New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1874.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4245, 28 October 1874, Page 2

New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1874 .

We quoted yesterday an article from tho Otago Daily Times on Sir George Grey’s memorial. As it exactly expressed our own view of the question as far as it went, and as we are anxious that both sides may have a fair aiid impartial hearing in our columns, we transcribe the following extract from the Lyttelton Times , which has become quite enamoured of ‘ ‘ tho u recluse of Kawau.” Our Canterbury contemporary says :

It will be admitted on all hands that the colony has had no timer, more disinterested, or more Judicious friend than Sir George Grey. Ho fought our battles stoutly and ably, during troublous and trying times, with the Imperial Government; and stood up for tho colony’s rights when, by bending to tho pressure of Downing-stroot, he might have secured personal advancement. Colonists of all shades of opinion, and especially old colonists, must bo convinced that Sir George Grey governed for tho colony and not for himself. That ho also governed with ability and prudence will bo universally conceded. It has been said by some that ho sowed tho seed of the harvest we are now, apparently, about to reap, by tho way in which, during his first term of office as Governor, ho brought tho Constitution into operation. If, it is urged, ho called tho General Assembly together before ho had convened Provincial Legislatures, and if ho had defined the powers of tho latter with precision, there would have been no wrangling between tho Colonial and Provincial Governments. It is all very well to talk in this stylo—there is much virtue in your “ if ” —but those who are unprejudiced and who iiavo at the same time given thought to the subject, will most probably be of opinion that Sir George Grey was placed in a position where ho had to feel his way gradually, and that tho ruling idea in his mind was, to diffuse the powers of Government as much as passible. Ho had a very difficult task to perform, for ho was called ujion to put a now and altogether untried machine into operation— a machine which had been in a great measure constructed by mere theorists and empirics. Those who have road the summarised text of Sir George Grky’h petition to the Governor will be of opinion that his

right hand has not lost its cunning, and they will be glad that he has broken his seclusion by such an exhaustive exposition of the Constitution. The ground taken up by Sir George Grey is in all essentials the same as that taken up by the Constitutional Party. He explains in detail, and with great force as well as clearness, the leading principles of the existing Constitution, and then goes on to point out that any attempt to alter it without making an appeal to the people is altogether illegal and an infringement of their rights and liberties. It is not quite clear—most probably because the report is a condensed summary—whether Sir George Grey advocates a direct appeal to the people by means of a dissolution, or an indirect appeal through their representatives in the Provincial Councils. We incline to the belief that he favours the latter mode of consultation with those who certainly ought to be consulted before any change is made in the Constitution. At any rate we have the fact that he considers an appeal of some sort, either direct or indirect, necessary—that the people, in short, will have been robbed of vital rights granted to them by Act of the Imperial Parliament if the Premier is allowed to carry out the programme which he has roughly outlined. Outsiders, according to an old and accepted proverb, see more of a game or contest, and are as a rule better able to give au account of it—a judicial and at the same time historical account—than those who take part in the struggle. Sir George Grey is an outsider under peculiar circumstances. The Constitution under which we live and by which we arc supposed to be governed, was placed into his hands after it had been framed, and he alone can say, not only that he stood by its cradle, but that the great responsibility of setting the cradle in motion devolved upon him in his capacity of Governor. Taken as a whole, Sir George Grey's petition is, if not unanswerable, incontrovertible.

The writer then goes on to argue, in support of Sir George Grey, that “ four “ estates ” have been created for the good government of this colony by the Constitution Act, which is the veriest nonsense imaginable ; —a slip-shod use of constitutional jargon to describe what could be very much better described without. There are no ‘ ‘ estates, ”in the strict and legal acceptation of the term, in New Zealand. We have representative institutions, created by Act of Parliament ; and these institutions, wo maintain may be, within the limits of the Constitution, modified by the superior Legislature. There can be no doubt whatever of the power of the General Assembly to abolish Provincial Government if it so pleases ; and it is idle to argue that the consent of the Superintendents and Provincial Councils must be obtained before the Colonial Parliament can modify the form, or vary the functions, of local governing bodies. There is a fallacy underlying this part of Sir George Grey’s memorial which we are surprised our Christchurch contemporary does not perceive. If the country waited until the Superintendents memorialised the General Assembly to abolish their office, with its patronage, dignity, and privileges, constitutional reform would never be accomplished. Existing institutions would be made perpetual, and an efficient and economical administration of public affairs would necessarily be an impossibility. VVe differ from the Lyttelton Times in its estimate of Sir George Grey’s latest contribution to the political history of New Zealand. We think his right hand has altogether lost its cunning, and that he has allowed himself to be carried away by sentiment, rather than be guided by his usually keen intellect and sound judgment. But Sir George Grey has taken up the same ground, “in all “ essentials,” as that taken up by the Constitutional party ; hence the rejoicing in Cathedral Square. We regard this memorial as the very weakest effort of his pen, and one which will not stand the rough handling it is certain to be subjected to throughout the colony. There is one portion of the article in the Lyttelton Times which wo regret to see there. We refer to a doubt which is thrown upon Mr. Vogel’s veracity, in reference to the object of his mission to England. Sir George Grey writes that “ lie is credibly informed that “Premier has recently gone to England,' “and that one of the objects of ~ such “proceeding on his partis an endeavor to “ obtain an alteration, by the British “ Parliament, of the New Zealand Oonsti- “ tution Act, in order that powers may “ be conferred upon the General Assembly “enabling it to abolish, either in whole “or in part, the existing provinces and “Provincial Governments of New Zea“land.” This rumor having been circulated by the organs of the Constitutional Party, the Premier wrote to the Lyttelton Times, as the more respectable of them, giving his personal assurance that such was not the case ; and yet, in the face of that denial, the newspaper in question writes :—“ If the information which Sir ‘ ‘ George Grey believes to be credible is “ really credible, it follows that Mr. “Vogel, in the letter which he ad- “ dressed to this journal from Melbourne “on October 7, and which was published “in our issue of Monday last, has not “been, to say the least, candid. That, “however, is in some respects a matter “of minor importance.” That, on the contrary, wo maintain is a matter of the very highest importance, for should the personal veracity of the Premier be open to doubt in this affair, it would have a very damaging effect upon the policy which lie has initiated. Sir George Grey has been misinformed. The rumor can be readily traced to its source in the belongings of the Constitutional Party, and its authors are wholly responsible for misleading that other “ Constitutional Party” at the Kawau, causing him to perpetrate the greatest political blunder of his life.