The Clutha Leader. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1874

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 12, 24 September 1874, Page 5

The Clutha Leader. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1874

If it were possible for any act or course of procedure on the part of tbe hon. tbe Premier now to take the inhabitants of this Colony by surprise, his recent sudden departure for England would have done so. Some, months ago a rumor, which arose in Wellington, was circulated in Dunedin that a journey home was Mr. Vogel's intention. This coming to that gentleman's ears, it was at once " authoritatively" contradicted, and the public were assured that the rumor was entirely without foundation.

The contradiction was accepted and relied on for the tiriie being-, and its genuineness waa somewhat confirmed by the speech of his Excellency the Governor when opening the General Assembly, and in which he referred to ' the urgent necessity which existed for Ministers returning to their administrative duties. During the sessipn Mr. Yogel kept Iris secret to himself, and ajt its close immediately packed up his carpet bag and was of£ Any one who knows his utter incompetence as an administrator will feel that the country has sustained but s'jaaall loss at his departure. At the same time, considering the very large and important policy which was inaugurated by him, and which is now being carried out by tlie. country — public Works and Immigration—and considering further^ that Mr. Yogel haa surrounded himself with virtually dummy colleagues in the Ministry, he being in his own person the Government, it does seem great discourtesy on- his. part not to have made the Assembly aware of his proposed' departure. As it is, the country is almost left in the position of being without a responsible head in whatever emergency may occur, and thus the Premier has given eviden<« of his utter disregard and indifference ias to the interests of the country. The

reasons for his departure are thus given by him when addressing his constituents at Auckland on the 15th inst. :— It was bis desire to make some statement of the reason why he waa now proceeding' to England. He would be absent six or seven months. Hia first object waa to arrange for a cable with Australia, which he believed would soon be undertaken. Hi* next was with reference to immigration. Although, in exceptional cases, there might be hardship to immigrants, yet ail have noticed the extraordinary absorption of immigrants who arrived, which was mainly due to distributing then* over the Colony. The conduct of the Immigration Department was now satisfactory, but circumstances at Home rendered it necessary for a Minister to confer with the Agent-General, in order to obviate the irritating correspondence of the past. The Government resolved to bring the Department at Home more into harmony with the views entertained in the Colony. The third object of his visit was financial matters, which could not well be dealt with by correspondence.

! Mr. Yogel must have been very hard pressed for reasons to urge as a warrant for his journey when these were all he could invent — we say invent, for no one can read them without 'feeling 1 that the main one, whatever it mpy be, is carefully concealed. We have already an Agent-General in England who ought to be, and is quite competent to conduct the " financial matters " to which Mr. Yogel refers. As to the immigration reason, Mr. Yogel says the department is now satisfactory. Even were this true, which it is not,, it would be a, reaspn why Mr. Vogel's presence was not required at Home. The great dissatisfaction which is everywher3 felt in connection with the conduct of our immigration affairs has been brought about by the personal, and direct instructions of Mr. Yogel himself, and for him to go to England upon this .matter is simply an insult to the common sense and business fctabits of the community.

We observe from his recent address to his constituents, Mr. Yogel hints at the improbability of his again seeking their suffrages for a seat in the Assembl y, and statements have publicly been made that our Pbemibr, like our Gove nor, aspires to taking part in Imperial politics, and may not return to tbe Colony. Rumors have also been current as to a proppsnd, or accomplished partnership in a large Je\vish firm in London. Taking all this in connection with the fact that Mrs. Yogel and family have left the Colony for England, the substantial reason for the present journey of the Premikr may probably be correctly arrived at. That bis farewell to the Golony would be regretted by a very large number of Government pensioners, hangers-on, and political adventurers, caunot be doubced, but with the bona fide permanent settler and future tax-r.payer, it is quite possible the feeling* would be one of self-congratulation at aii escape from worse evils than have yet been entailed upon the Colony through the. Premier's action and influence.