THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 1881. SIR GEORGE GREY’S NEW GRIEVANCE.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2244, 11 June 1881, Page 2

THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 1881. SIR GEORGE GREY’S NEW GRIEVANCE.

It will be observed by reference to another column that Sir George Grey has started a new grievance. On the occasion of the attendance of the members of the Lower House at the Council to hoar the Governor’s speech, by some inadvertent omission, tho members were not provided with sitting accommodation. On tho first opportunity Sir George rises in his place in the House and inveighes in unmeasured terms against what he is pleased to term a deliberate insult against the elected of the people, and he is only stopped by the Speaker reading a memo, from the Speaker of the Legislative Council, regretting the circumstance alluded to, and instructing the clerk to see that it does not happen again. It is suggested that this absurd little misunderstanding will prove very convenient to the ex-Promior, when the constituencies are next appealed to, and ho endeavours to stir up popular fooling. Tho extinction of the Upper House is one of his favourite hobbies, and the proposal of the Government to legislate oh tho method of tho election of that Chamber has not at all fitted in with his wishes. Tho ground was being cut from under his foot, for it would be a very

different thing to agitate with respect to a Chamber which had been in existence in its present form for a number of years, and to agitate with respect to one, the constitution of which has just been ratified by the deliberate vote of the representatives of the people. So this matter of the non-providing of sitting accommodation for the members of the House will bo a regular god-send. It will be used as a proof positive that nothing that can bo done or has been done, could or will be at all likely to alter the radical evil that lies at the base of the formation of all Upper Houses. It will be shown that they aro dangerous to the liberties of the people, and not merely so, but that they delight on all possible occasions to show their hatred and contempt for the Lower Houses. All this and a good deal more may be expected from Sir George when next he visits these parts, so that wo trust his supporters here and elsewhere will work themselves up into a proper state of fury by the time he arrives, and thus be able to greet his utterances with a due amount of enthusiasm. Let us recall, once more, the circumstances with the philanthrophic intention of aiding Sir George by lightening his labors. The few members of the Lower House present wore compelled by the culpable negligence of a bessottedly aristocratic clerk to stand during the delivery of the Governor's speech, a speech which occupies nearly three-quarters of a column of newspaper matter. Kept in such an uncomfortable position they were quite unable to digest the carefully enunciated periods of the composition. If they had had somethinng to lean against, the matter would not have been so bad, for they might then have flung themselves into the graceful and picturesque attitudes, suited to the occasion and the audience; but their dignity was violated utterly by the false position in which they found themselves placed. Moreover, it was possible to discover a covert sneer on the countenance of more than one of the high-toned aristocrats who abound on the benches of the Legislative Council. And even further than this. Signs were not wanting that it was at the direct instigation of the Speaker of the Upper House that the clerk of that House neglected to provide the necessary accommodation. Was it likely that such a gross insult should be offered unpremeditatedly ? Decidedly not—and so on ad infinitum. Anybody might well go the length of prophecying that all this, and a good deal more, will be heard tram Sir George Grey when next he delivers one of his rounded orations in the Oddfellows 5 Hall.

An inventive genius, indeed, will discover mountains in mole hills with surprising facility. Another of Sir George’spet schemes is an elective Governor. It may he taken for granted that the somewhat pompous way in which Sir Arthur Gordon opened Parliament will be treated as an argument against the present system. Are the gaudy trappings of an effete civilization to he introduced into the Republican simplicity of our adopted country p Are cloaks of blue and crimson to bo worn for the purpose of distinguishing their wearers from the ordinary run of people who are clad in soberer shades and less imposing cuts ? Never ! Sir George will declare, among the enthusiastic cheers of his entire audience, except those connected with the tailoring persuasion. “ Lot us elect a Governor,” the ex-Premier will proceed, “ who does not possess any cloaks except ordinary waterproofs, who has no eye for color, and who has not a son sufficiently diminutive to be dressed up as a page. This is the sort of man that the nation wants, and no nominee of theCrown, chosen for the class that invariably is to be found pursuing its ordinary avocations clad in nothing less brilliant than crimson and blue.” And then Sir George will proceed to explain the enormous good produced by the simplicity of costume forced on all during the French Revolution, but will probably burke the fact that the movement culminated in the adoption of a style more indecent than any that has been known in modem days.

That the very first day of Parliament should have afforded the loader of the Opposition such ample food for the future, must be matter of congratulation to his whole party. The platform of the party is becoming wofnlly narrowed by the vigour of the Government. Useful measures of social and legislative reform are being pushed on with startling rapidity; so that really the probable fate of the agitators would appear to be a somewhat hard one. Providence, by depriving their Parliamentary representatives of all tangible means of support during the delivery of the Governor’s Speech, and by clothing his Excellency in the bright hues of the Grand Cross of St. Michael and St. George, has proved that it has not entirely deserted the party.