THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1875.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2156, 1 December 1875, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1875.

We have at length had the long promised speech of Sir George Grey on what we suppose Mr Eees would term the " Present Crisis." There are many points in it which we would wish to touch on, but so many are they and withal so varied in character that it is manifestly impossible to deal with all at once, and we propose therefore to treat each separately—unless, of course, other and more important topics nearer home have a prior claim upon our space. The first thing which strikes us in reading the speech is that it is disappointing. We had heard so much, of the brilliant policy which Sir George Grey would propound, so much stress had been laid oh the fact that Mr Macandrew and others of the. Opposition only waited for the great leader to speak to show—what, as yet, not one of them has done—that Abolition was unnecessary, that it cannot naturally be re-assuring even to his blindly devoted followers to hear that Sir George has no other advice to give them than that which he has already so lavishly bestowed, viz., to resist abolition by every means in their power. Sir George Grey, it is true, wishes to throw the onus of offering something better than Provincialism on the Abolitionists, and declares that it would be impolitic for him in the present juncture of affairs to say what he considers better, but that his political opponents must do so. Now we rather wonder at.this statement of Sir George's because it is alike inconsistent and disingenuous. Inconsistent; for when a meeting was arranged to discuss the merits or demerits of Abolition here at the Thames, Sir George Grey telegraphed imploring the people to suspend their judgment on the matter until they had heard Tvhat he had to offer them instead, which offer he now refuses to fulfil; and disingenuous, because the Government have already stated the skeleton of a programme which does offer the constituencies local self-government by municipal bodies and road boards in the place of the effete provin.cialistic councils originated by Sir George. The question on the whole is plain enough, quite plain enough to allow Sir George Grey, if be had any better policy to offer, to bring that course forward as an amendment upon the policy of Abolition, which the Government advocate as a means of amending undenied short-comings of Provincialism. It is simply this : Sir George Grey declares provincialism to be better than Abolition; the Government argue vice versa It only remains for the constituencies to decide whether of the twain they prefer. But though Sir George Grey deems it impolitic in him to

distinctly lay down a line of policy, yet under the guise of giving counsel to his own constituency of City West democrats, he traces out what the course of the Opposition really is, though, as he says, it is impolitic in so many words to say that it is so. It is this t that if a federa-' tion is broken up without the consent of the bodies forming that federation, each member of the federation after it is broken up shall determine whether it will enter into a new federation or not, and upon' what terms* That is, that unless the province of Auckland gets her way entirely as Sir George Grey thinks proper in the House of. Assembly, she, shall withdraw or " separate" herself from the rest of the colony and become, a separate colony per se, or with just so much of the Northern Island as should choose to enrol itself under her wing. This might suit the views of Auckland itself. The question is whether it would also suit the colony, and the consideration of that question me prefer to relegate to a future issue.