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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4825, 8 September 1876, Page 2

Sie George Grey's well-known faculty for' getting round corners and evading consequences thereby, to which we referred yesterday, has not served him greatly in his recent tilt at Mr. Stafford. In " getting round the corner " to evade the shot of the hon. member for Timaru upon the great " compact" story, the great Proconsul was met by the Colonial Secretary, whose gun did not miss fire, but delivered the lie direct into his very teeth. We refer our readers to our Parliamentary report for an account of the proceedings in the Legislative Council yesterday. The whole case, supported by the facts of " the boy and the pony," is, as we have said, just as substantial as that of Mrs. Bardell, supported by the chops and tomato sauce, and the eloquence of Sergeant Buzfuz ; but the magnitude of the crime imputed and its results in the respective caseß aro different. In the one case we see it stated that fifty young couples were prevented by the "compact" from marrying and raising prosperous families, whereas in the other the hopes of one too susceptible widow only, whose years and dimensions made tho subject of offspring doubtful, were blighted by tho perfidy of the Monster Pickwick. The use of the word "triumviri " by Sir George Grey in his speech, associated ingeniously with the assertion that the then Premier took the Governor to Canterbury on political business, conveys the insinuation that there were three parties to the compact by which the liberties and the lands of New Zealand wore partitioned at Christchurch, viz., his Excellency, the Premier, and the hon. member for Timaru, although only two are directly charged. We have admiringly on more than one occasion produced unimpeachable testimonials as to Sir George Grky's public character for inveracity, and his talent for saying the thing that is not in words apparently truthful; but we cannot com-' pliment him upon this his latest studied exercise of skill. We think with the Colonial Secretary that Lord Normanby's name has been most unwarrantably dragged into the debate upon this matter; and we say more, that it was most cowardly on Sir George Grey's part thus to traduce by an ingenious sidewind the representative of her Majesty, where ho cannot defend himself. It is notorious that at the time of the Governor's visit to Canterbury there was no Premier in the colony; it is equally well. known that Dr. Pollen did not "take" his Excellency to Christchurch, and did not go there with him at all. If there were any wrongful " taking " in the business, the crime lay with the Superintendents of Canterbury and Otago, who desired to do what Sir George Grey as Superintendent of the province of Auckland refused to do, and that was to give to her Majesty's representative a loyal and cordial welcome on the occasion of

his first official • visit to their provinces. When his Excellency was ready to leave Canterbury the Colonial Secretary went there to relieve v Mr. Richardson, who was the Minister in : attendance upon the Governor. The story _is therefore from beginning to end a fiction. There is a proverb that there is no lie so wicked as that which has some foundation iu fact. Sir GeOrg'e Grey, a master in the art of detraction, has'appeared to be guided byits wisdom, and has always, by carefully constructing his official calumnies upon that basis, provided for himself a way of "getting round the corner" in case of need. But his cunning has now deserted him, or his habitual caution has been overcome by his hate upon this occasion, and in the wildest way he has drawn upon his imagination for what he calls his "facts."

It is not without regret that we are compelled to expose him upon this occasion, and we do so thus unsparingly in the hope that he will be a little more cautious in the future. The rights of men—or of women either—in New Zealand are not protected or promoted by falsehood, whilst the . colony suffers damage by wanton detraction of the character of its public men.