A MONEY-GRUBBING COLONY.

Otago Witness, Issue 567, 11 October 1862, Page 8

A MONEY-GRUBBING COLONY.

(From the JSlellow'iie Illubtratad Post.)

A "money-grubbing polony." This has come to be tho recognis"d £»toi;k-phra.ye of the whole libellous fraternity. "We are all money-grubbers here : trust none of us !'' is the universal cry. It is woith whi'e stopping for a few minutes to analyse this very common phrase, for the purpose of determining exactly ho'v much truth it coist. ins.

The latebt co ispicuou-. instance of its u«e, was that given at the vftlod'ctory banquet to Mr. Wilaon Gray at liooken's hotel the o! her evening. The ex-Chief Secretary, who w.is chairman on the occasion, took occasion to piy the part'n^ guests ahi'jh compliment, at the expen.se of the community which, we regret to .«ay, Mr. Gray id temporarily dcpriving'of his valuable services. "He h«s proved," snid Mr. Ueiles. "that in this money-grubbing' colon y love of country still exi&ts." .hikt 30 ! We are all i'.oj'^v grubbers lure, and Mr. Witaon Wray is one uiV.i 0 luiiiiant exception thnt proves this rule ! Mr. ltc-de- is kind enough and can .lid euousrh, to tell in s-n lo our faces, and .surely we ought to be. ye 'y muc-h obliged to him !

i>ut is it true that this is a money-grubbing colony, an the ox-Ghit'f Secretsuy, whilst exalting his departing friend, affirms? Is the odious charge justifiable ? In Mr. Wilson Gray's regard it certainly is not Neither that gentleman nor his friends for him, have any right to level the sordid imputation at the people of this colony. His hand should be the very last to throw that hard stone at us. For is it not the fact that only the other day Mr. Gray was offered by his Mends, on behalf of the public, a very liberal" testimonial in money, — which for reasons of his own he refused to accept? Did not his friends affirm openly that they were prepared, without any difficulty, to collect a sum which would have raised Air. Gray to comparative affluence for the ret,t of his life 1 That, surely, was no expression of a prevalent money-grub-bing spirit amongst the colonists. At all event 3, the gentlemen who originated tho idea of the testimonial, and who very spiritedly commenced their operations with the generous contribution of LSOO, ought to have been specially exempted iroiu Mr. Heales's sweeping censure. It was both unfair and ungrateful to include them. So thnt, as the ex-Chief Secretary may perceive, we are not all money-grubbers, even in this colony. Bui it is fair to ask what this phrase exactly means when applied in n wholesale way to any community 1 Of course it is intended to convey a charge or an iruputation of some sort. Very well : we want to know what the precise charge or imputation is in this case. We would take a person up sharply who had just dropt tho phrase, and insist on his defining its exact meaning as applied to the colony of Victoria. Whnt do you mean to convey, — we would thus interrogate him,—b y calling this a " money-grubbing colony"' in a sense not equally applicable to all other colonies, and indeed to all other communities, on the face of the earth ] ■ Do you intend to stigmatise the colonists of Victoria as being, in the mass, more avaricious,

more penurious, more fordid, than any equal British population anywhere clss I Is that your meaning 1 If il uo, you must periiiit us to tell you that tiie allegation, besides bein»- in the last degree censorious and uncharitable, is entirely unwarrante I and false. " Thou shalt not bear fnlse witness against thy neighbor." It is simply untrue, as to tlie matter of fact ; and no man wlio baa due regard for his reputation for intelligence, never to speak of veracity, would, knowing the facts, venture to make such an allegation. It may, on th" contrary, be fairly asserted, that the people of this colony stand honorably conspicuous before the world for the possession of qualities exactly the opposite of thosejyou impute to tlvm. You call them avaricious : there never was a people who valued monoy less for its own s ike. There never was a country in which the possession of mere wealth brought less of honor and respect to the possessor Instead of bringing a man titles, dignities, social influence, political power, as in other oountiios, riches only expose a man here ti popular oWoqu v and contempt. He is nicknamed " the mo lpy-srrubliPr," and all meiit of a high, and gener jus kind is scornfully denied him. This is what wealth entails oa a man in Victoria. Again, you call thp colony penurious. Why, it is liberal to extravagance. Its hand an I pocket are always opun. It lms always its tens of thousands of pound's ro.» ly to con tribute to any great notional cause of charity. Penurious ! Am the noble funds subscribed with the most ean-er alacrity f"' 1 th * relief of th 3 Lancashire oper.iti\"es, for Mis. Hu-> lies, and for a score of other public object within tho last fay y-urs, proofs of penuriousness 1 Are tho local cluriti-s, — hospitals, benevolent asylums. imtnisriWs aid por»iotios, deaf and dumb societies, and all the r<*sf,,— supported grudgingly and in a niirgnrdly spirit ] Rather, is it not ti'uo tint the only ground of complaint on tins hoa 1 is, _ that the public bounty is dispcns a :l with a positively too lihprnl and indiscriminatinglnnd >. Both Government a-id peop'e, — the public Tie.isury and tne private purket, — are rather too ready to rff-puml to the i-ices-sant calls uwlo upon them; ani the consilience is that it J - becoming a gr.ive question wliciher much mi"?luef, ms wMI as a £;roit deal of umlcni.ib'e good do^s not result from all ihis excessive liberality. And then as to sordid ness : it i-i simply an impudent libel to call this most active, most free-handed, and strikingly intellu'-nt community, a sordid cue in any j sense of the word. No doubt people here avoilc heartily and strenuously to get money, as why should they not ] But they value money m liuly for wh it it can purchase of tho comforts and conveniences of civilihed life, — not for its own sake merely. Th -y live as the v go. They lik-; money, certainly: but they a'so lik", even more than money, goo 1 and comfortable dwellings, pleasant gardens, cultivate If icras, literature, mu«ic. good dramatic entertainments, ami whatever else tends to a lorn and elevate tlicir social condition. A ppopje \\ ho do this are exactly the very opposite of sordid in their fcelinm and habits Of Che religious institutions of the country, we will only say, that the minic-rons churche-^ehupe's, and n.inis ters, which abound in it, ami the liberal way in w hit-h these are m-untaiued, would of itself be_ a coaclu&ive disnroof of thoolious impulsion of sordiduess. Lo <k around you into whatever part of the co'ony you may go, and you w iil see the evidences of spirited enterprise, untiring industry, nobly strenuous efforts, to producp all tlie results of the highest civilisition in a virgin territory. Money drubbing, quotha ! It was a population of mere muck-worms, we suppose, that founded and built Melbourne ; that covered its pictunrque suburbs with miles of comfortable and handsome dwellings ; that ma U' the railwijs and the macadamised roads in p rtVct contempt of cost: that built the Public Library, tbe University, the Museum, the Houses of Parliament, the Me 1 bourne Hospital, and a thousand other noblo instit"tions of utility and benevolence! Does Sir. Heales himself, — allowing that he knows the value of the words Ie usos, — leally bslicve it?

Let us Lj stiiotly ju>t, however. The plvase we liave heen commentm? on, i<- one of tho-e lualf-slangy e\|ire.-ions, which any tliouyhtlets fellow thinks himsHf at perfect liberty to use whenever lie things liropjr. It it- a pure slander, as we have seen ; hut tbe i it is a slander !• vp'.lud at everybody in {roneral, and nobpdy in partirular. It gratifies personal malice and littleness of mind to usu it, and it cm he ns-Cil wit'io t danger of persona! diasiif-emeHt. lionce its currency. It is hic'i tiiiie, however, that there was a stop put to this foil} The peop'e of this colony are suiely noL bound to decry and delaine, to libul and slander each other before the world. We are nil familiar with the proverb touching (lie bird who fouls his own m'st. /t exactly npplies in this case. A Cliiiuinian, a Ilotlenfa t, an Esquimaux in his filthy wigwam, or an Andaman I.slander burrowing in the earth, would scorn to speak evil of his native country. lie holds it to be tho only para.Jise beneath the blue concave of heaven. Why should a Victorian coloni&t hnvo less of patriotic feeling ! Why should, he, of all men on the face of tlie earth, speak libellous and bitter words of the land he inhabits ? This nuisance demands immediate and imperative repression. Hencefo ward, whenever any man flings the scurrilous epithet "monpy-gvubbing " in the teeth of this community, or insult--, it openly in any similar way, he ought to be sent to Coventry by universal consent, — nut dead by evory member of the society he has so defamed and slandered !