Banquet to Sir J. Vogel.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 85, 24 February 1876, Page 3

Banquet to Sir J. Yogel.

Sir Julias VC&^rWas., banqueted in Wellington o-^.V^raEjaij;^evening last. The Mayor presided. . .=-.-.. Sir tTuliiis Yogel, in replying to^the; toast : of ;: ; jbis health, returned thanks- fpr ; . the honor Hone liim since his return to the Colaftyv ' He then said, he did ndt propose. J.o . enter into any explanation of any of the details in connection with' his trip Home. The leading, matters with which he had to deal "were immigration; -the' loan negotiation, and; the other, acts which were already, well known. "Whatever opinion might'have been- expressed here about the loan, it "was a pleasure to him to know that at Home the operation was looked upon as an, extraordinary success. It would not be out "pf ;place to make reference to the new submarine cable, now that in a few hours communication with the 'othe'-Wther Coloiiies would be complete, He fl«d*aiithority under the Governor's waitfariis to r have made the. Colony responsible for £20,000 per annnm for over thirty- five years — in all, .£700,000; whereas he only made, the Colony responsible for £&,000 a-year for ten years— in all. £50,000. Another important to deal with' was the arrangement made with Bank of Eng-' land, by which the Colony had its stock inscribed , and made payable to bearer' without entering, .into, explanations. He might say that the arrangement was thought in Australia to be a material improvement on the^ character of our securities. He regretted his ill— prevented him being present during so important a session, and rendering him unable to assist his, colleagues in the very heavy work that took place. ? T o feature of the session lie more regx^tted than the attacks upon the. Na-. tive Minister. But for the Native Minister and the confidence felt in his ability to prevent native disagreement, to have . carried out the- immigration would have, .been impossible. No one felt 'that more than Mr : Foxj and members of his Cabinet knew that to carry out the policy in hand, it. was. essential there should be raspite' from native * difficulties-. - Ministers 1 should be at liberty to;devote their. energies. to other matters. The confidence reposed- in him had'been fully justified. At times, perhaps,- he : had given way to exceptional expenditure in dealing with certain cases j but nothing could be more ungrateful than to now raise these questions afterall that the Colony owed to the tact, prudence, and discretion which' secured it from the difficulties which had afflicted ij in the past. " And now let us kick down the ladder by which we have risen," say they. Touching, the. question of. Abolition, he had said, when the Public Works policy was initiated, that if the policy conflicted^u^.V the Provinces the latter must yibid. The people must see that : whenever the Government came to a determination, such conflicts had arisen. They had had to deal with the case in 1871 and 1873. The General Government had to, give extraneous assistance to eyejy^P^rovince but two when they "wani^.autnority to borrow. It was impossible such a state of. things could go on.- As leader of the Government in session before last, he had every inducement not to deal with the matter. The House supported the Government till the .session was nearly at an end, and Ministers could have concluded the business withouc delay, but their sense of duty forbade their postponing the/ •question ior one day. The struggle was inevitable, and ' the longer the delay the more would. the country suffer. They were not anxious to do more than was necessary at the time; atid" therefore proposed to deal only with the North Island. That ; scheme - had advantages at the'time because Provincial boundaries in the North Island had no particular meaning, -and in many re spects these boundaries were advantageous. It became necessary, ; however, to deal with all , the Provinces, j and plans had to be modified to preserve more distinctly than otherwise would j be necessary the Provincial districts, i Provincial Governments . themselves made it necessary to deal' with all the Provinces.' > -They were: all anxious to .mpney in carrying out their Provincial works, yet the General Government had in reality done Provincial works for the last five years, and if they looked round the 'Colony theyt.would "see the General Government had done, moreinffbye years; than, tjhe, .Provinces could do in thirty-five. The railways, themselves were an :example of this. Take the. case of the Clutha Railway alone. The Province of Otago had for years vainlyr attempted: to carry -put that railway, and were willing to pay 8 per cent, upon £400,000. for it, whereas the General Government had done it at a cost estimated at five per cent, on £360,000, .showing -in that railway -alone a difference of £18,000, a. year., All sides had come to the opinion more and more -that the credit or the Colony would not- stand the, strain ; putfcppn, it by the. .Provinces. It : was impossible to pursue the systeni of seeing .which, would spend the money, the* General : Government or the Provincial: Govern- ; tnentk. The action which ',; had been going . on in. Otago plainly. , evinced what we we're {joining to by .the attempts' to'reserve- enormous blocks of land 'in' anticipation of Further changes. . It^yas, better, tor. have .these changes to show ' that such action was unnecessary than jto allow such a sense of insecurity' -to He- thought no Government

' could" fail To" see that tliei?nancial ques- r .tiopj .alone _mada' '&b*qlitii6)x 'nedfessary. He did not deny the ' f^ f Prbvincesr' had; done. He 'did th j p o with those '■ who for ye"a?s hadTdesireu* the-destrnc- i tioni of Provinces } nor did " he recall j pasfc opinions upon the question here. There were disadvantages inseparable ; fram Abolition. He did not consider an unmixed good arise from Abolition. On the other, hand, the Colony hadjforsome timerbeen doing Provincial j work. The most Provincial work done for years had been indirectly General Government work... Nearly everything that ;had been done, had been done through the General Government or the General- Assembly. Still,' whilst he beiieveii the: out-districts tyould largely benefit by the change, he was far from saying that no useful works;, had , been done by" the Provinces. It was clear, j however, that railways had made Pro- J vincialism much less necessary, The ! large; Provinces had had through that, other Provinces, so to speak, added to them. • On looking backitpon the de.bate on the Abolition question, he could only say that he considered it a credit to the Colony and the Legislature. He did' not complain of the stand which had : been made. He, - however, regretted the subsequent action of the Opposition, which was calculated to defeat its own en^s. The cry of Separation was unwise ; the thing was impossible and impracticable, as everyone must be aware.* When Separation might have been obtained, he was not opposed to it. He also said at that time that the North Island should have had a different form of government. He had maintained that the Imperial Government should be responsible for expenditure upon the native difficulties the Colony had had. imposed upon it. Through that difficulty there were five millions of debt. Separation would not now improve their position or claim , upon the Imperial Government. He. held that, sooner or later, the Imperial Government would have to consider what was due to the | Colony on account of the expenditure r on the native difficulties. When he | went Home he urged the claim of. the Colony on that account to have the four million loan guaranteed, and, indeed, for some days he had a hope that he would get his idea carried out, but he found out that he could not do it. He was confident however, that, sooner or later, the Colony would have its claims to investigation Tecognised. It was altogether top late to raise the question of Separation now we had entered into a partnership. The Middle Island had agreed to this partnership, and looked forward to be relieved in the end by the North Island. They also benefited by the partnership in Otago. The cry now raised for Separation was shortsighted; indeed, Otago's position relatively to the Colony with which it is now brought,^ "'ji^Josely into contact through comrmiisJ3o D ion is much more important to it than any local interests could be if Otago was a small Colony itself. Otago had now obtained such a position that anything which affected the Colony was of more importance to it thari narrow local interests. The cry about upsetting the Compact of 185(3 was merely ■ another attempt to create dissension. The Middle Island had agreed with the Colony to become liable for the cost of making roads at a very large expenditure through that island, and had, at the expense oi the Colony, agreed to purchase land at an expendi- j ture of .£750,000. If it was even desirable to increase that amount now, objection would be raised. In reality, the Compact of 1356 had been superseded to that extent that the Middle Island says, " We are now willing to see the.Colony. acquire for the North Island the best estate procurable." He .would again say that the change was not an unmixed good. Although the General. Government had been accustomed .to do Provincial work, yet Abolition meant a great wrench to their institutions. He could not forget, however, that the floating. debts of tha Provinces were very heavy, and would largely affect the finances of the Colony. He regretted that party feeling survived the determination to abolish the Provincps. There never was a time which more. .T^quired ..the. able, men of, all sides to aid in determining the various points which would arise in providing a substitute for " Provincial : Government. The work, could, not, be done at onee — ■ it must proceed tentatively. He for one did-notrdisguise.the. many difficulties that might arise before they had thoroughly provided a substitute- for all the machinery which the Provincial Governments supplied* The principal wants they would no doubt be able to deal with, but it' was impossible to provide a large system without .contingencies arising.that had not been foreseen. Another important question was the 1 and administration. .The Government \vere not at all unmindful of the^ great responsibilities thrown upon them in dealing with the administration of the land, which was a question quite apart from, and 1 of fat more importance than, the dissension about the land revenue. He hoped moderate men would yet Bee their. %ay to forego personal feelings arid aid in the work. For his part, he should . endeavor to do all he could to heal those differences that proceeded more from personal dis- : senson than differences of opinion. An" ; injpprtant movement 'df;';the. age., was the establishment of municipal govern -T; ments, whjcli ( tended to, make the., cities of New Zealand like the old free towns I

oif fiuropeT THeir" r pdsiti6ns"'"as'tb*the ! supply of gas^watej^drainage-^public libraries;- (fecyiwerevfiry proper and-de-j siratyle, but he did; not. think, harbors j\ 'should be' left to' municipalities 'to' deal 1 with . He was rather of opinion that, the Wellington harbor should be looked upon as a harbor belonging to tlie whole Island. It was not surpassed by any : harbor, in the Colony, and. only equalled by the harbor of Waiteraata. In respect to anticipation of difficulties^ there' might be a period of depression, and, persons who might have yielded to ln- : ducements in • overtrading mig^ht succumb. THeir energies; had been:expended worthily in developing" the country, arid' lie' had rid doubt" it" could: only suffer temporarily. The great works thatfhad been established, niust enable the Colony to progress. He was glad to find himself so welcomed by the working classes; He looked upon himself as one of the working" class. He owed his success in life' to his own labor and' hard. work. lie had .to thank his own industry for the position he, now occupied. The laboring classes enjoyed great advantages here over those of the Old Country, except in the case oi advanced mechanics. In some of the large towns of the Old World the position of the laboring classes was very I bad indeed. Those here compared favorably in their position with those elsewhere. They were able to command plenty of food, to. obtain land for homesteads, the comforts oi life, and" good education for their children, with openings left to them to ' attain the highest positions in the Colony.