SIR DONALD McLEAN.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2077, 31 August 1875, Page 2

SIR DONALD McLEAN.

The special correspondent of the Australasian at Wellington has been describing the New Zealand Ministry, and this is what-he has'to say of Sir Donald McLean : — I should next mention Si? Donald McLean, the Defence or Native Minister,, as the next, or even the. greater, power in the state. To him the colony owes the peace ifc enjoys, and the tranquility that has been as*ured~for tlio - J'ujture. He is a native of Argyleshire, in Scotland";" I°DS a settler in Hawke's Bay (a district which he represents in Parliament). He is tall, burly, plain, truthful in face and heart—a type of the class of whom the poet wrote —

"An honest mm's the noblesiwork of God."

The Maori has a natural distrust of and contempt for small men. Sir Donald— only lately other than plain DonaldMcLean was taU and muscular enough toplease them in that respect. He learned their language early, he knew how to appreciate their worth, and to understand their character and customs ; they soon found, from his resolute character, his equitable-mind, his thorough honesty, and his determination to do only what was just at all hazards, that the natives .early put their trust in him. But for him the late war would have been of a much more destructive character to the whites; many very intricate questions between the settlers and the natives would have been left uadetermined for years, to the embarrassment and loss of the former; and but for his personal interference, the respect even the old rebel chiefs have for him, and their confidence in the honorable treatment they will receive from him—con--1 fidence based upon the intelligent view he has always taken of the position and responsibility of those 'native lords of the soil, 1 and the proper respect in which he insisted, so far as his department could effect it, they should be held — tlio native difficulty would not have been as effectually settled as it is now. To the Maories there is but one Macarene (as they pronounce the name McLean), and he'is'regarded by them as • the Government,' soarcely responsible even to her Majesty. Sir Donald McLean is undoubtedly an able .man, and for years will be indispensable, in any Government that niay be formed in New Zealand. But, if it is true that he was asked to accept the first governorship of Fiji, he did wise in. refusing it. He is a power in New Zealand ; he might have been a failure in Levulra. O£ Mr Richardson the same, authority says Mr Biehardson, the Minister of "Public Works was formerly connected with Victoria in the early days of railway making. He Represents, a Canterbury constituency, and ig universally regarded as. a most able, practical man, thoroughly fit to conduct the department with which he is entrusted. His periodical reports on the progress of the public works are always models in their clearness and exhaustiveness. He is an able lieutenant in the House to his chief, but never could control a debater or lead an active party in the House. Sir Julius draps into his beard, as it were, the fine passages and the climaxes of the addresses he makes to the Chamber. Mr Eiehardson never spqaks, but reads from manuscripts prepared by or for him, and delivers himself as if he did not desire to be heard, and would prefer if lion, members wpuld wait until they could read the whole affair in Hatt-saßd-v-to th.c head of tfre staff, of whiph his remark's are presently transferred.