THE PRESENT ASPECT OF NEW ZEALAND.

Thames Advertiser, Volume IX, Issue 2437, 6 October 1876, Page 3

THE PRESENT ASPECT OF NEW ZEALAND.

I tbeli somewhat tempted this morning to spend a little time upon, in my imagination, one of tlie fairest possessions of the British Crown—a colony wonderfully, blessed and liberally endowed by nature, yet, I fear, gradually going to tli bad by bad management at the hands, or, I may say with truth, the hand of one unscrupulous and self-sufficient man Need I say I refer to New Zealand; -though 'one of ius so far as interest is concerned, yet quite distinct from us by its isolation, its different class of people (especially so far as the rich province of Canterbury is concerned] ; and, lastly, its increasing notoriety as a colony overburdened with a millstono-likedebt, and struggling tlirough it,—first, gamely enough, though, latterly, having recourse (as I will directly show) to; measures the very reyerse of creditable. During the last 10 or 11 years my visits to New Zealand have not been unfrequent, so that I am not resting upon either hearsay or] newspaper correspondence in the opinions I would give publication to. No colony certainly has gone through greater troubles from native disturbance's—though all have, been confined to .the North Island; but no Crown possession'has, been more steadily supported.-by men, money, aiid material' than New Zoaland.. It is not requisite I should refer to tlie struggle for power from Johnujr Ueki's time till the close of the war (if it is over). The war debt was inevitable,: aud, liberal though the Queen's Government were throughout, the amount saddled- upon the colony: was inconvenient, though absurdly small in! comparison with the large debt of the present day. : Notwithstanding; the troubles of the North Island, the Middle, or Southern, has enjoyed a history of pastoral success eclipsing all before itnearly the whole, indeed, of the available country in the provinces of Ojago, Canterbury, Nelson, and Southland, or Invercargill, being occupied to advantage. The elimato is superb j and, all in all, no finer or fairer spot than this .Southern Island can be desired. But, unhappily for our neighbours, and, indeed, somewhat, like ourselves in 1856, they were presented with a " constitution " before the " body." was ripe for it. With but few ; men capable of wielding the State hammer, and with little or no experience, they were launched out into the world before their time, and are now paying a very heavy penalty for their indiscretions. And now the year 1870 finds them in the pleasant possession of an empty exchequer, ii suspicious world without them, who will not trust them, with another penny, and no end of immediate and yory pressing difficulties thick upon them, Hitherto, the islands have been subdivided into provinces, each with its own local administration and superintendent, with a general government located at Wellington,; the capital, (by courtesy only), which is situate at the south end of the Northern Island, and which province had also a separate local rule, with superintendent and provincial council. The dis-establish-ment of this system-over a rotten one - no doubt has been the cause of much strife, and the exhibition of the bitterest personal animosities. '! heso petty states ;werc, to a degree, as independent as they were impatient of higher control, and the couscquence has been uever-ending collisions with the General Government, tending from first to last to general disrepute and injury. As in other colonies, tho advent of the New Zealand constitution, attended as it almost was by tho discovery of vast and rich goldfields in the southern provinces, afforded a satisfactory field for the speculations of the many hungry politicians of the Australian communities,

and Otago was chosen as a sort of rendezvous, or starting point, for many of these worthies j and the newspaper element was not far behind'law and physic ic its migration. I refer to Otago principally, as there seemed to be a settled determination on the part of the Canterbury people to live, to themselves if po3siblo, and , resent all introduction of colonial weeds, ' and to this day they are looked upon— with niuch reason too—as tho elite of Few Zealand. There can bo ho. wider, differences in life than'the constitution of wbat may be termed.'Society'in the provinces of New Zealand. The burden of. : . the' debt has been, of course, shared uni-versally-though the war was carried on for ; tho defence of tho Worth Islanders : solely. The, immense sums spent in tho • construction, of railways in the South, as v well as the foolishly wholesale system of ' - ■ immigration and the carrying out of public works and improvements; has asstiredly equalized all claims. It was a bitter day for the white population when Mr Julius • Yogel came into power;—an original migrator from Victoria to Otago, a man, thoroughly ! wrapt up i'ri the high estimate / he had seen cause to form of his. personal ! capabilities; a fluent and plausible public speaker; an expert.at financo; a bou viv'ant in habit; and as good a partner to get hold:of at a rubber you could,deairo—; •• j: ambitious to the last degree, and, in,fine as 'a Yankee would say,'"the bite'and two ends of a real finoodler." It was not,, 'to bo, wondered at that he first' wheedled ! his: way into manageiußnt, and,-vvlion once.ithere, .the top of the . tree tho . political society,lie.was located was easily attkihed. How be managed the business.,*,,, tlio position of Now Zealand, to-day shows, and shows too painfully.- I say he advisbdly, for it : is a matter of downright absurdity the \ease; with; which he over-

ruled nil associated with him, and the gullibility evinced by men of . equal attainment, but lacking determination. To be, brief, 1876 has seen two important • • epochs in New Zealand history; first, the / • return (almost forced) of this eminent statesman, and next, the helpless condition of the colony—tho national debt burdening tho, people to the enormous. amount of nearlyfifty-two poundsi head. 1 ' ! Early last year, when affairs commenced to wear an ugly appearance down at Wei- ... lingtou, Mr Julius Vogel proposed or suggested • or some admirer did' it for him—that ho should at once visit England and place tho shaky ff; Z, finances on a more comfortablo and reliablo. basis. The loans then in the markot hung fi.ro, and credit wk3 sadly deteriorating, and he > was looked upon as tho Salvator General ■; in!posse; the only nian who could pull them through.' Ho went duly accredited, as we know. The real terms under which he accepted tkc;Oiierous—and honorus -'"! task only now-have como out.-' Ho siipu- - ; lated, of course; first for his 'salary/ • £1,750 per; annum; next, a modest sum''; . of four guineas per diem for.per?'onal. es- : ; peases; and lastly, a bonus of £1,50'0, .' paid down-for wear and tear of mind, I' presume; and, in addition to these ; vcry inconsiderable items, lie drew during his ! sixteen months'. absenco no less than £3,700 (in round numbers) in excess of fcheso Allowances, which ; sum ■ye.t.Las. to, be.voted. It is sufficient to say lie drew :■ it,'and it is gone.; One item in the record oflhis services-an expenditure, of course, unconnected with all personal matter •. was £9001 for telegrams. What a pull for the various companies 1 He naively ; apprises his, how many, detractors that ' " there's no disguising the fact that the ' New Zealand credit, is at very low ebb, partly from 'undue detraction, and partly from having hmwed so largely," (the italics aro ; miae) 5 while, in some cxplaua- : tion as to his personal extravagance, lie, with the greatest sang froid, remarks, " lie lived in what lie considered to be a reasonable manner, and did not pretend : to be economical." : I fancy I hear an old Irish born acquaintance of mine ohiming injwith " the divil doubt ye!"—a favourite rebark of his. .No doubt Mr Yogel's residence at ; the German baths for att'abks : • of gout;are causes of much extra expense, arid his interviews with the Eothschilds who finally came to terms about a loan on the disastrous terms we know, costing tho unhappy colony a dead loss of nearly , £80,000 at once.. I need not refer to tho public prints as to the. supposition, of , ;l Gogol's satisfactory position in the issue the loan balances, • and no less than £800,000 worth of debentures -being the Imperial guarantee' (about 1£ millions in all)—for a loan froui the Bank of England of one million. Now, to conclude, who can wonder at the loss of credit, at the fearfully awkward position tho New Zea- ; , land Government are placed in F Who can? ! wonder at the Stock Excbangepoint blank refusing to recognize any further like transactions with'Mr Jogel's name to them?/ I had the honour of the late Dr. Featherston's acquaintance (the Superintendent of Wellington), and. later, the Crown Agent.for N. Z. in London and ,can well , now believe the : constant irritatiotf.Mr ! ( Yogel's preserico in London mus^hayo' I '' ■ occasioned him during all tKfesfi intrigues. ■' No wonder they differed, and finally, came •: to bpen'war. The poor doctors has .gone to rest a poor man ; while , his .quondam ; ally has not'only returned a' .wiser,, and, if report be itmfl. ai-.rioher. man, but has- s been the recipient of regal reward, in the/. shape of knighthood and a C.M.Gship. In the face, too, of all their troubles, Sir Julius proposes to : " borrow "—if he can , got it—a final sum of two or three millions. nominally for immigration and the completion of works in progress, but, really, to'keep tho State going. Such "is- Now Zealand in its political and public position to-day-overrun with immigrants, half of them utterly unsuited' to hard: ! work of any sort; public Works and railways of very questionable' : u!ility • -certainly with. 110 earthly prospect of any return tp the present generation : by way of interest—have been pushed' on. to keep, a half starving population in bread; and yet, as I say, he proposed to bring out more. Certainly tho Southern Island has 600 miles of railroad complete, while the Northern has but M 5 miles - a portion ■ not yet open --on which iii all nearly 6 millions have been expended.—Bathmt Independent. . :, ..