The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1038, 18 August 1879, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 1879.

Whilst in some instances—as in the case of Mr. Eicliardson, one of the Christchurch members—the policy of the present Government is the ticket by virtue of which Oppositionists, as well as . Government supporters, hope to gain, admission into Parliament. Sir George Grey, the initiator of that policy, so generally approved, is being denounced .is the embodiment of everything that is bad. This is the only excuse that Oppositionists—or what have very properly been termed Obstructionists —have for opposing almost every item of a policy, in the House, that they approve of in almost every particular, now that they are before the country. They challenged Sir George Grey to go to the country. He has done so, much to their chagrin, for they find that the country is almost unanimously in favor of the policy against which they railed in Parliament, and that they must either sink their opinions now, even if they do not sink them in the House—if they get in—or leave the ground gained by their opponents undisputed by taking " political rest," which would be the wisest course for them to adopt, under the circumstances. The very policy of which they are now sworn friends is that which Sir George Grey and his party have enunciated, and which has gained universal favor—the policy in fact which compelled some of these men to vacate the Treasury benches. It is not fair to revile the man whilst making use of his brains for political purposes. "What do the electors care about the small failings of the Premier? They may exist or they may not. "What they want is an honest policy and an honest Government. Sir George Grey may be an autocrat, but | Mr. Ballance, who is said to know most about this, knows nothing except that Sir George Grey is the most considerate of Premiers. He may have a leaning towards the Maoris, but it was his Ministry that undertook to take possession of those native lands that are by right colonial property. The difficulty that has been experienced in carrying out his designs were not of his own making, but those which had accumulated during a long period of corrupt administration of native and all other colonial affairs. He has been charged with having attempted to evade the operation of one of his own laws. This charge has grown out of the fact of the fancied low valuation set upon his Kawau property. This is the most serious charge that has been urged against him, but, like most of the other slanders which have been ingeniously concocted by bitter political opponents, and freely imbibed by certain of the weak Thomaslike friends of the Ministry, it has no foundation in fact. Sir George had no more to do with the Kawau assessment than his calumniators. He never saw the valuator, and does not even know who he is. Now, as to the unfair assessment : Kawau is a barren island, the land of which for agricultural purposes is not worth 10s per acre. It is 7000 acres in extent, and carries 1500 sheep, and Sir George Grey's manager filled up tho assessment paper, stating the value as L 3500. The valuator afterwards reduced the assessment to L 2500 entirely on his own responsibility. The commercial value of Kawau is almost nil, as it mainly consists of barren rocks. Sir George Grey has spent many thousands of pounds to make it what it is—merely a place of residence. We can vouch for the accuracy of what we now state. Let those who approve of Sir George Grey's policy not be influenced by damaging statements, which have been originated by the enemies of tho people in order to cause them to hate Sir George Grey and transfer their confidence to them. The tactics of the Opposition are mean in the extreme.