THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1885.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXI, Issue 5096, 27 January 1885, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1885.

The Samoa annexation excitement is all over now, and the Hinemoa is at liberty to pursue her usual ■work of running members of the Ministry at high-pressure speed up and down our coasts. The mystery which at first rurrounded the actions of the Ministry, from the moment of his Excellency the Governor's sudden departure from Lyttelton to attend that Cabinet meeting held in the ministerial residence of Sir Julius Yogel, to the subsequent mysterious movements of the Hinemoa when Bhe lay near Waiwera with her fires banked up, and armed constabulary men doing sentry go on the deck, as ready to be off as a hound in the leash, has been explained to us. And we should have been satisfied and enjoyed perfect peace of mind by this time if we had been favored with only one good rational explanation. But we have been deluged with them. First of a%the Press Association gave ub their explanation, which there is very little doubt may be safely regarded as emanating from the "Colonial Treasurer. The Press Association has faults, no doubt, but our knowledge of the working of that institution enables us to say, with confidence that its agents do not invent news. They may be sometimes inaccurate in their information, but they are the last persons in the world to .concoct bogus explanations of any mysterious conduct on the part of the Ministers of the Crown. Mr Ballance, it would appear, was not satisfied with the version furnished to the public by the caterers for the Press, and he availed himself of the banquet given to him at Woodville to supplement and correct the explanation of the annexation expedition on which the Hinemoa started, but did not complete. This is what he says: — "They would admit that Lord Derby was too timid a ptatesman, and altogether too slow and tardy to study the interests of colonists, and seeing too little of the future. They wanted a statesman, who would exhibit more energy and enterprise, and grasp the great future of the Australian Colonies. They had appealed in vain to Lord Derby to step in, but he had done nothing, and they were called upon to do it themselves. It was said they had done it in the wrong way, but they had been exceedingly circumspect. Before doing anything they had taken the Governor into their confidence, and had telegraphed to Lord Derby informing him of the course it was intended to take. The reply was a* they had anticipated, that he would take no steps ; but they had taken steps to throw the responsibility on the Colonial office, so that should Germany step in they could not say that New Zealand did not understand its duty. He would ask them was there anything in the shape of filibustering in their action ?" Well, we now know there was no filibustering about the affair, but at the same time it is quite clear, if we may judge by the language of Mr Ballance, and the feelings they give a clue to, that the Ministry contemplated a very forward policy, and would probably have carried it out, even at the risk of embroiling the mother country with Germany and America, had not Lord Derby thrown a wet blanket over our bellicose and adventurous Ministry. Let us now come to the explanation of this same business which was given by Mr Stout at Dunedin a few days ago. His is as different from that of Mr Ballance as the latter is from that of the Press Association. In fact, if we are to believe him — and we must .believe the Premier— the intentions of Government had been most egregiously misrepresented — altogether until Mr Stout obened his lips. At any rate he tells us so, and his version, which has the merit of being the latest — " very latest" in fact— is this :— " As to the Samoa affair, the Govemmenbhad received letters from that Island, stating that an agitation -was going on to get the Kingdom' joined to Great Britain. The Samoans wished to become either a part of New Zealand or a part of the British Empire. As soon as the officers of a German man-of-war stationed there knew that the Samoans were asking for annexation, they forced the King to make a treaty with,them. A good deal had been said about tho New Zealand Government sending a stvamer to annex Samoa, but all they really did was to arrange to send

the Hinemoa to ascertain the state of feeling in Samoa. They did not disclose ■what they were doing until they received from Lord Derby an answer to a message which they had sent him stating tfce position of affairs. His reply was that, seeing that Samoa was an independent State, New Zealand could not interfere; but Lord Derby did more than this, though it had not been made public till now. He had sent H.M.S. Miranda from Sydney to Samoa." There can be no objection to every Minister of the Cabinet giving a separate and individual version of so important a matter if he chooses to do so ; but it will be obvious that the effect on the public mind would be better and more satisfactory if there were just a trifle more uniformity and accordance in the different versions. "While on the subject, it may be mentioned that a sort of side light has been thrown on the affair k rom a new and entirely unexpected quarter. It is very freely said that Sir George Grey was at the bottom of the whole business, and that the secret springs of the excitement were worked at Kawau, the medium being no other than our old friend John Lundon, ex-M.H,R., of roll-stuffing celebrity, who has lately been passing backwards and forwards between Samoa and Auckland, never failing of course to visit Kawau whenever he camo to the colony. It is also said that the so-called petition from Samoan Chiefs and other leading persons on the islands to be annexed to Great Britain and made an appanage of New Zealand was not a voluntary act of the people of Samoa and Tonga, but an artful piece of diplomacy conceived by a master of the craft and carried out ! by the redoubtable "Jack Lundon." Nor could the job have been placed in better hands. The only perplexity about this little blowup is to discover which explanation is the correct one, or why there should be such an extraordinary discrepancy between three members of the Cabinet on a matter in respect to the details of which all ought to be equally well informed. The dis crepancy in the different statements can not be satisfactorily accounted for on the plea of the difference of individuality. It is quite clear that some of the trio knew very little of what they undertook to ex.plainjbo the public, which is very probably the only reliable explanation '•". of the mystery after all, and the only one we shall ever get. - • "»■.- -