The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5508, 21 November 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1878.

On the 29th of August, 1877, the Secretary of State for the Colonies addressed two despatches to his Excellency the Governor, one informing him that the Queen had been pleased, under certain conditions, to allow retired Judges of the Supreme Courts of the Australasian Colonies the privilege of bearing the title of “honorable” for life, within the Colony, with precedence next, in the case of-rotired Chief Justices, after the Chief Justice and before Puisne Judges, and in the case of retired Puisne Judges, next after the Puisne Judges; and the other stating that the Queen had been pleased to approve of Mr. H. B. Grbsson and Mr. H. S. Chapman, retired Judges of the Supreme Court, being permitted to assume that title. The despatch with reference to these two gentlemen was accidentally mislaid, and did not see the light till the 22nd of April last. About a week afterwards Sir. George Grey returned both despatches to the Governor, accompanied by a lengthy memorandum. A notification of the honor which had been conferred upon Messrs. Gresson and Chapman had previously bean pubin the New Zealand “.Gazette” in deference to the wishes of the Governor, and in accordance with the views of the preceding Ministry, who, whilst in office, had been in communication with the Secretary of State for the Colonies on the subject of these honorary distinctions, and had advised the course which was taken. But the Governor also desired that the contents of the other despatch, containing the general rules to which reference has been above made, should also appear in the “ Gazette,” and this Sir George Grey found himself unable to advise until his own views with regard to those rules had been laid before the authorities at Home. There are not, wo should think, many men of ordinary capacity who would see much cause for alarm in a regulation by which retiring Judges may bo allowed the privilege of prefixing to their names the word “honorable,” the said names being first submitted to the Queen on the recommendation of the Governor, and approved by her Majesty. But the Premier is not by any means an ordinary man, and he appears to think that the matter involves very serious issues. We do not understand that he objects so much to the bare fact that retiring Judges may be added to the list of Colonial Honorables, as to the means by which it is proposed that this shall be accomplished. In his memorandum he reminds the Governor that New Zealand has a representative Constitution, and that the General Assembly is authorised to make all provision for the peace, order, and good government of the Colony ; and he raises the question whether, that being the case, the Crown can, without the consent of the Assembly, establish in New Zealand a dignity which does not exist in Great Britain, and “the probable direct ten- “ dency of which (in the belief of many “ of the people of the Colony) may be to “ bring about ultimately a separation of “ New Zealand from the Empire, because “ it establishes here a quasi aristocracy, “ which will have no recognised rank or “ position in any part of the Empire out- “ side this dependency of the Crown.” The proceeding involves, according to his view, the “ order and good government” of the Colony, and he thinks that on that ground no local rank can be established except with the assent of the Now Zealand Parliament. He suggests the desirability of taking the opinion of the Imperial Law Officers of the Crown on the point. We do not now care, for obvious reasons, to attempt to decide whether Sir George is right or wrong in his constitutional law, but we fail altogether to seo the danger of which he appears to entertain such a dread, A multitude of Mr. Gressons and Mr. Chapmans may, after spending the best years of their lives usefully and laboriously in the public service, enjoy the small satisfaction of prefixing the word “ honorable” to their names, before the country will be ripe for rebellion, even though tho General Assembly of Now Zealand may have had no voice in granting or withholding such a title. ThePremiermust have been thinking of the countless millions who aro in the future to people the country, and about whom he is always giving himself such an amount of unnecessary trouble, and was disquieting himself in vain as to what may befal the “ quasi aristocracy,” when the people think it necessary to make tho declaration of. their own independence. Tho Premier may rest asssured that when the day of separation arrives the change will bo peaceful, and brought about by the political and commercial necessities of the situation, and that such trifles as disturbed his peace of mind when penning his memorandum will then have no bearing on the subject either one way or the other. With a few of Sir George’s remarks relating to gazetting these titles we seo no occasion, to differ. He points out that for a long time the custom has been that when the Queen has conferred any rank on a public servant of the Empire, tho fact is notified in tho London “Gazette,” and that by this means a greater publicity is obtained, and that it redounds to tho honor of tho person on whom tho dignity has been conferred. It also, ho says, “ binds together in ono common bond of honor tho whole of Her Majesty’s vast possessions.” So far ho may bo right, and we aro not disposed to disputo tho point with him. But ho seems to think that such publication acts as a check to tho creation of new ranks and dignities, and to tho establishment of precedents “which may have tho most “important influence upon distant possessions of tho Crown, and may here- “ after exercise a pernicious influence “ on the entire Empire.” No sane person can agree with him when ho argues that if there is not a publication in the

London “ Gazette,” and if the Secretary of State has the power to direct a notification of these matters in the colonial gazettes, important changes may be made in the, constitution of colonies, and that loyal and faithful, though democratic, subjects of the Crown “ may have “an aristocracy forced upon them “in some very objectionable form.” If we had read all this rubbish in any other document than a paper presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by command of his Excellency, we should certainly have thought that a sorry joko had been perpetrated at Sir George Grey’s expense. Who, in his senses, will believe that any Imperial or Colonial Ministry would ever entertain the idea of forcing upon New Zealand a very ■objectionable form of aristocracy, or any form of aristocracy whatever ? We are living in the nineteenth century, and in the light of public opinion. No ono can credit that even Sir George. Grey—himself a tuft-hunter in his way—is impressed with any such ideas as he has put forward, for with all his faults and failings, and they are many and great, it has not yet been shown that his intelligence has wandered hopelessly across the boundary which separates foolishness from common sense. A fit of spleen, or a sudden longing to find excitement by a little sparring with the Colonial Office, could only have impelled him to tho composition of this most remarkable State paper. _____________