THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, JULY 4, 1879.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3237, 4 July 1879, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, JULY 4, 1879.

Oub telegrams from Wellington to-day state the Hon. Mr Gisborne has joined the Ministry as Commissioner of Lands and Immigration. The appointment is a very good one, and cannot fail improving the position of the Govern* ment, for although Mr Gisborne is not a brilliant man, or carries any following with him, he his well respected by the House, and a capital departmental officer, and one very well informed upon all matters relating to the Government of the Colony. During the last session Mr Gisborne was not a declared friend of of Sir George Grey's Government, but at the same time he diVnot offer any factious opposition, and upon matter of detail in the administration of the several depart* ments, and in fixing the estimates he assistedf using the knowledge gained by years of office work, and practical experience as a head of a department. With a judicious selection as a successor to Mr Stout, Sir George Grey may be able to supply the loss of the fearful two, who deserted the ship of State when there was a prospect of its being wrecked on a lee shore. Mr Balance may have had reason to eend in his resignation, but when the Premier so far atoned for any offence, he might have given, and requested his lieutenant to return to his command, we fail to see sufficient reason for his refusal. Mr Stout's mode of retiring had a certain air of reasonableness about it, yet scaroely sufficient under the circumstances to warrant his leaving his colleagues to fight unaided the battles of the coming session. The fact mentioned in another column that the Otago Times, which for some months past has been giving the Government a liberal support, appears to have changed its tone into one

of extreme hostility to the Premier, gives one the idea that it was more a question of policy than one of private inoonvonience that caused Mr Stoat, a large shareholder in the Times, to take the coarse he did. That Sir George Grey will fight to the last, and will make a good fight of it, all who' know the man may expect, and under the present circumstances of the Colony he may be allowed to retain the reins of office for years, as the prospects are not inviting enough to cause his opponents to long for his position with its engagements.