THE GOVERNOR'S TACTICS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 935, 31 January 1890, Page 28

THE GOVERNOR'S TACTICS.

There is one part of the exceedingly uninteresting address delivered by his Excellency the Governor in the Basin

Reserve on Jubilee Day that is pregnant with significance as indicating pretty plainly intentions as to the future. He said inter alia :

It now only remains for me before I return to take up my residence here, in order to be able to claim that knowledge of the Colony and its inhabitants which a Governor ought to possess, to visit at greater leisure those parts of the Colony which my hurried journey to assume the Government and take up my residence here has prevented me from doing. Now this may be termed the essence of irony. Lord Onslow was indulging in a sly dig at Wellington, having assumed, probably, that Wellington was fainting for his presence and mourning his absence. As the seat of Government, the centre of administration, Wellington c< rtainly does regard the Governor’s presence here as a matter of course. All his predecessors made Wellington their headquarters absolutely, that is, since Wellington became the seat of Government, And this may be accepted as a rule laid down for the guidance of Governors, that they should be in the very heart of the centre of government as much as possible to play their part —and a very important one it is—in forwarding administration. ( The Governor’s absence from the seat of Government for a prolonged period gives rise to a great deal of inconvenience and hindrance to the course of public affairs. He is in very frequent requisition, and to have to seek him at the extreme ends of the Colony when he is wanted places bis Advisers at a disadvantage, and entails needless trouble upon administration generally.

But the Governor’s utterances on this point leave no room to doubt as to his intentions. He considers it the duty of a Governor to become familiar with every part of the Colony, and it is his intention to “ visit, at greater leisure,” those parts which lat terly he has merely skimmed over before he finally settles down. A.nd here we have to join issue with his Excellency. It is well, very well, that the Governor of this Colony should have an ac quaiutanee with its various arm manifold parts and beauties, hub not so much to aid him in promoting good government as to give him au intelligent conception of the country with which, for a period, he has been placed in close touch. His Excellence's pointed remarks are certainly open to the inference that lie wants to be posted in order that he may decide on his own account. To us it seems clear that he wants “ a knowledge of the Ooloay and its inhabitants ” —either to satisfy an intelligent curiosity or to enable him to ride with greater freedom and ease. There is, however, as his Excellency is very well aware, no decision required on his part outside certain technical formalities very clearly defined, and one or two generally understood prerogatives rarely exercised. The Governor is entirely in the hands of his constitutional Advisers, and it is they who guide the ship of State, while he is merely the constitutional pilot. They give out the course, and if there is nothing unconstitsjitional in it, the Go vernor does not object. Hence wemust assume that his Excellency's proposed further extension of absence from Wellington is to be simply in his own individualinterest and pleasure,and not to further autocratic ends. Ho wants to tour this most beautiful Colony and enjoy himself. This, we admit, is natural and complimentary to the Colony, but we would point out that it is likely to somewhat interfere wiih his Excellency's duties, the responsibility for the performance of which he recognised when he accepted the appointment bestowed upon him by his royal mistress. We admit the force of the axiom “all work and no play,” and the force of the converse side of it. Like the r.=st of us, his Excellency ought, to have a holiday, bi;t, like the rest of us also, he must earn it first To short, tho Governor will fail in his duty if he does not keep in close touch with his Advisers and the heart of the official administration of the Colony during the greater part of his time. To be strictly neutral is ono of the

qualities expected in a'constitutional Governor of a colony, and we sincerely hope Lord Onslow will never forget this. A Governor is not supposed to lake sides in any question save and except the side of constitutionalism orjprerogativo when his Ad visers take an unconstitutional sheer or become faddy.” It seems, however, that his Excellency can be partial, if it is true, as wo have heard on verv good authority that ho has taken sides over the Jubilee question, and considers that “ Wellington was expecting too much ” We should' like to know on what grounds his Excellency based that very imprudent assertion. Can he mention any other part of the Colony that has a right to claim more than Wellington? Can he name any other part that, has any right to claim as much? We have iu another place reviewed the question of dates as to the Jubilee anniversary, not to belittle Wellington, but to establish a broad principle on which to reconcile conflicting opinions and promote the establishment of one Jay to be common to the Colony as a whole as a day of annual rejoicing. We carefully kept to strictly official lines, avoiding the remotest, allusion to local claims, but if wo had at temp ted to adjudicate between such claims there would have been but one course open, viz., lo have given Wellington all the credit, for the rest were literally nowhere. And had Lord Onslow given the subject his unbiassed attention he would have come to no other conclusion, for in those dark days it was all Wellington. Wellington was first in the field, and, through the New Zealand Company, literally forced the hand or the Imperial Government. We spoke in the interests of peace in the suppression of local differences, in the promotion of good feeling among (he different latitudes of the Colony. Our aim was, and still is, to make the Colony thoroughly united, its community a community of real brotherhood, but it seems to us that Lord Onslow, by his indiscreet utterance, will provoke discord instead o: promoting good will. And ihe slight ho put upon Wellington at Jubilee time here goes to rather confirm this opinion. He gave the place the cold shoulder, could not even find time to entertain his distinguished visitors, but raced away North as if his salvation depended upon reaching Auckland in a given time. And we toll him this, that if he is not very careful he will succeed in attaining the unenviable notoriety of having set the two ends and the middle of the Colony by the ears.