The Defeat of the Grey Administration.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3376, 17 October 1879, Page 4

The Defeat of the Grey Administration.

Opinions of the Pjbhss.

It ia a matter of considerable interest to look through the columns of the different colonial journals and^ read their various remarks on the recent defeat of the Grey Government. The Dunedin Morning Herald triumphantly asserts " that the Ministry must admit themselves to be hopelessly beaten," and as a . kind of liequiescut in Pace adds : "Sir j George Grey might, have spared his pains, and .the Liberal Associations their illiberal resolutions. The country was neither to be bullied nor cajoled. It was heartily sick of a Government that did nothing but boast of its Liberalism and misnianago the public affairs." The Dunedin Star, a bitter anti-Groyite paper, writes: " The feet of clay have fit length given way, and the brazen image baa toppled over. Wailings and gnashing' of teeth may be heard in the halls or rather bar parlors, of Liberal Associations; whilst Auckland toad-eaters and Grey parasites generally* not yet provided for, sit in sackcloth and ashes," A paper on the opposite side—namely, the» Dunedin Tribune, regards the defeat as a triumph for the liberal cause. •It adds : —"Instead of the Opposition returning with an increased majority, ihey have barely escaped defeat, and that only by the disgraceful conduct of Mr Masters, who ha 9 betrayed his constituents. There can- be no doubt that the voice of the country is in favour of the Grey Ministry —that an Opposition Ministry taking office would do so against the expressed will of the people, and that, consequently, such a Ministry could not long endure." The Few Zealander aays the triumphant majority of which the Opposition have to boast are two bastard votes, the paternity of which they are ashamed to acknowledge. That; volatile journal, the Wellington Post, instills enough spleen in their article ou the matter ,to kill a man with bilious fever. A long tirade of abuse winds up as follows:—Sir George Grey has received his coup de grace as a political leader,' and there is even hope thai ; he will never more fill the office of Premier* •which during the last two years he has done his best to degrade by political

trickery and chicanery. We may now hope to see a Constitutional Government replace the Grey autocracyThe Lyttelton Times prefaces a wellwritten article as follows :—" The defeat of the Government in the House of Rep-

resentatives shows that Government by

party is not yet established in New Zealand. Were it otherwise, it would have

been impossible for the Opposition to * have seized the policy of tlieir opponents in order to use it as a lever for ousting tbeih from office." The Times adds:— " The electorates, it is evident from the diyision lists, have declared for the Government of Sir GeOrge Grey. The majority in the House of ".Representatives has declared against the wish of the electorates.". The Bruce Herald gives a parting kick to the Grey Ministry in the following terms.:—" The whole career of the' Grey Government has been one unbroken series of unfulfilled pledges; and it is indeed difficult to believe that so many thousands of colonists could have been-—and perhaps still are —led away by a maudlin sentimentality, to pin their faith to a leader, whohasso often been weighed in the balance and found wanting." The North Otajio Times thinks " Sir G. Giey's retirement will prove a panacea for the present ills of Parliament." The Oamaru Mail says :-—" The defeat of the Ministry is due to paralysing of the new members by awful stories of Grey's mal-administra-tion." It says: " They voted at their party's,call, and never thought of thinking for themselves at all." And thia about concludes our list of the journals whose columns we have perused with a view to rend their comments on the defeat of the Ministry. If nothing else, it will show that public opinion in the colony, bo far as general politics are concerned at least, has a good many phases.