The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. MONDAY, 15TH NOVEMBER, 1886.

Southland Times, Issue 9375, 15 November 1886, Page 2

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. MONDAY, 15TH NOVEMBER, 1886.

A United Press Association message from Christchurch, which appears in another column states that " {Sir Julius Yogel has just received a cablegram from London that Mr Pender has agreed to the terms which he (Sir Julius Yogel) had expressed himself willing to accept, namely a return for six months to the status quo ante, with the addition of the reduction of Press messages to threepence a word, with a guarantee that Press revenue shall not suffer thereby." Sir Jnlius Yogel' has thus at length been compelled to give up the contest with the Cable Company, or, to say the very least, to agree to a truce. His conduct throughout the whole of this wretched business has appeared to be most unstatesmanlike — arbitrary, and inconsistent ; and latterly it has been discourteous as well. Indeed few would have imagined that a man of so much adroitness and general ability could have stultified himself in such a manner. As we have shown in former articles, be first of all pleaded for a renewal of the sußsidy with almost as much earnestness as he pleaded for Messrs Meiggs and Co.'s offer, and then, for some altogether unexplained reason, he wheeled right round and obstinately refused all terms with tbe Company. He first said that they were making very poor profitß, and then that their " revenue was certainly a j good one." Such a glaring change of j fronts without sufficient reason shown, on the part of the man who is to all intents and purposes not merely the Premier but the Government of New Zealand is not a subject of congratulation to the colony. It seems to show that our master (we chose him with our eyes open, and deserve to suffer) is developing the worst qualities of the tyrant. But he has received a check from the Cable Company. However easy it may be to twist his invertibrate colleagues round his fingers, or make ducks and drakes of the j coloni al affairs, he find 3 that his arbitrary power is not recognised outside of New Zealand. The Management of the Company have taken no pains (since tbe quavrei began) to conceal their contempt for Sir Julius Vogel's bounce. They knew they had their hook in his nose, and that however appallingly the financial leviathan might flounder about and threaten, they could manage to negotiate him sooner or later. Which they have just done. Sir Julius Yogel no doubt discovered that he had been acting with great rashness and imprudence in a matter that required very skilful handling. So many interests were involved besides those of ihe Press and the public of New Zealand (tbe interests of other colonies, for instance) that it was mere midsummer madness to try and browbeat the Company into an acceptance of his lateßt terms. It may be the proper thing for the colony to get a cable of its own, but it was certainly not the proper thing for Sir Julius Yogel to assume an air of blustering independence as long as we were practically at the mercy of the Company and the other colonies. He would at any rate have been spared the humiliation of his present surrender. The wording of the telegram would indeed seem to suggest, and, being virtually a Government telegram, was doubtless intended to suggest, j that the Cable Company had yielded to Sir Julius Voge). But the reverse is so far the case. The provisional agreement is simply a return, as the telegram states, to the status quo. The Government continue to pay the subsidy, and the Company continue to transmit the messages at the old rates, with the exception that press messages are to be reduced to threepence a word , There is thus no reduction in ordinary messages, though a reduction in the^e formed part of the proposal rejected by Sir Julius Yogel, and the Government moreover guarantee that the revenue derived ffozn the press messages will not suffer from the reduced rates. This guarantee was by the way one of the things that his colleagues would not hear of, though Sir Julius himself, poor

martyr, was f'iavoulißly iipfeseed"" with the Company's suggestion. How kind and good of them then to agree to it- when they t saw their'; hnmble-mmded and.^profonridly; , deferentiafv>Sßociate (vide'one of v ";P° or ' ? >TW s speecheS) in • serious fix! Whatever may be the rjpßbot of the business, certain it is that Sir Julius Yogel *has made a**very decided mess of it. It would be interest-*, ing to know exactly what, were hisWsons "for departing from his original intentions and taking up apposition- qfcjsuch determined antagonism to the Company. Nothing, as- far as-we-Mre*- aware, had happened in the meantime to account for the change. The Colonial Treasurer knew in 1885 as well as he does now tbe state of the Company's accounts. In gfajbt the business has rather fallen off ittian increased since the -time when he the House that their profits were f n6jthirig to boast of. So at least said the member for Mount Ida, at the meeting of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce the other day, in his rather unsuccessful attempt to defend the action of the Qdyernmerit. It is jrist passible that Sir'JuKnl^|;el did not look properly into the matter* in 1885. But why does he not say bo, and thus at once satisfy the public and prevent his enemies from circulating discreditable rumours ? The misfortune is that he seemed to have all the details of.the; business at his finger 'i&hds, even when he declared that the arrangement which he ultimately rejected woulirbe'a very great concession—-that it was in fact a concession almost too great to bo hoped for ! We would suggest that Sir Eobert Stout, who does not seem to have much to do except to " figure " as the Premier and exhibit his insignia of knighthood, should exercise j his ingenuity on an explanation of the mystery. In the meantime we are glad that Sir Julius Yogel has managed to conclude a working arrangement with the Company. Parliament will meet before the six months' term expires , and now that such a serious rupture has occurred between the Company and Sir Julius, it is undoubtedly better that the matter should be definitively settled by the House,