HONOR TO WHOM HONOR IS DUE.

Press, Volume III, Issue 335, 26 November 1863, Page 2

HONOR TO WHOM HONOR IS DUE.

Should not Mr. Ollirier have a statue? We are about to erect a statue to Mr. Godley as the founder of the province, will our work be complete without a similar mark of honor to the statesman who watches so indefatigably over its interests ? [s not he who keeps Canterbury in being as worthy of honor as lie who first called it into existence ? And it is particularly fitting that Mr Ollivier'e services should be acknowledged in this way, Secauee they are gratuitous and self-imposed. Mr. Ollivier is no paid servant of the etatc ; his merits do not four times a year receive a token of ippreciation from Government duly honored at he treasury; ho seeks his reward solely in the ipplause of his fellow citizens and the conscioustess of being the preserver of his country, and it s right that Canterbury should acknowledge his lainK and rank him foremost among the men vhoni she delights to honor.

Nor could anj time be more suitable than the preent for this proposal, because never have Mr. Ollivier's great qualities been more conspicuously lisplayed. Who can forget his remarkable exertions luring the last session of the Provincial Council ? •.Vith what a ceaseless flow of legislation he 'aboured to make up for the shortcomings of a eeble Executive, and when their weakness and ir« ■eeolution threatened to make shipwreck of the >tate, how admirable the vigor displayed in that nemorable enactment which restored to the poor nan the inestimable privilege of getting drunk at rill, and the fiscal ingenuity which replenished he exhausted treasury by extracting tho last ialf-crown from the pocket of the newly-arrived immigrants. But it is not only while the Council is in session that Mr Ollivier is at work ; in season or out of season his services are ever at his country's call. For the last few weeks we have been passing through a political crisis, and here Mr Ollivier it in hie element. He becomes at race the master ppirit of the time, the Ahttophd i-om whom all men seek counsel. Accordingly he first step we hear of is a private meeting held it Mr Ollivier's office for the purpose of nomilating a new Superintendent. Once before Mr. lllivier undertook to save the province from the -vile which have hitherto followed from the ■hoice of Superintendents being left entirely in the Wands of the people, and the present happy state if our public affairs proves how deeply we are inlebted to the patriotism which has induced him a ■econd time to enter upon so responsible a task. This scheme miscarried; why, the public have not been informed; but we may be sure that it wee not owing to any lack of subtle adrice or energetic action on the part of Mr. Ollivier. His next great measure is conceived on a loftier scale. As the first conclave if a few private individuals failed in solving the Hfficulty he proceeds to convene the entire Provincial Council. Not to a public meeting, how*ver, for, as he sagaciously observes, a public neeting, though constitutional, would lead to dis•losures and cause scandal. Why should the lublic seek to pry behind the scenes, or desire idmittance to those inner mysteries which only he initiated few can understand or profit by ? What an constitutional forms if they interfere with that deep privacy in which diplomacy flourishes and intrigue spreads its roots far and! wide ? There can be, we think, but one opinion as to what the result of this evening's meeting will be. We cannot doubt that the members, if they are truly representatives of the people, will with one accord drag Mr. Bealcy from his seat, and, amid the acclamations of the whole province, raise Mr. Ollivier to the vacant throne. Yet while we acknowledge that this would be a fitting culmination to his political career, we should wish to see recorded some permanent memorial of his surpassing merits. We recur, therefore, to our first suggestion, and confident of an enthusiastic reply, repeat the question,—Should not Mr. Ollivier have a statue ?