THE RESIGNATION OF LORD CARNARVON.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5314, 6 April 1878, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE RESIGNATION OF LORD CARNARVON.

“ Anglo-Australian. ” in the European Mail of February loth, thus refers to the resignation of Lord Carnarvon, late Secretary of State for the Colonies “The news of the resignation of Lord Carnarvon will have been received with regret by every colony in ttie Umpire. It needs scarcely to say that his Lordship resigned because he differed with some of his colleagues upon the Eastern Question, and without questiouinghis views upon this subject, or the policy of the step he found it necessary to take, it is but common justice to his Lordship to say that in talcing that step he gave another proof of his character fur consLtency. Perhaps no man who had not a personal experience of colonial life is more imbued with the true spirit of a colonist than his Lordship. In conversation he would talk to you like an old squatter of the early history, of Australia and New Zealand, and his knowledge of Canada would impress you with the suspicion that he had been { to the manner born.’ His highest ambition was to give the colonies the freest possible legislative institutions, in order that they might train themselves up to that great future which is before them. In some cases, of course, it was impossible to grant responsible government, a*, for instance, in many of the islands of the West Indies, where the natives are hardly capable of an intelligent use of the franchise, and where but few men with leisure could be found capable of representing them. But he was anxious that all the great colonies should become practically responsible for the rise and progress of the people, and in and out of office he has worked consistently to this end. A firm adherent of the motto that ‘ union is strength,’ he worked with a singleness of purpose which has won the gratitude of many colonists iu South Africa to bring about the confederation of that colony, and a more telling commentary upon the wisdom of this course could not have presented itself than the war which has broken out in that colony, because that war is due, perhaps, as much to the unwisdom of divided councils ns to anything else. But his Lordship’s federative tendencies have not been confined to South Africa. There can he no doubt that he cast his eye in the direction of Australia, where another England is growing up, and that he saw there the germs of a mighty empire, whose destiny would be hastened by the adoption of a form of federation which would give a greater elasticity and an additional strength to the whole group. He is believed to have pondered this subject earnestly and fervently, with no desire to detract from the merit due to existing institutions, but with the laudable desire of sweeping away many admitted anomalies, and strengthening and consolidating the colonies as a whole. No drudge could have worked harder in the Queen’s service than did his Lordship. With him his work was a labor of love, and the labor he delighted in—to paraphrase Shakspere—compensated him for all the pain and fatigue attendant upon it. He worked from ‘ early morn till dewy eve.’ Go when you would, he was to be found at his post, and if a colonist had a grievance he always found him accessible and ready to pour balm upon his wounded spirit. Certainly the colonies never had a more consistent administrator than Lord Carnarvon.”