The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, MAY 21, 1880.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 121, 21 May 1880, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, MAY 21, 1880.

Sir George Greg's speech at Auckland, of which grtat things were expected by his friends, and which was looked forward to with some degree of curiosity by those to whom he is opposed, has not met with a favorable reception from the press of the colony. The same old old story which has beeu placed before the public so many times until they are heartily weary of it was hashed up again, and served out almost without a new condiment of any kind iv it to vary the flavor, and in reading it one is reminded of the impromptu grace after meat offered up by the sickened schoolboy who, for the sixth time iv the week, had risen from his monotonous fare — "Mutton roast and mutton boiled ; mufc'on cooked and mutton Bpoiled ; mutton tender, mutton tough ; of mutton, sure, we've had enough." The youngster's complaint when suffering from a satiety of mutton has been put into other words and applied to Sir George Grey's utterances by the majority of the writers in the press of New Zealand, who hoped in vain that wheu the ex-Premier opened the campaign upon which he is now engaged prior to the meeting of Parliaaient, he would strike some new chord, instead of harping on the old string. But they were disappointed, and their disappointment has found vent in the leading columns of many of the most influential papers. For instance, the N.Z. Times thus bewails the absence of anything new or interesting in the address to the people of Auckland : " The speech with which the ex Premier opened his tour showed quite uumistakeably that he has, like the Bourbons, learnt nothing and forgotten nothing during hi 3 retirement. His armory has nothing iv it but the old rusty weapons, which have done duty so often that the edge is quite worn off them. He seems to be equally impractical and impracticable, and even his most Bteadfast adherents must feel that he is utterly unfitted to lead a party with the smallest hope of success, or even to effact any definite object whatever. Declamation has long since ceased to have the least influence upon the House. Yet Sir George Grey has absolutely nothing but declamation to offer. The position of the country is far too critical to admit of mere personal crotchets receiving any attention. Yet Sir George Grey has absolutely nothing but personal crotchets to declaim upon. Nominated Governors, Colonial titles, nominated Legislative Council, the Canterbury squatters, land companies—these, and others like them, are the subjects which Sir George still insists on calling the leadiug public questions of the day, though he must surely know that the public do not care sixpence for any one of them, and that no one ever mentions them now but himself." It may be said that a favorable criticism of the speech was scarcely to be expected from the journal quoted above, but it is by no means alone in the views it expresses, and even the Auckland Star which took a prominent part in inducing Sir George to come out from his retirement at Kawau and has since supported him most' warmly and loyally, is compelled to admit that its hero has scarcely come up to what was expected of him. " Sir George Grey's political career," says our contemporary, " has been an expectionally favoured one. He came out into public life just when the colony was weary and heartsick with the reign of the Continuous Ministry, and the shuffling of portfolios from hand to hand within a very circumscribed circle of men whose disinterestedness was not above suspicion. His name and reputation, his freedom from political cliques and temptations to personal gain, and his powers of oratory, peculiarly qualified him for the work of creating a new party. Bis ie-entry into public life was hailed with acclamation, and his subsequent career has been marked by a series of popular ovations, which in an inconceivably short time bore him into power against great odds. * * * * If, after the lapse of eventful years, during two of which Sir George Grey and his supporters held office, we find the leader once more appearing before his early supporters and friends again gathered to do him honour, aud moving them to laughter and applause by a repetition of the same things, the old familiar melodies, is it a testimony first of all to the power of the speaker, next to the depth of the well in human nature from which he draws, and last to the difficulty of realising the hopes and dreams which are the life of a new movement; but many no doubt, felt disappointed, and expected Sir George to sketch out a new programme or review the position of the colony and the momentous possibilities for weal or woe, by other lights than the ancient cruel and long abolished laws which made the Irish peasant the whipped slave of his landlord, or by anecdotes of the sayings and doings of titled people." It is an ominous Bign when the Auckland Star begins to admit the existence of flaws in its idol.