SIR JULIUS VOGEL AT CHRISTCHURCH.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1614, 20 July 1887, Page 3

SIR JULIUS YOGEL AT CHRISTCHURCH.

Chbistohokoh, July 19. Sir Jullua Yogel addressed the electors of OhrlsVohurob North to-night la the The»tre Roya', whloh th orowded. The Mayor was m the chair. Blr Julius Yogel was warmly received He expressed deep regret at Mr Holmes probable retirement. He quoted atotiitlcs to show that the colony In 1860 70 wai In extreme depression, and had largely benefited through the publlo works policy he had Introduced. As he had been absent from the colony from 1876 to 1884, he was not responsible for what wai done m his abience, He claimed that the present Government had been prudent and economical. The distlngolshing feature of their polioy h<»d been encouragement to local in'duitrlet, Including land settlement andr.anlning. He reviewed, the work of the Government •Ince taking office, claiming especial oredit for ttvtog the colony further expenditure over the cable subsidy. * He denied that the Government had Introduced crushing taxation. When they took office the property tax was fd. During their Ministry it has averaged 11-lGth, or 1-lGth less. Though Mr Ballanoe's action m Incurring £60,000 liabilities for village settlement w»s irregular, it was not illegal, as the law allowed the Government to exceed the v tea by £100,000. In 1384 Major Atkinson considered he had only sifazhtly exceeded the authority ot Parliament when be had done so to tho extent of £261,000. The Government proposed further retrenchment, as it seemed that the country .was m etrneat m wishing it, but it must be clearly understood that decreased expenditure meant redaoed services. Increase of Customs duties was * demanded by both prudenoe and honesty when the responsibilities of foe colony were taken into account. la raising the tariff encouragement of looal Industries most be token into account. The question for consideration m regard to Protection was— Are we to disregard employing owe population, and put tnem In competition with oheap labor? He argued that ' those who professed that Protection would lower wages were often insincere m using *X, as many of thorn really wanted wages to be reduced. The probability of future competition was counterbalanced by tbe fact that, as the country grew, its wants would enormously increase. Protection would not injuriously effeot the farmers as it was not proposed to tax agricultural machinery with few exceptions. He al- j leged that tbe property tax proposals of the Crovernmentwerefeic to allclasans, pointing out that they would not injuriously affect the colony m England, as it would only affect such English capital as was invested on mortgage m tbe colony. The Govern* ment had ordered a large quantity of wire Betting for use m checking the rabbit nuisance. He regretted the watit of colonial feeling throughout Ihe colony, and deprecated tbe gloomy character of several of the recent publio ut erattoes. Tbe speech was listened to with great attention and loudly applauded. A vote of thanks and renewed confidence was carried by acclamation, only three hands being held up against it. Cheers for Sir Julius Yogel and the Mayor concluded the meeting: