THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1882. THE BANQUET TO SIR JULIUS VOGEL.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2715, 21 December 1882, Page 2

THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1882. THE BANQUET TO SIR JULIUS VOGEL.

The banquet; given last evening to Sir Julius Vogel in Duuedin, appeura to have been an undoubted success, and to have been carried out on the right lines. Mr. Macandrew struck the correct key no*o at the commencement of his speech when he declared that the gathering was in no sense a party one, but that the people present had assembled to do honor to a gentleman who had held prominent political positions in this country, and to show their deep sense and high appreciation of the many valuable services rendered by their

guest to New Zealand. As the chairman declared his anxiety that the hatchet should be buried, it is to be presumed that the guests felt that it was buried, and that those who did not agree with Sir Jnliua' politics were not hypercritical as to the positive value of the services rendered by that statesman. It would have been an ungracious task for any man on such an occasion to have questioned himself too seriously respecting the pros and cons of the services alluded to. The only pos- j sible attitude to have assumed would have been to sink all purely political considerations and to look upon Sir Julius as a politician who had acted up to his lights to the best of his abilities, and those abilities of a high order. It is very certain at all events that Mr, Macandrew was right when he said that Sir Julius was a man who was

never found in the rear but always in the van of politics. It has never been with this fact that the opponents of Sir Julius have quarrelled. In passing from his political career to that of his career as Agent-General, Mr. Macandrew paid the guest of the evening a well merited compliment as to the success of his efforts on behalf of New Zealand, as he then certainly did a great deal towards bringing this colony into a well merited prominence, and successfully managed its borrowing operations. And the conclusion of the chairman's speech was in very good taste, when he dissociated Sir Julius entirely from the past, and merely alluded to his present occupation as the cause which had brought him in their midst with a view of disseminating the knowledge of one branch of one of the greatest inventions that the world has ever profited by. But pleasant reading as is Mr. Macandrew's speech, it is nothing as compared with that of Sir Julius Togel. He speaks as a successful man, who looks upon his own success with the utmost modesty. Like Lady Godiva he goes gees clothed in his own native modesty. He claims nothing for himself, but seems anxious to shift all the good that had been ascribed to him on to the shoulders of others. Only on two points does he even indirectly claim any credit. In the public works scheme, the abandonment of the scheme by which (by placing aside a land estate through which the railways would ultimately run), the railways could, partially at all events, have paid for themselves, does not appear to hint wise, nor does the adoption by the Government of the construction of lines of railway other than the trunk lines. But even on these questions he does not take up a decided stand. He adopts the tone of a man who w»uld require to stay some time in the country before he should like to venture a decided opinion. The credit of the general initiation of the Public Works scheme he hands over to several provinces and to the late Mr. Moorhouss in particular; while the credit of the Land Transfer Act he makes a present of to his quondam political chief, Sir W. Pox. It must have seemed somewhat strange to Sir Julius to have looked back to his first entry into political life, and possibly he may have swallowed a smile when he declared that a great deal of his political education was obtained during the time he was one of Mr. Macandrew's responsible advisers. For the careers of the two men have since that date been so very different, that it is difficult to realise what Sir Julius may have happened to have learnt in that somewhat limited school. Mr. Macandrew, the only time that he blossomed into a Minister of the Grown, viz, in the reign of Sir George Grey, from 1877 to 1879, developed no particular faculty hub that of lavishly spending money, and of obtaining as much of in as for his own provir.ee—onioss wo »dii | that ho showed his utter inability to gr.isp the'larger financial problems. Sir Julius Vbgel at all oven's his always shown himself to be thoroughly cosmopolitan. Hi whs iu the F»x Ministry from 1869 to 1872, in the Waterhouse and F«jX Ministries iu 1872 and 1873; and, when ho wis Premier iu 1873 75 and agdiu in 1876, we find, by referring to thd list of the gentlemen who ssrved under him, than ho was not peculiarly mindful of the Macandrew school. If he learnt anything in that seminary it was probably a general taste for a somewhat lavish expenditure, but he certainly did not carry his school life into the broader field. A general system of railway construction, a species of protectorate over the South Sea Islands, federation of the Australasian colonies, forest planting on a national scale, <&c, &c, were not the sort of schemes he could well have picked up from his old and apparently still revered tutor. When Sir Julius spoke of Mr. Macandrew iu this strain we fear he must involuntarily have closed one eye ; but the occasion was a festive one, and it will not do to be too critical

One thing is very certain, viz , that Sir Julius Togel has not passed through the world in vain. It may not be very difficult for a man to pose respectably when he revisits the scene o£ former triumphs ; but there is a vast difference in doing a thing respectably and exceedingly well, t-ir Julius has shown himself to be a truo artist. There is nothing in his speech that the most captions can carp at. lb is in thorough good taste. We do not say for an instant that it is not a thoroughly sincere speech, but it is by no means every sincere man who could have acquitted himsolf so well. As we have said, Sir Julius is au artist as well as a politician; or, rather, pnrhaps, his politic.)! career has boon made possible by his artistic perceptions.

BURNHAH industrial school TREAT. It is well to remind our readers of the annual treat which ia to be given at Christmas tide to the children at the Bnrnham Industrial School. The feeling words spoken on the subject from tho Bench by the Resident Magistrate some short time back are too fresh in our memories to need recalling. They pointed to the few pleasures possessed by these childien, as compered wiih°ch(B> wifcbiu the power of childron brought up iu happy homes, with kind ministering relations around them Surely, then, all who can possibly do so will interest themselves in this matter, for the kindly season calls for the exercise of charitable and kindly feeling. Donations of money, or books, toys, musical instruments, tools, or material of any kind suitable for presents, will be thankfully received j at the Resident Magistrate's office at ' Christ church, or by the master at the j school.