THE AUSTRALAS AN AND SIR GEORGE GREY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5285, 4 March 1878, Page 3

THE AUSTRALAS AN AND SIR GEORGE GREY.

The Premier of’ New Zealand,-. Sir George Grey, lately paid a political visit to Greytuwu, and made a speech which is appropriately enough reported in full in the Wnirarapa Standard, the journal to which Sir George Grey puce wrote a mysterious letter, which at the time gave rise to a good deal of criticism and comment.. The..eloquent Premier .felt that the time had come for him to explain that letter, which, he rightly said,had made a good deal of, noise in the world from.being very,little understood, owing: to the ’extraordinary nature of the subject on which it. treated.” .He then ’proceeded to explain the part in which, by dark hints and mysterious historical allusions, he had pointed out ’the facilities accorded by the method of the Governor writing directly to the Secretary of State to such an enterprise as secretly poisoning a prominent politician out of the way. On this he observed—” It was all very well to, say that ho was afraid of being poisoned himself. Those who knew him were aware that a feel-, ing of that kind w;as not, ono of his characteristics. Even if he feared such a thing he would still go straight, on with his duties, undeterred by such apprehension. He had determined to, bring, forward what he considered to be a gross instance of secret advice being tendered by people in power.” Of course this luminous explanation wakes the whole thing “as clear as mud!” .. Another subject on which Sir George Grey was sensible that some defence was necessary was his conduct in tendering “secret advice ” to Lord Normanby to veto a Bill'which the Government had carried through the two Houses ol the Legislature., At this point the report becomes most annoyingly vague and curt, and we are only told that “ he showed that in his actions he had been justified by precedent, and that the proper exercise of the power of veto had been made, and that he was acting solely in the interests of the public of the colony." If Sir George Grey showed that, certainly he showed a good deal, and it would have been interesting to know bow he did it. It would have been still more interesting had he gone ou to reconcile

this readiness to resort to secret.advice with, the deaunciations of such,advice he: uttered \ in the earlier part ofJusjspeech. So far as; we can judge from .a careful perusal of the! report, what Sir George Urey i really showed was a consciousness, that on v pne or two points his action stood seriously, in want of xplana* tion and ;def ence,) an (J l that \ he khad .neither ex-| planation nor defence to offer that he was able to; render intelligible to an ordinary intellect. - : 1 - ■ ’