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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4247, 30 October 1874, Page 2

We really do not know how to treat our Auckland telegram, in to-day's iasuo, relating to Sir George G-rey's further development. Surely,there must be some mistake. " Tho great pro consul " cannot possibly have written anything so absurdly foolish as has been attributed to him. Following upon the telegram of the plea of insanity for tho murderer Dyer, we can imagine the telegraph correspondent somewhat confused when he summarised Sir George Crev's latest proposal. Tho correspondent, we think, is solely to blame. Wo are told that the General Assembly should be abolished, and that a Council of twenty or thirty members should take its place, " whoso duties should be con- " fined to general work, leaving tho " internal affairs of the colony to be " administered by Provincial Govern- " ments, with larger powers than they " at present possess." We do not wish to say anything harsh or offensive, but it does seem to us that the proposal just quoted argues a total want of judgment. Moreover, it is altogether opposed to tho principle which Sir George Grey affirms in respect of provincial institutions. Ho declares in one breath that Provincial Councils and Superintendents should not bo " abolished " without their own consent, because they are part and parcel of'tho Constitution, while in anotherbroathho declares that tho.Genoral Assembly should bo abolished without its consent, and that tho poworsj!of Provincial Councils should be enlarged, in defiance of tho Constitution. Surely, " tho " Constitutional Party" has gone stark

mad. What will the Lyttelton Times now say about its champion ? We wonder how Mr. Montgomery would now reconcile the advanced views of his party to the electors of Akaroa] We suspect that the electors in question would not at -all approve of Sir George Grey's Constitutional amendment, however much it might suit Superintendent Holleston and his astute lioutonant. But Sir George Grey fairly taken loavo of his senses when ho proposeu that " there should bo a Federal' Council, to " elect a President, who should bo tho " head of tho colony for ihotime being." Again, we ask, what does this moan if It cannot bo , tho old colonial privilege of electing tho Governor, which somo of tho American States, or colonics, possessed. It is rather a " cutting of the " painter," and an assimilation of New Zealand to tho United States. We have, in substance, a proposal from Sir George Grey, as tho outcome of provincialism, for declaring our independence. All in good time, say wo; but the "good " time" will be long of coming. New Zealand will yet be an independent Power, but tho present generation will have long passed away before that day arrives. Meanwhile Sir George Grey is unsettling the public mind, crying up the Constitution one moment and proposing a revolution the next. This farce has lasted long enough, it is time it should end.