THE NEPHEW OF MY UNCLE.
The Timaru Herald, after commenting upon Mr Button’s resignation, becomes severe respecting Mr. George's candidature; —It appears that no candidates coming forward for some time after Mr. Button's resignation, “a gentleman in town” telegraphed to Sir George Grey, asking if he could suggest the name of some one of influence who would be likely to creditably represent the constituency. This, we think, was a very natural and sensible thing for the gentleman in town to do. Enquiries of this kind aro very frequently made when a constituency is in want of a member. There is one groat difference, however, between the Hokitika case and others. In the latter such enquiries are kept strictly private, and are in their very nature confidential communications between oue individual and another. In the former the telegram to Sir George Grey was forthwith published as if it were a surrender into his hands of the Hokitika franchise. That he so regarded it is evident from his reply. Instead of “ suggesting the name of some one of influence who would be likely creditably to represent the constituency,” he telegraphed back as follows :—“ My nephew Seymour Thorne George would be glad to represent your district if you sent him a requisition asking him to do so. He was with me when I visited your district in February last.” If we had been the “ gentleman in towu ” who received this message, we should have destroyed it as soots as possible, and never have let our dearest friend into the mortifying secret of its having; been addressed to us. Instead, however, of being considered an insult, it seems to have been accepted as a high compliment, not only by its recipient, but also by the Hokitika electors. It was made public, apparently, avowedly as an introduction of Mr. George to the electorate, and was followed up by a requisition “ numerously and influentially signed,” asking that gentleman to stand. To make the matter more utterly ludicrous, if possible, Mr. Gisborne, member for Totara, telegraphed to a friend at Hokitika as follows: —“ Seymour Thorne George would stand on requisition. He has very good qualifications; is young, intelligent, and well educated. He is a nephew of Sir George Grey.” This, too, instead of being treated os a private hint from one person to another interested in the electio ■, was forthwith published by the West Coast Times as a testimonial in favor of Mr. George. The next scene in the comedy is that in which the candidate himself appears, Mr. George’s address to the electors of Hok'tika is the richest bit of cream that we have met with for a long time. If he wrote a single line of it except his name at the foot, in addition to being “young, intelligent, and well educated,” he is unquestionably one of the most astute and skilful strategists living. So young, and yet so knowing! But the thing is fearfully overdone. Nobody can believe that a youth •who has never in his life had anything to do with politics can have drawn up such a manifesto. We would not think of saying positively that Sir George Grey had anything to do with it. Certainly not. That w> uld be going too far. We will not go beyond declaring that it was either written by Sir George Grey or the devil Is not the style of this passage pretty familiar ?
Extracts from Mr. George’s address: —“ I hold that in this country, which none of us have inherited except to the extent we have inherited the rights of Britons, there are not, and should not be allowed to be, vested rights antagonistic to the interests of the people, such as exist in the old country. The land of New Zealand should be open to the people of New Zealand, and if in the past its distribution has not been judicious, it is the more incumbent on the Government to take care that it is more fairly apportioned in the future. Therefore, I am in favor of a I beralland law, taking away nothing that he legally possesses from any man, but enabling the poor and industrious to acquire it equally with the rich. I favor the extension of the principle of the sale of land on de'erred payments in reasonable blocks, and I hold that all public land should be sold in such moderate sized parcels as to make it practically impossible for speculators to absorb it in vast estates. I consider that all dealing with land should be in broad daylight, and no hole-and-corner work permitted by which any man, however influential, can obtain any advantage over the public.” Where did Mr. Geoege pick up the notion that “ none of us have inherited this country except to the extent we have inherited the rights of Britons?” Dil he evolve it out of his moral consciousness while fishing off the wharf at Kawan ? When was he seized with the conviction “ that all public lands should be sold in such moderate sized parcels as to make it practically impossible for speculators to absorb it in vast estates ?” He really is too precocious altogether. Here is another passage which comes naturally, no doubt, from so young a man : “ I consider that every man not criminal, and British by birthright or naturalisation, has a right to found a claim to the exercise of the franchise upon the fact of his having crossed the ocean to make this the land of his adoption ; and still more so if he is a born New Zealander. The former class are men who have shown, by the fact of their emigration, that they are men of enterprise and spirit, and in the education the colony has given, and will give to the young, we have the beat guarantee that they will wisely use the privileges we give them. The education of the rising generation becomes the more Important when it is regarded as the sa egnard to the proper use of the electoral power.” “The rising generation”—why these must be those unfortunate children, again, who have been trotted out on so many stages during the last few months 1 If we are going to transcribe all of Mr. George’s address that is as like as two peas to what we have heard from another quarter, we may as well reprint the whole document at once. It is not Mr. George who has addressed the Hokitika electors. It Is cither Sir G orge Grey or the devil ; and that is whom the Hokitika electors will have for their representative in Parliament if they return Mr. Seymour Thorne George. We notice that Sir George Grey has been furiously attacked in a great many quarters for the part he has played in this affair. Ho has been accused of a gross breach of trust, in putting an inexperienced and helpless lad forward, instead of an influential candidate J of nepotism in attempting _to foist his own nephew into a public position and of a string of other high crimes and misdemeonors connected with the Hokitika election. But surely this is the wildest nonsense. For our part we do not blame Sir George Grey in the least. We are too fond of a good joke ourselves not to enter cordially into the spirit of thii one, or not to envy Sir George the wit and nerve with which ho perpetrated it. What a piece of luck it was, though, that he had a presentable relative at hand! If Mr. George had not been there he would have had to fall back on his butler, and the jeu d’esprit would not have gone off half ho well. The electors of Hokitika may thank their stars that it is the nephew and not the flunkey ! Do not those who are so virulent in their attacks on Sir George Grey about this business see the beautiful sarcasm of it ? A degraded constituency lie at the feet of the god of the day the dispenser of present gifts—ready to lick his boots or do anything else that be pleases. They say, “ Here are onr suffrages. Take them. Give them to whom you choose. Where thou goest wo will go. Thy member shall be our mem her, and thy vote our vote.” What was Sir George to do ? Was he to suggest some one who knew what was what, who had a mind of his own, who might possibly criticise his measures, or even support Mr. Ballance ? No, decidedly not. That would have been a very tame way of dealing with such material. He could not suggest himself, because be already represents the Thames. So he did the next thing to it. He said, “ Here is my nephew. He was with me on the Coast. It’s all in the family. Elect him, and it will be just the same as if you elected me.” In a word, he knew the people he had to deal with. He assumed that he had to deal with a constituency of beggars, corrupt and subservient to the core, to whom no insult would be offensive coming from the man in power; and, quite logically and justifiably, ho consulted not their precious feelings, but only his own expediency, m the course he took. We hope that the Hokitika electors will be consistent and thorough in their lick-spittle loyalty, and will return Mr. George by a thumping majority. If they reject him they will save themselves from political damnation, truly ; but they will utterly spoil the best joke that has been essayed for many years.
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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5379, 24 June 1878, Page 3
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1,601THE NEPHEW OF MY UNCLE. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5379, 24 June 1878, Page 3
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