The Star. SATURDAY, MAY 21, 1881. SIR GEO. GREY ON THE STUMP.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume II, Issue 115, 21 May 1881, Page 2

The Star. SATURDAY, MAY 21, 1881.

SIR GEO. GREY ON THE STUMP.

Among the numerous criticisms of Sir George Grey's latest speeches, hardly any appear to have given full prominence to a few characteristic evasions and misstatements which are remarkably prominent. With subtle irony, most of the moderate Liberals are delighted to hear that the " great pro-consul " has determined to seize the leadership of the Opposition, and are perhaps loth to write anything which might lessen his chance of that leadership. The supporters of the Government are secretly convinced that Sir George Grey is quite "played out," and that under him as general the chance of victory for the Opposition is nil. Take, for instance, the reply of the member for Thames to the elector who asked him "if he was in favor of the wealthy classes paying school fees." Sir George Grey said " he was in favor of a national system of education to a certain point. He would make no difference whatever." This remarkably astute answer did not prove satisfactory, and several other electors pressed him with questions, and Sir George Grey said " that he did favor a national system of education, and this did not admit of Bible reading in schools, or any sectarian distinction." Sir George might have said with Hosea Biglow, "Ez to the answerin o' questions, I'm an off ox at being druv." We defy the cleverest elector to decide from the above whether Sir George Grey has or has not declared himself in favor of the wealthy classes paying school fees. Again, what excuse can possibly be made for the assertion in respect to the Government Life Assurance that "to his own knowledge, some very bad lives had been taken, which were certain to entail ultimate loss." Can any lives be taken without entailing ultimate Io6s? When the person dies, t*>e payment of the sum assured must necessarily involve a loss. Referring to the negociations re Patatere, he said he had not looked with favor on them, "and he was actually menaced with a statement that the men whom he was opposing were powerful, and that they had the power to make him regret his opposition." In a tone of well-feigned holy horror he asked, " Was that a proper position for the Premier of a colony to be in ?" There were actually some private persons in the colony who thought they were powerful enough to thwart the autocratic despotism of the then Premier, in his attempt to acquire a block of land for which those private individuals had been in negociation for years, and on which they had paid large sums of money. These claims the then Premier proposed entirely to ignore, but the persons interested alleged that his opposition was entirely due to personal and political motives. However that may be, the fact remains, that the man whom Sir G. Grey chose as the best and most impartial Royal Commissioner to inquire into the Bay of Islands scandal, has since given his verdict against Sir George,

and in favor of the powerful private individuals. The outcome must be very galling to the old statesman ; but what a wretehetHack of tact was displayed by him in thus rakihg up a political scandal, out of which he came, to put it mildly, decidedly " second best." How is it possible to reconcile Sir G. Grey's violent diatribes against the Property-tax, and his equally strong advocacy of an Income-tax, with the assertion that "He had to pay the Pro-perty-tax on his income from home ?" According to this showing, the property is also an efficient income-tax. There are probably not a hundred intelligent men in the colony besides Sir George Grey who would approve of the bureaucratic suggestion that all the work of education should be carried on by school committees, who might " communicate directly with the Minister for Education." Lastly, what could he have meant by saying {hat " he believed that all land should be leasehold, allowing no one to have permanerifc property by which to embarrass the holder after death." Surely the reporter must have been at fault. These are only a few plums from the "statesmanlike speech" at the Thames, intended for " the education of the public mind of the colony in the principles of true Liberalism." Somehow it appeals doubtful whether they are not rather like the principles of the American, who wrote Ez to my principles I glory In hevin nuthin o' the sort ; I ain't a Whig, I ain't a Tory, I'm just a candidate, in short.