PRESENTATION TO SIR J. VOGEL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 226, 19 October 1876, Page 2

PRESENTATION TO SIR J. YOGEL.

Wellington, Wednesday. There was a large attendance at the Theatre this afternoon, especially of ladies, to witness the presentation by the Mayor to Sir Julius Yogel on behalf of the citizens of Wellington. The Mayor, after making an appropriate speech, read an address which expressed regret at losing one who had so largely and beneficially influenced the colony, and asked his acceptance of the accompanying token of their regard, which probably would have been in a different form and of greater value had ' time allowed. He then handed Sir Julius Yogel a draft for £500, stating that as the ! subscription list was not yet closed, a handi sonic addition would be made to that sum before Sir Julius Yogel left the colony. , Sir Julius Yogel read a written reply to j the address, expressing his warmest thanks , for the flattering address and the kind wishes ! > for liimsclf, Lady Yogel, and family, and : white expressing regret at leaving New Zeai land, he w#s not without the hope that he might be able to return to it. Sir J. Yogel ! then delivered a parting address, speaking i for about an hour. It chiefly referred to his i past career from the time when he landed in > Otago 26 years ago. Coming to his political career, he said all he owed as a public man !. was due to Mr Fox. He said the origin of - the public Avorks scheme was that it came i upon the Fox Ministry as a conviction that l ) it was an absolute necessity for the colony to > place itself iv a position of bearing the t burthens which it had to bear hy encouraging the growth of population and endeavoring to make the country useful for the people I withiu ifc. He was told by the head of the Victorian Government : * " New Zealand is > / dojuig the very best thing for us it can do. It -I is'br_Bgjr>£ out immigrants, and after their r arrival' they jyjp sure to leave and come to Victoria." What had been the result? Dur- , ing the time that we afdded so larg.ly to our , population by the intro'dudtibn of immigrants ' i from Home, a much larger nuthberof per- I r sons .arrived .rom other colonies than had I

left New Zealand for other colonies; the balance had been in our favor. He paid a high tribute to the great results brought about by Sir D. M'Lean and Mr Richardson, and generally gave considerable credit to his other colleagues. The abolition question was engaging a very great deal of public attention just now, but he would not refer to it; he was now holding the _ o sition of AgentGeneral, and they would agree with him that he was only consulting the dignity of his position by abstaining from all reference to that question. He had taken the position of Agent-General because the duties would not be of so never-ending a character as those of a Minister of the Crown; in fact, he had abundance of medical advice to show that the state of his health was such that he could not have continued as Minister to the end of the session. He had been often urged to take things more easily and not work so hard, but it waa with him doing a thing entirely as he thought it ought to be done or not doing it at all. Ifc had been said that he left the Government at a most inconvenient time; but he was unable to see that, because it appeared to him that ho resigned when the Government was certainly most powerful and when its policy was fully recognised. They would, he hoped, excuse him for saying that he had not been a selfish politician. There would have been many and abundant appointments which he could quite creditably have taken advantage of, but he declined to do so, because he considered that at some future period ifc might lead to a conflict with his position in the Government. He expressed a hope that the colony would adhere to the policy of immigration and public works until the whole islands were peopled. With regard to the natives, he believed that in the very fact of their adaptation to warm climates ifc would be found that by a commingling of the two races the people of New Zealand would carry dominion to the whole extent of Polynesia. Too much attention, he begged to remind them, could not be given to making tho i i.ing population of the colony an educated one. There was another question which he believed before many years, perhaps months, had elapsed, would be brought prominently before the colonists for consideration—he meant the Federation of the Australasian Colonies; and then would come the question whether it was expedient that New Zealand should join in such federation. That a federation was urgently demanded by many local and national considerations no one could doubt who had thought over the subject. Aa far as New Zealand was concerned, his own opinion was that it would not be for tha interests of New Zealand to join in such federation. Three cheers were given at the close for Sir Julius Yogel and also for Lady Yogel.