The Politician.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 317, 9 March 1878, Page 7

The Politician.

SIR GEORGE BOWEN ON THE CRISIS IN VICTORIA. Sir George Bowen, in his speech at the dinner given on the occasion of the opening of the Juvenile Industrial Exhibition at Ballarat on the 15th ult., thus referred to the political crisis in Victoria :—“ I would once more recommend to both Houses of Parliament mutual forbearance and mutual concessions. (Cheers.) As my hon. friend Mr. Jenner said just now, I believe the clouds which hang over us will soon be dissipated by the good sense and forbearance of both parties. Gentlemen, I need scarcely say that this is not a place or time to introduce party politics, but the position of the Governor, being absolutely neutral, is not a question of party politics. His position becomes in troublous times very difficult, and isolated, and one that should command the sympathy of every generous mind. (Hear, Hear.) The Governor is the only public man in the colony who has not abundant opportunities of explaining e ad defending his conduct, for recollect, gentlemen, I have really none. My countrymen of all classes and parties—(hear, hear) —will do me justice, and my few critics will be covere ;1 with ridicule and confusion. Again, I have been accused of apparent insouciance in stormy periods, but, gentlemen, mark my words, that the time will soon come when it will be universally agreed that it was fortunate for Victoria that during the gust of passion which has lately swept over the land there was at least one public man, and that man the Governor, who has kept his temper unruffled, his head cool, and his hand firm and steady. (Cheers.) On the other hand we well know that there are a set of excellent and well-meaning persons in this colony, and chiefly in Melbourne, generally respectable in all the social relations of life, but with little political influence, and for the most part hostile to free Parliamentary institutions on the English model. These were the people of whom my able predecessor Eord Canterbury once wrote, “ They bitterly revile every Governor who refuses blindly to enlist himself as a member of their party.” (Cheers,) Nay, more : these worthy gentlemen—generally so harmless and respectable—seem to be occasionally, when the political barometer points to stormy, seized with a strange homicidal mania. I am told they have been roaming about the streets of Melbourne, boasting they have already killed two Governors, and that I may expect a similar fate at their hands. Really, at first sight, no one would suppose that my worthy frieuds are killing iu any sense of the word. Mmy of you have probably heard the story of the lady who had a very stupid old housekeeper. “ Oh, Sarah,” said her mistress, one day, provoked by some blunder more annoying than usual, “ You will never set the Thames on fire.” “ Lawks, mum,” was the reply ; “ I hope I shall never do anything so wicked ” (laughter). No one certainly would have supposed that my friendly critics, like the old woman in this story, could have been so wicked as to set the Yarra on fire, or to kill any of their fellow creatures. Anyhow, I defy them to kill me either politically or physically (cheers). Nay, more ; I would give odds that I shall long survive most of my critics. Putting aside all other considerations, there is nothing that prolongs life so much as a good temper and a good digestion. Now, the hearts of my friends seem just now to be overflowing with bile. My heart, on the contrary, is overflowing with the milk of human kindness towards them and all the world. (Laughter.) In all sincerity, if any n an in this colony bears illwill towards me, “ the reciprocity,” as the Irishman said, “is all on one side.” I hope that I shall leave Victoria, as I left Queensland and New Zealand, with the consciousness of no enmity wilfully provoked, of no duty wilfully neglected. (Cheers.) This much is certain, that if I had five years more to pass in Victoria, I heartily wish them to be like the last have been—five happy years for my family and myself—and I should pursue exactly the same course in all respects that I have pursued hitherto. Indeed, I cannot do better than repeat what I recently said at Portland befoxe the present crisis began, namely, that it is the first duty of a Governor to follow closely the constitutional conduct of the august Sovereign whom he represents. We all know that the Queen has ever walked in the straight and open paths of the Constitution. She has never surrounded herself with a camarilla of secret and irresponsible advisers, but she has always given her full support to the Ministry which has commanded for the time being the confidence of the majority of the House of Commons—one year to the Liberals, the next to the Conservatives; one year to a Gladstone, the next to a Disraeli. You will recollect when I returned fi-om England, just two years ago, I found Sir James McCulloch in office and Mr. Berry in Opposition. Members of the Liberal party under the auspices of the National Reform League, then addressed petitions to me, praying me to dismiss Sir James McCulloch and to dissolve Parliament. What did I do with these petitions. I referred them to my responsible adviser*, who commanded the confidence of the majority of the representatives of the people, that is, the Commons of Victoria. It has often been said that extremes meet, and it is amusing to see that the extreme conservatives have now taken a leaf out of the book of the extreme liberals, out of the records of the National ReformLeague, and have called upon me, through their organ in the Press, to dismiss Mr. Berry, and to dissolve Parliament. Gentlemen, I say with Virgil, “ Tros Tyriusve mild nullo cliscrimine aejetur,” which being interpreted means, that I shall treat Mr. Berry exactly a 3 I treated his predecessor, Sir James McCulloch (cheers). Assuredly, it is astonishing that there should exist in any British community

even a few persons who think it possible that an English Governor should follow the example of a French President by supporting—in matters, too, of purely colonial policy—the minority against the majority of the representatives of the people. Not less astonishing is it that any such persons should dream that it is possible for English statesmen or the Imperial Parliament to permit any Governor to depart thus utterly from the time-honored principles of English Parliamentary Government. In conclusion, I will repeat once more that so long as I have the honor to hold my present office I shall continue to maintain those principles with increasing vigilance, with inflexible resolution, and with strict impartiality. (Loud cheers.)

THE STANDARD ON THE WAIRAm RAPA ELECTION. The Standard thus discourses on the much talked of Wairarapa election, which event may not come off for a long time : —“ Whenever the election may come off it is most important that the Liberal party should come to some agreement at once as to the candidate it will support, because there are so many candidates who threaten to contest the seat in the Liberal interest. If there were only one Liberal candidate of course the case would be very different. We know that there are a number of sterling men in Masterton, and they enjoy the confidence of the bulk of the Masterton electors, who will not have Mr. Lowes at any price. They favor the candidature of Mr. Hutchison. Again, tliero are a number of Taratahi and Carterton electors who are favorable to the candidature of Mr. Burton Boys, and who have absolutely refused on any terms to be placed on Mr. Lowes’ Committee. At Greytown, too, a number of electors, whom Mr. Lowes believed to be favorable to his return, have promised their support to Mr. Duncan ; while there are a large number more at Featherston and the Lower Valley who prefer Mr. Duncan to Mr. Lowes, and who will use every effort in their power to place him at the head of the poll. A knowledge of these facts was amply sufficient to justify the advice we gave in our Tuesday’s issue. Against these electors, all of them either warm supporters of Sir George Grey or of his policy, there is a small but influential clique in Wellington, comprising Mr. Bunny and two or three of his personal or political friends, who wish to thrust Mr. Lowes on the constituency, and who care much more about his success than they do for that of Sir George Grey or his policy. Mr. Lowes, in fact, was put forward chiefly to thwart Mr. Hutchison, who was known to have had prior possession of the field. It would appear that Mr. Hutchison had rendered himself personally obnoxious to Mr. Bunny, who naturally felt a reluctance to vacate the seat in his favor. We do not wLh to make any invidious comparisons between Mr. Hutchison and Mr. Lowes, though such comparisons are invited after the course which has been taken by certain newspaper editors and correspondents in Wellington with regard to the claims of the former to the support of the Government party. We decline to support Mr. Hutchison on the present occasion, as we have already said, because he is not sufficiently well known in the district to make his candidature a success ; because, contrary to the earnest adv.ee of the writer, he declined to hold meetings in the district in order that he might make himself better known ; and because he elected to stand for Wellington, though he not only knew he had no prospects of success, but also that his defeat there would ruin his prospects here. Mr. Duncan stands in a very different and much more favorable position. He is not a new, but an old friend of Sir George Grey’s. He is well known throughout the Wairarapa, in whose welfare he has always taken a warm interest. Besides, there is not a single elector that we have spoken to, including the leading members of Mr. Lowes’ nominal Greytown committee, that will not give him his support. These facts point him out as the chosen candidate of the Liberal Party. * If,’ says the Times, 4 Mr. Hutchison deemed himself the best man to represent the constituency he would have a perfect light to go to the poll.’ The same could squally be said of Mr. Lowes. Each may think himself the best man to represent the constituency, but neither would be likely to do so, if both persisted in going to the poll. This the Times well knows, and hence its counsel. If they desire success to the policy of Sir George Grey, both will retire in favor of Mr. Duncan, and take their chances at the general election which must take place when the new Representation Bill becomes law.”

THE AUSTRALAS'AN AND SIR GEORGE GREY. The Premier of New Zealand, Sir George Grey, lately paid a political visit to Greytown, and made a speech which is appropriately enough reported in full in the Wairarapa Standard, the journal to which Sir George Grey once wrote a mysterious letter, which at the time gave rise to a good deal of criticism and comment. The eloquent Premier felt that the time had come for him to explain that letter, which, he rightly said, “had made a good deal of noise in the world from being very little understood, owing to the extraordinary nature of the subject on which it treated.” He then proceeded to explain the part in which, by dark hints and mysterious historical allusions, he had pointed out the facilities accorded by the method of the Governor writing directly to the Secretary of State to such an enterprise as secretly poisoning a prominent politician out of the way. On this he observed—“ It was all very well to say that he was afraid of being poisoned himself. Those who knew him were aware that a feeling of that kind was not one of his characteristics. Even if he feared such a thing he would still go straight on with his duties, undeterred by such apprehension. He had determined to bring forward what he considered to be a gross instance of secret advice

being tendered by people in power.” Of course this luminous explanation makes the whole thing “as clear as mud.” Another subject on which Sir George Grey was sensible that some defence was necessary was his conduct in tendering “secret advice” to Lord Normanby to veto a Bill which the Government had carried through the two Houses of the Legislature. At this point the report becomes most annoyingly vague and curt, and we are only told that “he showed that in his actions he had been justified by precedent, and that the proper exercise of the power of veto had been made, and that he was acting solely in the interests of the public of the colony.” If Sir George Grey showed that, certainly he showed a good deal, and it would have been interesting to know how he did it. It would have been still more interesting had he gone on to reconcile this readiness to resort to secret advice with the denunciations of such advice he uttered in the earlier part of his speech. &o far as we can judge from a careful perusal of the report, what Sir George Grey really showed was a consciousness that on one or two points his action stood seriously in want of explanation and defence, and that he had neither explanation nor defence to offer that he was able to render intelligible to an ordinary intellect..

g* MR. STAFFORD’S RETIREMENT. (From the New Zealand Times.) Mr. Stafford has publicly intimated to the electors of Timaru that he intends to resign his seat in the House of Representatives. Every man who takes an intelligent interest in public affairs, and who has the good of the colony at heart, will regret that the colony is to lose the services of Mr. Stafford. Since the introduction of responsible government, Mr. Stafford has occupied a prominent position in the political world of New Zealand, and few men have had greater influence in shaping the course of affairs. Whether in or out of office, he has ever been looked up to as a leader ; and although of late years he has notoccupied that position in Parliament for which his eminent talents so well fitted him, it was through his own reluctance to either assume office or take the leadership of a party. Mr. Stafford has been three times Premier of the colony. His first term of office extended from June, 1856, till July 1861 ; and his second from October, 1865, till June, 1869. He was also Premier for a few weeks in 1872. His conduct on that occasion contrasts favorably with the action of Sir George Grey last session. The Stafford Ministry had only taken office a few days, when a vote of want of confidence was tabled in the Administration. The Ministry refused to debate it, and allowed the vote to be taken at once, and as that vote was adverse the Government immediately resigned. There was no shuffling or talking to the people over the heads of members of Parliament. Mr. Stafford did not ask time to bring down a policy, with the hope in the meantime of winning over one or two wavering votes; and his Ministry followed the usual constitutional course and bowed to the will of Parliament. There was no clinging to office in the face of a hostile majority, as was the case with Sir George Grey laso session. Mr. Stafford states in his address that he is about to go to England for family reasons, and hence he finds it necessary to resign his seat in the House, and says :—“At the termination of a somewhat extended public career—during which an amount of generous confidence and support has been given to me, for which I shall ever be grateful—l can, though conscious of many mistakes, honestly claim that whatever may have seemed amiss in my political action should be deemed an error of judgment, and that, as an old settler, warmly attached to New Zealand, I have throughout been influenced but by a single-minded consideration for what I believed at the time to be for the public advantage.” When it was first notified that Mr. Stafford intended to resign his seat for Timaru we hoped that his retirement from public life would only be temporary, but from the above it will be seen that Mr. Stafford regards his severance with the constituency of Timaru as the termination of his Parliamentary career. It is perfectly well-known that the tactics recently adopted in the Legislature have had a saddening effect upon many of our ablest public men. It is not that the personnel of the House has deteriorated in any marked degree; but, as Mr. Rollestom said, since the present Premier entered Parliament .an immense change is noticeable in the tone of the debates. "Vulgar personal abuse has taken the place of fair criticism. At one time the policy of our statesmen was the subject of debate. Unworthy motives are now attributed to opponents, and their personal characters attacked. Should such a course be persisted in few men of culture or honesty will care about entering Parliament. How much the altered tone of the House has contributed to Mr. Stafford’s determination to quit political life it would be hard to estimate, but it is easy to understand that it may have influenced him a great deal. It was once the boast of colonists that the Parliament of New Zealand was free fmm the gross personalities which at times disgraced the Legislatures of the neighboring colonies;

but the events of the last two or three sessions have destroyed our prestige in this respect. Sir George Grey in effect promises to assimilate our institutions to those of the United States. He has done much in that direction already. Our House of Representatives more resembles its American namesake than the British House of Commons. The House is fast becoming no place for such men as Mr. Stafford, and this unpleasant fact is daily being fully recognised. Mr. Stafford has been no popularity hunter, but perhaps he was more popular than any man who has taken so little pains to gain the favor of the mob. However, he has ever been respected as an honest and able statesman, and the country has had full confidence in his integrity. He cared nothing for the popular breath of the hour. In fact, it might truly be said of him that he looked too far ahead. His caution was often mistaken for slowness. It is to be hoped that after Mr. Stafford’s return from the old country he will again see his way to entering upon political life. No public man in this colony has been more disinterested in his endeavors to serve his fellow-colonists, and that he has fulfilled his public duties ably and well will be the verdict of a vast majority of the people of the colony.