MR VOGEL IN NELSON.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1560, 20 March 1874, Page 156

MR VOGEL IN NELSON.

Otago Daily Times. Never, since Matvworra’s avowal that “he liked to be persecuted,” has the Christian grace of forbearance been so signally illustrated as by the good people of NGson at the dinner given by them to the Premier. They went far beyond the injunction to turn the check t » the smiter. They feasted him royally, flittered him, cheered him, and sent him on his way rejoicing. It seems that it suddenly dawned upon the inhabitants of Sleepy Holl>w one morning that it would be a fine thing if some rivulet from the torrent of borrowed money that is being poured . over the other provinces were diverted ’ towards Blind Bay. They accordingly resolved with a unanimity that is touching from its very simplicity, that they would forthwith apply for leave to borrow a mere, driblet—a quarter of a million or so. By a singular coincidence, which, of course, has no more logical connection with this notable scheme of theirs than Goodwin Sands have with Tenterden Steeple, the idea of inviting Mr Vogel to come to a dinner at Nelson, occurred to them at the same time. He came. Then the Nelsonians did great things in his honor. Not only did they literally kill the fatted calf, they had a show fish of huge proportions, probably the only one of its-inches in the province. Him they sacrificed to their illustrious guest. As the Nelson Evening Mail puts it, with pardonable pride — “ a magnificent nine-pounder trout, that Lad been caught in the Maitai in the morning, graced the board, and was pr bably the first fish of the kind that has been set before Mr Vogel in New Zealand! ” But our Premier was not to be baulked of his meditated vengeance by the stale and transparent device of a mess of pottage. Trout was all very well, but allegiance to Vogelism was a higher anil a holier thing. These Nelsonians had been troublesome and disloyal folk in times past. Some of their members had wavered, some had presumed to take an independent line, a few had even dared to become open opponents. This ■kind of people must be duly snubbed and repressed when a convenient and safe opportunity offered itself, the laws of ordinary courtesy and the delicate relations between host and guest not withstanding. They might be ulti mutely received into favor, but only after a considerable probationary period, and, in the meantime, their manifold faults and shortcomings must be very distinctly pointed out to them. Now, when a speaker prefaces his remarks by saying, that “ though he will not hurt the most tender feelings of anyone in the province, he inl'ends to speak in a plain and candid manner,” we know pretty well what to expect. llie prayer to be saved from the candid friend ” is by no means a new one. Therefore, after congratulating bis victims, with a cruel kindness, upon their tardy repentance and conversion to a policy tl at 1 e enpheiui-tical ly described as “ that of aw.ikening the slumbering spirit of colonization” the Premier showed himself a master of the art of ingeniously tormenting, by putting an imaginary case, in which he sought to show that if the Canto bury settlers had only come to Nelson, and the Nel simians had only gone to Canterbury, their present respective positions would have been reversed, This was indeed a bitter pill for his hearers to swallow. We can fancy the pour people looking around at their narrow riband of cultivable land at the bottom of Blind Bay, hemmed in by steep and barren hills, and mentally contrasting it with the broad expanse of the fertile Canterbury plains, which no conceivable mismanagement could have long rendered unprosperous—and then heroically eating their leek, and cheering their mentor or tormentor. The enormous injustice of the comparison, to say nothing of its needlessness, is too obvious to require pointing j out at length. When the conditions are so utterly dissimilar, comparisons are something more than odions —they are simply silly. The whole thing reminds us of David Copperfiehi’s aunt, who was perpetually taunting her nephew with the (hypothetically) admirable behaviour of a sister of his, who had the misfortune never to be born, There was much more to the same purpose, all of which, we are informed, was not only endured, but rapturously applauded by these lineal descendants of the patient Griselda. The astute Premier had not miscalculated the ox-like patience of his audience, and, with hue irony, told them that “it spoke well of his esti- I mate of them that they had rather he j should speak his mind frankly and freely to them than address empty I compliments to them.'’ It is true that j he was good enough to say,“ That j with regard to the City of Nelson, j apart from the province, he had no j fault to find. 5 ' The handiwork of the Creator, in pioviding a beautiful site and a delightful climate,” was spoken of wit It ut qualified approval. The good looks of the virgins of Nelson were j also honored by bis commendations, j But even then, dwelling on that soften- ' ang He me, he c uld not resist adding that. “All, save tin spirit of man. was divine”—a sentiment that the guileless , men of Nelson appealed to applaud | lustily Had be but given Hetier s | paiall'-l lines where he says I Africa, vTb iu.iv .man is vile,” ne’ would surely oav. brought < ow t the lit u e Truly, piacMcul Christianity is not extinct in li eelses of the S dUti. ~ - s