Hon, Julius Vogel, C.M.G.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 177, 1 April 1873, Page 7

Hon, Julius Vogel, C.M.G.

| The following account of the Hon. Julius j Vogel’s life will doubtless bo of interest to j our readers : : Mr Vogel was born in London on the 21th ; February, 1836, so that he is now in his ■ thirty-eighth year. In early life he had very j delicate health, and was chiefly educated by j masters at home. In his thirteenth year he j attended the London University School, i where he remained until he was sixteen. At I this age he lost both his parents. After he j left school he entered the office of his grand- ! father, who was the head of a large house in | the 'Vest Indian and South American trade. | It was intended Mr Vogel should acquire a j knowledge of mercantile purs lists, and with itnis view he proceeded to South America, I where, through his connections, good prosj poets awaited him. But when the Victorian gold-fields became famous he was seized with the restless fever to visit them which attacked so many young men, and against the advice of his friends he proceeded to the new El Dorado. Before leaving, however, he went through a course of study ;n the chemistry and metallurgy of gold and silver at the Royal School of Mines. Jcrmyn-street. i was Dr Percy’s first pupil in the metallurgical I laboratory of that institution, and from that | gentleman took out with him to Melbourne a | proficiency in the art of smelting and assaying the precious^metals. Pome time after his arrival Mr Vogel was concerned in various business pursuits in Melbourne and on the gold-fields. To oblige a friend, who was ill, he wrote an article for an up-country newspaper, and so first became connected with journalism, to which he afterwards devoted himself. Fie became editor of the MaryI*m>wjh and Dnnolly Advertiser, proprietor of the Inylewood Advertiser, and part proprietor of the Talbot- Leader. When the rush fo Otago commenced, he went to Dunedin and purchased an interest in the principal paper there, started the Otago Daily Times, the first daily newspaper in New Zealand, which for some vears ho edited. Before, he left Vic-; tori a ho stood a contested election for the | Avoca district. Ho polled 2000 votes, but; was defeated by the Hon. Mr Grant and Mr i Davis, the present Chairman of Committees, j Annoyance at this defeat had a great deal to ! do with his departure for New Zealand. He studied hard the politics of this colony, and ' within two years became a member of the i Colonial House of Representatives, and the Provincial Council of Otago. For some years he was head of the Provincial Executive, but.: early in 1809 he resigned, as, having disposed j of the Otago Dally Times, he intended to reside at Auckland, where he became, and still is, proprietor of the Southern Cross and Weck'y News newspapers. Mr Vogel belongs j to the Jewish persuasives. 3 ‘