Poverty Bay Standard. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 1882.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1093, 29 June 1882, Page 2

Poverty Bay Standard. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 1882.

Parliamentary doings sire evidently leading up to a crisis. The Government are becoming weaker every day, while the Opposition, if it were not divided, would seem to be assuming dimensions which are portentious to a I degree. The great difficulty seems to be in choosing a leader. Mr. Montgomerry being the chosen one out of the many faithful according to all appearances. But here, in such appearances, we think Mr. Montgomery’s chance of leadership has its end. as it had also its beginning. What politician, with an ounce of brain, can fail to sec that, let who. may be the nominal leader, there can only be one man who will in reality lead the Opposition, and that man we most unhesitatingly say is Sir George Grey. Who can listen to the rough unpolished language of Mr. Montgomery and believe that he can lead a body of men, among whom Sir George Grey only appears as an item ? ’ No matter in what party Sir George appears, he will, always be a leader, perhaps not in name, although we think he will even bethat, but certainly in reality. Compare the statesman like diplomacy, thegracef til speech, and the withering sarcasm of the man whose life has been spent in Parliamentary and diplomatic pursuits, to the ungainly blundering and rude speech of the two gentlemen who are quoted as the possible leaders of the Opposition, and say which must be the leader and which the follower 1 Is it not “ Hyperion to a Satyr?” Nothing would suit the Ministerial views better than having Mr. Macau drew or Mr. Montgomery as leader of the Opposition. The very weakness which such leadership would create would be a tower of strength to the Ministerial party. It would be a bad thing for the Colonists, for whatever Ministry is in power, a powerful Opposition is essential to preserve the equilibrium necessary to the welfare of the country. We should regret to see the Whitaker Government ousted without a fair trial, aud we quite think that if by any finesse the Ministry can help Mr. Montgomery to the leadership of the Opposition they will spare no pains in its exercise. We learn by telegram that at the caucus of the Opposition held on Saturday, out of twenty members present, twelve voted for Mr. Montgomery, and eight for Sir George Grey as the party leader, but at the same time we learn from private telegrams that Sir George Grey is holding Angularly aloof in these caucuses, and preserving a reticent silence as to his probable attitude which is provocative of much speculation. That he could, if he chose, command a most powerful following, there seems to us no reason whatever to doubt, but what may be his notion for assuming a passive attitude, no one can say. Sir George is an astute and skilled politician, and doubtless he has an intimate knowledge of what he is about. Confident in his own strength, he seems to be quietly biding the proper moment to put it forth, with the intention, doubtless, of accelerating the force tenfold of the blow he intends to strike. The calm dignity with which he beholds the desertion of some of his oldest disciples, and the vicious barking of the smaller political curs who would bite him if they dared, reminds us forcibly of that well-known picture of Sir Edwin Landseer’s, entitled “Dignity and Impudence.” Sir George Grey has one great advantage. He is by birth, education, and the the tenets of his life, political and social, a highly cultured gentleman, and a scholar. Most of his opponents are deficient in these two qualities, without which people seldom become orators, and never become statesmen. Cavil as they may, revile as they may, and backbite as they alone can backbite, Sir George Grey has a vantage over them in these particulars which they are thoroughly unabletoovercome, and which specially marks hitn out as the natural leader of any party with whom he may cast his lot. We can easily believe that Sir George has sufficient self-abnegation to submit to the leadership of Mr. Montgomery, but by the sheer force of superiority, not in one way alone, but in every possible shape and form, he must eclipse that gentleman and deprive him in reality, if not ostensibly, of the leadership of his party. To ns here in Gisborne a powerful Opposition is a matter of vital necessity. No Ministry that has ever been in power has ever done us anything like justice. We have had promises from all, performances from none. Now, with a powerful Opposition tn posse there is more chance of getting our just claims attended to than there has been heretofore. The present Ministry shew a surplus of £200,000 in the Budget. Gisborne figures but little in the past year’s expenditure, but if she had been fairly dealt with .the surplus would have disappeared and an honest deficiency have been shewn. What does it avail us that the Treasurer shews a surplus if that surplus is arrived at by depriving us of our legitimate share of public expenditure ? Are we to koutou to Major Atkinson and laud his financial economy when we are daily suffering from its consequences ? Let the Government give us £150,000 for a breakwater, I and another £lOO,OOO for other neces- ; sary public works which will return a ■ handsome profit for the expenditure, and then they may expect us to admire

their exquisite finance, ami feel duly grateful for the Hna.ll - mercies they bes'ow upon us, but until they do that, we can only feel thavthe Treasurer is taking credit to himself for a surplus which has been obtained by false pretences. That is to say that our necessities have been disregarded and moneys that should rightly have been expended upon this district have been retained in order to make a respectable credit balance appear upon the Treasurer's sheet. If we are to be grateful for such finance as this we must be the most gushing of communities. As it is wo are not in the least grateful, because we have nothing to be grateful for. We want our wrongs righted, and until that is done we cannot look upon the Ministerial party as having dealt justly or faiiiy by us. Our revenue alone entitles us to a respect at their financial hands which we cannot obtain, and which we do not exaggerate in the least when we claim it as our lawful due. We trust to Mr. McDonald much in this matter. He has our interests at heart, and to him is the care of them entrusted. We have no reason to doubt his will or his energy in the matter. On the contrary we have every reason to place the ulnjost confidence in them, but let him do all he can, wc quite think that the fact uf the Ministry becoming weaker as the Opposition gains in strength and number, will be one of the most powerful advocates we can have in support of our just and moderate demands. Still we shall watch with great interest the outcome of Mr. McDonald’s efforts. That they are no weak ones we may rest assured.