MR. FITZHERBERT ON THE POLICY OF THE DAY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 62, 13 March 1874, Page 2

MR. FITZHERBERT ON THE POLICY OF THE DAY.

The columns oi the New Zealand journals have recently been flooded with telegrams containing in terse sentence the after-dinnor utterances of Mr Yogel. The following report of a speech delivered at a banquet to Governor Weld in Wellington by Mr Fitzherbert, who, j we presume, may be looked upon as the leader of the Opposition, if Opposition there be, will, we have no doubt, be read with interest: — " Mr Weld's attention has been drawn, in the eloquent speech which preceded mine, to tbe great prosperity everywhere apparent. In every city, as we call them in New Zealand, every lowd, every bush village, in every place wbere people have coogtegsted upon the lands of the colony, prosperity manifests itself unmistakeably. There are universal signs of prosperity, and I can conceive nothing more certain than that j our guest of to-day must frequently j have asked himself the question, 'Hovr is it tbat such au enormous amount of prosperity has, in a comparatively short period of time, rushed, as it were, upon this colony that I left some six or seven years ago ?" If he will pardon me I will offer a few suggestions. * * * I will endeavor to explain and to give our guest some hints which may be valuablo to him as a traveller. Now, I daresay, we are aware, and if we are not aware by recollection, probably everyone of us must be aware by the luxurious manner in which we have lived for some time past, that we are willing recipients of the bounty I am about to bring under your notice. This country has already exported upwards of £27,000,000 worth of gold; and yet we send away all lhat gold from the country, and treat it in a most disdainful manner, by sending it to that nation termed by the old natioual foe of England the ' nation of shopkeepers,' for them to deal with, and to assist them in their mercantile operations, for we have made the discovery here of another metal in comparison to which even £27,000,000 of gold is nothing. We have discovered that tons of gold are not equal to ounces of brass. I have no doubt that that is a comparison which many of us in our anxiety to get rich have entirely overlooked; yet directly it is pointed out its extreme applicability must present itself to our minds. In reality, up to the present timo, although we bave been great exporters of that metal which is extremely valuable in tbe commercial operations of the world, yet we have failed to see the value of that other little alloy. In New Zealand we lately have adopted a policy which has been distinguished and followed by remarkable success. To employ a monosyllable which, though inelegant, is exceedingly significant to those who think the great object of life is to • get on,' we have coramonced to ** tout.' Now, we have lately taken to that system, although hitherto it has been confined to retail operations which are not usually termed mercantile, and it is in the carrying out of that system that we discovered the exceeding value of that metal to which I havo alluded. Consequently, in those old times during which my friend presided over us; those — shall I call them pre-historic times?— those ancient, slow, and truthful, but not progressive times — when upon the discovery of gold at Hokitika, he was called upon suddenly to organise arrangements to meet such a great advent of people, what chances he must have missed! How it must strike him with astonishment! How regretfully he mnst look back upon so many lost opportunities! What aggrandisement awaited him had he found elsewhere a little brass, aud had known how to use it! But he failed to invoke the Tubal Cain of his time, because he failed to understand the value of tbe metal to which in future times gold muet hold an inferior rank in colonial estimation—brass? It is necessary not only to obtain that metal, but to obtain also tho proper artificers to shape it. As I have already thrown comparative discredit upon the £27,000,000 of gold so also it is necessary that we should be prepared to ignore the incrense arising from the produce of that valuable animal which bears wool on its back. ' We should deny, also, that it has had anything to do with our present prosperity. The real art of Government depends upon our arrogating to ourselves the credit which arises from such circumstances. Probably I have given you some food for thought; and again, it is possible that I have mado no impression upon your guest, for I am inclined to believo that after all he , would prefer the old, old style, aud be contented with laying a sou.id foundation, leaving others to reap the fruits, rather than following out what, were il hot such a shocking pun, I would call the ' Brazen Policy.' However, we are met to-day to do honor to a man of truß steel, and I ask you now to drink the health of his Excellency Governor ! Weld." -