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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4851, 9 October 1876, Page 2

“Herb we stand upon the Constitution, by thunder !! But when thunder comes we find it a mighty uncomfortable place to stand, and so we jump upon it,” This is exactly the logic of Mr. Maoandrew and his following. As long as they fancied they had a good conjuring word in the “ Constitution,” it was never out of their mouths; but when they find that tlie oracle does not work to their mind to this “ open sesame,” they promptly take up another cry.- Having failed to obtain their objects .by British constitutional principles and practices, they resort to, French principles, and take up a French watchword, “ plebiacitum,” hoping by the use of this to conjure more successfully than before. The brazen hypocrisy and

the! truculent meanness of this conduct 'are ! patent. All through tho session their •cry; Avas, “ The .Constitution,; the whole Constitution, and-nothing but; the Constitution'.’? Now, they fling it like physic to the dogs, and will' have hone' of it—nothing but ’a plebiscitum will satisfy them—“ no other verdict, the D.tily Times tells us, “ will 'be accepted.” How is this? Truly, as we before said, this people .is a peculiar people. Before-nothing but the Constitution would suit them ; Now they will have the plebiscitum, and nothing but the plebiscitum. A glance at the title of the Constitution Act explains this little mystery to some extent. It is “An Act to grant a Representative Constitution to New Zealand.” This people has appealed to this representative Constitution, and having by the election of their representatives exhausted the powers Avhich the Constitution gave them and found the verdict of the country against them, they now want to resume and exercise directly in. person a power which, under the Constitution, they had surrendered. Verily a peculiar people, a stupid people. The Otago Daily Times which quite recently, before the howl of the Dunedin mob ivas got up, had pronounced provincialism hopelessly gone, now, like the time-serving, unprincipled, cowardly organ it is, plays the time that will humor the madness of the hour. Verily a peculiarly proper organ of a peculiar people! The Guardian, under its new proprietorship, has been at least consistent, and from the first Avent in “bald-headed” for jprovincialism. We see that Mr. Macandreav very considerately read to the audience in the theatre an article of ours, in which we had in the best spirit tendered really good and wholesome advice to that peculiar people. We return our sincere thanks to Mr. Macandreav for his considerate attention in thus bringing those wholesome remarks of ours to the notice of some persons who, in their haste and heat, would probably not have read them, and so making them more widely useful. We trust he will ahvays on such occasions be equally considerate. Those 800 memorialists seem to sit heavily on the souls of Mr. Macandreav and his people; but that is only natural, not peculiar at all, for in truth if you do but consider it a little, it must be really vexing, quite disgusting in fact, to have one’s tactics exposed in such a rude way as that. Then,, again, only reflect that other 102 of the Roslyn people, not content Avith all that, must come Avith their own particular narroAv ideas and sit upon the already burdened soul of the member for Roslyn. Now, we put it to all candid people is it not truly perplexing and vexatious to a band of patriots, who have been for some three or four months past battling for the rights of the human race in general and those of Otago in particular, to be so sat upon 2 To be sure there is a Avide distinction between tenderness for the rights of the human race and the general rights of the people of this colony. The former sort of thing admits of the most grandiloquent sympathy, and, like the language of J oseph Surface, the noblest sentiments rolled forth in sesquipedalian words. At the same time the persons sympathised with are dispersed at various distant points all over the globe ; they speak multifarious tongues: some of them are Avhite men, some red men,; some brown men. There is not the least chance of their claiming these aforesaid rights, and if they did the language Avould be so strange that it could be conveniently misunderstood. But when the rights of our felloAv-colonist . comes to be put forward, he is an animal of a different color altogether, and the language of this peculiar people changes like magic. Then it is “our land,” “our land fund,” “our railways and our railway revenue.” Truly, let us repeat again, this people is a peculiar people. They put us forcibly in mind of a people Ave remember to have read of in a book many years ago, called the Lilliputians. These people are described by a traveller who resided among them as having at a little distance off the most piercing sight, but they cannot see at any length beyond their own noses. Noav, this people of Otago appears to have at close distances the keenest vision, but they cannot see anything at: all good or bad beyond a certain point. ; This extent of vision seems to be limited exactly by the boundaries of the province of Otago—a curious fact for a philosopher, that the natural sight of a people, hoAvever peculiar, should not reach a single inch farther than their interests reach !

But however interesting as a study the peculiar parts and eccentricities of a peculiar people may be, it is quite possible to have too much of it. The curiosity and interest at first excited by the sharp contrasts and salient points become in time blunted, and are prone then to give place to a different class of feelings altogether. The CAiriosity may give place to amusement, and that again, if the entertainment be protracted, to a feeling of contempt. This last is the danger Avhich we think threatens this people of Otago if they persist in their present eccentric course. Once more'let ns advise them not to persevere in this little game, which they probably only mean to be playful and harmless. For it borders closely on something Avhich is neither playful nor harmless, and may possibly at last be misconstrued.