The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1048, 29 August 1879, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 1879.

. Tea enthusiastic manner in which Sir I George Grey was received at Palmerston, j and the very warm outbursts of applause ! which greeted the delivery of his very ! able, bat still temperate speech, clearly | shows that the Liberal cause has a very j large number of adherents in the centre 1 of M'Leanism and Conservatism. It is | seldom, indeed, that a political address of ! a strong party nature is received in such | a manner as was that of the Premier on I Tuesday evening; and this, too, in the • very camp of an enemy. How different ; was the reception of Sir William Fox, the leader of the Opposition, when he ] appeared recently before his constituents ! 'The contrast was really more than | striking; it showed clearly in what ! direction the feelings of the mass of the peopEe go. We freely admit that some ! share of the attention given to Sir George ! Grey whenever he addresses a public I meeting is attributable to the respect which his ever gentlemanly manner begets amongst his hearers, and which is in strong contrast to the mountebank proceedings of the leader of the Opposition. One speaks to his audience in language at once calm and eloquent; the other shrieks, yells, and gesticulates in a manner befitting a buffoon. One tells hi 3 audience homely truths in language forcible without being ungentlemanly; the other draws upon a vivid imagination, and, in i language coarao and inelegant, hurls accusations of an unwarrantable nature at his opponents. One deals with measures; the other speaks only of men, and that too in the very worst of taste. Butalthough much of the respect in which Sir George Grey is held is owing to his personal worth I and the great services he has rendered to | his Queen and country during a long and I eventful career, everyone who is not blinded by party feeling mast acknowledge that his earnest advocacy of muchneeded measures of reform has struck a responsive chord in the breasts of the people of the Colony. The public had lived so long ander the old order of ; they had become so accustomed to the burdens imposed upon them, that xue had supplied the place of nature. Sheer indolence and the absence of any great leader in the work of reform interposed to prevent a straggle being made to secure justice for the general body of the inhabitantsof theColony,and they mighthave lived on ander the old rule for yearstill, indeed, the Colony was well nigh ruined—had not Sir George Grey come to the front and manfully volunteered to lead the way to political reform. He has aroused the people to a sense of the necessity for reform before it is too late, and they have so far greeted hi 3 call for assistance in the great work with enthusiasm, save those who arc the enemies of all reform, and who live and legislate only for the benefit of their precioosselve* and their particular friends. Now, the question to be decided is: Will the electors of the Colony show that they are willing to do mere than cheer the man who has promised to lead them on to genuine and permanent prosperity ? Will they become cyphers in the reforming army, or will they stulify themselves by leaving their leader without sufficient followers to win the battle? Will they folly testify their appreciation of the promised measures of relief, or will they tacitly admit that their applause was simply the result of their feelings being momentarily carried away by the earnest eloquence of a man whohasleft an honorable retirement, the ease and comfort so

well earned by pant services, to take a leading part in the troublesome world of politics because he honestly believes that he can be of service in bringing about much-needed reforms? Personal considerations should not have been permitted to interfere with the election of members now taking place. The cry should be measures and not men ; no man should be elected who will not range himself boldly on one side or the other. We want not those who, sitting on a rail, smile alternately upon both sides, and, failing to give an honest support to either, wait, Micawbor like, for something to their own advantage to turn up. We want not men profuse in promises, but men who, having made those promises, either to help them into Parliament, or because they thought that the obtainment of what they promised would benefit the country, will carry them out at any sacrifice—even at the sacrifice of personal gain, or the emoluments of office. A glib tongue and an abundance of words and high-sounding phrases should not be accepted as fitting substitutes for honest work. The electors, if they, as we believe they do, approve of the Liberal policy enunciated by the present Ministry, should not allow any small side issues to interfere with the carrying out of that policy. They should return only such men as are known to be adherents of the Liberal Party, and should not allow a string of heterogeneous promises full of contradictions, and incapable of fulfilment, to divert their attention from the one great end to be achieved.