THE HON. JULIUS VOGEL'S ADDRESS.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2387, 25 November 1870, Page 2

THE HON. JULIUS VOGEL'S ADDRESS.

We are in receipt of a copy of Mr Vogel's address to the electors of the East Division of the City of Auckland, for the representation of which he is a candidate. We extract the following

POLICY OF THE FUTCKE. I will now touch very briefly upon future policy. I say to you plainly that, in electing mo as your representative, you will elect one -who believes thoroughly that it is the wisest policy the Colony can adopt to carry out, under judicious limitations and efficient supervision—not going too fast to work in any sense—great necessary public works. I essentially believe in a public-works policy, and therefore it is useless for you to suppose that, in sending me to the Assembly, you will bo sending a representative of any other views than that it is desirable to construct in New Zealand large public works with borrowed money. As to the Native question, there are those hero and elsewhere who talk about treating to Natives as ordinary Europeans, about the Queen’s writ running through the country, and so on; but I say that ad that is chimerical. We have to deal with those who arc far below us in civilisation, and they must be exceptionally dealt with. I believe that it is the wisest policy exceptionally to deal with the Natives—that some amount of money may be more usefully spent on merely conciliatory purposes than on purposes of war. That is our policy. Year by year we desire to persuade the Natives that the very worst way in which they can be employed is in fighting—that it is very , much better that they should bo content to assist us in opening up and settling the country. We believe that every year during which war is avoided is a great gain to the country, and one to be thankful for. We will not talk about making the Queen s writ run throughout the country, nor of treating the Natives as Europeans. We will not endeavor to force large ideas of civilisation down the throats of the Natives, only to get for every such endeavor a belligerent response, There will be questions arising in tho future about which I cannot now say much, No doubt one of these questions will have reference to the large number of different land laws which exist in the colony. There will no doubt be proposals for the unification of those laws, with the view to the adoption of one system which may be successfully carried out. It was urged as an objection to our policy that we were stopping short, because we did not come down with proposals for dealing with the land question. But it is a question that will have to be very carefully dealt with. I am not indicating that we are prepared to deal with it. iam only pointing out as one element that may be connected with public work questions in the future, this question of the varied land laws existing in the Colony. Another large questi 'ii, and one which the Government are prepared to consider, is that of education, although in some Provinces education has been very well attended to, and tho means provided have been large. Yet there are unfortunately other Provinces, and 1 believe that Auckland is one. in which the work has not been so satisfactorily attended to. But the education question is one which the Government have assured the House they will take into consideration during the recess, with a view of making some proposal respecting it. Such proposals may 10 sibly only affect the Provinces where education is neglected Do not, I beg of you, be misled, by statements about our policy being one which is accepted only by the needy, or by those who hope to obtain employment under it. I toll you that some of the very largest capitalists ia the Colony were those who were first to recognise the value of our proposals. I cannot, I think, bo wrong in mentioning the names of those who are really public men. In tho Middle Island there is no shrewder mar, of busings than the Hon. Mr Matthew Holmes, and ho has again and again given me permission Jio use his name, and to say that he, as one who is well able to judge, is of opinion that our policy is such that the cost of much of the railways we propose to construct would be m rc than compensated for by the increased value of the property through which, those lines of railway would pass. The Hon. Mr Campbell, who, in himself and his family, represents in the Middle Island not far short of half a million of money invest d, who is an enormous landed proprietor in Otago and Southland, told mo that as soon almost as he became acquainted witii our pokey he was induced thcr by to become a further purchaser of land ; and he also told me that, from tho very large acqua iitanee he had with the money market, he bit sur« that whatever amo nt we required for reproductive works wo idioul i have no difficulty in obtaining. I cou'd me' dmi a dozen <.thcr iiani ’3 ' f men, with en union stakes n the country, who entertain such opinions as I have now stated. I ask y> u, hve you the | same faith in the capabilities of tho country as is possessed by those m.n—not men who wiio have nothing to lose, hut men who have a very great deal at stake in this Colony? 1 have heard it stated by such

men, that even should our policy eventuate in further taxation, they would not object to paying it if it b came necessary, on account of its opening up the country and peopling it. I have not time to read to you from the financial statement extracts by which yon would see that carefully made calculations justify the conclusion that our policy will not lead to increased taxation ; although we do not hesitate to put it to you that, even if it did, tint taxation would be for purposes of so valuable a nature that it should not be shrunk from We say that more money than is now raised cannot be ra'sed by means of the Customs, and that if a further sum has to be raised by taxation it must be by taxation of a direct nature, as a house tax, a property-tax, an income-tax or one that will be felt by those absentees who now enjoy out of the country wealth derived from property within it. Put we do not anticipate the necessity. Do wo find that those who are possessed of largo m ans arc frightened at the mere possibility of further taxation ? We do not. As upon one hand it is asked, ai d justly, “ What is the good of necessary articles being cheap if men have no money with which to buy them?” so these men say, “What is the good of our having large prop, rtics if there are n > purchasers for them ? What is the good of our being large producers if there is not population to consume what we produce?” .... Much as lam wedded

to the doctrine, that it is one of the most important duties of the Government to take measure* to increase the population, and also to extend the number of those among whom our burdens at e to be shared, I am not a believer in the reckless and rash immigration which would merely set people down upon the shores of New Zealand, without hoed to the question of how they are to be employed. Speaking as a resident of the Province, I ask, are wc to make use of the colonising policy of the Government, and so to develope the resources of this Province ? , . . .