The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 1879.

Patea Mail, Volume V, Issue 416, 12 April 1879, Page 2

The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 1879.

Ouk new Governor may now bo said to be “settled” among us, and we learn that he is already sotting about making himself personally acquainted with the colony. This, from all wo can gather, is characteristic of the man. Robust alike in body and in mind, he is fond of travelling, fond of sight-seeing, passionately fond of field sports, and not above “ roughing it.” New Zealand will no doubt be as congenial to him as New South Wales. He will not find any jockey club so flourishing as that of Sydney, nice meetings will not be as large, there will be no kangaroo to hunt, nor such goed displays of cricket to witness. But, on the other hand, our country and climate are far more English, our scenery far more splendid, and our colonists not a whit less hospitable than those of New South Wales; and as to game, there are Maoris at Parihaka, rabbits in Southland, pheasants in Auckland, and sparrows in Canterbury —all of which want shooting; so we wish His Excellency good sport. Speaking seriously, we have no doubt that Sir Hercules Robinson will acquire more popularity and more knowledge of the colony, during his term of office, than any of his predecessors have done in theirs. We use the word popularity in its strict sense—the goodwill of the people. He may not be popular with any particular Government; for we should infer from the manner in which he has acquitted himself amongst contending parties in New South Wales, that he will act with strict impartiality, which means of course that the defeated party will always accuse him of partisanship. His task here, however, will not be one of the greatest labours of Sir Hercules. In the colony he has left, parties have been so divided, and Governments so weak for a long time past, that even the question of releasing a criminal, who, speaking vulgarly, was not a patch on our Sullivan, brought about a Ministerial crisis. Under such circumstances the Governor had to exercise his discretion very often, and yet when he left, the people of Sydney could not say anything good enough about him. Here, however, he will find that, even in the present House there are all the elements of a strong and popular Government, and he may, therefore, hope for easier times. .. In arriving at New Zealand, Sir Hercules is getting near the top of the tree of colonial Governorship,and a pretty tall

tree i t is. Not very long ago,only bankrupt baronets ami poverty-stricken knights could be persuaded to climb ; now, however, we find men of the highest standing, whose ' list of titles is quite f.ppalling, seeking honor and pensions among its leaves, while even lower branches of the Royal Family'do not object to be up this tree. A« far at least as pay is concerned, there are only two G6vc»rnorships in the gift of the Colonial Office which are superior to that of New Zealand, namely—the Governorship of Victoria and the GovernorGeneralship of Canada, each of which is worth £ 10,000 a-year, or £2,500 more than the post to which Sir Hercules has succeeded.

The question of what a Governor is, and of whether he should bo elective or not, has been somewhat canvassed of late. On the latter question the Marquis of Normanby expressed himself very strongly before leaving this Colony. An elective Governor, he said, would mean separation from the British Empire. A brief consideration would show that this was not a rash and groundless assertion, There is, of course, no pretence that an elected man could not discharge the duties of the office. Those duties are so simple as to require neither great ability, great experience, nor great learning. They are at least as simple as the duties of the Monarch of the Empire, and they, we know, have been well discharged by a maiden of eighteen. The practical difficulty, apart from legal and constitutional questions, appears to be that an elected Governor would be sure to be a partisan. He would represent the party that was dominant at the, time of his election, and the impartiality that is generally secured under the present system would be lost. The times when party feeling would bo highest, and impartiality on his part most necessary, would be the very time when his partisanship would be most strongly displayed. His friends would get a bill vetoed immediately after the House had been prorogued, and his opponents would not be able to secure- a dissolution or anything else, whatever the feeling of the country might be. Changes of public opinion would often leave the elected Governor in the minority ; on him would then be piled all the abuse that is commonly heaped on unpopular administrators ; in his person, the populace would see the Crown ranged among - the opponents of what would seem to them their best interests, and thus the feelings of loyalty which are at present so strong in the colonies, would be slowly but surely worn away. Then again, the elected Governor would sometimes happen to be a colonial politician whose antecedents might not be of the best, and who, therefore, would not be regarded with the respect that is commonly accorded to the representatives of the Crown amongst us It is also possible that the Crown would have something to say in the matter. It might object because of his views on the Chinese question, or the Scab Act. This great colony would feel rather small if the Crown were to remark kindly, “ Yes, yes ! yon select your own representative; very well; I, however, can still select mine, thank you.”