SIR JULIUS VOGEL AT ASHBURTON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1712, 16 June 1884, Page 2

SIR JULIUS VOGEL AT ASHBURTON.

Ashburton, Juno 13. Sir Julius Vogel addressed the electors at Ashburton to-night, The meeting was held in the Town Hall, which was greatly crowded with a somewhat lively audience, who amuse J themselves with jolly songs until the curtain rose, Mr Donald Williamson, Mayor nf Ashburton, presided and ; introduced' S{r Julina, remarking that that was the largest poli jcal mooting ever held iu ihq town,; Ho bespoke a paiient. hearing for Julius Vogel.■ Sir Julius Vooei, apologised for not being able to sp9ak standing, owing to his invalided condii inn. He had been sufferiiit; fr<im a long illness, and might also, probably, bo unable to speak as well as he used to do. The eleotors of Ashburton had a choice of candidates in the making araongwlijch they could not go very far wrong, Mr Waßon was an abld man. and ho knew him to be so,< He did not know Mr Jolly, but he had read h}s speeches, and he was evidently an able man. Sir Julius then went on to explain how he had been induced to stand for Ashburton, Pointing out that under Mr Lobert Stout's advice, who showed him, the ontioal state of the colony, he,.had consented to stand for Ashburton. He did not knowwhat the result of the present state of affair In. Parliament might be. but in any case now he meant to seek' their suffrage. Sir Julius went on to defend hjmself against personal chtrges that ■ had been brought against him, and especially spoke of his coadopt in lneddling'with political affairs at Home, He fell it his duty to do what ho could to prevent the djsentegration of the colony He wai wholly with the Conservatives at Home in thoir Colonial policy. The position ho had taken in the pnlrics at Home had, however, nothing to.do with politics here. He gave an explicit denial to the charge that ho wanted to not. into Parliament to force an alleged claim against the' Government. He.had no such wish; any cldm he had he would put before the House as any other froebbrn citizen would, but it was totally untrue that he souaht the seat with a.view to helping hsmself to establish that olaim. As to staying in the colony, if it were necessary"for' him to undertake political responsibilities ho certainly would certainly be prepared to remain in the colony befo.a he did so.: Iu any oaso thoy oould not look him as a stranger to the poli'ical.affairs of the colony.• Regarding the question of' the colonial railways, he made in' this connection a feeling reference to jibe memory of W. Sefton Moorhouse, and, conceded to that gentleman the credit of: the colonies railways policy, shared also with Mr Macandrow. Sir Julius disclaimed any imenijon of taking any credit lor the founding of a railway policy, but claimed that when Sir W. Fox's Government came into power, the provincial, power to provide railways had ceased. It was at that perjod when the Government saw there would bo no. more provincial borrowing that the Spvernment came down with their railway policy. He ; made railway, proposals in 1870, and was laughed at }o the House, and joked at in Bellamys j but Mr Moorhouße deolared his sympathy with the proposals, and the oolony took the matter up J and the result the whole cilony knew. He. then went onto notice his aotion in'connection with the Inscribed. Stock Act, which Major Atkiiisnnhad said had saved the colony L3Q.000 a year, and to refer to the usefulness of his own work in helping the credit of the colony at a time when the Government saw they had to face financial diaas:er. In referring to his own Native % nds Bill, he said it had been shelved after he left the Qoverninent, but now. after all these years a similar Bill was being brought forward. He had no fear in speaking toi'a H&w Zealand audience pywbere, as b/e could point to thousands of very happy h"W e P 'bat were the result of hia policy. (Qheers, laughter, and hisso3,j it was the objechfpr which borrowing took place that should be considered, and not tint the raouoy should be used simply for expenditure. His Government had .held that the land benefitted should bear a large proportion of the burden of the railway, and that the

price of land should bo raised to help to defray their cost; but the Parliament had not been with them. He,felt that the Government in holding in their hands the railway'communication of the colony were reserving for the people a vast patrimony'that wouldMn the future be a source of enormous, advantage' to the country ; but it' was one thing tnspe>|k in a general way'about railways and qui 'e another to say which lines should be proceeded with', He was strongly against the sale of the lines by the Government, He thought that if a line oonid be constructed that could he worked at a return of 2 per cent it might be made He had never calculated at the outset thifc any line should he' immediately romunerative.lt wasi the colony's duty to make roads, and lines were only roads in annther form nn nisi .said that at present he wni.not in a position to look into the figures of the railway profits, but he did not see that Major Atkinson had any right to eat down an iron rule that the lines should yield 4 per cent. If the people .of Canterbury had calmly sat down under the infliction :of a tariff raisod at a time when Government raited the grain rates, they wnuW not jhtive boon worthy of electoral l rights, and he''contended that tho' power Major- Atkinson exercised in that matter was,one .he had no right to exercise; one that, the 1 people and the Parliament never intended he should appropriate,-;/Ifvjie ; pr4ny other Minister held such n view, there might be at 'any Jime ■,bogus, estirnn'tea brought down,-ana the rates: could, 'at an'y'ranment be altered. He .favored non-political boards-.of railway managoment, as he had three years ago'suggested V a letter to' Mr Curtis, intentinp, then, to speak of details of ihVmac'h'inery. He held that all .works undertaken' and : intended tobe constructed on borrowed' money, ought to liavejhe money raised before the works, began, as it,had been' liia■ experience. ihaVmucli lnaa'resulted from such works going, on without the necessary money having been''raise J, He could not believe lhat it was to the colony's interest for ■the-''Canterbury people to oppose .the; construction of the North Island main lino. 'He believed that the construction of that line would cause the North Island to, take a'new departure, and that s flood of prosperity would follow iholine's completion; hut he was adverse lo' borrowing simply for the purpose of spending it upon any other than the main lines that were calculated to open up country, promote settlement, and. increase production.' Amongst these line's were the'two to which the colony already stood committed, viz., tho North Mali] main and the Otago central. He nloqjontly urged' the construction of tho Wesj Coast line, hut he thought the Government should pause before they undertook this .hue, and should'endeavor to sje how far they could help its. construction, by'private enterprise.. He again naked- his audience to remember that, before' any borrowing took place, the pjnper and judicious expenditure of evary.penriy should to fairly considered. Ho nenwent on to the almost comical state(if.parlies'ih.the.Housei. There was a strong majorityof members in the Housj who hated the. Government, hut tho Opposition had two parties, who so lovedj each other t thf.t they quarrelled about who was to'make the motion of the vote f want of confidence in the Government He hoped, to see/what was very mticlj wanted—a strong consolidated jwrt.y in t(ie House, able to pass good and useful measures. Speaking of the Btale of thji colony, he Baid he had never been accuied of being all enemy' to tho working man] and;ho believed the best and happiest' state of a country was when tho wagei earned were hiah and'sufficient, lha Working classes wertttb'i). predominant in tho'colony, and he founded his faith in them first, iiiiheir aelfishhess, and secondly, in their ..intelligence. He would not talk sentiment on the subject; it was not a sentimental lniftor; and ho behoved ihe, selfishness of the people would prevent them from being taken any undue advantage of, and their intelligence would :Bhmy {hem what was .best for themselves,. Well, they'would- soon see that when oapiial had not its proper rights, wnuld'.'not'ibe'available for enterP ri so, Hoasked for no; excossive rights t0 capitd,., but only its proper righ's; f°f Capital, without its rights, would not he available for enterprise..; He askodfor P° excessive-rights to capial, but only Us proper rights; for the time might 00 me-rand the position was a- possibility —when most of the workjng men might be capitalists themselves. It v?onld be a suicidal poljoy for the people to discourage ihe investment of 'capital. There wsb a depression'whicb was more than natural, and public men helped to continue it by their outoty about private borrowing Now, whu was private, borrowing ? It was in no sonse a borrowing for which the publio were responsible; it was simply a transaction, in which two parties divided the risks, It was 'absurd to speak as some men spnke of the privato indebtedness of individuals being a portion of the colony's debts; and it was an almost tmnhoal cry that had been got up—ibis cry about the privato borrowing. None could deny the value of thrilt, but Major Atkinson was hot advocating thrift in that scheme of his which he so recently promulgated, It was all very well to talk about paddling.one's own canoe., In the matter of immigration the ureat want of the countrv was not an influx of laborers but an influx of-four or fivo thousand pound capitalists, He would iavor, at the present; time the .influx of small capitalists.' The direct steamers would be a source of great advaulago to this colony which owed a debt of giatitade to Mr Custer for bavins the boldness in the face of tlio Auerjt-Grevjorar.B prophecy of loss to institute; this noble line of steamers, .•Property tax was lnquisorial, and oaloula-'ed.Jo' foster chea'ingand doceit; to .cause, the poor monto 1 placo big. returnß, for, thoir credit before the Eegiatrai'j and the rich: men to place small returns, frorp, greed. He was auaiiißt the property taxj'aiid thought that tjie land tax was the proper form pi which the revenue should be' raised, . The property tix was unfair aud unwise, inasmuch as it threw a burden, on mortgages, which would have the. effect of drjving away money. He. did'not.favor the taxation ot improvements, but the land only according to value.. He did not propose this in a vindictive spirit, but with an object j and it was vindictive taxation that caused want of confidence.' He; was' qoitljor a protectionist Mr a. free trader and he had always, contended that no fad of any kind sh'pnld come' in 'to interfere with the imposition .qfi.dHßtoms for the sake of revenue..':'He thought, the colony .did hot produce onoughj it .was improving but Btill,,he said, there was great room. He instanced' the growth in .the export figures qf< the last two years, but-show against population it wo* not enough. j He thought this colony should absqrb the whole trade of the Sovph Sea Islands, Both France and Germany were casting their eyes on that trade, and had made no seqrfjt of thejr object. He, had plans which he would, not now but which ho hoped to see carried out, and these, he trusted, would tend more to improve Few Zealand's,position in commerce by cemonting a trade in the South Seas, and this trade would bo far better than the federation scheme proposed, This federation Bohome ho did. not, he said, approve, because |t did not give to the Houses of Parliament in eaoh colony fhe right-tri adopt or reject the measures upon whioh the Federation Conference might be called upon tp legislate. In

conclusion, he panted out that the sugar industry was: much neglected in 'New Zealand, both from Borghum and beeeront and ho thought la, great industry in this artiole might beibnilt up. Hothen alao referred to other enterprises, and said that it seemed ;i strange that he. 1 who knew no muoh (if the colony's history, and: had seen a few thousand people undertake the construction nf suoh a work as the Lvttelton: tunnel,.should come bo far to tell them they wero wanting io enterprise, but, they know ho had jit heart tho interest of a colony in whiqh the best.part of his life had been ;spont. (Loud and prolonged apphusa followed the omolusiou of the speeob. . ]