THE PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 81, 1875.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2181, 31 December 1875, Page 2

THE PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 81, 1875.

Thebe is a farce,..excellent indeed of its kind, and much in favour with those who appreciate such things, entitled "My Turn-Next," the gist of y which cod sists in that a man having married the widow of a bagman who had many aliases, passing how under the name of Brown, now of White, now of Grey, and so on, is congratulated by his friends on his marriage, but each winds up his, congratulation with the words,' "Lor' bless you^ I've seen her before," and as each has happened to see her when her husband assumed a different name, the unhappy bridegroom is led to believe that. she has had as many husbands as her departed had names, and can account for their expeditious deaths in no other way ' than by imagining" that this female . Blubeard made away with them, and so is led to utter ; the words " It will be my turn next," from which the farce takes its name. To compare great things with little, we, in this farce of Sir George Grey's "sudden affection" for this district now he expects to gain a vote by sitting for it, are very muchin the position of .Mr Taraxicum Twitters' (the bridegroom) congratulatory when we Tead or hear Sir George's speeches, and can with truth say of all when we have heard one, " Lor bless you, I've read it (or hmrd it) before." JNo matter whether Sir George speaks to us as a newly-elected Superintendent, ;or as a Superintendent speaking by request on the the eve of an election, or as a candidate apologizing for the/ betrayal of one constituency in the hope of gaining another he may again betray when its term of usefulness is over, his speeches are but the same things said over again, decked out in another form of words, Sir George Grey's speech—that we, say not speeches —consists in this—first of all he abuses the Government. Well, what Govern.-, ment ever existed, or ever will exist, with which some fault, and generally grave fault, cannot be.found? Surely Sir George is not so Utopian in his ideas as to imagine that it is possible to have any set of men in a Government who can give universal satisfaction to the whole colony of New Zealand! His experience as Governor should have taught him better than that. The question is not so much whether the present Government are all we could wish them to b«, but whether Sir GeOrge and his party can do better. If they can, and they say they can, let them show us how, and wo will all join in returning them

and in giving §ir George such a majority as will enable him to parry what measures he. pleases. Sir George Grey next tells us what we want, or rather what he says we want, but never does he point out how we may get it; he then generally makes assertions which we doubt much if he can prove—at any rate he never has proved them—and after a few historical parallels, or something'of that kind to lend a sort of caviare flavour to the whole affair—neatly put we will allow—winds up with the evident intention of fading the audience to suppose that, they are a very ill-used people, and that "--the only thing for them to do is to return him with unlimited powers and then they will be great and happy—as, if he does one tithe of what he says he will do, they no doubt will be. It must be observed that though Sir George is great at finding fault he does not say very much about what can be done that is better; and though he declares the present Abolition scheme of the Government is everything that is bad, yet he does not attempt to propose anything in its.place. The two most pertinent questions proposed to Sir Gebrge Grey last night, the two which of all others really affect this district the most, were deliberately shirked or evaded by him. To the question of Mr Cox, as to whether Sir George Grey was in favor of Abolition Pure an(* simple, he replied by an evasion as paltry as it was mean, that he really did not know what the question meant! We ask can anyone in his senses really believe that Sir George Grey, after all that has been said by himself and others on thp subject, really does not know what is ordinarily meant when people now speak of Abolition.pure and simple, or further that he did not know what meaning Mr Cox intended to be attached to his wor.ls ? The thing is incredible ; and besides, if Sir George had really been prepared to give an opsn, plain answer to a plain question there was nothing whatever ,to prevent him from asking Mr Cox to explain himself, and a very few words would have been sufficient if Sir Gebrge Grey had really been desirous of letting us know what his opinions on this important question were. The other question by Mr Sims was also a most important one, and, instead of being treated in a jocular and flippant manner, really demanded • a most full and complete answer at the hands of Sir George Grey. Mr Sims, in other words, asked Sir George what policy he would propose in place of the one he condemns; a most reasonable question, for if Sir; George can suggest anything better than the: present scheme by .all means let us know it, and if feasible let us adopt it; but, as we are all agreed that Provincialism must be swept away, it is obvious that if Sir George cannot or will not suggest anything in its stead, we must perforce decide in favor of what the Government wish. This very natural request, then, i. of Mr Sims^Sir George Grey attempted td make fun of, and treating the matter as if Mr Sims expected him to return an ' answer on a subject' which could not be j supposed to have entered his head ! before, replied that it was perfectly absurd to expect him at that, time of night to *" develop off hand a form of Government for New Zealand." It will be observed that I Mr Sims never asked Sir George to do anything of the kind, and therefore Sir George's "get out" of difficulty No. 2 | is very much on a par with his " get out," of No. 1, scarcely creditable though some may think it skilful. ->Mr Sims asked Sir George nothing but what he ought to have answered—nothing but what he had promised to answer before when he sent his telegram to the first meeting held here to consider the subject..of Abolition-— " Wait until you see what we offer you." i It was this that Mr Sims wanted to know, what the party of Sir Gebrge Grey #ere prepared to vote for. in place of the Government scheme, and this is what Sir George ought to be prepared to speak abeut, if he would have' us trust him. It is idle to say one scheme is bad, unless another better can be substituted ; it is childish to treat the subject as if he were called upon to speak of something he had heard of for the first time, when he and his colleagues have been thinking about it for months. These subterfuges, mean and unworthy of Sir George Grey, or any honest marif so far from strengthening any trust we may have had in mere promises of what he will do, ought to make us still further resolved-to demand that unless it can in some way be modified to meet our wants, Provincialism ought to be destroyed';" :