The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1886.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXV, Issue 7864, 20 May 1886, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1886.

Sib George Grey has, just as he did last year, made the first sensation of the session, and, unlike last year, he has made a hit. According to the first hint of his intention which leaked out on Monday, it seemed likely that Sir George was about to proceed by way of a no-confidence motion. This would have been founded on the position the Premier had taken up on the question of the New Hebrides, as expressed in his letter to the Presbyterian Kirk. Sir George did not, however, proceed by that way. Nevertheless, he has delivered a formidable attack on the Government position. What has happened is pretty clear from the accounts of the debate which we publish elsewhere. Sir George ostensibly attacked the British Government through the New Hebrides proposals which that Government is showing a disposition to accept. His views on that point he stated in the clearest and most vigorous language. Lord Granville, he declared, instead of behaving like an Englishman of noble mind, unswayed from the strict path of justice by considerations of fear, favour, or expediency, has acted like a trickster on the look out for small gains to himself out of the losses of other people. Now, seeing that the Government of Mr Stout has expressed itself at least to the effect that the Presbyterian Church ought to accept the inevitable by consulting the good of the Empire in general, and of New Zealand in particular, it follows that Sir George Grey’s attack on Lord Granville is also an attack on the Government of this Colony. The result of that attack was to show that the feeling of the House of Representatives is decidedly against the French proposal regarding the New Hebrides. It became quite clear, therefore, during the course of the debate (a thing pretty evident before) that Sir George had, by his resolutions, turned the Government position. The Government at once fell back on its original lines. So much we gather from the speech of the Premier, which, after displaying the exertion made by the Government to prevent the cession of the New Hebrides to France, proposed to refer the whole question to an impartial Select Committee. This was, in view of the letter to the Presbyterian Moderator, a retrograde movement. That movement was assisted by the leader of the Opposition in a manner which leaves nothing to be regretted by Sir George Grey. A fight has thus been avoided; the Government is in the hands of the House on a question free from all party consideration, and the Opposition forces remain intact if heterogeneous. That the House will decide upon a recommendation to the Imperial Government not to cede the Islands to Prance on any terms is evident.

Though it is well the House did not pass the resolutions, and probably will not be asked by the Committee to pass them, the decision on the general question is a matter to be regretted. The resolution brings a serious charge which cannot be sustained. When the Committee is in possession of the confidential communications, which the Q-overnment very properly refuse to make public, it will see that the British Government was prepared simply to accept an accomplished fact, instead of going to war to alter that fact. The course of events in the Pacific leads Lord Granville irresistibly to the conclusion which he at one time announced to the Colonial Governments as probable. There is, moreover, nothing to prove that the British annexation of certain other islands is not intended to be made without the consent of their inhabitants. It may turn out, if w© can read recent events aright—such as the visit of the Queen of Earatonga to this country—that the consent of those Natives has already been obtained. Under the circumstances, the passing of such strong resolutions as Sir George G-rey’s explained as they are by bis vehement speech in their support—-is quite out of the question. Beyond the refusal of these resolutions it is improbable the House will go. The House, it is matter for regret, seems to have set itself to embarrass the British Government, and to have shut its eyes to the interests of the Empire, which are by no means contrary to the interests of justice. The only thing which is satisfactory about the whole matter is the evident determination of all sections in the House to refrain from making a party question out of the march of events in the Pacific. It would be too absurd if the interests of distant islands, imperfectly understood —whose geographical position even is hardly known to nine-tenths of our members —should be found making and unmaking Governments in New Zealand. With every respect for Sir George Grey’s idea of abstract justice, which does him great credit as an eloquent advocate of the cause of right against might, we think our statesmen should find their causes of vital difference on matters

nearer home, matters in which our people can take the intelligent interest which is horn of personal acquaintance, and grows out of local knowledge. It is not the least satisfactory point of yesterday’s debate that the House has shown its good sense by refusing to waste much of its valuable time in the affairs of those far off countries.