The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1885. THE PREMIER'S VISIT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2162, 4 December 1885, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1885. THE PREMIER'S VISIT.

It is always satisfactory to find Ministers of the Crown leaving their musty offices for the purpose of making themselves acquainted with the country. Unfertunately they are, however, too much inclined to use these occasions, not to learn anything, but to promulgate their own particular faith. We have had almost innumerable examples of this in New Zealand, and even since the last session both the. Premier and the Colonial Treasurer have been on the stump in the South. For some reason that could not, probably, be explained, Ministers of all shades of .opinions have, however, fought shy of the Wairarapa. They would go both North and South and all around it, but since Sir George Grey and Mr Sheehan, who were then respectively Premier and Native Minister, visited Greytown and Masterton in 1878, none of them have done mare than hastily travelled through the district. The visit of Mr Stout, Premier, yesterday, was therefore an event that was looked forward to with a certain degree of interest by those who are fond of lionising—a section of tho community that is not .very large in Masterton. A considerable amount of uncertainty prevailed as to whether Mr Stout would use the opportunity

which presented itself'at the lunch given in his honor to broach political ' subjects, When Sir George Grey was similarly honored, under precisely similar circumstances, he did . not h&itate in the matter at all, but boldly plunged into politics up to his very. neck. Mr Stout removed all uncertainty on the subject on the very -first opportunity by saying that he did not think the time was a suit-' able one to enter into a discission on | the politics of the country. We think in this he acted wisely. He had received an'invitation to deliver a lecture in Masterton, which ho accepted, Had he used the opportunity to preach political doctrines, he would have appeared in the character of a professional politician, and, much us there is about his creeds with which we cannot agree, we should have regretted seing him in that light, Had it been the Colonial Treasurer, we should not, of course, have been surprised, because he has made politics and the financing pertainiug to them, a profession, ever since he floated the first loan under the Public Works Scheme. Mr Stout said that he desired to make himself more acquainted with the people and their wants, and in this he certainly took a course that was in accordance with the tastes of the majority of those. with whom he came in contact. His speech at the lunch, and the lecture which he delivered in the evening, con tained very little of a political nature, and that little only referred to broad principles, It would be very gratifyif other members of the Grown, and other Premiers, would follow Mr Stout's last example, and, while travelling through the country, try to make ( themselves acquainted with its wants, in place ot spending their time in scheming how to gain political support.