The Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 1886. OUR AGENT GENERAL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1684, 14 April 1886, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 1886. OUR AGENT GENERAL.

Earl Granville has commenced his regime at the Colonial Office by endeavoring to form the personal acquaintance of the Agents-General, whom he recently asked (two at a time only) to dine with him quietly en famille. All went (says the Home correspondent of the Auckland Star) except Sir F. JD. Bell, who neither entertains himself or goes anywhere except when officially obliged. This peculiarity together with another, which consists of shutting himself up for days together and refusing to see anyone save on imperative business (sometimes not even then), militates very seriously against Sir Fbancis's otherwise marked usefulness. The Agent- General for a great colony like New Zealand ought not to be a recluse. His office has serious social as well as business duties. Refusing to dme with Lord Granville at his private house was surely betise. The new Colonial Secretary, when receiving the AgentGeneral, referred personally to F. D. Bell m terms of marked courtesy. For the latter to have declined a further advance, and one made almost inamedi ately afterwards too, seems, on the surtafe of things, iboth injudicious and impolite. '