WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1879.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 3550, 27 August 1879, Page 2

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1879.

We arc far from sorry that there is to be no opposition to the return of Mr Rolleston for tbe Avon. Mr Rolleston is a mistaken politician, and each we fear he will continue to remain — but he is not a dishonest one. He iB a plain, blunt man — a sturdy hardworking farmer — auch as he loveß to be considered. He ia thoroughly independent of all except his own peouliar idiosyncrasy which holds his mind in thrall. He is not the creature of any loan society, or of any private institution whatever, nor can it be said tbat he is associated with what are known as the " ruling families." At the same time he has many claims which ho can legitimately put forward for the respect of the people. Ho has stood up upon many occasions to fight their battles, and has dono yeoman's service upon their behalf. " Look at your roads, and bridges, and harbours, gentlemen," he cries, and no doubt in a very large measure Canterbury is indebted to Mr Rolleston for much good practical work of that nature. Nevertheless, the making of roads and bridges partakes of the duties of a member of a Road Board, and does not require the far reaching grasp of a statesman. Gratitude for roads and bridges is a very proper feeling in ita way, and ample justioo to Mr Rolleston will no doubt be rendered in tbis regard ; but it certainly does not follow that because Mr Kolleston has been very aotive in the discharge of purely Road Board work, that he should be entitled to claim confidence from the people as a legislator for the State. The making of laws for a young nation is quite a different matter from the running of roadways through certain sections. Probably if Mr Rollhston had not been suddenly oalled upon, and had not spoken with a considerable degree of heat, he would not have said one word about his roads and bridges and harbour services at such a time. Mr Rolleston gets upon more appropriate and suitable ground when he refers to the great questions of eduoation and the disposal of the public lands. Here wo are glad to do him thab frank

justice whioh he may fairly claim, and to which every public mania entitled. From the earliest days of ocr history, Mr Eolleston has been amongat . the foremost in the ranks of the advocates for free education, and his services in this regard are deserving of the warmest recognition. So also regarding the land question. Mr Rollestoh haa always been an uncompromising enemy of the land sharks, and in hia time has fiercely denounced "grid-ironing," and allthe dexterous trickeries and Bubterfuges of those who have sought to shut the people out from the settlement of the oountry. These are faots, and they must be allowed ia no ungenerous spirit to Mr Rolleston. Farther, he has stood np, an almost solitary voice in the political wilderness, calling for the construction of a line of railway to the Weßt Coast of this Island — a truly national work, worthy the fame of any statesman. The only fault we have to find with him hero is, that he was content to call and to keep calling withoat securing that progress was made. He ought to have taken practical steps to get others to call as well as himself, so tbat his voice no longer was like unto one calling in the wilderness. The art of enlisting sympathy and of gaining adherents to take np a great pablio cause is of a practioal nature, and is one which very few public men really understand. Mr Kolleston has, however, succeeded in ; laying the foundations of one great pablic institution with which his name ' will probably be honourably associated the f ature. We refer to the establishment in this Colony of an Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb. This is a work of which any public man may fairly feel proud, reflecting aa it does equal honour upon his head and his heart. It will thus be seen that we are as ready as any of Mr Eolleston's friends to do frank justice to his claims, and so we trust we shall always be when dealing with pablic men. The question, however — arises how comes it that a once popular champion of the people's cause, a truly Liberal and independent man, with no upperoruat nonsense about him at all, is now found one of the most determined amongst the opponents of a a policy which, personally, he entirely approves ? This inconsistency contains the whole seoret of the failure of Mr Rolleston aa a public man in the past, and illustrates the impracticability of his nature in regard to the future. Mr Eolleston has been opposed to every Government in turn that has held offioe, in this Oolony in the past and he will probably be in opposition to every Government in the future. Should he join an administration, he probably will not be long in office before he quarrels over some detail with his colleagues. Ho is morally certain to find them guilty of some " perfidy " or another, and equally he is almost morally certain to bo in the right. Eather than overlook a blunder, a mistake, or a fault, Mr Eolleston is prepared now, and in the future as he has been in the past, to sacrifice himself, his party, tbe policy he holds dear, and the most vital interests of the country. At present he is found foremost in the ranks of the enemies of a polioy he entirely approves — against which he has not one word to urge — the advocates of thafc policy being friends who understand him probably much better than he understands himself and who notwithstanding his extraordinary course, warmly respect him ; and the whole reason for the singular attitude in which he haa placed himself is because Sir George Grey, Borne two years ago, recommended the Governor to veto the " Waste Lands Bill." Wo certainly are not going to quarrel with Mr Rolleston for holding the views he does upon that subject, bnt we do say that they are entirely insufficient to warrant him in taking up his present position of antagonism to the Government at Buch a crisis as the present. We will not now go into the question of tbe proposal to exercise the veto — a question which the Opposition have deliberately shirked in Parliament — bufc taking it for granted that Sir Geoeqe Gbey was wrong, a high-minded statesman, whilst his voice was raised in solemn protest, would never have made such a blunder — for it coald be nothing more —as Sir Geobge Gbey is oharged with having committee', an excuse for deserting his friends and going over to fight the battles of his foes — men from whom he could never expect to obtain any of Liberal gains he held dear. A pablic man, to achieve snecess, should never abandon his principles, nor the friends by whom those principles are represented. It is not the great things of tbe political world that occupy the mind of Mr Rolleston, but the small. The bayonet of a colleague in the ranks, by some acoidenfc pricks him, and incontinently he rushes over to the opposing force and fires his gun into the ranks of his friends ; meanwhile hia new allies, whilst they freely use him, laugh at his folly. We fear it is useless to hope that Mr Eolleston will ever rise superior to the petty differences that aro certain to occur amongst public men, and grasp firmly and hold faithfully to the greafc principles which exclusively occupy the minds of men, and which constitute the sole issue in the present struggle.