Hawke's Bay Herald FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 1879.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5283, 17 January 1879, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 1879.

I __ _____ \ It is, we should think, anything but I easy to say whether Sir George Grey j really attaches any importance to the ' Crown conferring of titles upon persons in this colony. Eocalling to mind the high positions Sir George has held, the vast experience he has acquired, and the matters of weighty concern he has to deal with as Premier of the colony, it is almoßt impossible to conceive that ho is serious in the affair of the title " Honorable " for life. Sometimes we are inclined to think that Sir George is a consummate actor, and that he purposely i exaggerates some trivial matters into importance in order to draw people away from questions which really affect their interests. It is either so or else our Premier is subject to hallucinations 1 which take so prim a hold of his mind that they become realities. We have known other people in the world who have been so visited; persons of large mind too, perfectly rational on all subjects except the one that for the moment has become a mania. We are encouraged in the belief that such is the Premier's unhappy condition in respect to the title • of " Honorable," by noticing the delusion under which he labors as to the , amount of public interest the question excited. It could be only heoause of such I a delusion that we can understand Sir '.

Georgo making a statement in a memorandum to the Governor that in the belief of many people of the colony, the probable direct tendency of the Crown creating and establishing in New Zealand, without -the consent of the General Assembly, an order of rank and dignity which does not exist in Great Britain, and which is to be confined within the limits of the Islands of New Zealand, may be to bring about ultimately a separation of New Zealand from the Sinpire, because it establishes here a quasi aristocracy, which will have no recognised rank or position in any part of the Empire outside this dependency of ! tho Crown. We should very much like to know how Sir George got to know "the belief of many people of the , colony" on the question of the title of ! "Honorable?" It is either a pure invention of the Premier's, or else it is one of his delusions ; we prefer to believe it to be the latter, as otherwise we urnst impute to Sir George a wilful mis-state-ment in a State document. One of our Southern contemporaries — the Lyttelton Times — adverting to this imputed "belief of many people of the colony," says : — "If many of the people of the colony entertain that opinion, they certainly have been very taciturn in expressing it. We have never heard of anyone, except Sir George Grey himself, making such a statement in a public speech either in or outside of Parliament. Once, in 1877, Sir George Grey, when in Opposition, introduced the subject in the House of Eopresentatives on a motion for printing certain papers, and neither he himself, nor any one else, then expressed such a sentiment. He has, no doubt, expressed occasionally on public platforms that view, but it has not been, even faintly, echoed by anyone else in all the j multitudinous speeches delivered throughout the colony. Sir George Grey is, in many respects, a host in himself, but we deny his right to represent his solitary opiuion, so far as public expression goes, as that of many of the people. As he gives no reason for his opinion in that respect, we argue with him on the point, but the absurdity of the conclusion is on the face of it palpable. Complimentary titles given by Her Majesty to Colonial public men are not at all likely to rouse New Zealand, or any other British colony, to a declaration of independence. Sir George Grey alone sees in the prefix of { Honourable' danger to the State, as Sergeant Buzfuz saw in ' chops and tomato sauce' danger to the mental peace of Mrs Bardell." Perhaps this sort of thing acts as a safety valve, serving to keep the Premier's mind in a healthy tone on other subjects save the one upon which he labors under a delusion.