THE NEW POOR-LAW PRESIDENT.
Mr. CHARLES BULLER is the President of the new Poor-law Board. We agree with a contemporary, that "there will be little difference of opinion as to the propriety of this selection." It is felicitous in many ways.
Mr. Buller is a general favourite—for his unalloyed kindliness, his quick intelligence, and the bright summer lightning of his playful wit, which illustrates without wounding. The appointment rescues him from a false position, and puts an end to a fraud upon the public ; of which we, perhaps, have the keener sense inasmuch as we once shared the delusion. On his appointment to a half-sinecure, it was publicly stated, without contradiction, that he was virtually attached to the Colonial Office, as a kind of consulting assistant ; whose knowledge of coloniza- tion and liberal counsels were to benefit the administration of Colonial affairs. We cannot detect the faintest trace of his in- fluence in the department. They averred in " the Office " that they knew nothing about Mr. Buller ; and said it with an air as offended and as emphatic as a waiter at Mivart's might put on in repelling inquiries for some commercial traveller as a frequenter at that distinguished hotel. How the fraud originated, or what its motive, we know not ; nor how far Mr. Buller was himself deceived. Something made him put an unprecedented seal upon his lips : since he has been Judge-Advocate-General, lie has neither advocated nor judged anything at all, but has been re- duced to a cipher. Something had turned Charles Buller to a yea-and-nay Member ! It is to be hoped that his extrication will free his tongue, and that his voice will once more enliven the debate.
Mr. Buller is likely to serve both the public and his own repu- tation in this new capacity. We presume that the drudging work will fall upon the two Secretaries. If it is to be Mr. Buller's function to make statements in Parliament, to parry importunity and complaint with sense and pleasantry, to guide the general administration by applying principles which he understands as well as any man, and to temper theoretical precision with gene- rous interpretations, we should anticipate that he would excel almost any one that could be selected for the post.
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