The Waikato Times.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 637, 20 June 1876, Page 2

The Waikato Tim es.

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TUESDAY. 'JUNK 20, 1576.

A. great jwlifcical crisis has como and gone. On Thurediy last Sir George Oroy# moved the -suspension of 'the Standing 1 Orders. This was a most nnpreqedenfc:! course of action. ; Wo cannot remember any instance of the- Address in Keply being immediately followed by what amounted to a vote of Want of Confidence in* the existing Ministry. Tlio question on which the motion was founded was tho equity of the transaction" betwoon the Government and the Piako Swamp Company. The Ministry, rightly or wrongly, defied tho Opposition to a combat. The result was a victory for the former, by the casting vote of the Speaker. Hut the question - whether the -Piako Swamp Company's title should or should not bo validated, was not the real motive of Sir Goorge Gray in adopting the course of action which resulted in the late crisis. That patriotioProvincialist really never eared one straw who owned the Piako Swamp, so long as his old enemiefyjf 1863 and 1864 were not tho propriet^s* Ho has never taken the tronblk to visit it f j judging* by his -effusions, nor lias ho over i ■consulted any 'person capable of judging -a-i (.0 its value. 'His sole object, and that of his dupes, -has been to force themselves on the country as representatives of public opinion. In this he might havo had some small chance of success had he adhered to the original line of condcefc upon which he first induced tho people of Auckland to c eot him as Superintendent. Ho then told the pjoplo of this province that he w.»s the author of Provincial in&fcitutions, and that his patriotic soul abjured the notion of the*bolition of those safeguards of tho canonists of^JSTew Zealand. He implored fche G .vernment to withhold their hand and permit him ono more chance of vindicating the honor of his Provincial progeny. The boon was granted, the respite was awaivled him. A general election was once and for all to settle this gra-vo constitutional question. He issued manifestos, indited proclamations, and published them all in tho " Provincial Government Gazette" at the expense of tho Auckland public. All this time he was trading on the affections of the admirers of Provincialism. But " Partu- j rient montes nascefcur ridiculus inus. * When Sir George Groy rose in his place to impeach the Government, tho" great question of Abolitiou to which the attention of the whole country has been turned, and to fight which Sir George and his followers were returned, never came forth, but in its place was a ridiculous motion about a torrible bad piece of land in a remote coriver of the Colony. Where were all his thundering against tho rulers of the great British Empiro if thoy persisted in destroying the pet Provincial Institutions of his late Excellency Sir Goorgo Grey 1 The public eagerly looked for tho fray and a motion on the Piako Swamp was all they got from their Superintendent. But mark whafc follows. Tlio people in the most important district within tho Province which has the miufortuuo to own him as Superintendent deliberately denounco his policy as a great blow to their prosperity. In every township in Waikafo the people unanimous'y asset that their Superintendent has betrayed tho confidence roposod in him, and oppose.l htmself to their beat interests, The^- Government he attscked in a iuai\nor so underhanded will ba confi- ! tlently expected to flourish with undunmished strength, and the " crisis " can end iv nothing but tho discomfiture of his party by those he intended to overthrow, aud the contempt of a considerable portion of the Province ho professed to represent.