NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Wednesday, August 11, 1852.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 733, 11 August 1852, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Wednesday, August 11, 1852.

Although the present Colonial -Minister Sir John Packington does not seem to have ever made the science of colonization his study and, so far as we are aware, is ignorant of those matters which peculiarly refer to New Zealand, we need not, we think, entertain any serious apprehension that our interests will be en-, tirely neglected, for it should he remembered that he who is now the first minister of the Crown was, at a period of some difficulty when the New Zealand question became a subject of hot debate in Parliament, the Secretary of State for the Colonies. It was then a question in which the Opposition to test the strength of the Ministry, and a violent political outcry was made against the then Lord Stanley, a man of undoubted talent and of the strictest integrity. At that period the Colony was involved in apparently inextricable difficulties through the 1 gross mismanagement of Governor Fitzroy, and it became a question of some moment whom to select as his successorIn making this selection Lord Stanley was politically placed in a critical position, for if the appointment had fallen upon one who proved to be unequal to the difficult task imposed { on him, the whole blame would have been cast on his lordship, and the agitation in Parliament would have become stronger than before. Happily, for Lord Stanley and the colony, the choice fell upon one who was found fully equal to the performance of thejarduous task ; the terms in which Governor Grey was requested to assume the administration of these Islands were no less honorable to him who made the request, than they were deserved by him to whom they were addressed. Lord Stanley said, — "-After the repeated testimonies I have borne to tHe'value of your public services in administering the Government of South Australia, it would be very gratifying to me to prove my esteem for your capacity and your public spirit by proposing to you some other office of higher rank and of increased" emolument. Still lam convinced that I shall give you a yet^more welcome proof of the confidence which her Majesty reposes in you, by inviting you to undertake public duties more arduous and respon-^ sible ' than those in which you have hitherto been engaged, though recommended to your acceptance by hardly any other consideration. The urgent necessity which has arisen for invoking your aid in the administration of the Government of New Zealand is. the single apology, I Jiave; to offer- (to. a man of your character it will be, an ample apology) for calling on you, with no previous notice, to incur the sacrifice and inconvenience

of proceeding thither, with the least possible'delay after your receipt of this despatch, to relieve Captain Fitzroy from that command." - , Lord Stanley never had occasion to regret the implicit confidence he then placed in Sir George Grey, — on the contrary, lie has shewn the high sense he entertained of his Excellency's public character by bearing testimony to his zeal and ability on every opportunity, and it is not probable that now — as Earl of Derby and First Lord of the Treasury — he again has an official interest in the welfare of the colonies, he would be unmindful of recommen- - dations made by the GGovernorr r We find each Colonial Minister in succession expressing entire satisfaction with the mode' in which Sir George lias conducted the affairs of this colony. After Lord Stanley came Mr. Gladstone, whose term of office,, though brief, was sufficiently long to enable him to appreciate the masterly manner in which the difficulties that once beset us had been overcome. It was during his administration that a check was given to the ambitious views of the New Zealand Company, who were at that time anxious^ to establish in the colony a proprietary government. If this had been sanctioned, we" should then indeed have had to endure an intervention of a most degrading kind; we should have' been subject, not to the mild and constitutional authority of the Queen's most excellent Majesty and the British Parliament, but to the iron rule of a private Company <{ in the pursuit of gainunder the guise of philanthropy and patriotism/ In reference to these ambitious views of the Company, the following • passage in Mr. Gladstone's despatch to the Governor shews very plainly what his opinion was on the subject -.—7" I cannot say that, with my present information, I lean to the idea which the Company has heretofore been disposed to favor, of placing in its hands the general responsibilities of Government either with respect to the whole colony, or to a portion of it. I have as yet learned nothing to convince me that either commercial interest or public spirit would en- ' able such a body to surmount the difficulties which her Majesty's Government-have found so. serious in the administration of the affairs' of this distant dependency of the Crown." To Mr. Gladstone succeeded 1 Earl Grey who, as Lord Howick, had been violently opposed to Lord Stanley's colonial administration, and yet he could find ' no fault with the officer' selected by his political opponent to adjust the affairs of 1 this colony, nor with that officer's line of 1 -policy, -which had been approved of both ' by Lord Stanley and Mr. Gladstone ; in1 deed Earl Grey admitted on his s first en1 tering office the merit of the policy adopted by Governor Grey, and during the length- ' ened period that he continued in office he " ever expressed the utmost satisfaction with the local administration of this cclony. In. ' -Parliament men of every variety of opinion have agreed onthis one point, name1 ly — that New Zealand possesses an able 1 Governor, one who by his great ability and unwearied zeal has beenmainly instrumental in advancing the colony to its present state. 1 We have endeavoured to shew that there is every reason to suppose that, should the New Zealand question be brought under discussion in Parliament during the present session, Sir George Grey's recommendations would meet with every attention from both parties in Par- } liament. In the upper House the Earl ,bf Derby and Earl Grey are. not likely to be at issue with regard to the reliance to be L placed on the Governor's^ recommendat ions, for they both know him as a tried man. • - ' In the lower House Lord John Russell, ' who in 1845, when in opposition, bore r honorable testimony to Governor Grey's fitness for the task imposed on him by r Lord Stanley, is not likely now that he is in opposition, after witnessing the way in f which he has acquitted himself, ta treat - lightly any recommendations of Sir 3 George's that may be brought under the ". notice of Parliament; We feel certain therefore, that should the business of the 3 Session be of such a nature as to admit of - the "introduction of the New Zealand f question, any crotchety notions that the t Duke of Newcastle and his party may desire to have adopted are not likely to be ' entertained in opposition to Sir George B Grey's practical and statesmanlike recome mendations. r * On Sunday evening, about 10" o'clock, owing r to. the heavy .rains, part* of the hill behind Mr. ■t Firth's slipt down and smashed in the side c of the Theatre ; fortunately" no ;otlier, damage

was sustained : and the performance, which was to have taken place on Tuesday last is postponed till further notice. .