Vogel's Latest Trick.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XVIII, Issue 1711, 24 July 1885, Page 2

Vogel's Latest Trick.

The proposal recently made by Sir Julius Vogel to Parliament that a certain exceedingly “shady” firm of contractors in England should be guaranteed interest to the amount of £97,000 a year for twenty years, besides getting land worth a million and a quarter if they will construct the Middle Island Bast and West Coast Railway, has created a loud and general outburst of indignation. The proposal is simply a bribe on the part of the Government to secure the support of the Canterbury and Nelson members. Sir Julius proposed that half the interest should be charged as a special property tax on the districts which the line would benefit, but that is all humbug. The districts could not stand such a burden. It would weigh them down and then in their distress they would come to Parliament for relief, and the colony would have to take over the liability. The whole question is to be considered in Committee by the House to-day, (Friday) when the proposal of the Government is certain to be strongly condemned, save by the Canterbury and Nelson members. The proposal, if carried, would mean the perpetration of a gross job and monstrous fraud on the colony. It is possible that this latest action of Vogel will result in a vote of “ no confidence” in the Government being proposed.