THE LATE DINNER TO MR. VOGEL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 48, 25 February 1874, Page 2

THE LATE DINNER TO MR. YOGEL.

(Timaru Herald.') What could Mr Yogel mean, after dinner last Tuesday, by calling Nelson the stronghold of tbe Opposition 1 Nelson, which sent its oldest and most prominent settler, its first Superintendent, Mr Stafford to Timaru, and elected in his Btead Mr Luckie, the most devoted and servile of Mr Vogel's adherents j — Nelson, which sent Sir David Monro to Waikouaiti, aDd chose Mr Charles Parker in preference to him, for the sole reason tbat the latter waß a blind supporter of Messrs Fox and Yogel ; — Nelson, which, on the seat for the suburbs being vacant, elected Mr Andrew Bichmond against its old idol Mr Charles Elliott, for no other reason in the world than that he went in head and ears for supporting Mr Yogel, while his opponent merely asked to be allowed to use his judgment in doing so; — Neleo p , which sent to Parliament to represent its country district, the Waimea, that Mr Shephard, pastor injidelis, who betrayed the Stafford Government in 1872, and, on the strength of a delusive promise that he should have a seat in the Ministry, turned the division which has kept Mr Yogel in oflice to this day; — Nelson, which only lately replaced the ardent and plainspoken young Opposition leader, Mr Collins, by electing, unopposed, an avowed adherent of Mr Yogel in Mr Gibbs ; — NelsoD, wbich has weeded out one by one all its men of mark and substance, men who saved it for years from insignificance, and made it a power in the state ; and has put forward as the exponents of its creed, the most unquestioning, uncompromising partizans that were ever bound hand and foot to any Government, — Nelson, where the leading newspaper, although the oldest aDd best conducted in the colony, has died for waDt of support, it is said through advocating persistently the views of the Opposition; — Nelson, which has sold for what it could get its high place among the provinces, and becomea mere beautiful captive to swell the Triumph of the conqueror — to bo called, after all, the stronghold of the Opposition. That re- • proach was no doubt directed at the Chairman of the party, Mr Oswald Curtis, Superintendent of Nelson, and the only representative she has of any weight or position in the House. When she loses him, and puts in his place another of the class wbich suits the Government so well, she will no longer be liable in any sense to be called the stronghold of the Opposition, but it will be high time then, politically speaking, to roll up the map of Neison. 1