The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 1881.

Kumara Times, Issue 1514, 4 August 1881, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 1881.

Sir George Grey has delivered his annual philippic, and may be congratulated upon having reproduced with tolerable accuracy the same old speech with which we have for so many years been acquainted. According to him the entire human race (with one exception, himself) has gone c ooked, but not altogether past redemption, as perfect regeneration can he effected in the most simple manner possible, and that ia> by hearkening to the voice of the charmer, Sir George Grey, and currying out forthwith the various policies he has from time to time evolved from his inner consciousness. Some bitterness on his part might have been expected in the recent debate, for in truth it must have been a sad day &>r him when he had , to play second fiddle to a second-rate man ; and it must have been a melancholy sight to

observe the ex-leader of the Opposition striving in vain to i-egain his faded prestige, and his lost position with what was once his party. Sir George Grey’s day has evidently gone by, and that through no want of ability on his part, for lie probably has a largo, if not larger brain-power than any member of either branch of the Legislature, but because he is completely eaten up witii crotchets of his own; because he is always seeking the unattainable; because his ideas are altogether Utopian ; because of the chameleon-like nature of his principles; because of the unlimited abuse he flings around him upon all who venture to disagree with him merely in some trifling matter of detail in any of the wonderful schemes lie has propounded; and, lastly and chiefly, because when he had the power in his hands to carry out the measures he advocated, he abstained from doing anything of a practical nature, and contented himself with making grand speeches, apropos to nothing. Sir Geofrge Grey had for years asserted that the people of New Zealand were a down-trodden race, and that seventy thousand colonists were deprived of their rights in consequence of the defective electoral laws. When be was Premier, he introduced an electoral bill which proposed to confer the franchise upon almost everyone in the colony. Among other things it provided for giving a dual vote to Maoris, sO that in many districts they would not only be able to vote for their own members but also be able to vote at the elections of the pakehas, and to such an extent as to influence the result. The bill passed through all its stages in the House, but in the Legislative Council the clause referred to was ruthlessly struck out. This was the chief and almost the only alteration effected; and when it came back to the House with the amendment named, Sir George Grey declined to go on with the measure, and dropped it, although, had it become law, it would have freed from serfdom the seventy-five thousand men whose cruel treatment he had so long deplored in the most heartrending terras. Actions like this have convinced all reasonable politicians that whatever Sir George may say about having ihe iuterest of the country at heart, he is, in reality, influenced by petty motives and crotchety notions which are entirely unworthy a man of his undoubted ability. With regard to the Local Self-Go-vernment Bill introduced by Sir George, it may safely be said that the provisions contained therein are of the most impracticable character, and which, if once they had the force of law, would produce the utmost confusion, instead of remedying the many grievances known to exist. The merits of the Bill are summed up as follows by the Wellington correspondent of a Beef ton paper : “Sir George Grey’s Local Self-Govern-ment Bill is ultra democratic. It provides for the conversion of counties into something like republics, each presided over by a president and council; each district to have full control over all local public departments, and elect their own judges. No express power is given to the districts to maintain standing armies, or to declare war upon neigh* boring powers, and in this respect the scheme is considered incomplete.”