The Northern Advocate THE THOMPSON-VOGEL EPISODE.

Northern Advocate, 3 December 1887, Page 2

The Northern Advocate THE THOMPSON-VOGEL EPISODE.

The telegrams which first conveyed the intelligence in respect to tiis incident were of so meagre a character '. that is was quite impossible for us to ; form a correct opinion, or to realise the why and the wherefore of the step taken by the member for Marsden. On the first blush it certainly appeared something like "beating a cripple ] with his crutches." Even when the j fuller reports of the debate came to \ hand, coupled also with the opinions of t the Press, we were still left in doubt, j and the feelingwas constantly present j that all was not known by the public. < There was a mysterious undercurrent < unexplained. For this reason we j refrained from hurriedly expressing i an opinion. From authentic sources i we are now in a position to state to f our readers the true state of the case, c It appears that, during the whole t period of his term of office, Yogel has 1 kept four men servants and one r \ woman servant at the cost of the £ colony. It has, we believe, been -j customary to allow two men on the t ministerial residence he occupied, for £ the purpose of keeping the grounds \ and house in proper order ; but all I other servants were at the personal cost of the ministers who preceded i him. This, however, was not to the ] mind of Yogel. Not satisfied with r his most exorbitant salary and 1 travelling expenses, extravagant c incidentals were charged, and all his s servants paid for by the colony, s During his period of office, the salaries t of servants which should have been h paid out of bis own pocket, have c amounted to about £1000. Not only f 30 ; but, ■ after the House met, and g when he had no claim on the Govern- t:

ment, he continued not only to oecupj r the ministerial residences, but also to employ two men and a woman servant at the cost of the colony, their salaries being drawn from the treasury. This was not only talked of in the lobbies, bait became public scandal. None of the old members, however, had the courage to move in ;his business, and to place a question in respect to it on the Order Paper, and but for Mr Thompson's action the country would never have known anything of the varied way in which Yogel has robbed the taxpayers, nor would he have received 14 days' notice to c|ixit tlie ministerial residence to which he so tenaciously clung. These are the plain, ungarnished facts of the case. It is clear that neither personal spite nor the faculty of meanness actuated Mr Thompson, but a laudable determination to set his foot on the discreditable abuses which crept into the administration of this over burdened and much taxed country. By a Southern contemporary it has been sneeringly said that Mr Thompson beats Mark Twain's meanest man. Is it come to this ? Is it true that a check on robbery, fraud, and criminal extravagance — doubling the taxation of the colony, and placing a millstone about the necks of honest men — is to be designated meanness ! and that the man who dares to do what is right is held up to scorn ? while he who has for years unchecked played ducks and drakes with our country's money, is deemed a martyr tlie moment lie is exposed. We think not. True party feeling may even to such an extent blind the eyes of a few of the adherents of this profligate man, as well as the press immediately in his power, but we feel that all honest men will justify Mr Thompson's conduct/and honour him for the course he has pursued. We believe this incident is merely the thin end of the wedge inserted into the bundle of ministerial and administrative abuses ; and that, if members have only the industry to look into it more fully, and expose its contents, they would better serve their country than, by fighting over parties, and do more to restore confidence and prosperity in the country than by any other means. An honest Government will always be a strong Government. The behaviour of Yogel in this affair, for himself, was a blunder. Had he been content with the Premier's answer to the question, all would have blown over. His undignified conduct, his loss of temper, his attack on the Speaker, his charges hurled, in the fury of his rage, broadcast at members indiscriminately, and the blasphemy of ascribing the effects of long continued gluttony and wine-bibbing to the act of God, all combined to set the House aflame, and originate ehquiiy in the public mind which will not easily m satisfied : nor it is right it should, fe