantably made by the Home authorities, ought to call forth at the hands of the inhabitants of these Islands the. warmest thanks and unmistakable tokens of approbation for the manner in which, at the expense of his own popularity at home, he upheld the dignity of those connected with the administration given into his charge. The unfortunate and oft-repeated . dissensions between the Governor and the various officers in command of the Imperial troops, must, to a certain extent, have caused a natural prejudice to be formed at the Home Office against him; although the disclosures made by the publication of the late despatches placed on the table of the House of Assembly, warrant us in thinking that the clear and explicit manner in which the explanations required were given by him, should have caused such prejudices to be removed, had the Secretary of State for the Colonies fairly and unhiassedly determined on the direot evidence offered, and had not most unjustly given ear to ex parte and unaccredited statements, which no officer of her Majesty, in his position, should have listened to, in order to render fair justice where it was duo.

When the numberless difficulties against which his Excellency has had to contend during the last few years. are taken into aonsideration, the public feeling cannot be other but that of extreme regret at the course just pursued by the Duke of Buckingham ; especially when it be remembered that by his long services, extending over a period of twenty-six years, by his most successful career in tho various commands entrusted to his care, and by his unexampled devotion to the interests of what ever community it happened to be his lot to govern, Sir George Grey must undoubtedly rank as one 1 of the most deserving and faithful servants of the Crown ever employed by her Majesty in similar high positions of trust. It is sincerely to be hoped that whatever will be iu the power of the people of this Colony, will be done to further, a proper vindication of the treatment of which, for some time past, the Queen’s Representative in these Islands has - been submitted in the faithful and consistent discharge of the duties of his office, and that a distinct expression of the esteem in wliioh Sir George’s acts and conduct has placed him in the opinion of colonists, will be. placed on record in the proper time and place.

The continual changes in the policy pursued here by successive Ministries, whose views on native affairs, or whose expensive military schemes might frequently’. have been at total variance with that’ of their predecessors, coupled with the several , elements at work at home, inimical to the unfettered action of Colonial management, have 'increased ten-fold the difficult position, which we maintain has been most successfully held by his Excellency in his indefatigable endeavours to do faithful justice to the powers placed in his hands by her Majesty’s Government..