MR. DE LAUTOUR ON SIR JULIUS VOGEL.

Oamaru Mail, Volume III, Issue 778, 9 October 1878, Page 1 (Supplement)

MR. DE LAUTOUR ON SIR JULIUS VOGEL.

The following is a portion of a speech delivered in Parliament by Mr. De Lautour :

Sir, I entirely repudiate the doctrine now preached, and which was preached in Dunedin and Christchurch lately, that the acts" and repu'ations of our public men are their individual acts. Greatly as I admire the Premier, greatly as we must admire his action before he came to this Colony, y t I say that even he must have obtained his inspiration from the Colony itself ; and no public man, I do not care who he is, even if his history has been a more extensive one outside this Colony than the Premier's—no public man in this House, or who has ever been in this House, can claim as his own right the credit for his individual acts aa a public man. They are the property of the Colony which has created him, which has inspired him, which has made him what he is. It is said that this side of the House would shower contempt on Sir Julius Vogel or Mr. Stafford. T deny that. The ruin of the reputation of a public man is a disaster to the Colony which bred and reared him. Every country is the poorer for the sum of a great reputation. It is attempted to drive us into that position, because for years those with whom I act, and for some short time I myself, were in active opposition to Sir Julius Vogel ; because, while we could admire his conception, his vast ideality, we could not admire the prodigality and profusion >vhich accompanied them ; we could not fail to see, in spite of his large views, in spite of his great anxiety to serve the Colony, and in spite of his" wish, while raising himself, as a New Zealand statesman, to raise the Colony too, that, while the power of conception was there, and the will was there, yet the power to administer wisely, to stand firm regardless of political support, was wanting altogether ; and the Colony was plunged, not deeper than it can bear, but, for the results which were obtained, deeper than it need have been, into debt and difficulty. Sir, it is not possible to ruin New Zealand. No Government can ruin New Zealand.