The Wairarapa Daily TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 1891.
One of the more interesting Parliamentary papers of the present session contains the correspondence between Lord Onslow and the Home Office on the circumstances attending the resignation of the Atkinson Ministry, His Lordship very cleverly defends his action in making "the historical appointments to the g The Lords," by Bhowing that, from a constitutional point of view, the advice tendered to him placed him in a cleft stick. Lord Knutßford acknowledges the constitutional course taken by our only Earl, but declines to say what he thinks of the advice tendered by Sir Harry. Earl Onglow is evidently roaster of the situation, and although he appears to divest himself of State cares to an extent which none other but a British nobleman addicted to field sports dare,, when he is bailed up with some positive responsibility he turns out to be a3 sharp as a needle, and altogether one too many for a heavy political father of the John Ballance school. His Lordship is a shrewd but not a popular Governor. In one respect he resernbles many of the representatives of labour in the House, inasmuch as he scarcely appears to possess those fine instincts which characterise the English gentle, man. On the comtesy of Mr Bryce every man, whether high or low, rich or poor, may depend with a confidence that could hardly be reposed in an equal degree with the noble Earl. However, His Lordship is sharp enough and sometimes surprises even the humblest of his admirers by his familiarity with common things. It is said that once he entered a small store and placed a penny on the counter for a box of vestas. The obliging storeman supplied the matches and commenced to bow bis august customer out, bat the gubernatorial patron was not quite ready. ' Ha knew that vestas were two boxes a penny and demanded his halfpenny change before he would budge. Having pocketed S this diminutive coin, he left the storeman to ruminate on the advantages of dealing with a nob eman. 1 The man who demanded tbo halfpenny change from the storeman is quite equal to managing an ordnary New Zealand statesman 1 Of course
the making of tbose new Lords was in a sense unjustifiable, but we question -whether it was not Sir Hurry himself who was in the cleft stick. He had made certain promises at a time when he honestly believed that be would have been in a position to redeem them, and when he found that his party was destroyed and his power gone he displayed a wonderful amount •of generalship in going a ilttle deeper into the mud in order to get out of the mire. He naturally failed to secure the approbation of Lord Knutsford, but then he had the satisfaction of earning the gratitude of his old friends whom he so safely lauded in the haven where they would be safe.
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Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3839, 23 June 1891, Page 2
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491The Wairarapa Daily TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 1891. Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3839, 23 June 1891, Page 2
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