The Waikato Times AND AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. TUESDAY, JAN. 26, 1892.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3047, 26 January 1892, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. TUESDAY, JAN. 26, 1892.

A I 'ress Association' cablegram from i .oncloii says : "It is believed that, Lord Knutsford will submit the iiaini' of tin; Governor designate of New Zealand to Lord Onslow who will sound the Government of the colony on 'he subject." To believe this is to believe that Lord Knutsford will be guided ns to the appointment by the opinion of the New Zealand Go\ eminent. To our mind this would lie a most dangerous unci ntier>'is'iiiitu>n:i! departure, undone v.-i.'. !i ii-'IM Knurst'iil , '.! is 1101 ill till! '~'. ..-r iikuiy io take, notwithstanding the anxie'y he, has evidenced during his terra of oliice to strengthen the

tie which binds tho self-governing offshoots of tho nation to the Mother Country, lie has carefully avoided iill friction not absolutely incidental to the situation. It is within the knowledge of the people of this colony that the Premier has asked

that the name of the proposed successor to Lord Onslow should be submitted to the Ministry for their approval before the gazetting of the appointment. So iittle interest have the people taken in the matter that very few indeed of our contemporaries have taken the trouble to comment upon it; their not hav-

ing done so must be taken as evidmee of public indifference. To

grant the request, nevertheless, would be only otic step short of the selfelecting system, which could only result in the appointment of a strong political partisan of the party that happened to be paramount at the time. A Governor so appointed in the event of his having to make a stand against the requests of a

Ministry would be placed in a most unenviable position. No matter how conscientiously and constitutionally he might act, he would always be liable to have attributed to him political partisanship, if he decided in favour of the party which returned him. On the other hand if duty compelled him to decide otherwise his party would charge him with ingratitude, and he would become liable to virulent attacks from which his position should protect him. It is only in crises, when the political atmosphere is necessarily sultry, that a governor is called upon to act on his own motion. At these times partisans are not given to weighing their words or calmly considering the merits of the question in dispute. The dignity of the office would inevitably be tarnished. The very essence of our system of Government is that our Governor being appointed by tho Supreme Government will act in accordance with the constitution and well established precedent, having no fear of results as regards contending factions. No doubt it would be very gratifying to men of the stamp of Mr Ballance, to make the king, smarting as they do under the restrictions which the constitu-

tion imposes as a check on the unbridled license of a majority. The next best thing to being king themselves would be the appointment of that functionary, and in consequence, the possession of an influence over him which under the present system they are wisely bebarred from exercising. Wβ may ask, is it reasonable to suppose that Mr Ballance or any other colonial Premier can be in a position to judge equally well of the merits of gentlemen willing to accept governorship, as the bead of the Colonial Office, who is in possession of the accurate administra-

tive history of all wbo have served, and has. in all probability, a personal knowledge of any new aspirant to the office. Now Zealand, of late years at any rate, has had no reason to complain of the appointments. Some of them may not have been oi men sot the Thames on fire, but with the single exception of Sir Arthur Gordon they have been popular with the people, mainly for the reason that when called upon to act decisively they have done so with perfect impartiality and further have done all in their power to advance the interests of the country. Some of them have been brilliant men, who although debarred from political activity, have in a constitutional manner influenced for good the course of events. This being the case, where the necessity for change of system, unless it be for the gratification of the vanity of Premiers by making them Earls of Warwick on a very small scale. It is to be sincerely hoped that Lord Knutsford has not taken the step attributed to him ; for our part we don't believe for one moment that

he has, if so, he has shown weakness which his political and administrative history does not entitle us to expect.