The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. SATURDAY, JULY 19, 1879.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 839, 19 July 1879, Page 2

The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. SATURDAY, JULY 19, 1879.

Hostilities have set in sooner than were expected. Last night Sir William Fox, as leader of the Opposition, moved to be inserted in the Address in Keply to the Governor's speech, a clause which meant a direct vote of want of confidence — not so much in the Ministry as a whole — but in Sir George Grey as Premier. The speech of Sir William was what may be designated " slashing." But the whole tone of it was undignified and unstatesmanlike in the extreme, and quite sufficient to prove that if Sir George Grey is unworthy of the confidence of the House the leader of the Opposition is quite unfitted to fill his place, or indeed to take any of the vacant portfolios, should the present Ministry feel it incumbent on them to resign. If the allegations against Sir George Grey be true — if be be ah arrogant man, and insists that his will followed by his word shall be law, so it appears to us Sir William Fox would be very likely to follow suit. The difficulty which presents itself is this — if the present Ministry resign, and there is good reasons for supposing they will not retain office much longer, from what elements to be found in the Opposition benches are the materials of a fresh set of Ministers to be composed. If Sir George Grey is a bad Premier, would not Sir William Fox be a woi*se. Of course, we can only write upon what comes to us through the telegraph wires. When we receive the speeches, as they will appear .in Hansard, there may be much to modify our opinion. For the last three or four years, Sir William Fox has troubled himself with little else than what has reference to the drinking customs of the age, and in propounding such impracticable schemes as could only enter the mind of a visionary. The day once was that the then Mr. Fox possessed a statesman's views, and a statesman's ability and brilliancy to advocate them. So was the same accorded to Sir George Grey, but both men appear long since to have fallen into the sere and yellow leaf. Both have outlived their former reputations and both seek to retain their power by old men's crotchets, which cannot possibly find any response from an intelligent people. We look through the list of men in t :our Assembly, and we cannot find

half-a-dozen, from the aggregate, fit to guide the political helm of State. Those who have the ability are untrustworthy, and not to be relied on. Those who are thoroughly honest, are deficient in those qualties, which even honesty and sincerity of purpose and intention will nob make up for. Much new legislation is needed at the present crisis of affairs, and the country know not in what direction to look for men capable of unravelling the present complications which exist. We think it will be found that Sir George Grey, however tenaciously he may hold to office, will not be long in learning that his retirement from the Ministerial benches will be insisted on. He should never have left his island home, and the sooner he returns to it the better it will be for himself and the country, Old age and growing infirmities have greatly aggravated his temper, always bad at the best. Not quite a parvenu by birth, he is a long way from a right to claim any nobility of descent. He, however, prides himself that his banner still hangs in the Great Hall of Westminister ; bnt we do not think that will be accepted as an apology for his arrogancy and his enormous self-esteem.