The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 1889. INSULTING COLONISTS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1841, 17 January 1889, Page 2

The Temuka Leader THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 1889. INSULTING COLONISTS.

The tone of some speeches delivered by Conservative statesmen in England recently is extremely insulting to colonists. They say that notwithstanding the boasted democratic tendency of the colonies, nothing less than titled noblemen will satisfy them as governors ; in fact, they insist on making it appear that we “dearly love a lord.” Nothing could be more untrue or more insulting. On the contrary, colonists have on all occasions shown greater preference for men distinguished in some other way, than they have for noblemen. We had in this colony a real live Marquis, who was not so respected and so universally esteemed as the present governor of New Zealand. Whoever cared one straw about the Marquis of Normanby ? On the contrary, he left this colony without an expression of regret, and he is only remembered for his stingy meanness. Is it so with Sir William Jervois ? There is not, we believe, from Auckland to the Bluff one man, no matter what his political opinion or religious creed may be, who does not sincerely and deeply regret the fact that Sir William Jervois’s term of office has expired, and if the people of this colony had the power there is not a duke or a royal prince in England they would have before him. He is a gentleman of intellect, of capacity, and of great ability, and to colonists such a man is always preferable to the “ tenth transmitter of a foolish face.” Colonists care very little about titles. On the' contrary, they are very jealous of any colonist accepting a title, as evidenced by the fact that the title of knighthood contributed largely to the defeat of Sir Robert Stout at the last election. All this great fuss has been caused by the rejection by Queensland of Sir H. A. Blake. The Conservative statesmen of England are now trying to make people believe that the reason the Queensland people had for rejectlog Sir H. A. Blake was because they wanted togetapeer of the realm. How untrue this is we all know. Sir H. A. Blake was rejected because he has had very little experience of constitutional government. In Ireland he rose from the position of a policeman to that of a resident magistrate. He has since been governor in Bermudas and Newfoundland, and such training is certainly not the one to befit a man for the government of a colony. . Sir Arthur Cordon, who had a somewhat similar training, was tried in New Zealand, and the whole world knows what a mess he made of it. At any rate Sir H. A. Blake was not rejected because he had not a title, for colonists really care nothing about such things, and certainly nothing could be more insulting to them than to be accused of such snobbery. There is only on® way in which they can be even with those who are indulging in such vulgar abuse. Let them in future reject every titled governor who may be appointed; let them boycott lords, dukes, and earls, so far as governorships are concerned, and if they do this they will very soon bring British wind-bags to mind what they are talking about. To insult and abuse colonists in this way is not the best way to consolidate the empire and promote federation, and if British statesmen were wise they would desist from making such irritating statements.