The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 1867.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 17, 21 January 1867, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 1867.

'The visit of Sir George Grey to the Southern Provinces is the most interestingevent to record in these dull times. He has been enthusiastically received in Canterbury, and we doubt not will meet with a similarly warm reception on the West Coast and in Otago. Some of the Canterbury papers try to grumble at the past conduct of the Governor in refraining from paying the visit before, but it is no use to complain of the representative of royalty, amongst British people ; they always did receive viceroys well, and ever will do so, in spite of any unpopularity into which they may have fallen. It is 15 or 16 years since Sir George Grey saw Canterbury before, and he uttered more than the language of compliment when he expressed amazement at the increase of wealth and population, and the signs of future great- ■ ness he everywhere beheld. And the people may be pardoned for dwelling on the results they have accomplished in so short a time. They pointed with pricie to the 20 miles of railroad actually made, and the 20 more in course of being made ; to the roads cut through difficult mountain passes aud communicating with the gold-fields of the West ; to the ships in the port laden with home and foreign goods; to the noble institutions that everywhere appear, and the agricultural prosperity that cannot be concealed. The Governor made no attempt to conceal the admiration he felt at the result of the fifteen years labors of the energetic colonists. Iu a few kind words of sympathy, aud a few hearty words of approval he effaced in a moment, the recollection of past grievances. Both Governor and colonists felt that they were engaged in the great work of building up an empire in this part of the world ; which, when it shall have emerged from the difficulties which temporarily impede its onward course, will become great for commerce, freedom and prosperity, and reflect in no unworthy degree, the lustre of the nation whence the colonists derive their origin. At Hokitika the Governor will hold a tete-b,-tete, probably for the first time, with a mining population. Whilst encountering the work of colonisation in its primeval rudeness, he will not fail to be struck with the indomitable energy of the people who have extemporised a tolerable dwellingplace from the bush that flourished there a short time ago, and commenced the development of wealth which has arrived most opportunely to relieve- the

country from its difncultiesj Iu Otago he will find a class of colonists differing from any he has yet met with, but not less energetic aud loyal than those of auy other portion of the colony. If Canterbury has reason to be annoyed at the paucity of the Governor's visits, Otago has much more so. His Excellency has many times promised to visit them, aud invariably broken his promise. He was to open the New Zealand Exhibition iu January, 1865, and every preparation was made to give him an enthusiastic reception. There was another breach of promise, and what made matters worse, a cruel hoax was perpetrated at midnight by some rascals who made the people believe the Governor had come. The loyalty of the people, however, will make them forget all past slights, the moment they see the representatives of royalty ; and we shall not be surprised to learn that the slow moving Scotch have excelled their Canterbury fellow colonists in the extent of the preparations they have made to receive with due respect their distinguished guest. The visit of the Governor will do a great deal of good in various ways. It will bring the people in contact with the chief of the state, and strengthen thebondof sympathy that ought to exist between those who labor for a common purpose. It will furnish a remedy to some extent for the cry of separation, which would never have been raised, had the people been placed in more direct communication with the chief of the Government. Whilst softening the asperities of the public mind on the one hand, it will convince the Governor that a free and independent people may not be trifled with by those who preside at the head of affairs, and that do wise executive will be indifferent to the demands of those who kuow their rights and knowing dare maintain. To attempt to explain the motives of so enigmatical a person as Sir G. Grey, would be a vain and futile attempt. He has had a difficult task to perform and has been misunderstood equally by both friends and enemies. Whilst denounced by one party for his pro maori proclivities, he has been taunted by another as unnecessarily increasing our political com- . plications. So long as the native insurrection was of a dangerous character, it furnished >an excuse to the Governor for not leaving the North Island. Having satisfied himself by personal inspection that the war is at an end, there is nothing to prevent his obtaining the popularity which a visit to the South is sure to give him. Nothing is so successful as success, and we much mistake if Sir G. Grey do not become one of the most popular of colonial governors. As the time of his departure from the colony may be expected to draw near, we cannot blame the old weather beaten sailor, if he courts the sympathy he has hither appeared to shun, and shows himself ambitious of meriting and receiving the appellation of "The pilot who weathered the storm." It is stated that the Governor will not return to Wellington without payiDg Nelson a visit. His presence would he a proof of his own mental tranquility, and a guarantee that a new era of prosperity may be considered to spring from the termination of the native difficulty ; for these reasons alone the people of Nelson ought to be glad to receive the Governor, and add their acclamations to those of their fellow colonists of the South. That the Governor will see something to approve of here, there cannot be a doubt. Whilst he will find that "A change has come, and many a change Faces and footsteps, and all things strange," he will not fail to notice signs of steady progress, of substantial prosperity, which if unattended with the show and bustle of the South, are yet worthy of record and prove that the real objects of colonisation are not lost sight of.