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New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4483, 2 August 1875, Page 4

Such party struggle as may be expected in the House of Representatives will not now be long in arriving. .We are anxious under these circumstances to say a few words, which, though they will necessarily involve the naming of two gentlemen, are intended by us to be less a personal reference to those gentlemen than an indication of how their personal ability and influence maybe best used for the public good. We are not aware whether an united Opposition of large numerical force exists, but we do know, and so does every one else besides, that two gentlemen who will undoubtedly bo found in Opposition are in themselves a party of no ordinary power for good or ill. Sir George Grey and Mr. Fitzherbert take rank deservedly amongst the foremost men of this our little political world. Both, from honest and most sincere conviction we feel certain, are completely opposed to Government ; and in some respects we cannot say that this circumstance is to be regretted. The best of Governments grow bad by want of check, and Sir George and the Superintendent of Wellington can of themselves, almost, impose as powerful a check

as could a host of smaller men united. It would be idle to say that we should not prefer to see these gentlemen in accord with those principles of which we are advocates, but that does not prevent our recognising their utility, even as opponents, in bringing those measures to the greatest possible perfection. We desire, however, to point out to Sir Georoe Grey and to Mr. Fitzherbert the evidence they have lately been giving of the probability that their unquestioned usefulness may be destroyed by themselves. The fervid oratory of which Sir George Grey is no mean master, and the powerful sarcasm of Mr. Fitzherbert, have, during the last couple of weeks, been so liberally, and so frequently, poured out on the most petty occasions as to lessen the effect both are eminently calculated to produce. This is not as it should be, and its results, we fear, will be to weaken the eifect of what either of the gentlemen under notice may have to say on the great and vital subjects that will be so speedily under discussion. Members of the House of Representatives are but men, and amongst men it is quite possible to lose dignity and power by applying either unsuitably or in an inopportune manner. Custom could not stale the infinite variety of the Egyptian Queen; but whilst age has certainly not withered the mental powers of our ex-Governor or of our present Superintendent, the House has more than once afforded evidence, that their eloquence does not gain appreciaHJ tion by the too great frequency of itsv exhibition. _ We should be sorry to see the time" arrive at which any utterance of Sir George Grey or of Mr. Fitzherbert would be listened to with mere toleration ; but it is impossible to shut our eyes to the fact that unless they themselves ■ are more careful in the appropriation of that eloquence, more discreet in its use, and less ready to sacrifice its weight by its expenditure on trifles, it will receive perhaps even less courteous treatment than toleration. It would be a sad day indeed that saw such a condition, and such a day we hope will never arrive. •In the debates that are to come, on questions deserving the best efforts of all, and against foemen worthy of their steel, we trust to find the part taken by Sir George Grey and Mr. Fitzherbert of no small import in shaping the destinies of the colony. It will be so if they do not of themselves take away from the influence that is their proper right, and which each has fairly acquired by his previous career.