The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1877.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5181, 30 October 1877, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1877.

Like history, Sir George Grey repeats himself. Soma time ago the Premier was accused of stirring up provincial -j ealousies, and it is strange that Major Atkinson’s : speech on Friday last had the same effect upon the friend of posterity as had the accusation aforementioned. In each case he turned to yEsop to find a simile for himself, and in each case the similitude ;was the same. He compared himself to the gentle lamb accused by the wolf of stirring up mud in- a stream. He said “ A curious sensation stole ;over me during the delivery, of the i speech of. the- hon. member for Egmont. I came here expecting to have to reply to a speecli of a very different character. I felt in fact that'l was a i gentle lamb drinking at a stream of -water, and that there was a great wolf stirring up . the stream, and accusing me of , doing so, and determining to gobble me up if he could.” Those who heard the would-be brilliant speech of the Premier the other day, when he failed to persuade, cajole, mollify, or bounce the House into passing an Imprest Supply Bill for £250,000, scarcely saw the likeness between the lamb and the legislator. He professed to despise the insignificant sum he was asking for, yet concluded by announcing that he and his colleagues would stick to the Ministerial benches having once got there. This was surely more like the snarling defiance of the wolf than the pretty plaintive bleating of the animal inseparably connected with spinach, and mint sauce. The role of the. lamb was surely under the circumstances less appropriate for Sir George Grey than that of the wolf in sheep’s clothing. And yet Sir George Grey is' not of the opinion just indicated. Some time ago, in Auckland, we find him saying : —“ There is one subject which really seems to require some' observations from me. Amongst other things, I observe it is said that I have done wrong in stirring up provincial jealousies. When I saw this I could not help thinking of the fable of the lamb and the wolf drinking at the same stream, the wolf at the higher part of the stream and the lamb below, and the wolf says to the lamb, ‘ What do you mean by muddying the water,’ and yet the wolf was drinking at the higher part of the stream, the intention of the wolf simply being to quarrel with the lamb.” Well, having expressed our opinion as to the decency of the comparison between Sir George and a lamb, we are quite content to let the matter pass so far, merely suggesting that he might in future go to his repertoire of fables and nursery rhymes and produce : something novel for us in the way of a comparison. If we may be permitted to throw out suggestions to the hon. gentleman at the head of the Government, we would venture to observe that judicious selections from “ Little Bo Peep,” “Jack the Giant Killer,” or “ The Seven Champions of Christendom,” would be better received now that the House and the country have had apparently enough of- the “ Wolf and the Lamb.” . Or should he desire to illustrate his eloquence by sublime, though simple, poetry, lot him oh the first convenient occasion recite “Little Jack Horner,” with appropriate- reference to the plums he and a few of his followers managed to pull out of the conglomerate. pie of a party that placed him in power.