THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 1879.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3311, 1 August 1879, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 1879.

Thk Ministry have appealed from the House of Representatives to the people of New Zealand to ascertain whether it possesses the confidence of the majority' of our population or not, and where the; fact is borne in mind, either by ourselves or out; children, let prominence be given, to this aspect of the appeal: that the. colony possessed i Governor who was firm,' despiteJßolicitatioh to adhere to constitu-; tional usage; one.whp .did not claim (or himself powers and functions not exer* ciaed by the Crown; one who refused to be made a tool of ais Lord Normanby was by a' partjr seeking its own,aggrandisement and one who proved himself willing to do justice to Sir George Grey although his political opinions were not in accord with, those of our pro-consul. The fact is/that we have had so many fools and tools here as Governors that to get a capable man is. a,novel experience, and Sir Hercules seems to be honest as well as capable. When one of the Opposition induced a Canterbury runholder, well ictib.fr in(.iu 'the' sporting world, to urge on ttiS Excellency thei refusal of a dissolution, the request was made known td Ministers; 1-and not 'held as being confii.'Beritial, jitnd .aVtbiiij^ to be reme^cibejred as under the evil days of the, V Marquis with the sick ~ Marchioness," and the ac'tio'ii of th'eGoverhor in granting a dis* 'scyliitlbfi "carries a.lesson to us we should carefully learn', tie considers as wellas our* selves that the* people are the sole judges, 'nbtonly of questions of policy, but also whether administration is honest; or. cprrupti We have taken, upon ourselves judicial functions, and must exercise them to the bestof our ability, and, in all good con« science we have.to judge whether the land shall go to the or be reserved for the occupation of the people; whether th^ Sb'uthern holdersishall have perpettial possession pfj.their runs or not: whether all the fertile. lands in pur district shall pass 'shto ; the'bands; of speculators or , ffiroonihalls, vor be generally distributed '; whether the incidence of taxation shall be fairly or uDJustly imposed ; whether multiple voting power shall be given to tbd rich, and ordinary electoral rights divided to the poor; whether, in fact, the l?oxs and Pollens, and Whitakers, and the Bank of New Zealand shall administer our affairs, according to the mode that shall most conduce to their profit and emolument and our degradation and abasement. When the day of choice comes on between; men, as it soon will, we nave pur. fate in our own hands, and two men must; be returned from this constituency, whatever ' happens; ■' to '■ support the Premier. Sir (Sfeorge will probably stand for some other eleotoratei and if he so elects, there mustbe^o divisidn in our camp. There is a rumor in Wellingtbn, whether jest 6r not remains to be seen, /that the land* shaf k&) intend io put up a man even there dn'the' Thimea to 'oppose the Premier, if jtei;Btpo^! again for tlii* r constituency..; AH

that is necessary for us to say atthe present tinie, is let them try; biifc; on bur head, let no' man be deceived, for of all the hard fought elections yet witnessed in Few Zealand, this will be the hardest thatis inbw close to hand. ; ;

s At the sitting of the.District Court yesterday two gentlemen of the bar appeared without their gowns, and both made the excuse to the bench that sthejr robes of office bad mysterously disappeared. His Honor graceously excused them, remarking that "beauty unadorned' was adorned , the most;." M essrs Millet; and Dodd; blushingly smoled an acquiescent smile.

1' "We heur for a fact that several t'elegrarns, wW sent tb Sir George Grey yesterday, bagging of him. not to desert the Thames."' !

We would remind oar readers of the walking match at the Academy of Music to-morrow, and refer them to our advertisement columns for further information respecting the same.

The most Rev. Dr Moran recently referred to Father Chiniquy as one o( the false prophets whom the Bible predicted would; "/arise"."/-. He asked the Catholics of Duriedin not to act like those of Hobart Townybut to pay no attention'to what he (Chiniquy) said.

At the E.M. Court this morning before Mr E. W. Puckey J.P., one enebriate was punished in the usual manner. , TniE question was put to the wife of Professor Baldwin, while in the trance stale the other'day, ." Will the Grey Ministry go out?" ,She replied in the negative,, but that : there would ble a re-construction of:> the Cabinet; , The existence' of-" second sight 4. has often been the subject of'keen debate, but, so far at least; iv; the matter of the political contest at Wellington, it looks very much as if clairvoyance had scored a point, 6r^ as Lord Brougham phrased it, ; '••^a fortuitous combination pit* coincidence's '''has occurred.—Herald.

. ' Sib G. Grey commences his tour-of New Zealand by addressing the electors of Dunedih.

',' '.. The Timaru quarterly Educational returns show £,833 children on the rolls ias aeainst 2,602 last quarter. Three new schools have been opened.

The : Herald's special telegraphs the following items:—Mr Sheehan has had offers of strong support from no fewer than, Jseten constituencies. I think it probable: that Sir."Gfgorge Grey and he will fun for the. Thames, where it is added they will be sure to win against a?iy opponents. —The probability is that the House will grant'supplies for three months. Some keen antagonists, and a few erratic members, declare they will not grant sixpence, but the precedents of British Parliament as laid down by

Bagshot and other authorities, very clearly demonstrate that when the drown pives a dissolution, no instance exists of the House of Commons refusing supply. The Ministerialists are jubilant, and the general opinion of all sides is that Sir Hercules Robinson and Sir George Grey are two of the greatest diplomatists in the country, and the two best acquainted with Constitutional law and practice.—The main ground, I belie?e, upon which the dissolution was asked and granted was that the Ministry took office in a Parliament elected under the influence of their predecessors and opponents. Under such circumstances, if a Ministry are unable to carry on the government, a dissolution is always considered the proper course to take;

■ In a well-written article on the dissolution yesterday's Herald says r—There is, no reasontb think that a refusal of sspplyj would prevent a dissolution ; but, apart! from this,vy^e are' confident that any! attempt of tlie kind would fail, and onlyj lead, to ,a split in the party. Even werel thp adoption df such a course successful,! and the Government ejeoted. from office, Htj is possible and even probable that, justi-l fying his. proceeding by insisting that hej would not permit unconstitutional conduct: to succeed, and that he was vindicating) the right of the electors to give that decision for which the Governor had! given the opportunity. Sir George Grey! might proceed all lengths to retard! the progress of public business. The constituencies, regarding him as the champion of their rights, would back him as' one man. Good sense, and not passion,; is required in crises. Let us have no wild expedients, but patience, and a fair, appeal to the ballot-box, and a calm; rand! cheerful acceptance of the result ; What is wanted is such a decided expression of opinion by the country, that one side or the other shall hays a substantial majority,' and the new Parliament be productive of substantial results..,, „ j :- ! j