The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 148, 4 June 1884, Page 2

The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4.

What may be the especial object of that venerable statesman Sir George Grey’s visit to the East Coast electorate we do not exactly know, but that he was invited by a number of adherents to his party color we know to be the case, and for the express purpose of gaining support to the candidate of that party. That Sir George Grey would for one moment lend himself to such a purpose we do not believe. If the latter should be the object of his visit, Sir George, beyond a doubt, might have found more profitable employment for his valuable time. Of course the East Coast electorate has for years past been looked upon as the stronghold of Greyism, and that party can ill afford at the present juncture to allow the same to pass over to the enemy. Although the public mind of this district is beginning to realise in some degree what has long been fully recognised by the majority in these colonies —that the Grey party as a power is merely an ignis fatuus — a theoretical and not a practical power—yet sufficient of the old party feeling exists to have given any other than the present Grey candidate a fair field and no favor in endeavoring to again secure this constituency. Even were there such a thing as a recognised Grey party which, in the present wretched state of New Zealand politics, might have a reasonable opportunity of undertaking the direction of public affairs, yet it cannot for one moment be doubted but that the annals of those two years of the worst misrule by the Government of which Sir George Grey was the head would sternly forbid such another calamity eventuating. When Sir George took office in 1877 no Minister ever had a better opportunity of displaying his power of statecraft and capacity for governing. The first thing Sir George promised was retrenchment in the Civil Service. He stated that he would, without prejudice to the public service, reduce the cost of it by /Too,ooo. But how was that promise kept ? During the first year of his term of office the cost of this branch of the sendee increased by a sum of /"8,000 and the second year by /rt 5,000. Then with respect to the Native Department,

which Sir George always looked upon as his particular “pet” project. Not content with going on in the same prudent careful manner in which Sir Donald McLean had dealt with the Native question, he essayed to settle matters in a too off-hand manner, and by so doing brought about such a complication of Native difficulties as to make it a crying scandal for all time. The expenditure increased in this department in proportion to its misrule, and the second year of office saw some spent over and above the votes. Charges of corruption were rife in the many branches of the Civil Service; the honor of the Department of Justice became a jeer ; the Public Press was degraded; the Telegraph Department became a corrupt tool in the hands of unscrupulous Ministers. The Government steamers were converted into pleasure yachts; financial affairs became so hopelessly involved as to render it impossible to lay any statement before the House ; and when the Grey Ministry went out of office, despite the promises of large retrenchment, there was a total deficit of about /’goojooo unprovided for. A million and a half of the five million loan had been unconstitutionally expended, and the interest on the public debt unpaid. Under these circumstances can it be wondered at that in 1879 a majority was found who declared the Grey Ministry had mismanaged public affairs, and that they were no longer deserving of public confidence. Judging of things from the past, it is somewhat difficult to understand why Sir George is still so popular with the multitude. No doubt he will be well and courteously received by the people of the East Coast district, more as a tribute to his past high position, known integrity, and undoubted powers of eloquence, than as a belief in the Utopian policy he advocates.