SIR GEORGE GREY'S VISIT TO OTAGO.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2140, 12 November 1875, Page 3

SIR GEORGE GREY'S VISIT TO OTAGO.

(mOM THE'GUARDIAN.)

1 He oarue, he saw, and he went away again. That is about the summary, we suspect, of. Sir George ,Grey's visit, to Otago. We hare lookfd inVain through his eloquent and flowery, and we will admit, lor him, moderate speech, for any ' programme such as a leader of a, great party ought to have ready. He tells us a good deal about our wrongs and our rights, and gives a hint or two that we shall never be a free people - till we elect our own Governor, and our "own Upper House, but gives us no -hint whatever of a policy. Is it to be Provincialism -pure simple, or Separation and Federation, or what P As for the . other speakers, they were nearly to a man Superintendents, ex - Superintendents, Provincial Councillors, or men immediately connected with and having a direct personal interost in Provincial institutions. We do not say this in any offensive sense, but merely to point out the obvious bias from such associations. As an expression of the public opinion of Dunedm, such utterances are a perfect faree -rthey have a. right to the weight attaching to V the individual speakers, and nothing more. But from Sir .George and Mr Macaodrew we ought to have gained some ideas as to a possible future, short of a restoration of the " statu quo ante bellum," .which everyI body nearly must admit is impossible. We are disappointed; for, except a general tirade against "Centralism."—-^what-ever may be meant by that phrase—and an assertion of the right of the people to shape their own destinies, which nobody denies, we see nothing in the speeches but a few well-turned platitudes and a number of exaggerated and distorted; representations of facts. Does all this indicate a determination to mystify .-the; public until a grand-coup ,de theatre can be prepartd, or does it indicate an utter absence of any common, argument ? We hear thf former is the true solution, though .we can scarcely...credit: it; but if the Herculean task of separating the two islands, and abolishing the Upper House, and reconstructing a Constitution so that there may be two Governors and both elected, ;ah(V arranging satisfactorily the financial basis, still securing to the South its revenues 1 and its lands—if all this, we say^ is to be attempted at the forthcoming session, the sooner some plan is arranged the'better. It must be a struggle of enormousdifficulty, involving almost insoluble problems—that, for instance, .of how to satisfy Auckland and yet have our land fund intact—and extending not over one s'essitm merely. The Upper House has to be brought round to concur; the British Parliament must have a v.oice ; and.- before such great and momentous changes as these are finally agreed upon, surely' this constitutional party will agree to the country being again consulted, as they say it ought to have been about the smaller question of Abolition. That only altered one part of the Constitution— this must alter the whole ; that only kept within power* already granted by Imperial statute— this goes outside altogether, and introduces almost a semi-republican element; and with all respect for. Sir George, we do very much doubt indeed if it would be sanctioned by the English House of Commons, unless by the almost unanimous consent of both branches of the legislature as well as the constituencies themselves. We entirelyjdeny that the Abolition of the Provinces necessarily means a pernicious Centralism, but believe, on the other hand, it only depends on the wisdom of the people themselves how much local self-government they will have within the four corners of the Constitution, aud -in what shape ; and that is the real question to be discussed, calmly and thoughtfully. Meanwhile we shall have the profoiihdesti suspicions of the designs of thesewilyNorth. Island politicians till wo see what is their little game. Depend on it that it is riot pure, unselfish patriotism, or love of the South, .but rather too great affection for our wellfilled pockets.