The Standard AND PEOPLES ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.) SATURDAY, MARCH 13, 1875.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 255, 13 March 1875, Page 2

The Standard AND PEOPLES ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.)

SATURDAY, MARCH 13, 1875.

“ We shall sell to no man justice or right: We shall deny to no man justice or right: We shall defer to no man justice or right.”

If the late telegrams to hand by the Rangatira on Thursday be true, the Province of Auckland should rejoice through its Electorate at the prospect of having another Superintendent without the turmoil and worry of an election. “ Mr. Dargaville has issued an ad- “ dress, stating that as Sir Geohge “ Grey’s views coincide with his own, “ he has decided to withdraw from the “ Candidature for the Superinten- “ dency.” So runneth the telegram. The substance of Sir George Grey’s address, as wired to the Southern papers, we have given elsewhere, and on the whole may be considered to be satisfactory, for Sir George, unlike Mr. Dargaville, confines himself almost entirely to an expression of his views as to the duties of a Superintendent, and, very properly in such an address, does not directly allude to any action he may feel constrained to take as Member of the House of Representatives, should he be elected to a seat therein. But it is very evident that (assuming the substance of his address to be correctly reported) Sir George Grey has felt the pulse of the colony on the great question of the day ; and finding that not only his popularity but his usefulness would be much impaired by a dogmatical assertion of, and adherence to, his well known and recently uttered opinions relative to the abolition of Provinces, he arrives at the conclusion that, “ although strongly attached to Pro- “ vincial institutions, he well knows it “ is the duty of every man to yield up “ his views and wishes to the majority “ of his fellow countrymen, when those “views are ascertained by constitu- “ tional means, and clothed with the “ authority of law.” So far we may say that the present is teaching the last generation wisdom, and that Sir George Grey, representing that period, has the manliness to modify his opinions on Provincialism, which, as its great progenitor, is doubtless, still dear to him, and to openly state them in the face of the world. We do not look upon this as a weakness by any means. We do not think so little of Sir George Grey—after a quarter of a century’s close observance of his public career —as to believe him capable of stultifying himself, or retracting his past politics for the subservance of any unworthy motive. But we have nothing whatever to do now with the views Sir George Grey holds on the Abolition question —that will and must crop up again, in another form, when he addresses the people as a candidate for a seat in Parliament. Sir George Grey, as a candidate for the Superintendency, addresses only the electors of the Province of Auckland ; but when he shall speak upon the constitutional questions which are occupying the serious attention of both the people and the Government, he will virtually address the whole colony, and then will be the becoming opportunity to enquire why the Electors should choose a man, who, until recently at any rate, has been consistently opposed to the demolition of institutions that are found to have outlived the times.

While Provinces remain as they are —and we warn the Electors that many a fight has to come yet before abolition is a fact—our chief duty is to see and obtain those men at the head of affairs who are most likely to maintain the integrity of our institutions to the last, quite independently of what the future form of local government may be. Sir George Grey is the first man in the Colony to stand up in the face of an election contest and proclaim that the “ office of Superintendent sUould be Executive and not Politi- “ cal; and that, if elected, he would not “ use the position for political pur- “ poses.” We can hardly see how a Superintendent can hold himself aloof from the politics which essentially belong to his position ; he fills a political office, since, under the constitutional form of “ responsible” Government, he has to re-model his “ministry” when it cannot command a fair working majority of the Council; but, if rwe understand Sir George aright, he has dealt one of the severest blows at the very root of provincial institutions, that could have been delivered by their most energetic, opponents. If Superintendents really have no political status, and derive their importance through their executive usefulness merely, then have provincial institutions been a gross delusion from the beginning, and a more conclusive and convincing argument in favor of their abolition, could hardly be adduced. We have ever held to the opinion that the Superintendental element in the House of Representatives, is a dangerous one ; and Sir George Grey’s condemnation of the political position which they have so long usurped, points the more dearly to the necessity that exists for depriving them of the power they have built up for themselves in the state, in the forming of compacts in earlier days, and now by creating a phalanx of opposition to the progressive government of the country. We regret not having Sir George Grf.y’s address, as written ; but we feel confident the method in which he

has touched upon the matter more immediately before us —the election of a Superintendent—will be received with general satisfaction; and his last asseveration as to the proper duty of Superintendents, should entitle him to the support of even those who hold extreme anti-provincial views.