POLITICAL NOTES.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 52, 11 October 1887, Page 2

POLITICAL NOTES.

THE GREY COLORS AGAIN PROMINEN i

(own correspondent.) Weddington, Saturday,

Things are in niucii the same state here ar they have been for the last fnv days—an.' amount of conjecture, but even leas of certainty than might be expected in this uncertain world, The kaleidoscope continues .to. revolve, and it is difficult to grasp the leading ;em—there is too much nervousnses lest we should not get the genuine metal. There h a desire among many to cut away from the old stock of leaders altogether, but then it ir admitted that the country cannot stand any experimenting just at present—the hope that the circumstances would produce the man has not been realised, and this hope is now replaced by one that whoever is to be Premier, his followers may be such as will have the confidence of the House. One very jratifying feature to those who have always retained confidence in the G.O.M. is that in his awkward plight parties have fallen back >n Sir George as the most able man to carry hem through. If Mr McDonald had been tore at this juncture, the presence of one more tried and trustworthy friend might nave made the old man resolve to undertake the work. But Sir George Grey is not so -hal ow as to let the land-ring representatives make use of him as a peg to bang their hats on for a while, and then to be turned round on when he had given them time to work their own little games. However, the sturdy Mao was denied the privilege of being with ue ■vhen he might possibly have been a deriding unit in the future policy of the country, and there is perhaps little use in indulging in what now seem vain regrets. Sir George Grey has, in the circumstances, wisely refused to take over the leadership, and bis decision must be respected by his friends. It oi [ht to prove one thing, though, and thut is the emptiness of the yarns circulated do ring election times that those who were going on the Grey ticket were clinging to a shadow. It all politicians were as highminded and straightforward as the old man politics would be on a much higher level nowGrey has spoken out boldly where selfish people would have remained silent, and it is not hard to explain why he has so long run as an outsider.

Opinion is gradually moulding more in Atkinson’s favor, and it is believed that the factions will yet be welded together to allow of a sufficiently strong party being got to pull the Major through. The Evening Press is very hopeful of at least this result, and the danger that Vogel, with his handful of sworn followers, may creep back to power is too great to admit any trifling. ATKINSON TAKES THE LEAD. Last Night.

Affairs got a more definite shape on Saturday afternoon, when it wfts dbcided that Major Atkinson should take the lead, and go on with the formation of a Government.

The following were chosen as his colleagues and were afterwards sworn in:—Minister of Works, Mitchelson; Minister of Justice, Hislop; Minister of Education, Fisher ; Minister of Lands, Richardson ; and Minister u f Mines, Fergus. The Hon. J. C. Stevens will be Colonial Secretary. The East Coast member has arrived, and *t is quite delightful to note the beaming expectancy portrayed on his countenance.