The New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5491, 1 November 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1878.

The results of the session cannot be considered satisfactory to the Government; everything but their seats may be said to have been lost. Under these-circum-stances there may be some excuse for the ill-temper displayed by the Premier on Wednesday evening ; but there can be none for the reiteration of scandalous charges against political opponents, the falsehood of which has been demonstrated so often. In this respect Sir George Grey is himself incorrigible, but his extravagance has now worked its own cure ; no one believes a word of these old tales, or regards them as anything else than the vagaries of a diseased imagination. When a hypochondriac asserts that he is a teapot, and refuses to sit down from fear of being cracked; it seems a hopeless task if he puts himself in an attitude, to argue with him that his arras do not represent the handle and the spout, and that his lid cannot have been stolen, as he appears to believe. This is the state of mind in which the Premier must have been when ho said “ it was notorious that the pre‘l sent Governor was hostile to him ; that “he (Sir George Grey) had no large “ following in this Chamber (the House), “ and had a hostile Upper Legislative “ Chamber.” He thus presented a picture of political destitution which would have justified him in saying, or even singing if there were any music in his soul, —“ Oh, really, lam an “ unfortunate man.” .His manner of accounting for Lord Nobmanbys “hostility” is recondite and ingenious. Some years ago, at the Caps of Good Hope, “he had refused to put in a position of “ trust a relative of the Earl of Derby “ under circumstances unjust to the Co- “ lony in which ho (Sir George Grey) “ was Governor, unjust to the Civil Ser- “ vice, unjust to the inhabitants. He “ was required to perform an unjust “ action, and because he declined to do “ so, he gave offence to the Colonial Da- “ partment, and had since then become a “ marked man, and anyone who injured “ him would always stand well with that

“ department !” It would bo useless to suggest to the Premier that two persons at least are required to make a quarrel, and that his Lxcellency the Governor has never permitted himself, under the many provocations which he has publicly received, to be drawn into such a quarrel. In the official encounters which have been forced upon him by the Premier, Lord Noioianby has preserved a perfect temper, has skillfully parried the thrusts of an angry adversary, has foiled him laughingly, and disarmed him with provoking nonchalance and ease. Sir George Grey has been beaten by the Governor at lus own favorite weapons, and although the wounds inflicted are not deep they are, like the wounds of a feminine beauty, visible and smarting always. We should not bo surprised to learn that Lord Norjianby had never heard of Lord Derby’s relative or of Sir George Grey’s heroic resistance to the order to take care of “ Doub, ’ and wo cannot help thinking that, excepting when the fact of his being on the honorable roll of Imperial pensioners recals his name to one of the clerks, the <c Colonial Office” does not now disturb itself very much about our Premier. If Lord Normanby could permit any personal feeling of enmity to sway him in his official relation with his chief responsible adviser, lie might find sufficient excuse in the direct and studied offensivencss of his servant, without going so far as the Cape to look for it in Governor Grey’s dislike to Lord Derby’s relative.

Upon what ground, looking at the occurrences of the last two days, tho Premier can complain of want of support in the House of lieprosentafcives, wo are .unable to understand. If tho true tost of the loyalty of party be to support a Minister when be has done wrong, Sir George Grey might point with justifiable pride to tho division list on Mr. Fox’s late motion relative to the Press Agency job,-—tho most scandalous * ap--1 i plication of public funds to tho boneht “ of friends ” which has been attempted in this Colony—and to tho triumphant division of 29 to 13 in favor of Mr. Sheehan’s motion on Wednesday, after slanderous words had boon “ taken down.” That kind of support is rare, and wo are glad to believe that it cannot last’very long. . If the Premier has not yet succeeded in fixing a quarrel upon the Legislative Council tho fault has certainly not been his. That is a rook upon which ho may bo wrecked if ho does not take care. Tho Council has protected the rights and liberties of the people against tho nefarious attempt of tho Government to swamp tho qualified European electors by bogus votes of unqualified Maoris ; and wo may repeat Major Atkinson's challenge, “ that tho Government should now go to 1; tho country on tho question whether the “North Island was to bo governed by tho <• Maoris, under Sir Geouob Grey, or “ whether the Constitution was to have “ free play.” Wo do not doubt that

honorable Legislative Councillors would join the Premier in a petition to the Governor for a speedy dissolution.