COLONIAL DISTINCTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6261, 10 December 1881, Page 7

COLONIAL DISTINCTIONS.

The Home Xews of Oct. 21 has the following paragraph : —" A rumour iias been going the rounds that it is contemplated to establish hereditary honours in some of the larger colonies. It is probably not without some foundation in fact, although the Government are not likely to give practical effect to the notion until it has been fully and freely discussed. There is much to be said against such a creation. The principle of general ecjuality is too widely admitted in most colonial communities to allow of great social hereditary distinctions. But the quarrel is mainly with the idea of their transmission. Colonial sentiment might be strongl3' against trie formation of a permanent so-called aristocratic class, but it would hardly object to the bestowal of high social honours upon the most prominent colonial men. The establishment of life peerages would probably be less seriously opposed. Something of the kind is indeed wanted. After all, the grant ,of an order which carries with it knighthood \and the permission to wear a star and a \ ribbon round one's neck is not a very lofty A\-.tnpliment. It may be said that the title of -1 t\A y Lor< i" * 3 q«f te as em pty. mi * a f tor all -1 is much more distinguished and : , such^ I, '. 10 - But even if tlie creation ? f r t ] ie colonial peers would be unpopular in , objection themselves, there seems no valid s eminent c> , <* rewards if bestowed upon r the rest of t\' 13ts "'' lo ' iave e!ecte, ' to spend i ' " : -t days in England."