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

Since writing the above we have received a copy of certain telegrams that have just passed between Sir Julius Yogel and the Agent-General about the cable business. These however throw no fresh light on the situation, though in certain quarters they will tend to confirm the rumours to which we have more than once referred. Sir Julius wires Sir Dillon Bell that the Company is behaving very badly, and asks him to find out from the Silverton cable makers how long it would take to get a new cable laid between Australia and New Zealand, and whether they would undertake to lay it on the condition that the colony should have the option of buyiDg it, or leasing it for a number of years ? The Agent-General at once sends particulars as to time and cost, and sdis that the answer to the other quea ioa will be sent on such and tuch a day. Then the answer is postponed, but the AgentGeneral informs the Treasurer ihat he can arrange with tbe Company to restore the status quo ante. Had Sir Dillon Bell received instructions to try and make such an arrangement ? Judging from the telegrams we should say that he bad done bo of his own motion. He asks Sir Julius to instruct him, as if he had given the Minister some unexpected information. If this is the case the Treasurer ought to feel deeply grateful to the Agent-General for getting him out of a very serious difficulty. Sir Julius Yogel would have wildly exceeded his powers had he committed the country in' any way to such an undertaking as a colonial cable. It may of course be said that the Silverton people would have laid the cable at their own risk ; and tbip, in a sense, is quite true. Still tbe country would beyond question have been involved in entanglements and obligations of some kind or other. Besides, there would have been no excuse for snch a thing. Sir Julius Vogel's plain duty was to come to terms, if possible, with the Company in the meantime ; and wo have seen that he could have Rot an agreement which had beea sanctioned by Parliament, and which he himself once considered in the highest degree favourable. The reaßou why he ref used the Company's terms— i c , the terms which he himsalf proposed, but which the Company at first declined — ia still a secret. Whatever it may have been, it led tho honourable gentleman into a very pretty scrape. That he saw and felt this is evident from the engernesa with which he now closes with the Company's offer, as conveyed to him through the Agent General. Sir Dillon Bell hinted that it would be better to let Parliamfnt deal with the quaetion ; and Sir JuHuf, though he still harps about the ill behaviour of the Company, al last thinks ao too, and even agrees to a guarantee. The concluding items of tbe telegraphic correspondence are Interesting if Dot suggestive. Sir Dillon Bell cays that he has received Silverton'a reply to the second question, and asks if he shill telegraph the particular?. Sir Juliua Vogel's laconic answer is, " Silverton by letter." It is often said, when anything serious happens in human society, that there ia a lady in the case. When there is anything peculiar or mysterious about Sir Julius Vogel's conduct, it may be pretty safely guessed that there is a contractor in the case. Nobody of course supposes that the head man of our Government could be guilty of anything like wroDg-doing. The rumours to which we have referred wore about infirmities of temper and nnstatasmanlik<9 caprit c. Everybody indeed knows that Sir Julius has a soul above comruifi* sions. But he has all the stfme a wonderful liking for contractors. Look how he almost embraced the Meiggs's the session before last, althoagb. they were at the otber side of the globe. It was baaatif ul to Bee bow his very bool went out towards that "firm of good standing and repute." Bat this emotional effusiveness makes him what is called a bad business man. He is too generous. He cannot drive a hard bargain. It waa remarked, for instance, that both he and Sir Robert Stout seemed Ja.st session to be rcuch more careful of the interests of the Midland Railway Company than of tbe in(;ere»tg of the colony. A few thousands mattered little or nothing to such a rich and great country as New Zealand, but they mattered a great deal to a poor struggling company. Yet this kind of generosity, amiable though it be, may bo carried too far ; and we are quite sure tbe public will not be sorry to learh that Sir Julius has not bespoken a cey/ cable for the colony. The food easy going gentleman would have een almost sure to pay (op dear for bis wfeistle,