THE VOGEL BANQUET.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 521, 18 February 1876, Page 2

THE VOGEL BANQUET.

(By Electric Telegraph.) Wellington, February 17. The Vogel banquet to-night was largely attended. About 250 sat at table, and there were a great many who could not gain seats. The gallery was crowded with ladies. All the principal public men were present. The members of the fire brigade attended in a body in uniform. The Mayor occupied the chair. Sir J. Vogel’s entry into the room, wearing his collar and star, was received with loud applause. The city members and members of the Ministry sat on either side of Sir J. Vogel Upon the chairman rising to propose “ Our Quest,” the cheers and applause were deafening. Throughout the remarks of the chairman referring to the public services of Sir J. Vogel, there was intense applause. Sir Julius Vogel, who was received with prolonged applause, in replying to the toast of his health, returned thanks for the honor done him since his return to the colony. He then said he did not propose to enter into an 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 of place to make reference to the new submarine cable, now that in a few hours communication with the other colonies would be complete. He had authority under the Governor’s warrants to have made the Colony responsible for twenty thousand per annum for over thirty-five years, in all seven hundred thousand pounds, whereas he only made the colony responsible lor thousand per year for ten years, in all £50,0D0. Auutnor important matter he had to deal with was the arrangement made with the Bank of England, 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 to the character of our securities. He regretted his illness prevented him being present during so important a session and rendering him unable to help his colleagues in the very heavy work that took place. No feature of the session he more regretted than the attacks upon the Native Minister. But for the Native Minister, and the confidence feAp his ability to prevent native disagreement, .to carry out the immigration policy-would have been impossible. No one felt tnat more than Mr Fox and the , members of Jdis Cabinet. It was known that to carry o» the policy in hand, it was: essential that there should be a respite from the native and that Ministers should be at lib3jty_to devote their energy to other matters. ’ The confidence reposed in him had fully justified. At ■ times, perhaps, he had given way to exceptional expenditure in dealing with certain cases, but nothing could be more ungrateful than, to now raise these questions, after all that the colony owed to the tact, prudence, and discretion which secured it from the difficulties which had afflicted it in the past, and saying, now let us kick down the ladder by which wehave risen. Touching the question of abolition, he said when the public works policy was instituted that if the policy conflicted with the provinces, the lattef must (field —the people must see that whenever the Government came to a that such conflicts had arisen, they had to deal with the case. In 1871 and Geueral Government had to give extraneous assistance to every province but two, and they wanted authority to borrow. It was impossible that such a state of things could go on. As the leader of the Government in the 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 comfoitably concluded the business without dealing with the matter, but their sense of public duty forbade their postponing the question for 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, and 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 respects these boundaries were disadvantageous. It became necessary, however, to deal with all the provinces, and plans had to be modified to preserve more distinctly, than otherwise would have been necessary, the provincial districts. The Provincial Governments themselves made it necessary to deal with all the provinces. They were all anxious to spend money in carrying out their provincial works ; yet the General Government bad in reality done provincial work for the last five years, and if they looked round the colony they would see that the General Government had done more in five years than the 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 for years vainly attempted to carry out that railway, and were willing to pay eight per cent, upon four hundred thousand pounds for it; whereas the General Government had done it at a cost estimated at five per ; cent, on three hundred and sixty thousand pounds, showing in that railway alone a difference of eighteen thousand pounds a year. All sides had come to the opinion more and more that the credit of the colony would not stand the strain put upon it by the provinces. It was impossible to pursue the system of seeing which would spend the most money, the General Government ©r Provincial Governments. The action which had been going on in Otago plainly evinced what they were coming to, by the attempts to reserve enormous blocks of land in anticipation of further changes. It was better to have these changes, to show that such action was unnecessary, than to allow such a sense of insecurity to continue. He thought no Government could fail to see that the financial question alone made abolition necessary, j He did not deny the good the provinces had done. He did not go with those who for yeai a desired the destruction of the provinces, nor did he recall past opinions upon the question. There were disadvantages inseparable from abolition, and he did not consider an unmixed good would arise from abolition. On the other hand, the colony had for some time been doing provincial work. The most provincial work done for years had been indirectly General Government work. Nearly everything tf any consequence that had been done had been done through the General Government or the General Assembly. Still, whilst he believed out districts would largely benefit by the change, he was far from saying that no useful works had been done by the provinces. It was clear, however, that the railways had made provincialism much less necessary. The large provinces had through that, other provinces, so to speak, added to them. On looking back upon the debate on the abolition question, he could only say that he considered it a credit to the cohjpy and 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 ends. The cry of separation was unwise. The thing was impossible and impracticable, as every one 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 responsibleforthe expenditure upon thenative difficulties. The colony had imposed upon it through that difficulty, five millions of debt. Separation would not now improve their position or claim upon the Imperial Government. He held strongly that sooner or later the Imperial Government would have to consider what was due to the colony on account of the expenditure on native difficulties. When he went home he urged the claim of this colony on that account to have the four million loan guaranteed. Indeed, for some days he had hopes 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 recognised. It was altogether too late to raise the question of separation, now they 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, which was 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 into thorough communication, is much more important to it than any local interests could be if Otago was a small cdlbny itself. Otago had now obtained such a position that anything which affected the colony was of more importance to it than narrow local interests. The cry about upsetting the compact of 1856 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 the North Island, and at the expense of the colony had agreed to purchase land at an expenditure of £750,000, and if it was even desirable to increase that amount, no objection would be raised. In reality, the compact of 1856 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 change was not an unmixed good. Although the General Government bad 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 the provinces were very heavy, and would largely affect the finances of the colony; He regretted party feeling survived the determination to abolish the provinces. There never was a time which more required 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 once. It must proceed tentatively. He for one did not disguise the many difficulties that might arise before they had thoroughly provided substitutes for all the machinery which Provincial Government supplied. The principal wants they would no doubt be able to deal with, but it wai impossible to provide » largo system

without contingencies arising that had not been foreseen; Another important question was the land administration. The General Government were 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 of far more importance than the discussion about land revenue. He hoped moderate men would yet see their way to forego personal feelings and aid in the work. For his part he should endeavor to do all he could to heal those differences that proceeded more from personal dissension than differences of opinion. An important movement of the age was the establishment of municipal governments, which tended to make the cities of New Zealand like the old free towns of Europe. Their positions as to supply of gas, water, drainage, public libraries, &c, was very proper and desirable, but he did not consider harbors should be left to municipalities to deal with. He wa* rather of opinion that Wellington harbor should be looked upon as a harbor belonging to the whole island. It was not surpassed by any harbor in the colony, and only equalled by the harbor of Waitemata. In respect to anticipations of difficulties, there might be a period of depression, and persons who might have yielded to the inducements to overtrading might succumb. Their energies had been expended worthily in developing the country, and he had no doubt it could only suffer temporarily. The great works that had been established must enable the colony to progress. He was glad to find himself so welcomed by the working classes, as he looked upon himself as one of the working classes. He owed his success in life to his own labor and hard work. He had to thank his own industry for the position he now occapied. The laboring classes enjoyed great advantages here. Except in the case of advanced mechanics in some of the large towns in the old world, the position of the laboring classes here appeared to compare favorably with their position elsewhere. They were able to command plenty of food, to obtain land for homesteads, the comforts of life, and good education for their children, with openings left to them to attain the highest position in the colony. Bir J. Vogel sat down amidst immense and prolonged applause. The Hon Mr Reynolds responded to the toast of “ The Ministry.”