SIR J. VOGEL’S APPOINTMENT.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1764, 15 October 1879, Page 3

SIR J. VOGEL’S APPOINTMENT.

[By Telkobaph.] A letter from Sir Julius Yogel relative to his position as Agent-General, dated April 18th, states that he has observed certain statements in the House of Representatives which imply that some improper understanding had existed between him and the late Government on the subject of his holding the office of Agent-General, or exchanging it for some other appointment. He therefore feels called upon to state the exact terms of the position in which he stood to the late Government in respect to his appointment as Agent-General. When the news of Dr. Feathers tone’s death reached him he offered the Agent-Generalship to Mr Stafford, who declined it on the ground principally that he did not intend visiting England until after the expiration of at least a year. Subsequently the appointment was offered to him (Sir J. Yogel) by the Government, and there was no secret when he should resign the office of Agent-General, though no binding arrangement was made, for reasons which had now no place in his mind. He had supposed it would not suit him to continue for longer than eighteen months, but there was an opinion in the Cabinet that the office might be abolished after twelve months, and the offer of the appointment to him was strictly limited to that period. After he had held the appointment some little time, he intimated to the Government that it would suit him to hold the position permanently. Sir J. Yogel then goes on to say that about the same time he asked permission to act on the board of a public company, following the precedent set by the late Agent-General, to whom, when he asked permission, it was granted. “To this, says Sir J. Vogel, I received no definite reply, and as I subsequently recalled my intention of joining the company, there was no need of one. On the Bth of August, 1877, I received a telegram from Major Atkinson which, though marked confidential, I considered official. It appears that Major Atkinson did not so intend it, and it may be a moot point if I am entitled to take my own views of its character ; but at all events I am justified in saying of it that which has been publicly stated, viz., that it was an invitation to me to state whether I would prefer continuing Agent-General, or to have the agency for inscription of stock, with a commission. No reference was made to Mr Stafford or to anyone else. The object of the telegram seemed to be to ascertain my wishes. There is no reason why I should not give you my reply. It was as follows :—“ Atkinson, New Zealand— Take Agency if include new loans and conversion of old loans. My commission not leas than an eighth, and immediate consent to act as director. Otherwise continue AgentGeneral, but hope allow me to be director. See letter 27th June. Important immediate consent. Reply if change. Hope you announce as promotion. Like represent colony Paris Exhibition,” I received no reply to this telegram, and my position as Agent-General has never been defined, so that position is that my appointment is permanent under the Governor’s warrant, the Government not having determined at the end of the year to alter the constitution of the office. From this recital of facts it will be seen that on being asked I expressed my preference for the inscription agency on certain conditions. There was no understanding with me beyond what I have stated, and I am at a loss to see that any objection could be taken to my appointment to a position which my knowledge of the business to be dealt with rendered me, I venture to say, capable of filling satisfactorily. Not holding office in the Cabinet, there could be nothing improper in my communicating with the Government on the subject of my appointment. Daring the two years I have held my present office, I have entirely abstained from any interference in New Zealand politics. It has appeared to me that this abstinence was a duty inseparable from the position I held as Agent-General. After such a period of inaction, the occasion seems to me to be suitable to explicitly declare that when I resigned the premiership, I felt I had not sufficient health and strength to discharge its onerous duties, whilst I was impressed with the_ conviction that I could occupy the position of Agent-General with advantage to Now Zealand. I was not willing to bind myself to hold the appointment beyond a period of

eighteen months, but I felt that, even if I ceased to be Agent-General, I could be of service to the colony.” In conclusion. Sir J. Vogel asks that “ his memorandum be laid before Parliament.”

PEOPOSED DEAF AND DUMB INSTITUTION.

[Bt Telegraph.] Sir J. Vogel, on the 18tb June, informed the Colonial Secretary that in accordance with instructions he has engaged the services of Mr Gerrit Van Asch, to proceed to New Zealand as teacher of deaf and dumb mutes, £2O being paid as honorarium to Dr. Abbott for assisting in making the selection. Mr Asch to embark for New Zealand at the latter end of October. In an enclosure Sir Julius Vogel, Messrs Edwin A. Abbott, and Walter Kennaway, report at length to the Premier, under date June 10th, that seventeen applications for the appointment was read, twelve being persons who professed to teach on the combined system, three from persons who had no special knowledge of teaching of deaf mutes, and one a professor of the German system, which teaches pupils to converse by means of articulate sound, and understand by lip reading, (interpreting the movement of the lips of the speakers to the exclusion of all signs except natural ones. The introduction of this system has been comparatively recent. Mr Von Asch came over from Holland expressly to teach the system, but its general introduction is, perhaps due to Mr Bt. John Ackers, who travelled with hie wife all over the Empire, and part of America in order to find the best system for teaching their child, a little girl who lost her hearing in infancy. They adopted the German system taught by an American lady, and were so delighted with progress made that they threw themselves enthusiastically into the cause of promoting the system, establishing a college, with a number of influential coadjutors. Mr Asch had a private school on this system. The German plan discards the system of arbitrary signals as opposed to natural ones to express words, letters, or short sentences, by which deaf mutes are enabled to compensate themselves for loss of bearing and speech. They read and write with facility and read from the lips with astonishing facility, varying with their intellectual ability. It is applicable to all children not idiots. Others advocate systemised signals, as the French or dactyl system, and declare that the percentage of children capable of acquiring the German system is so small, and that only the French system is capable of imparting the requisite instruction. The professors of the combined systems attempt to combine the teaching of articulation and lip reading with teaching of dactyology. The opinion of Messrs Vogel, Abbot, and Kennaway lies between the two extremes. They think the German system the most beneficent in its result. Under the French system there is danger that deaf mutes should shun the society of those who are not deaf, and by congregating together increase the natural disadvantages of their affliction. They are, however, not quite confident that the German system is applicable to all children not idiots, some intelligences being too low to acquire that system. Children under the German system think in words, while under the French or combined system they think in signs. They selected the only applicant under the German system. The general salary paid to teachers under the German system is about a hundred to a hundred and fifty pounds a year. With the exception of one gentleman, none under the French system receive a salary of over two hundred pounds a year. The exception was a clergyman receiving five hundred. Assuming that the German system may not prove all-sufficient for New Zealand, a teacher of the French system could be secured for a hundred and fifty pounds a year. Mr von Asch has a thorough knowledge of the German system, and the results of his teaching are astonishing in the extreme. He is accustomed to take entire charge of his pupils, including their board and lodging. He speaks English with perfect accuracy and entire freedom from foreign accent or idiom. By his means the German system will take full root in New Zealand, and the French system, if hereafter required, can be superadded.