entirely subservient to him. The telegraph operator in Christchurch made the signature “Whithouse” instead of “Waterhouse,” and the over-eager member of the Opposition in Christchurch read it as “Whitmore,” and sent the reply to the wrong man.
The incident shows the eagerness of the Government’s opponents to see it fall, and the confidence with which they relied upon getting into office.
Clearly, everything was ready for the Government’s defeat. The Conservative Party seemed to be dying of old age just before Sir George Grey came to disturb its slumbers. When he sent it from the treasury benches, the shock and the surprise roused it into activity, and it came forward armed cap-a-pie, with more vigour and more stomach for fighting. Obviously, there was little chance of the Liberal Premier holding his position. His autocratic temperament estranged even his devoted followers. His quarrelsome moods became unbearable. He quarrelled with his enemies; he quarrelled with his friends. The only people he did not quarrel with were the public and the Maoris, both of whom he treated like children.
Difficulties crowded in. The Government had taken office in a year of plenty, when the finances were sound, the revenue was increasing, and the colony’s progress was marked by a notable extension of the export trade. After less than two years of office, the Government had to face serious embarrassments. The colony was overtaken by a commercial depression, which came up suddenly like a summer storm. It could not have come at a more critical time. The land revenue, upon which the Colonial Treasurer had largely depended, fell off. The colony’s finances were depressed. Unemployed gathered in the streets and abused the Government. Trouble arose with Tawhiao, the Maori King, and with Te Whiti, the Maori prophet.
When Parliament met in 1879 the Government’s supporters were grumbling that they were not in the Government’s confidence, and the Opposition was sure of victory. The Government brought down its policy again, improved, extended, and more progressive than ever. Sir George Grey believed that even if Parliament did not want the reforms he
