THE "GUARDIAN" AND THE GOVERNOR.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 307, 18 April 1877, Page 4

THE "GUARDIAN" AND THE GOVERNOR.

The following is the GmtdtmSs article fas reference to the visit of the Governor to Daneda>y referred to in oar telegrams ,3P!Bjtfn4wjr ; Aa old essayist says that the best dcseriptien or distinguishing mark of a man « is that he »a.fawninganimal. Aristotle's ftsertioa .that a man- is a politic J animal jney fail, but this essayists test is never wrong-. Even the worm whtn trod upon tons*, but amongst men there are manr Uriah Heeps—humble, very humble. Jt inweEiaown that the Governor of this Coteay, unKice most Governors, took the side of the Centralist party in the late political contest. Even weathercock journals,nie our contemporary the Olajn Jkrity Tuner, condemned his action and hie treatment of Sir George Grey. Tet because he chooses to visit Dunedin oor dry Council is to be asked to spend city lands m his honour, and we are to have a two or three day*' mode adulation of sobstitnted royalty. Informations by the SoHcitor-Oeneral have become common. Well, we venture to say that if the Corporation spend » shilling; of the city rates or city funds in preparing a reception to the Governor the funds will be misspent, and those who spend them will he h* M individually responsible. And amidst the assertors of the rights of the public, we have no doubt some will be found who will make those wh«» vote for the expenditure of city funds recoup* tUe Co*pora"i«n the amounts paid. Independently altogefier of fie money 3ttestion, we auk what has the Governor one that a fuss should be made ov«r him I Some Governors when tltoy have acted contrary to the feelings and desires of the people, have had to leave the governed. Can it be said that we in Otago are to pass unchallenged the Governor's actions'? If we do this we are simply inviting centralistic tyranny to further trample on us. It should be the duty of a Governor to hold the scales e«i*?a% between the rival parties in a colony. Lord Kormanby did not do so, and we submit that the City Council, know in/ that the majority of the citizens are Frovtneialists, should be the last to recognise Edm in anv way whatever. Let him visit Vincent or Ijake County if he dtsires to hrar t ie huzzas of the county-rated and joyous centralistic districts. By wir ttmetntss we may show him that alight* are not forgotten. We have faith in ourC»ty Council. Amidst its many difficulties we have supported it. Let it show that it remembers the feelings of the people, and that its strict legal interpretation of its charter—the Municipal Ordinance— is not forgotten. As for the Governor, the Hon. George M'Lenn will probably accompany hint. He can show him round the Gaol, the : Asylum, the Hospital, the Court-honst?, and the Industrial School-the Centralistic institutions in our midst. The Mayor and Corporation can attend to our streetmaking, getting us good gas and pure water, and leave those wtw choose to dance attendance on his Excellency. We are inspired to make these remarks by observing: that a hint has been teleSaphed from Wellington to the Mayor of unedin, plainly intended to sugg« st some public reception of Lord Nortnanhy, and that a special meeting of the Council i* to be held to-day to consider it. It is difficult to write calmly on the subject, bttt we sincerely trust that the Council will not offer a deliberate insult to the people of this city, or shake from them that confidence and sympathy which we believe they at present enjoy at the hands of the great body of citizens. Disguised as it may be, the present visit of the Governor has a political object. The last great political action that stirred men's minds in this city was the declaration of the Convention that a petition should be sent to England praying for this Governor's recall. Lured by the calm that has succeeded to intense political excitement, Dr. Pollen and his Government have conceived the idea that by an ovation to the Governor in Dunedin it may be shown in England and in the Colony that condemnation of his unconstitutional action was not the actual feeling of the people. We shall be assured that there is nothing political intended. We shall be told that it is only becoming that honour should be shown to the representative of Her Majesty, and we have little doubt that we shall hear expostulation against stirring up the politicil waters. But it is the sender of that invitation to the City Council that has troubled the waters; and if political excitement is aroused, let the blame be cast in the proper quarter. The intimation is palpably an invitation that the City shall give a public reception to the Governor, and we regard it at once as a challenge and an insult. The Governor has demeaned himself not as a constitutional Governor should have done, but as a virulent partisan. He had maligned and snubbed Mr. Macandrew, Sir George Grey, and the whole party in which this people placed, and still place, their trust, and now he has the audacity to invite this people- to give him a public recognition and reception. We candidly own (hat we regret this challenge. We had thought that political wounds might have been left to the healing hand of time, and that if the Governor—who is the most offensive of all the partisans that have crushed and insulted the people of Otago— was under the necessity of passing through these districts, he would have passed in a quiet and unostentatious manner, instead of inviting an expression of the estimation in whieh he is held. We do not desire to anticipate the action of the City Council. We have confidence in their good sjnse, and in their knowledge of what is due tu their constituents—the people of Dunedin. Their rejection of this insult will have the

effect, pcr'iap?, of laying pnblic fo I'ng, wliiei no one doubts will be keenly tinted at tlie ban at thought of anything like a civic recognition or reception of the Martjnts of Nomianby. S.iouM the Council be iU-a-lvw«d tiiorujh t«» co itjmptate exhibiting Dnnc«Un stnlt:fying its--»f in the face of the- whole Colony, sincerely as we regret the neevsaity, w« trust that tic cit z.-ns, in juiMic meeting promptly ataenibterf, w'll give a-'ain «.xpr<34iou to taetr feelings on the s il»j«ct