The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5533, 20 December 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1878.

The Honorable the Minister of Public Works has visited Ohinemuri, aud has expressed his satisfaction—the telegram says his delight—at the land over which he has cast his eye. For the first time in his life he is "convinced that Otago is "not NowZoaland." Those appear to have been outside utterancos, addressed probably to those who aro always as ready to crowd round an itinerant Minister of tho Crown as to stand by when a tumblor unrolls his carpet on the footway, preparatory to catching tho knives or turning

back somersaults. It is just possible that tho close proximity o£ a .multitude of persons who have never thought that Otago represented everything good and great on this side of the line may have prompted these little expressions of compliment and approval; No one but Mr. Macandrew has over supposed that Otago is New Zealand, but what he no doubt intended for a very civil and patronising speech gives us a pretty good proof of his real sentiments on the subject, or ut least those he has generally displayed in action. He gave the Ohinemuri and Grahamstown people his " travelling opinions," which it would scarcely do to place before his home audience. Otago has well earned the right to his loyal and strenuous services, and he is fully prepared to go even beyond what might be considered adequate recompense, and is willing to pay her extravagantly so long as her confidence in him remains uusb.ak.en. What his line of action might be if Otago electors refused their sympathy and support is a problem we need not attempt to solve. At present there is no apparent abatement of the friendship/and we must believe that these expressions of goodwill to those outside the sacred borders were wrung from Mr. Macandrew through the force of circumstances, and are to be taken not as a revelation of his mind, but rather as a simple act of courtesy to his hearers. He praised the land and the . community, and kept his thoughts to himself. Some at least of the present Ministry have a rare gift for distinguishing themselves by the delivery of afterdinner speeches, and at Grahamstown Mr. Macandrew was afforded the opportunity of adding his mite to the mass of post-prandial Ministerial wisdom which had already fallen from the lips of Colonel Whitmore and the Native Minister. The people gave him a banquet, at which the toast of "Tho "Ministry" was propused by that übiquitous and respected mortal, John Brown, Esq. The time had come for Mr. Macandrew to tell his hearers something about Ministerial doings, botli past and present. The two hundred gentlemen who were in the room had scarcely paid for their tickets under the impression that the entire value was to be taken out in eating and drinking. They looked, as a matter of course, for a speech from the guest of the evening, but it must be admitted that they got very little satisfaction from him. In fajt he told them nothing worth the hearing, although there was so much to be said if he even confined his remarks to matters concerning the surrounding district. How very differently tho "festive occasion "would have passed if the table had been spread in Dunedin instead of Grahamstown ! We can fancy the two hundred heads bent forward so that no word uttered by the great man should be lost; and the speaker himself, how ho would have rejoiced at the opportunity of telling them that they were the people, and that the magnificent things he had done for them in the past would be eclipsed by what he intended to do for them in the future. What Mr. Macandrew told the people at the Grahamstown banquet was, that as Minister of Public Works he was a silent member of tho Ministry ; that he was much ploased with what he had seen ; that Sir George Grey would be there in a few clays; and that he (Mr. Macandrew) "hoped "it would bo his lot to visit " them on another auspicious occasion, -•' aay in auuuirimcivo uj-uigui/eeu uuiAl^ " when he should be happy to attend the " opening of the railway." Some few remarks he also made, to the effect that the position of Ministers was anything but a bed of roses, and of his desire that there should be a fair distribution of the good things going. Altogether, the speech was a very lame- affair, and must have caused considerable disappointment. It is sometimes said that nothing is to'be geithered from after-dinner speeches, and that, as a rule, they are composed of vague generalities, and are by no means to be depended on. Perhaps all that is true of a good many of them, but nevertheless we can call to mind some very noble and significant utterances which have fallen from the lips of Ministers in Great Britain on such occasions. The fact is that the Minister of Publio Works found himself in a rather difficult and delicate position. In the first place ho must have felt strongly that the less he said about the events of last session and the prospects of ' the Ministry the better. Had everything gone smoothly in the past and promised well for the future, he would unquestionably have found a great deal to say to the Grahamstown banquetters. But he could scarcely talk of the session without alluding to a series of humiliating defeats, or speak with any degree of hope regarding the future, when it is evident fco-everyone that the Ministry to which he belongs exists only on sufferance, and will almost certainly be ousted from office shortly after the meeting of Parliament, That Borne part of this passed through his mind may be gathered from the fact that his ha'f promise to attend in about eighteen months, in his official capacity, at the opening: of the railway, was followed immediately by a short, and mournful homily on the difficulties and miseries with which Ministers are beset. He felt at that moment how exceedingly doubtful it was that he or his colleagues would be in office when that event took place. The passing thought must have been.painful in. the extreme. The opportunities of doing good have been so great, tho result has been so mean and pitiful. The "people's Ministry," which was to have reformed everything, and made New Zealand a paradise, has experienced such a complete and overwhelming break down, that it is no wonder that Mr. Macandrew, with all his assurance, was not equal.to the task of singing its praises. And then again there was a sort of loophole whereby ho might escape without having to confoss to any serious discomfiture. He reminded his hearers of their representative, and was enabled to tell them that the great Panjandrum, Sir George Grey himself, was about to pay them a visit, and would of course open his mind on the occasion. We fear tha task of placing matters in a favorablo light will be too much even for the Premier, and that his constituents, or the majority of them, aro very tired of what they have good reason to consider a remarkably-bad. bargain. .