The Waikato Argus GEORGE EDGECUMBE, Proprietor. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1898.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 344, 22 September 1898, Page 2

The Waikato Argus GEORGE EDGECUMBE, Proprietor. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1898.

.;> ■ The announcement we make in another column of the death of Sir G. Grey, although anticipated for some time, will, nevertheless, cause a strong feeling of regret to the people of this colony. Although intimately connected with New Zealand for many years, his services to the Empire were by no means confined to his exertions to promote the interests of this colony. Sir George was unquestionably a strong

and far-seeing man, and had a grasp of the situation as regards the policy which should be pursued by the "British Government in the Pacific years before the Statesmen who had the direction of that policy awoke to the situation. It was then too late. Had his advice been taken the British flag would to-day wave over every island in that ocean. This want of grasp was not confined to British Statesmen, those of all the other European nations were equally backward. It is only at a comparatively recent dac<? that France and Germany have adopted a Colonial policy, so that serious opposition from these quarters was not then to be anticipated. They might have grumbled after the fact ; but there.the matter would have ended. His brilliant services at the Gape are all recorded in current history. The episode of taking upon himself the sending of troops to India on the outbreak of the mutiny, in place of allowing them to land at the Cape, was characteristic of the man, and we venture the opinion that there have been very few men in the service of England who would have had the courage to take such great responsibility upon their shoulders. The outbreak of the war in Taranaki in 1861 caused the British Government to send Sir George to New Zealand a second time. He endeavoured for some time to arrive at a peaceful settlement, but at last became convinced that resort to arms was inevitable. He applied for reinforcements and started to put down the King movement. The campaign started in Waikato, but the war spread to Taranaki and the West and East Coasts of the North Island. Our space will not allow us to follow the details of the military operations, suffice it to say that peace was eventually restored. In 18G8 Sir George was succeeded as Governor by Sir G. P. Bowen, and he returned Home and was never after employed by the Imperial Government. It must be noted that he and General Cameron, who commanded the troops, became personally antagonistic, and the Maori trouble in consequence lasted longer than would otherwise have been the case. What the Governor suggested from a political point of view the General declared inadvisable in a military sense, and the Governor checked the General in his military action on the grounds of policy. Whoever may have been in the wrong really, it is alleged that this fact was the reason that Sir George was not offered another appointment under the Imperial Government. In 1872 Sir George emerged from his retirement at the Kawau and contested the Superintendency of Auckland and was elected, he was also returned to the House of Representatives for Auckland City West. Although looked up to as an authority, and always listened to with attention, his greatest admirers must admit that he was not a success as the leader of a political party. His early training and experience as Governor had made him an autocrat, and great as was his tact, he failed to conciliate those with whom under popular Government he had to work. It is matter for regret that he ever entered politics. Had he not done so the historians would not have been furnished with material to write condemnatory pages. That he was a great man nobody can deny, but his greatness was an impediment to him in the struggles and machinations incidental to popular Government by party.