The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 1880. SIR JULIUS VOGEL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 269, 8 June 1880, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 1880. SIR JULIUS VOGEL.

TttE language made use of in tho Legislative Council ih connection with the Home Agency business does not tend to uphold the dignity of the members of that body. Sir Julius Yogel may have his faults, but he has also considerable ability, and there is no denying that he has done much to Uphold the prestige of New Zealand in the Mother Country : no agent has ever stood so high with those in power as Sir Julius Vogel has done. To make a fling at him in the way that some of the members have done* and to Call him an adven- | turer and a broken-down gambler, is very mean, indeed. It lets us see what sort of men the Council is composed of. Refinement in language and manner is a qualification very few of its members possess; yet this is the body of mtn that we have to pay at the rate of £2OO a-year each. What ground for complaint there is against the Agent-General we do not know ; certain it is he has never made such a fool of himself, or brought the country into such disrepute by his foolish ways, as Mr Reader Wood did. So far as New Zsaland is concerned, Sir Julius has done more to push it ahead than he ever can be pai i for. Some -may talk- of the Public Works Policy as the cause of our present trocbl-ss, but the root of the matter dates before the Public Works Scheme, TheNa'ive War expenditure kid the foundation of the present debt of the colony. Three millions at one sweep was only a part of this unproductive expenditure. This was added to year by year, until the total exceeded a fair proportion of the present debt; yet we are accustomed to hear the AgentGeneral mentioned as being the sole c«use of our pres?nt indebtedness. We never hear—on the other hand—of the £500,000 he was the sole means of saving for the country, by his clever diplomacy. But tor Sir Julius (then plain Mr Vogel), that £500,000 would have beep paid to the Home Government. This seems to be quite forgotten by his detractors and not much noticed by his friends. If the Public Works Policy had not been adopted what condition would the colony now be in ? Instead of nearly half-a-million of inhabitants within its boundaries, there would be only about a quarter-of-a-million. Railway lines, toads, and bridges have done much to open up the country, and few would care to go back to the old state of things, when threefourths of the country was little better than a howling wilderness, and when men had to carry a week's provisions with them for a jour-ney-of forty miles. What would our sheep 'farmers have done with their surplus stock ? Boiling-down would not pay the prices at present realised. What would our agriculturists have done I s Why, they would not have been able to sow more grain than what the colony would have absorbed, as the cost of transit would not have admitted of Fending it the distance that it is now sent. Again, railways have brought the necessaries of life nearly as cheap as in England. Land held by private owners ha» increased tenfold in value, consequently the pioneers of the colony hava been rewarded for their industry and perseverance. Churches and schools are easy of access ; friend can meet friend once a week, at least, vho would otherwise not have met once in twenty years. All this has been brou' ht about by that comprehensive and well-digestou scheme which originated m the brain of our preser.t Homo Agent.-Sir Julius

js not responsible for "all the extravagance and waste that has been going on in the Civil Service and elsewhere. He matured his scheme, put the machinery *n motion for its proper working, and, if unskilful workmen have thrown the machine into disorder, it is not fair to blame the Home Agent for that part; much has been made of Sir Julitls putting up as a candidate for Parliamentary honors in England. We cannot understand what grounds of objection there are *o his becoming a member of Ihe House of Commons. He could not be in a better position for attending to his duties', and watching over the colony's interests, than there. Envy goes a long way in engendering this feeling against him, hence the caunc of the low, nasty, remarks made la-t Friday night by those vulgar men who are termed lords. It is not uncommon to see men taken from the lower grarie,and set in hi-li places* If Sir Juli'i* Voge.l were now at the head of affairs iu this colony, we would not be in the humiliating position of having to beg plans to enable our Premier to devise a feasible scheme to raise the character of the colony, which Major Atkinson has so-greatly lowerod since he usurped the Treasurer's office Two years pgo no British Dependency •tood so high with the Mother Country as did New Zealand ; but now, through the bungling of our present. Treasurer, capitalists shun it as a merchant would a bankrupt that he is not prepared to trust If Sir Julius were Premier, we would not have all our railway works stopped, which brings starvation and n-isery to many families No, his large min 1 would have devised some means to prevent our name going out as a bankrupt colony When men of such weak intellect and poor abilities lteap abuse upon others superior to themselves, men who would not ask the raaligners to be more than hewers of wood things are coming to a pretty pass, especially as the members of one House are no be ter th n thi blc-riggers and gamblers, and dairymen in the other. A change is really necessary. If this is the class of men Mr Hall in ends to form into a landocracy to rule us it is time that sensible men demanded a complete overthrow of the House of Lords. It is a disgrace to this colony that we have such men in power as the specimen who gave us an insight into his manners and breeding by his tirade of abuse on the colony's greatest legislator. Ready-Money Bobinson could not have done much wone.