SIR WliLIAM^OX ONsTHE POLL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1643, 23 August 1887, Page 3

SIR WIiLIAM^OX ON s THE POLL

TO THE EDITOR. Flß,— lt would be impossible for one who hsi taken an active part m the colonisation and political life of the colony for 45 years, not to feel a deep interest Id the present crisis of its affaire. Aod aDy one having such interest would hardly like to remain silent, without Riving expression to his thoughts and opinions. Not being a candidate for a seat m the Nsw Parliament, I have no platform from which to ipeak ; but it has occurred to me that I might, with yonr permission, avail myself of the oolnmai of the 11 Advocate" to talk matters over with my old constituents, whose representative m Parliament I was for many yeara. It may, perhaps, interest some of them to know what my opinions are. There is, no doubt, a orisia m our affairs, wh'ch m the eyes of some hat aisomed almost the form of a panic. I have lived through a good many crises m New Zaaland. The flnt 20 years of the colony's existence was an almost continuous succession of crises. In one settlement I have seen wages on the public works down to eighteenpence a day } m another, I have known the ■mall farmer reduced to dlpging up hia ■Md potatoes to feed hii starving family ; m a labor market of 850 men I have kncwn 300 dismissed In one day for want of the means of employment; I have known all the leading men of a settlement mwnabred m a morning j I have seen several whole settlements, one after another, devastated lad tbeir inhabitants killed or driven away by Native wars, which lasted for ylars : and I have Been the colony engaged m along body-to-body fight with the Colonial Offioa and its representative to obtain a Constitution which might give us the rights of free men and' the machinery of self government; I have seen the colony pass through all these crises and a good many more, and oome ont' strong and vigorous to achieve new triumphs and continue its careers of progress and prosperity ; and I have do doubt it will do no again. When a political crisis occours, it Is wonderful how many State phyaloiana coma to the front with their advice gratia. There is always a crop of Holloways, each with hia universal remedy, which too often resolves itself into a olass or personal job. We have plenty of ■uoh In the field at this moment — leading statesmen, young aspirants for Parliamentary honors, and the prophets of the Press. I have read a great msny of their speeches and articles, and this fact has ■track me ; that • while every one his his separate remedy, there is scarcely one who appears to have taken the trouble to ascertain what are the causes which have led to the crisis. If the captain of a ship were to find four feot of water In the well, and the pomps choked, he would not be satiefiad with setting the crew to bale out the hold with pannikins; bnt if he was a man of common sense he would try to find out where ihe leak was, and then do his best to stop v. This is just where our political captains seems to me to have failed. They er* all prepared with their remedies, each with his own peculiar pannikiD, but not one of them seems to know where the water oomes m. One says, take away the land from- those who have it/ and give it to these who havn't, and everybody will be prosperous and contended, particularly, I suppose, these from whom It is taken ; another saye, appropriate the "unearned increment;" another, abolish freehold tenure and tnike eveiy landowner a political ■erf dependent on the State, that i« on the Government for the time being ; another ears, protect native Industries; another criea out for freetrade ; and an•ther has a scheme for abolishing hard timek, for good and all, by getting the beys and girls to Insure their lives and get mirrled, when, I Bnppcse, the State will give them two new suits of clothes every half-year and a free railway pas* to tide to the balls and races. But the favorite remedy of a large number is " to get rid of Sir Julius Yogel. I?, is he and his public works scheme which have destroyed the credit of the olony and °roagbt all this trouble upon us." Before I proceed to stati my opinion as to what are the real causes of the crisis, I would like to dispose of this scmeleßß and nndiscriminatlng cry about Sir Jnliua Yogel and his Publio Works scheme. For the introduction of the scheme, I am just as responsible as ha is, I was Premier of the Ministry m which he was Colonial Treasurer, aod jointly with bur other colkagutt, Sir Donald McLean, Sir Di lon Ben, and Mr Gisborne, thoroughly endorted his scheme And every Ministry we have had since has done the same : Majoi Atkinson's, Whltaker'a, Grey'p, Han't, and Stout's. I was only two years In offioe after the scheme was adopted, ■ and Sir Julius himself only six He then beoame Agent-General, and lived m London for eight yean. Between 1876 and his return m 1884, any mischief which has been. dope has been UDder the maladministration, of others. The time when the credit of the colony was moat nearly Wrecked was during Sir George Grey's administration, when large sutqb were spent not only without appropriation, bat In direct defiance of law, such as m the instances of the Tapanui and HamlltonTe Aroha railroads ; and when just before going oat of office a loan of five millions, In a lump sum without appropriation, was demanded from the House, with a pistol at its head, as I may say, when no financial statement had been made for 15 months, and when, as afterwards came to light, two millions of the loan demanded had been forestalled before it was got, and the Government went . out of office with a contingent .deficit, of a million. But Sir Julius Yogel had nothing to do with these events. On the contrary, it was by his able intervention as Agent-General that the credit of the oolony was at that time fared from absolute ruin by the nonpayment of its interest to its bond-holders m London ; an event which four-and-twenty hours might have brought about. It is not, however, my business to defend Sir Julius ; be is capable of doing that himself. What I want to do is to show that the " Immigration and Publio Works scheme of 1870" was a wise, rational, and Statesmanlike measure, and that it has net only not ruined our oedit, but has promoted the progress and prosperity of the oolony to an Immense extent In order to do this efficiently it will be necessary to. give a brief historical mums of the olrcumstaijoes m which the colony was at |he thne, and how they justified the adoption of so large and important a measnre as the scheme undoubtedly was. This I will endeavor to do m my next letter.— l»m ( etc., . . William Fox.