SIR JULIUS VOGEL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1049, 30 December 1882, Page 1

SIR JULIUS VOGEL.

Sir Julius Vogel was entertained at a luncheon iu "Wellington on Thursday. About 250 ladies and gentlemen were present. The chair was occupied by the Mayor, having on his right Sir Julius Vogel, and on his left His Excellency the Administrator of the Government, Sir J Prendergast After the toast of ' His Excellency .he Acting-Governor' had been drunk, and responded to by Sir James Prendergast, Sir William Fiizherbort proposed the toast of the evening, ' Our Gues',' and alluded in eugolistic terms to the sortie s rendered by Sir Julius Vogel to the colony Sir Julius Vogel, ou rising to acknowledge the toast, was received with prolonged and enthusiastic cheers. Ho spoke for exactly half an hour. He said if those present would place themselves in his position they would recognise that he was not able to say as Sir Win. Fitzherbert had done, that his task was an easy one, for he thought they must allow that public speaking was somewhat difficult when the feeling that ona spoke under, so to say, gushed up iaster and in greater volumu than one was able to fin • utterance for. To come back here after his long absence, to have to make so hurried a a visit at so short a notice, to be received so kindly by such a gathering as the present one, to hear kind remarks umde by Sir Wm, Fitzherbert,—all this overpowered his feelings, and he could only say that it was a source of extreme regret to In in that he was only able to make so short a stay in Wellington. (Cheers.) Had ir, not been for a sudden illness with which he was stricken down in Melbourne, he would have been hero many months ago, and would have made a much longer stay. (Renewed cheers.) They might well believe that as he had visited this colony with which so much of his early life hail been associated, arousing a recollection of all his former successes, trials, cares and anxieties of public life, the old feeling wculd naturally recur to him again like the warrior on the war, ath—a feeling that lie should like once more to resume a- position in public life in this colony (Loud cheers.) He iiad not. been many hours m .New/calami before he was offered

—] je was going to say two seats-- but he ought to tav reasonable prospects of two seats, by gen leni -a who were

willing to resign their po-itious in his favor. He had some thoughts before be left England of this coutiugen 'V, and reco uising the weakness which sometimes led persons lo wish for that which was not always wise for them, had taken care to guard against the

fascination of renewing his acquaintance with public life in Xew Zealand bv leavine: at Home some very substantial in the shape uf liis ehildr"ii. (Luughter,: Those familial' with public life could b.ar him out in saying that- thee was a -pcial fascination about ii. I lough as alums' dial faseinat ion there was an equal extern of prviate sacrifice. If was, however, very much to the credit of public men in Xcw Zealand thai dubhe life had never been, and he thought never would be in this Colony, the road to

private advancement, beyond that which came from regard, such as that "which he was receiving to-day, and the knowledge of the appreciation entertained by one's fellow colonists. (Cheers.) He alluded to Sir William Fitzherberr, who had described to them how the highest positions in the land .. were open to those who had the courage to <rf strive for them, and were open, moreovej^ml'^ the humblest classes. They should not JffUf^iLt out of the governing pewi^ftiii^ve^^fßaiF^ JsSst it, the Ciffl Servic*. _ (Hear, 'em'.) He feit that he would have spoken incompletely on the present occasion if he had one away from Wellington without express ng .iie sense of gratitude which .he, in common with oilier public men of tha co ony, owed to the dcvol ed service of the Civil servants of ]S"ew Zealand. There were many positions iii the Government service—such for example us the charge of Departmeats like those of Endways, Telegraph*, Life Insurance, and Public Trustee—which, i! they were priva e undertakings, those who were in charge of them woul t receive salaries four or five times greater than those received by Civil servants. It was evident, therefore, that the Government as a rule secured the services of its employees at less than the average cost paid to able men in private undertakings. (Hear, hear) It w*s a matter for great gra ifieation that the public works of this colony were admitted to have been so successful from the standpoint of a visitor. He would like to say that the work of the future was by no means finished ; that there was one point which was as much a burning question of the present as of the past—itnuiigra'ion (Cheers.) The visitor was constantly reminded, as he travelled through the colony, of the want of populati n. In 1870 we aspied to convert 250,000 persons into 500,000. We ough«; to be more ambituous now, and seek to convert that 500,000 into ami lion. (Loud cheers.) He was pleased with the substantial progress made by Wellington during his absence, and especially that the Wellington-Alanawaiu railway had [commenced. (Loud cheers.) Both La-y Vogel, whose absence on that occasion was keenly regretted by her, and himself would ever remember the kindness that they had invariably experienced at the hands of the people of Wellington, where eo many important years of their lives ha I been spent, and whether m Wellington or away from it, whether, iti fact, in New Zealand or uvay from it, his hopes and his ext-rtious, humble as they might be, would always De at t lie command of colonists —(loud cheers) and he was still young, although he did not look it, and he could indulge in the hope that it might not be denied to him at some future time to come back to the colony and make a long slay. (Renewed cheers.) He thanked them all most heartily for tha kind and enthusiastic reception accorded to him, and asked them to excuse the imperfect nature of his utterances. (Loud and prolonged cheers ) The company then separated.