THE GLADSTONE ELECTION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5537, 25 December 1878, Page 3

THE GLADSTONE ELECTION.

(From the Timaru Herald of the 21st December.)

Mr. John Studhohne's manly, outspoken speech to the electors of Gladstone, at Warmate, is well worthy of careful study by all who wish to get. a clear understanding of the broad features of the present political posi-. tion. Hr. Studholme declared himself an uncompromising opponent of Sir George Grey, both on account of what he has already done and left undone, and on account of what he may certainly be expected to do in the future, if he has the opportunity. Ho showed that all the Premier's professions of liberal principles were pure claptrap, and that his avowed affection for the working-man was mere cajolery, employed with the sole object ot setting class against class, with a view to the establishment of his own power. The truth of this statement is, we are convinced, very generally recognised now, and Mr. Studholme was quite right when he declared that the common sense of the people had reasserted itself, and that they would no longer be deluded by the wiles and falsehoods of designing demagogues. He spoke wisely and forcibly, and in the spirit of a good settler, when he said ;—“ There is no greater enemy to this country than the stump orator—the man who puts one class of the people against the other ; nor is there any greater evil committed in the legislation , than the passing of measures to injure one class for the temporary benefit of another. The interests of all classes in this community are mainly dependant upon the prosperity of each other.” We do not altogether agree with Mr. ■ Studholme, however, that it was a misfortune for the country that Sir George Grey assumed the title of stump orator. Por our own part, we are of opinion that Sir George Grey has done a great deal of good, though in exactly the opposite direction from that in.which he desired to exercise an influence. He has disgusted the people with stump oratory, and taught them a most salutory lesson of the hollowness and worthlessness of those who aspire to rule by the dissensions of others. An inferior man could not have inculcated this lesson half so completely as ho did. If wo were to have a demagogue it was well that we should have one free from the coarser faults of his kind. The people have now seen a well-born, well-bred, talented, highly cultivated, experienced statesman, who had tor many years enjoyed a brilliant reputation, and earned high honors in the service of his country, get on the stump and exhaust all his powers in order to breed class hatreds, and lead the public by the nose. They have seen him placed in a position ef the highest authority, supported by a large majority, and furnished with every means that he could desire for carrying out his promises and precepts. They have seen him fail miserably and igno. miniously to do anything of tbo kind; and they have seen him demonstrate by his own unrestrained actions and conduct that a demagogue in power is the worst kind of tyrant. He has had a fair trial, under circumstances more favorable than were ever enjoyed by any politician in ' this country before, and he has been found utterly wanting in every possible respect. Ho has misused his position by encouraging extravagance and jobbery; ho has mismanaged the public business to an unparalleled extent ; ho has abused his power of patronage by nepotism and by putting men of whom the country is ashamed into places of honor and profit; ho has withheld from the people the very rights which he himself was the loudest to declare were due to them, ho has done his utmost to impose upon them the hateful yoke of Maori denomination; and tho sole result of his legislation is a grievous burden of partial, inquisitorial, and unjust taxation. There never was, certainly, in New Zealand, any misgovernment at all approaching in badness that of tho Minister who took office, on the faith of pledges of purity, economy, and univeral reform. It was necessary and inevitable, however, that the revolutionary or mobocratic party should have a chance to' try their hands at government ; and it was well that their hopeless failure and discomfiture should come about under a loader qf transcendent personal qualifications. After Sir George, \ Grey, surely,the" people will never yield up their judgment, or their freedom of thought and action, to any mere vulgar demagogue. Government by the stump has had its jlay in New Zealand, and it will bo many yearn before the public will over bow

the knee to false idols again. After all, too, tho actual harm that has been done is not nearly so great as that which at one time threatened to be done ; and it it has had the effect, as we believe it has, of binding Jill classes of the community together,- and placing society on more solid foundations than before, the result has been cheaply purchased even at the price of such heartburnings and waste of money as we have witnessed. We look upon Sir George Grey’s rule as a drastic dose to the body politic, producing first internal disturbance, then nausea, and finally an improved tone of health, and: unwonted unison among the several parts of the system. It is, though, a dangerous medicine, liable, it not properly controlled, to give rise to malignant disorders worse : than the original disease. It has now operated sufficiently, and we quite concur in Mr. Studholrae’s view that tho sooner it is got rid of the better. His forecast of the manner in which this is to be effected, too, is, we think, a sagacious one. A redistribution of the representation, followed by a general election, would undoubtedly result in the utter annihilation of the Grey Government and party. The Premier’s behavior on that very question, indeed, is sufficient to stamp him as an aroh-impostor. During the whole of the session of 1577 and the early part of the last recess, the urgent necessity for a redistribution of seats on the basis of population was for ever on his lips. On a score of platforms he announced such a redistribution as the only remedy for the wrongs of the down-trodden populace, and pledged himself most solemnly to , stand or fall by that policy. ’No sooner were the census returns made up, however, showing that the population of the agricultural districts of the colony, and particularly of the Middle Island, had increased enormously, while that of the districts in the North Island which are under his influence had not increased, than he dropped tho subject of redistribution altogether, ' and never once referred to it again. When a resolution was moved in the House last session, indeed, affirming the desirability of an immediate redistribution, ho opposed it with all his might and main, and succeeded iu defeating it. It must come, though, very soon ; and if the Government arc defeated, as they arc sure to. bo, next year, and advise a dissolution, it must come then immediately. After all that has taken place, we do not believe that any Governor would grant a dissolution without a redistribution of seats and a new Electoral Act, even if the Ministry were guilty of so gross an act of treachery and injustice as to advise it. If both Ministry and Governor failed in their duty,' though, the House, would not do so; and they, after all, arc. the ultimate arbiters in such a case. The majority that defeated tho Ministry could compel them to pass a satisfactory Representation Bill, or. to retire from office. By refusing supply they could absolutely prevent their going to the country without a redistribution, or remaining in power ; and we may he sure that they would be supported by public opinion in adopting that extreme step. When once the representation is equitably redistributed on the basis of population, of taxation, of property, of education, or of anything else that can be thought of, the sooner there is a dissolution, the sooner Sir George Grey and his lamentable entourage will vanish away and never more be seen. He is never tired of raving against rotten boroughs. Let him sweep away all rotten boroughs, by giving equal representation to all parts of the colony, and he will find himself on the Opposition benches before Parliament has been reassembled a week.