MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9489, 19 April 1894, Page 4

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.

Some time ago, our cable messages contained lengthy and frequent references to a paper on the Australian crisis prepared by a young clerk in the British Treasury, named Peel, and to the action of the New South Wales Government in regard to it. The whole matter, to New Zealand readers was hopelessly obscure and altogether uninteresting. They knew nothing about the paper in question, they had never heard of young Mr. Peel, and they were at a loss to understand the importance which was attached to the matter by Sir G. R. Dib'o3. The whole affair now appears to have been a storm in a teacup. From our English files we learn that the Mr. Peel whose name has become almost historical in connection with the incident, is the second son of the Speaker of the House of Commons, and a junior clerk in the Treasury. In accordance with a consistent practice of that office, where, we learn, it is the habit to test and to exercise the powers of promising young officials by calling upon them to "prepare reports upon interesting questions, he was advised by Mr. Hamilton, his immediate official chief, to make a special study of the Australian crisis and to write a paper on the subject. The paper in question was of the nature of a private essay, written solely for the consideration of his departmental superiors. . By some means, however, a copy of it reached Sydney, where the attendant circumstances being unknown, the essay was mistaken for a State paper. Sir G. R. Dibbs naturally " got his back up," to use the vernacular in which he delights to express himself, and some warm remonstrances were addressed by him to the Colonial : Office. He was promptly informed of the true facts, but he chose to ignore, or disbelieve them, much to the astonishment of official circles at Home, where a colonial training in diplomacy is not regarded as a sufficient excuse for deliberate discourtesy on the part of a colonial Premier. The Times takes Sir G. R. Dibbs severely to task, and very justly observes that " the dignity of the colony is not enhanced by methods of action which call for the excuse that the communities from which they proceed are still young and rough. Our respect for the colonies is assured. The general desire is to see them exert to the full the powers winch have most rightfully accrued to them, and it is much to be deplored when a lack of corresponding consideration on their part is allowed to interfere with the growth cf those terms of intimate and mutual confidence, without which the highest forms of intercourse cannot be carried on. It is so far from being an idle question of manners, that it is scarcely possible to reflect seriously on the future course of Imperial history without realising the immense importance which may attach to the maintenance of a proper dignity and harmony in the relations of our governing bodies." K ' ____________ ■■'-' : £