The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1882. THE EGYPTIAN WAR.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1012, 3 October 1882, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1882. THE EGYPTIAN WAR.

Thk indifference with which the Government hare treated tlin victory gained by Great Britain in Egypt is c< rtninly most remarkable The other Australian Colonics have telegraphed their congratulations to the Imperial Government, but the New Zealand Government look on with stolid in(iiffrrencc, and seem to take no more notice of it than they would for a cockfight. As if ashamed of the callousness of the Government, several Municipal Councils have adopted congratulatory addresses with the view of forwarding them to the Imperial Government. This cannot be regarded otherwise than a as snub to the Government and we must indeed say that they deserve it. The people naturally look to the Government to represent them in such matters ; they expect them to express their ieelings on such occasions,

and it is very unsatisfactory indeed to find them so careless. While this colony is a part of the British Empire naturally enough the people as a whole will rejoice in the success of the British arms, and if the Government of the day did its duty it would give expression to the wishes of the people in the shape of a congratulatory address to the Imperial Government on the splendid victoiy gained in Egypt. Dublin—the hot-bed of what people in this colony are pleased to call by such opprobrious names as disloyalty, fenianism, and what not, but which is nothing more nor less than legitimate agitation got up with the view of redressing the most distressing grievances that a country ever suffered under, was first to acknowledge the victory by presenting Sir Garnet Wolseley with the freedom of the city and a sword. Let it be reremembered that the Lord Mayor of Dublin is a Land Leaguer, and a Parliamentary obstructionist, and that the great majority of the councillors entertain similar views. Another of the greatest and most popular of Dublin men, E. D. Gray, Esq., M.P., was undergoing sentence of imprisonment at the time, and yet these people who are at actual war, politically speaking, with the British Government, were able to throw aside all their prejudices, forget their own troubles, and rejoice in the Biitish victory. The Canadian Government, who was bo severely snubbea for si.gggcsting a remedy for the Irish difficulty, offered to send men and money to the assistance of Great Britain in Egypt. The Victorian Government —the most radical of all the Australian Colonies—who have also made recommendations regarding the Irish difficulty, and whose Premier is an Irishman of an undoubted color, telegraphed the congratulations of the people to the Imperial Parliament the same day that the news of the victoiy was received. Even Jewish congregations have been offering up special thanksgivings at their synagogues for the | victory. What a commentary on the apathy shown by the New Zealand Government regarding the matter is all this. Here we have Irishmen who are regarded—wrongfully, no doubt—as very disloyal ; radicals whose views savor somewhat of Republicanism, Jews, who are for the most part aliens by birth and education, rejoicing in this victory, whilst our English-born Government of New Zealand look on it with indifference. We do not mean to say that the sending of a congratulatory address would do any good, further than that it would be only polite to do so, and that we believe the people of this colony as a whole would like it. It is not the first time the present Government have been guilty of similar carelessness. Whe». the Queen escaped from the attempt made on her life by Maclean a few month a 50, the Government never bothered i.bout it, but Sir Arthur Gordon sent a telegram Home on his own account. When Parliament met Sir George Grey in the Lower House,and Sir George Whitmore in the Upper House, moved addresses congratulating the Queen on her escape, and the Government graciously assented to them. Why did not the Government take action in the matter before ? Why did they wait until the subject was brought forward by a private member ? Simply because they lack sympathy with the Home Government. The present New Zealand Government is fearfully Conservative, they disapprove of the Gladstone Ministry, and they would not as much as rejoice in the victory gained by the British in Egypt. If that is not the explanation of ic we confess that we are at a loss to realise what the cause of their indifference is, but whatever it is we have no hesitation in sayirg thnt they do not represent the views of the people in tli3 matter, and that we have no doubt it will yet be re- | membered for them.