Evening Post. TUESDAY. NOVEMBER 15, 1881.

Evening Post, Volume XXII, Issue 116, 15 November 1881, Page 2

Evening Post. TUESDAY. NOVEMBER 15, 1881.

THE COMING MAN. The latest of those amusing joint-produc-tions of Messrs. Gilbert and Sullivan, which have taken the world by storm during the last few years, is called " Patience, or Bunthorne's Bride." The hero, an seathetic poet, is continually on the verge of matri mony. He is pestered by the unacceptable attentions .of "twenty love-sick maidens," who discard as many eligible dragoon officers for his Bake ; he ia freely offered the " ragged old heart " of an ancient spinster, who reminds him that she i 3 " going off," and beseeches him to " secure her ere she has gone too far ;" rejected by the milkmaid Patience, he " by the advice of his solicitor " puts himself up to be raffled for by the score of love-lorn damsels, and is rescued only by the milkmaid who spontaneously affiances herself to him. Everything points to somebody at least being " Bunthorne's Bride," and it is a severe shook to the experienced opera-goer when, after all, everybody marries somebody else, and ''nobody is Bunthorne'a Bride." There is an undesirable likeness to this new '' Comedy of Errors " in the political drama now commencing in this Col"uy, and entitled "The General hlection." Wo pointed out yesterday the urgent need of a leader of the Opposition. "We asked with earnest pathos "Who is the coming man? ' But silence is the only response to our query. Are we to assume that "nobody is the coming man." It would appear so. Yet how on earth the battle is to bo fonght, unless on purely personal grounds, if there is only one party to fight, it ia difficult to see. At pre ent there is only one declared party iv the field. All the candidates profess in general terms the most upright and liberal sentiments. All approve some of the actions of the present Ministry. Most of them disapprove some of the Government's proceedings. A few say they will be found in oppo.-ition to Mr. Hall and his colleagues, but do not say who else will enjoy tueir support. One candidate, it is true, expressed his intention of following Mr. Okmond, but Mr. demosd has so point3dly disclaimed any present intention of leading, or any definite idea of opposing the present Government, that, as we showed yesterday, he cannot be counted on as the leader whose name is to be the battle cry of one party in the approaching struggle. But it that is so, it apparently leaves Sir George Gbkt as the only possible Leader of the Opposition. Sir George has delayed for some time addressing the electors of the constituency he was understood to haTe decided to woo. 111-health, or, more correctly, inditposition, has prevented him. Sir^GEOROE übet is very often iiultsjpozed when it would ba inconvenient for him to do something he is asked or expected to do. If he is not otherwise bodil afflicted just at the nick of

! time, ha has a nsefnl leg which i 3 liable to sudden attack * when iie owner doe 3 not want to "stump" the country or attend a meeting. Last reces3 Sir George Geet promised to make a stumping tour of the colony, but when it became bruited abroaxT that hi 3 reception was not likely to be exceedingly enthusiastic, and might be quite the reverse, that valuable leg was instantly seized withi convulsive throes, and kept its owner a close prisoner. Just after the late session, too, he was to undertake a "Liberal" crusade, when native affairs assumed a new Bhape, rendering it undesirable that he should commit himself until he saw how things were going to turn out. This mide the poor old gentleman so ill that he was obliged, however reluctantly, to postpone his intended improvement of the public. He thinks he now sees his way, and as Mr. Obmokd has refused to be elevated to tha Opposition leadership, Sir George Gebt perceives no valid reason why he should not once more assume the command. But surely ! we have not come to this after all ? "Nobody was Bunthorne's Bride," but this is worse than nobody. If it has been a frequent taunt against the present Government that they are only kept in office by the fear lest Sir George Gret and his crew of incapables should slip in again, how is this state of things to be altered if the only issue in the approaching election and in the new Parliament is still Hall versus Gbet? Nothing can be more prejudicial to the political health and welfare of the colony than such a situation. We give the present Government all credit for the good work they have done, but we do not like to think that we must be saddled for ever with any part cular Mini-try, merely throngh fear lest their retirement should mean tho return to office of a thoroughly objectionable set of men. During tho wholo life of the late Parliament it hag been repeatedly said:—" It is hopeless to look for any change while this Parliament lasts ; nothing can be done until a general election ; then we phall have a different set of men returned." And now we are on the very eve of the election, yet so far from thero being any sign of order being evolved out of chao=>, the prospects are rather those of " confusion worse confounded." When it became imperative.y necessary to turn out the Gbet Government with the least possible delay, Mr. Hall was brought forward expressly for the purpose of leading the Opposition, the leadership of neither Sir W. F- x nor Major Atki *bON appearing to offer sufficiently good prospects of success. The result proved conclusively that but for this judicious step the Gr .t Government would have triumphed and still might have been in power, although the colony would probably have been bankrupt. Why do not the leading members of the Opposition party— or to speak more precisely — those leading men who are opposed to the present Ministry — profit by this example? Why do they not bring forward some good man who would re-ucite the scattered fragments of a onco powerful party and lead them on, if not to victory, at least to a position of strength and credit ? Is it because they cannot find such a man in New Zealand who will cast in his lot with them ? We have looked forward so Ion? to the promised advent of a " coming man " as leader of the Opposition that it is inexpressibly disappointing to arrive at the conclusion that, after all, the " coming man" is— noeodt.