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Oamaru Mail, Volume III, Issue 759, 16 September 1878, Page 2

If the Wellington correspondent of the Melbourne Argus is a newspaper man what terrible liars some newspaper men must be. This reprint i§ he has sent to the paper he represents, and it published it like a lamb, although it professes to be a colonial London Times :

There are all kinds of political rumors, vi2., Gt?ev and Macaki>J?eav plotting fpr separation cf the tv ( o islands —a ' proposition which would be warmly welcomed by many members on both sides of the Hp.use. On d'/f, that if Sir Gfioßf-B is forced to retire through ill health, Bav,la.n<'E will be Premier. The candidates for post of leader of the Opposition are Rolleston, Fox, Ormond. and Johnston. Almost certain that Atkinson will not be re-elected. Kees's friends assert that he and Sir Gi:or<;e are going riom-j to contest Bristol, being anxious to sit in the Imperial Parliament;. There is a spice of truth in some of the above, that is if Wellington rumor is worth anything : but the last item more particularly contains information so ridiculously improbable that its tendency will be to cheat the doctors by creating a good laugh. Can anyone bring himself seriously to believe that Sir George Grey, whose lease of life has so nearly expired, would attempt to return to political embroilments if once out of the Parliament of New Zealand thxpyjgh ill that there is any truth in the statement that Mr, Rees is "anxious to contest Bristol/' the city that wooed and won the talented Burke. Mr. Rees is clever, but he has not j 7 et attained that colonial political fame to warrant him to make the attempt ur.pHed by the Argus correspondent. But the tiling is too ridiculous to admit of discussion. The correspondent might jus I as well have said that' Mr. Rees intended to dispute the possession of the throne of Russia with the p?ar. What surprises us is that the aytute person that edits thp Argus pquld not see through what was evidently intended either as a lie or a joke, So much for the Argus and the Australasian, and the value of their opinions on New Zealand politics. What flimsy pabulum such a correspondent as that in Wellington would supply upon which to base dignified leading articles. We have now found the key to the absurd opinions that are expressed in the Argus and Australasian on Sir George Gbe& and his policy.