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It was a source of legitimate pride to Grey—and in later years he reminded the Secretary for the Colonies— that, on four different occasions, he had been appealed to by the Colonial Office to accept the governorship of a colony that was passing through a crisis. First in South Australia, when the high-minded but injudicious Colonel Gawler had brought the Colony to the verge of insolvency. Next, in New Zealand, when a Governor possessing many fine qualities, but lacking in judgment, had been found unequal to a difficult situation. Again, in South Africa, where troubles of many sorts had been brewing. Now once more to New Zealand, where the relations between the Maoris and the settlers had become hopelessly entangled, he was summoned from a country where he was doing splendid work, to restore order and peace in a country distracted by a prolonged Native war. The Duke of Newcastle, recalling Governor Gore Browne, explained that he considered it desirable that, at a critical moment in its history, the Colony should have the advantage of "the authority attaching to the name and character of Sir George Grey." And the recalled Governor himself, with a generosity which, to the credit of human nature, is happily not rare in such circumstances, acknowledged that the Colony had everything to gain from the experience and prestige of his predecessor.