REPLIES FROM SUPERINTENDENTS TO SIR GEORGE GREY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4259, 13 November 1874, Page 2

REPLIES FROM SUPERINTENDENTS TO SIR GEORGE GREY.

(BY RETVIIN PIGEON EXPRESS.) [From Auckland to Hawaii.] Your kind telegram was indeed welcome. Sh—■— will introduce a clause in his new Representation Bill making Kawau an Electoral district, and giving the franchise to your wallabies. O’R is Provincial Solicitor, and will he happy to give you legal opinions on constitutional questions. He says that the superiority of Superintendents and Provincial Councils is clearly indicated by the Constitution Act, which mentions them first, and the Governor and General Assembly afterwards! and that you acted most constitutionally in calling first into action Provincial institutions, -in dividing among them all the spoils, and in totally ignoring the Colonial Legislature. His dagger-scene was so successful that he is preparing, as a contrast for next session, a beautiful metaphor about . Kawau being the ark, and your express pigeon the dove, and provincialism being represented by the rainbow, each color representing a province. He says that the rainbow first came from Ireland, because in Latin it is called “ Iris.” I am going to Ireland to look for it, and find the pot of gold said to be buried where the rainbow touches the earth. Sh accompanies me to advise investment of this hidden treasure in special settlements for the good of the province. R d, who is literary, compares you to Cinoinnatus and Cromwell. He hopes you will be “ our own special correspondent” at Kawam and also act as agent for Ms paper. Not an “Echo” of the fact will he heard outside the island. All subscriptions must be prepaid. It is almost certain that Vogel has telegraphed to Disraeli about Provincial abolition, and wishes Mm to make it a Mimsterial question. Farewell. [From New Plymouth to Kawau.] Your telegram is eloquent, hut not altogether practical. I want substantial endowment. I want a harbor. I will send you plans of it. They are the best practicable. I drew them myself. I will also send you a short memoir of my public life, and some land claims in which I am interested. The correspondence about Sartoris and Downes is pleasant reading. My name is identified with Taranaki. Nature forgot to provide a harbor, hut I will supply -A . Am a bare great. 1 have no objection to your co-operation, but it must he practical. Nought, if not practic.il. Good-bye. [From ’Wellington to Kawau.] Your telegram touched me to the heart. We called the pigeon the “Bird o’ Freedom.” Some one, probably a Centralist, said it was a gull. Ignorant dolt! What bird hut a pigeon could more fitly cany messages of comfort to provinces in, shall I say under, distress ; a bird itself an emblem of innocence, helplessness, and timidity ;—itself a victim to birds of prey. How faithfully the words, “ provincial pigeon,” and “ colonial hawk,” represent the true state of our political relations. ■ We must not, however, despair. Here we are, rapidly disembavassing ourselves of that wealth which excited the avarice of others. I am selling land on the tops of mountain ranges, on the plains below, and underneath the sea. I shall spend all I get for it, and as much more as possible. We shall soon he in light marching order, ready for skirmish or retreat, and, should we fall, the enemy will gain no spoil hut the obligation of paying our debts. Every deceased province would thus be, to borrow an illustration from your goldfields, an endless legacy of calls, and no dividends in the bauds of its destroyer. This cheerful prospect may stay Ms hand, and poverty and debt may he our best protection. We stoop to conquer. Pray continue to help us. Think of tho tree of liberty winch you sowed, and the root of which the axe now threatens. Provincialism remainds me of Chatham’s “Englishman’s “ House.” The rain may pour into it, the wind may blow through it, hut the King with all Ms army cannot enter it. Verb. Sap. The pigeon will wait no longer.