OUR PREMIER.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 280, 3 December 1878, Page 3

OUR PREMIER.

(.Timaru Herald). Tbe Premier appears to have the greatest aversion from consultation with fcis colleagues, mest of whom ho regards as vexatious impediments to tbe advancement of his own political objecle, whatever they may be. It ip only with the utmost difficulty, indeed, that a Cabinet meetiog can be got together at all, and when it is got together, we are told that business is conducted in the most marvellous fashion. The Premier eyea every oue of his colleagues who basaty opinion of his own, with suspicion and jealousy. Ho will neithu' impart his own views to them nor listen wiih any seriousness to theirs. He talks about all sorts of irrelevant subjects, avoids any decision on any matter, and presently finds tome excuse for meking his escape. Then another long interval elapses, only to be foilowed by a similar proceeding, and the papers which have been prepared for the Cabinet meanwhile accumulate and strand over. There is a capital story told of the Premier, and a gentleman holding a prominent position, which illustrates, perhaps, as well as anything could, the way in which public business is subordinated to private idiosyncrasies, under tbe present regime. The gentlemun in question had long suffered from tbe neglect by the Ministry of a matter of the first moment to himself and those be represented. The matter was simple enough, dnd only needed ihe Premier to give his decision upon it one way or the other. The rest of tbe Ministers knew all about if, nnd were quite prepared to deal finally with it ; but their chief had put off dealing with it again and again, and would never give anybody a chance to bring it before him. At length the patience of the member— for the gentleman referred to represents a Northern constituency—was fairly exhausted, and he determined to meke a desperate effort to get his busine-s out of the Premier's hands altogether. He accordingly found a means to obtain an interview with him alone, and, after detailing the case and describing the distress that he was in about ir, begged the Premier as a favor to allow two of the other Ministers to look into it and settle it for the Government. Sir George Grey heard him patiently to the end, when be told him with an air of terrible weariness and distraction that he had bo many anxieties and cares that his head was well nigh bursting. Changing bis manner then to one of great interest and pleasantness, wbich raised the hopes of the applicant to the highest pitch, he proceeded to narrate to him an auecdote of a little child who bad seen a little mouse come out of a little hole and eat a little bit of cheese, and who hed asked him whether he thought God taught the little mouse to eat the cheese. "Now wee not that a nice thing for tbe little creature to say to me ? What I mean to say ia, was it not really, thou„b, a very interesting thing ? Do you not think children are most interesting ? &c , &c, &c„ &c. Tho member tore his hair and fied, and that business remains in statu quo- to this day. This story is not highly characteristic, bnt it has tbe further advantage of being strictly true in every particular. That is. in short, exactly the way in which the Premier comports himself towards all public affairs, except those io which he happens to take a personal intereet. It has often been gravely asked whether he is quite in his right mind, whether it is possible for a man in tbe full possession of his mental /acuities to make so light ju be does of the weightiest responsibilities, and to play ducks and drakes with matters which directly concern the welfare cf thousands wbo never did him any barm. The fact tbat when he pleases he can despatch business with the greatest promptitude and the most unerring judgment effectually disposes, however, of that hypothesis. Whatever Sir George Grey may be, he is certainly not a fool. We do not pretend to be able positively to account for tbat extraordinary eccentricity or perversity, or whatever it ie, wbich has so grievously disappointed all those who really believed he would make an able Minister, if not a safe political leader. We have heard some who know bim. well and have had opportunities of watching him closely declare that be bas no aptitude for administration, that he ia not capable, in fact, of grasping the details of routine business, end that he puts,, thing off with twaddle, simply in order to conceal his ignorance. Otheis say tbat he is too indolent to do any work, tbat it bores and vexes him to have to sit io an office and fag at records and papers, and that he lets business stand over day rfter day from sheer disinclination to apply himself to it. At the same time he is far too jealous of those about him to hand over anything, to them or to relinquish one iota of his authority. If ever his colleagues take anything upon tbemselveß, they suffer for it afterwards. The Premier complains and whineß about their disrespect to him, and about the impropriety of their taking important steps without his being consulted. At the same time, if the business which they would have undertaken prospers be assumes tbe whole credit of it, and treats it as having been forced on his colleagues by himself. He must be a charming man to work witb, certainly. Our own theory about bim is tbat be is mainly governed by an all-pervading love of mischief, and that he does not care a straw how far be indulges it. He is an utterly selfish man, and is void of consideration for others to a degree

that is almoßt unparalleled in anyone we ever met witb. He thereto! c gratifies his monkeyish passion for spoiling thingp, in a manner and to on extent which misleads those who gauge him only by the ordinary standard of human nature. In order io wreak a little grudge, or even to enjoy a little malicious jokp, he does not care if he seriously injures number of people who are not concerned in it at alf. Ulterior consequences are nothing to him, provided his own imrardia»e ends are serve!. He looks upon even the Premiership of New Zealand meroly as an incident in the pursuit of ol jeets which only himself is cognisant of; and he does not consider at all called upon to fulfil the functions of that office any wore than is ner-eesary in order to gain those ohjects. One of his most intimate friends, if such a man can have a fread, said of him that he uever forgave or forgot an injury in his life, and that be would keep od good terms with a man who had once offended him for twenty years, in order to get an opportunity of reverjge. That judgment of him, which has been proved by a score of instances to be a precisely correct one, BiTords the key to much of his otherwise inexplicable conduct. Ho lives in a miorocosm of bis own, and bas nothing really io common with the larger world in which, nevertheless, he moves aB on important factor, and of which he mokes use for the furtherance of hiß own secret and selflah designs. There was a time in his career, no doubl, when he had lofty aims and noble views ; and we confess that when he voluntarily stepped forth from his gloomy and cynical retirement, to take a successful part in the politics of the country which he once had ruled with despotic power, we hoped that his old age would rival his prime in active beneficence. It is oot so. His heart has been steeped too long in the bitter gall of disappointment, for a mind naturally defective in generosity ever to recover the faculty of sympathy. Hia political life has bsen a grief nnd an astonishment to those who bad faith in bim, and an interesting study of misanthropy to those who knew bim well enough to penetrate his smooth surface of self restraint. We believe tbat the cursory analysis of the character of this remarkable person which we thus have made, if a candid, is not an uncharitable one. Wo are convinced that he is after all the greatest suffers by his cold aud solitary egoism, and we pity him as much as it is possible to have euch a sentiment towards one who is bereft of all affection. We look upon him as a refined and powerful intellect blasted by degrading passions, and we bave no hope of his over resuming any useful connection with his fellow creatures. We despair of his at any timerealieing the expectations of his admirers, and we fear he will go down to hie grave a friendless, faithless man, with hia once brilliant reputation left far behind him.