MR VOGEL'S SPEECH

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1908, 17 September 1874, Page 2

MR VOGEL'S SPEECH

Mr Yogel, previous to his departure for England, addressed his constituents at Auckland on the 16th inst. He asked them to go back with him to 1869, when he took office. The North Island was then in a most depressed state, and it was impossible to penetrate into the interior without the risk of life. It was the general belief that war was inevitable, and the question was would the Soufh Island consent to the expenditure necessary. Compare the present with the past, and give him some credit for the part he had taken in bringing about the results achieved. Roads and telegraphs now penetrated the whole island, settlement extending everywhere, large landed estates now being purchased, which would be available for settlement and revenue. He believed the prosperity of the North Island would not be surpased by any other Island of the same size. The difference of the past five years' policy from the previous was that they made a peaceful conquest of the island by making the arts of industry replace the excitement of war. The compact of 1856 might have been bad for the North, but to secure land fund as Colonial revenue now it might be still worse. Ho referred to the State Forest scheme, and asked how much longer would the Provinces interfere with great colonial questions. To show the uselessness of the, machinery of Government in the North Island, he stated that while the Government were paying LBB,BOO capitation, money for gaols and hospitals, &c, in Provinces they expended only L 51,000. He thought the Goldfields revenue and

licenses should be expended in the districts they were collected in, while he recognised that the land revenue should be preserved for particular purposes. It was a fact that the Consolidated Revenue had. been charged with things improperly. The Government had been compelled to refrain from charging to the Land Fund expenditure which properly belong&l to it. Referring to the abolition resolutions, he said the reason for combining the three resolutions brought forward was that when the Government announced its intention to abolish the Northern Provinces, the Superintendents assumed a most hostile attitude. One said, "that means los 3of our land revenue;" another said, "It means removal of seat of Government to Christchurch." As Government could not be constantly contradicting misstatements, they deemed it necessary to state clearly what they meant. There was no probability of the seat of Government being brought back to Auckland. It was idle for any one to believe otherwise, when the Government proposed the third resolution, affirming the compact of 1856, they meant that it wes not possible to alter that compact, or that it should ever be revised. It was held that, even if no such compact existed, it would noh be desirable to mix the land revenue. He believed a change in the Constitution of the North Island would soon be regarded by the South Island with envy, and the time was not far distant when the Middle Island would say — "That is what we want." apart from the agreement of 1856, it would still have been a statesmanlike policy for the Government to propose to secure the expenditure of the revenue from land upon works within defined areas. It was mere prejudice to object to receive a good,* because only one part of the Colony required such legislation in passing those resolutions. Government contemplated giving the North Island the excellent institutions of the South. No one could fail to admire the institutions and educational system of Ofcago. It was to give the North excellent institutions in place of the present disgraceful institutions that Government desired the abolition of the Provinces. Out-districts would never be prosperous until real local Government was substituted for the present sham. It was not desirable to define all the views of the Government. He thought the land fund should be set apart for interest and sinking fund of the Provincial loans for education purposes, for subsidising Road Boards, and to be voted by Parliament for special district works, to include harbor and branch railways, capitation grant, and would support public institutions. He would be very much disappointed if the licenses and gold-fields revenue were not made local revenue. Government were determined to make the measure satisfactory, and had employed a barrister of colonial reputation, who was entrusted to visit every highway district in the Colony, and to confer with the Chairman before framing the Bill. He referred at length to the South Sea scheme and its importance to the whole Colony, but especially to Auckland. He considered that this was what Auckland must mainly look to, and believed there was a great future for it. He desired to make some statement of the reasons why he was now proceeding to England. He would be absent six or seven months. His first object was to arrange as to the cable with Australia, which he believed would soon be undertaken. His next object was in reference to immigration. Although in exceptional cases it might have been said that there had been hardships to immigrants, yet all must have noticed the extraordinary absorption of immigrants who had arrived, which was mainly due to distributing them over the country. The conduct of the immigration department was now satisfactory, but circumstances at home rendered it necessary for the Minister to confer with the Agent-General in order to obviate the irritating correspondence of the past. The Government had resolved to bring the Home Department more in harmony with the views entertained in the Colony. The third object was financial matters, which could not well be dealt with by correspondence.