A VALUABLE OFFICES.

Timaru Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 5262, 13 October 1891, Page 4

A VALUABLE OFFICES.

The Fiji Times, referring to Sir John Thu * 14 0 administration _4* governor, colonial secretary, and notivo commissioner, remarks : — It is all very well while Sir John Thurston ruleß ; but it must be borne m mind that the position of that gentleman is very exceptional. It will be a matter of impossibility that be shall be succeeded by any person having a like experience m this particular Government. An experience which, commencing long prior to the date of any recognised authority m Fiji, has enabled its possessor to rule the Fijianß as no other could. And that, from the simple reason that it has taught him to know their innermost minds, and that thoy. aware of his baying tbat knowledge, fear him ond guide themselves accordingly. It will require a man of extraordinary acuteneas of intellect and powers of receptivenesa and adoptability to administer the triad of offices. A mnn whoso services can scarcely bo hoped for at £2000 a year. It will bo m the guidance of the native ranee, however, that the pinch will bo felt. With them tho man is everything j the Bystem nothing. That is, nothing without the man ; and matters wbioh aro smooth enough on the surface with fir J. B. Thurston as Governor, moy, on his retirement, assume un aspect revealing a word of unroat beneath. No man m tho Government can control that or deal with it effectively ; no one except the present man. For Fiji ia essentially a oneman Government, and the methods of the Government poßsesa their own idiosyncrasy. Requiring a profound insight into the native mind and modo of thought, tho man who administers thoae must strike out a path for himself and bo unto himself a law.