New Zealand Times. MONDAY, APRIL 19, 1875.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4393, 19 April 1875, Page 2

New Zealand Times. MONDAY, APRIL 19, 1875.

‘ ‘ Wanted a Party. Apply to the Superintendent of Auckland, during office “ hours, up to the 30th day of June next “ inclusive. None but principals dealt “ with.”

This, in substance, was the announcement made on the City West hustings, at Auckland, on the 9th instant. The occasion was well chosen. It was the nomination of candidates for the vacant seat in the House of Representatives, caused by the death of Mr. John Williamson. The ’ ultra-provincialists had secured a leader ; their next duty was to find a party for him. Hence the appeal to the elected representatives of the people to march through Coventry under Sir George Grey’s command. Ho had undertaken to stem the torrent of constitutional reform, to restore the ancient provincial abuses, to multiply government, and thereby render futile any effort at economy and efficiency in administration ; but he wanted willing hands to second his efforts. Without votes he could not succeed. This point was well and tersely put by Mr. J. T. Boylan, one of the ablest men of his party, by the way, in the colony ; a gentleman we should very much like to see in the House of Representatives, if only for the chance of convincing him, by intercourse with gentlemen from other provinces, of the hopelessness of the political cause he so stoutly champions. Mr. Boylan said, (and he was the chief advertising agent for Sir George Grey): “The last time I had the honor of “ addressing the electors of the province ‘ ‘ was at the Choral Hall, and I there “ endeavored to show that while Sir “George Grey, being our Superinten- “ dent and representative, was calculated “ to be of the greatest advantage to the “ people of the province at the proper “ time, yet he would be almost useless ‘ 1 and helpless unless he was supported “ by those gentlemen whom the people “ should send to sit beside him in Parlia“ment. This is a point upon which ah “ immense deal depends. Sir George “ Grey himself, in his speech at the “ Choral Hall, implied that he could “ not do anything unless he was assisted ‘ ‘ in this manner. Single-handed, Sir “George Grey could do nothing;—he “ must have honest, intelligent, and “ patriotic co-operators. (Cheers.) Ido “ not want a member to go in as a mere “ spaniel at the heels of Sir George “ Grey or anybody else, but it is not “ too much to expect that Auckland “ members should look upon Sir George “ Grey as their leader. (Cheers.) It “ was not from opposition from without, ‘ ‘ but from division within that much of ‘ ‘ the disastrous effects of the past legis- “ lation proceeds. So it will be always, “if wo send seven or eight men who “ will range themselves upon one side, ‘ ‘ and seven or eight more to range them- “ selves upon the opposite side. Why, “a Minister would not think it worth “ while to chuck them oven the barest “ bone of contention, for they neutralised “ their own power. But when we have “ a number of representatives agreed “ upon a course of public policy, then “ there is a defence upon which reliance “ can be placed.” This is quite charming in its simplicity of political faith. It was spoken to a simpleminded and a confiding people : hence their cheers. The invitation to the majority of Auckland members to abandon their cherished principles, to enrol themselves under Sir George Grey’s banner, and do battle for a cause in which they do not believe, and which they heartily despise, is one of the sublimest efforts of political simplicity, or impudence, as ono chooses to put it, wo have encountered for many a long day. Pray, why should the Auckland members look upon Sir George Grey as their leader, any more than they looked upon Messrs. Gillies and Williamson as leaders 1 Is ii because ho has displayed. a lamentable ignorance of the Constitution and laws of the colony 1 Is it because he has spent his time, since his election to the Superintendency, in miserable verbal quibbles with the Colonial Secretary, to the neglect

of the pressing and paramount interests of his province ? , Is it because he advocates a retrogade policy within the colony, and the .most revolutionary doctrines regarding its relation towards the British Crown? Why,. Mr, J. T. Bows, is it ‘‘not too much to s expect that “ Auckland members should look to ‘.‘ Sir George Grey as their leader ? We. put the question pointedly, because there may bo some other occult reason which, if stated, might alter our opinion; but meanwhile we should be extremely sorry to see Auckland members stultifying themselves in the General Assembly. As a body, and individually, they exercise as large an influence as the members from any other province; and wo should regret if, from any purely sentimental regard for Sir George Grey, or any unreasoning respect for political unity, they lost that influence in the counsels of the colony. Let Sir George Grey prove his fitness for the post of leader, and propound some reasonable policy, and he will doubtless find a following. He has many personal advantages in his favor ; and it is paying him an extremely poor compliment indeed, to say that unless the Auckland members abandon their political principles, and give a block vote at Sir George’s bidding, he will be “ use- “ less and helpless in Parliament,” as Mr. Boylan phrases it. We now come to Mr. Dignan’s speech, and as he was elected, we accept his remarks as embodying the views of a majority of his constituents on the subject. Ho said ■

“ Unless ho has the support of a body “ of members, Sir George Grey will be “ in a position something like that of the “ general who is in front of the enemy ‘ ‘ without an army at his back [A most “ unlikely position for a general to “ occupy.] He natiwally expects that “ the representatives from this province, “and those who are well-wishers of the “ prosperity of the colony at large, who “profess friendship for all parts of it “ alike, will come forward and enable “ him to compel those who are at present “ in possession of power to retrench the “ enormous and wasteful expenditure of “ public money which has been going on “ for some time past---and further, to “ bring about such reforms as will bo in “ the largest degree beneficial not only to “ this province, but to the colony as a “ whole.”

The “ following,” which Sir George Grey may have, will not be composed of Auckland members. He may count upon four, we think—Messrs. o‘Rorkb, Swanson, Sheehan, and Dignan ; but the other members are in favor of abolishing Provincial Government altogether;—of making a clean sweep of it, aiid thus rendering cheap and efficient government possible. Of course, if there be “enormous and “ wasteful expenditure of public money” going on, as Mr. Dignan declares there is, it is the duty of the representatives of the people, from all parts, to support Sir George Grey in a well-considered scheme of retrenchment. But that is quite outside the narrow Auckland question raised by Sir George Grey’s election, the direct outcome of the equally narrow and locally centralising provincial system. In conclusion, we should add, that Mr. W. 0. Wilson, also a representative man, who proposed Mr. Dignan, spoke in a similar strain. He thinks that Auckland has been virtually disfranchised, becauseits members have been pretty equally divided on questions of public policy. But if there be any force in that argument, so also were the other large provinces. There has been no unanimity except in the case of Hawke’s Bay, Taranaki, and Marlborough. Auckland, however, has not been disfranchised. It has been exceedingly well represented; but we protest against provincial parties being formed to extort concessions from the Colonial Government. It is the dread of this, caused by past unhappy experience, that has led to the adoption of an abolition policy by the Government and majority in the Assembly.