THIS HON. JULIUS VOGEL.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 779, 21 February 1871, Page 2

THIS HON. JULIUS VOGEL.

(From an Australian point of view.)

We ('"Nelson Mail") 'take the following paragraph from the " Australasian " of the 4th instant, and in so doing, must express our conviction that all right thinking New Zealand colonists will be most indignant to find their ministerial factotum spoken of in so contemptuous a manner by the leading journal of the Australian Colonies, nor can we altogether acquit that newspaper of unfairness in writing in such terms of our colonial deity, because he was long a resident in Victoria, and the settlers there have had quite as favorable opportunities of discovering all his excellent qualities, as have we in New Zealand, and consequently, they ought, knowing him as they do, to speak in a more deferential manner of him whom the politicians of this Colony have elevated to the honorable post of Colonial Treasurer. One thing we strongly object to. The flippant manner in which the actual head of our Government is alluded to as " J.V." and the total absence of anything approaching to veneration in a writer who can coolly characterise a New Zealand Minister as a " smart man " are both equally reprehensible, and we really must protest against such liberties being taken with one wdio is looked up to by colonists here as their saviour and their guide. With this slight introduction we will proceed to quote the paragraph which has excited our choler. Here it is, aud we fell quite sure that our readers will bo equally annoyed with ourselves to find Sir. Vogel, his scheme, and his mission spoken of in so irreverent a manner :

<: The New Zsalanders owe ten mil lions or so. They rather like the liability. So much do they appreciate it that they have determined to borrow a trifle of six millions more, that is, if they can. They have sent a smart man to try, or rather, he has sent himself, for he stated the idea, made it popular, and then had himself appointed specially to do the work. In connexion with a good many others in Victoria, I have the honor of being acquainted with the smart man They know him at Dunolly and Maryborough, and parts adjacent. He was a sharp and a bold mining speculator, and was by no means a contemptible player of unlimited 100. By sheer industry, tact, and I think talent, Julius Vogel has risen to the rank of the leading politician of New Zealand. He has one capital qualification, a convenient deafness. He never hears what he doesn't want to hear, and yet it is wonderful how much he does hear. His bete noir is Dr. Feathertson, and lam told that he is the only leading man in New Zealand over whom Mr. Vogel has not cast bis -glamour. The speed with which Mr. V. made tracks upon bis mission via California, upon the return of Dr. F. from England, was suggestive of a serse of approaching counter influence. The subsequent appointment of Dr. F. as colonial agent, and his instant despatch to London after Mr. V, resembles nothing so much as the policy of the Polynesia Company, which never despatched an emissary to Fiji without following him up with another to watch him. J. V. may be trusted alone, he can take care of himself, and if he does succeed in borrowing six millions of English money, he will have done a smart thing for New Zealand, and lie might make a little for himself, in the regular way, of course."