Commercial. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 1878. "MEASURES. NOT MEN."

Tuapeka Times, Volume XI, Issue 754, 9 March 1878, Page 2

Commercial. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 1878. "MEASURES. NOT MEN."

The visit of Sir George Grey must be a matter of interest throughout the district. Whilst with gratification we welcome him in his present political position as Premier of Now Zealand and head of the party of progress, it is impossible to dis-associate him from the high distinction of the offices he .has held under the Crown. As a most trusted servant, and able administrator, Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of this Colony, and of the Cape, he displayed, under an extraordinary variety of circumstances, consummate ability and power of dealing with men, which drew upon him the encomiums, and gained him the confidence of the greatest statesmen of the age — Earl Russell, the late Earl Derby, Sir Robert Peel, and others, compared with whom the late occupants of the Colonial Office are insignificant indeed. What he did for New Zealand will be written in its history. He has made it. his home, and must ever be associated with its annals. When any man enters the arena of party contests, whoeverhe maybe, and however elevated his character or his opinions, he has to 1 bear the brunt of the melee, and fight midst clouds of dust, and subject to the jeers or applause of the fickle mob. Sir George counted the cost when he relinquished for public life the lettered ease of his Kawau home; and with unflinching courage the brave old man has faced the rage of those who know and dread his power to maintain the I right, and tbe idle scoffs of others who, in the sublimity of their own ignorance, are unable to comprehend his character. It is, indeed, something not altogether familiar in our politics that a man, endowed with great abilities, and exceptionally favored by fortune, should devote himself with singleness of purpose and self-devoted zeal to the good of the people without any personal end of any kind to serve, and with absolutely nothing in any way to gain. No wonder that Sir George is a verynightmare to professional politicians, and that even more mischievous class who enter Parliament in the interests of the banks and the squatters, and who have been wont to mould legislation so as to keep interest high and the country a sheep walk. We suppose a better hated man there is not in the Colony than the Premier. His hand is smooth enough, but it has an iron pressure, and well do the monopolists in land and money know this and tremble in their shoes. In taking up " Hansard " one is strongly reminded of Gulliver and the pigmies, when we read the debates in which every shallow political stripling has a gird at Sir George, who treats them very much with the contemptuous indifference which Swift made a cheracteristic of his hero. A French cynic — was it Rochefoucauld — happily observed " that it was a terrible mistake to be in earnest," or some words to that effect. This, in the eyes of the ordinary parliamentary juggler, is the one great failing which cannot be forgiven in a Minister or leader of a party, and Sir George is terribly in earnest — he really means what he says, and means to give what he says effect. If not driven from the treasury benches by what we may, without offence, perhaps, terra a combination of the powers of evil, represented for the nonce by Bank nominees, land sharks — their attendant pilot fish, and the hungry aspirants for the solidities of office, the present Cabinet will in a year or two bring about such a changed state of things as imagination vainly dares to picture. The people, admitted to equal electoral rights, will soon take care that there is no taxation but what is necessary, and that the burthen is placed where it will best and most conveniently be borne. It will be possible for the poor man, and the man with moderate means, to acquire land direct from the Crown, instead of at a rack rent from the monopolist ; and those wealthy corporations, which suck the very lifeblood of the struggling, will have to contribute a fair quota of revenue to the State. The carps and sneers of the Opposition, and the journals in their interest, cannot touch tbe real strength of Sir George, which lies in the hearts of a people who have confidence in his desire and in his ability to, conserve their best interests, and to make New Zealand a happy and prosperous home for the thousands here and thousands yet, to come.