New Zealand Mail. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1876. THE VOGEL BANQUET.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 232, 19 February 1876, Page 12

New Zealand Mail. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1876. THE VOGEL BANQUET.

The. banquet to Sir Julius Vogel on Thursday night was a success in every way. It was well attended, and nothing was said throughout which was not necessary and to the purpose. Sir Julius made a plain, manly, and straightforward speech. He did not beat about the bush, or attempt to create a false impression. What he said had the ring of truth about it, and the hearty cheers of the company proved that he was understood and appreciated. Of the many things which the Premier said, none had greater significance than this, that the personal accusations against himself were best answered by the reception accorded to him by the inhabitants of Wellington. It was a triumph of which any man should have been proud; but in Sir Julius "Vogel's case it was doubly significant : it was an attestation that in the opinion of a large community, to whom he was almost an utter stranger, the imputations against his honor and probity weighed as light as gossamer in the balance of public opinion. And in this, as in all similar cases, public opinion is invariably right. Yet in saying all this not a word was uttered that could have offended the most sensitive opponent.

Reverting to the speech of the Premier, which will be found reported in full elsewhere, we are gratified to think that owing to his accession to power there will be no change in the general policy of the Government. 3STot, indeed, that we thought there would be, but that we knew that reports were industriously circulated in the Opposition Press to the effect that on his arrival Sir Julius Vogel would join the ranks of the party opposed to Ministers. The Otago Daily Times was the chiefest of sinners in this respect; it should now "repent in sackcloth and. " ashes," and admit that it unworthily represented agreat man. Sir Julius Vogel told the colony on Thursday night, through the Wellington banquet, that he was in entire accord with his colleagues on the abolition question, and moreover, that no other policy was possible to a government which meant to sustain the credit of the colony. Provincial Government involved an impossible finance. It was impossible to sustain ten governments, and at the same time to promote the settlement of the country, without setting them aside. Indeed this had been practically the case of late, as during the last five years nearly all the public works constructed by the provinces were either filtered through the General Government or General Assembly. There is no answering this statement. It has been made over and over again, and the more frequently it is repeated the more, weight it acquires. Provincial Government involved an impossible finance, and its abolition was necessary in the interests of the country. With regard to separation and the land question a great deal more noise than force has been evoked by hustings speeches and the Press. Sir Julius Vogel is quite correct in saying that that these cries, and that of the " financial compact of 1856," are simply to create diversion. But there is underlying each a substratum of truth ; and sincerity which Ministers should not overlook. It is on this small foundation that blatant politicians build. When speaking therefore of the hollowness of these cries, the very small residuum of earnestness must not be despised. But, on the other hand, no man acquainted with the real state of the colony could hold that separation was for a moment possible. Whatever may have been the effect of the resolutions of 1856 —and here we do not agree with Sir Julius Vogel—it is now too late to reverse them, or rather to reverse their effect ; and we are prepared to take them as they stand and make the best of them. But the Premier went right to the pith of the matter when he declared that no monopoly in land would be allowed, and that the only

possible policy of the future was this : " One Government; one finance for the " colony, and an extended system of "local government." This programme no doubt embodies everything, but the views of the Premier on the necessity of the Colonial Government controlling the administration of the waste lands implies a very great deal, and goes quite in the direction we have indicated.

Touching the relations of the colony to the mother country no one can question the perfect justice of the Premier's position. The colony has incurred an expenditure of some six millions to sustain the Imperial policy in this country, and no doubt when the scheme of Imperial federation, of which Mr. Forster speaks so enthusiastically is carried into effect, New Zealand will be credited with that amount. But it will not be until then. He applied for an Imperial guarantee of the four million loan, but he did not get it; however, if he had not scrupled to pledge the credit of the colony to maintain an Imperial quarrel he might have fared better himself. The solid advantage of a colonial government might have been awarded to him, and he could then have waited for a tardy recognition of his public services on the roll of honor. However, he preferred the highway of political rectitude, and although he could not obtain an Imperial guarantee, he negotiated the loan on advantageous terms, and had his great personal merits recognised by the British Government. Thus it happens that while a New Zealand Minister prefers his country to himself honors are awarded to him, a New Zealand Minister who subordinates the colony to Imperial interests, has emolnments heaped upon him. But mark the contrast : the industrial classes welcome and fete the one, they are conspicuously absent when the other is entertained. Thus it is that faithful and disinterested services are ever rewarded by a grateful people.