HON. MR. VOGEL AT DUNEDIN.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXV, Issue 3086, 17 December 1870, Page 3

HON. MR. VOGEL AT DUNEDIN.

t Dunedin has. been the scene of strong political .1 excitement during the past week. A visit from I the Colonial Treasurer has called forth a violent t ebullition of public feeling. Parties seem to be ?^BJtrongly and very equally divided in, their estii mate of Mr Vogel's conduct and capabilities. i But the opposition have an advantage in the Bupyfpprfi of the leading journal. Curiously enough, |v,tha' principal commercial town of the colony Impaste only one morning journal, and that is a P&bfd' party organ. Among all the journals in pS«#r Zealand, the "Daily Times'^ ranks facile mspneep* in that respect. Whether its antipathy feto"!Mr Yogel has anything to do with the fact IJpiiftt be stands in tne tender relotion of parent to jpbe "Times," and that the present editor is conI- scious of the painful contrast between the dim jfcpbsourity of the present and the light of other pdays ii doubtful, but is quite certain that the P^Daily Times" hates Mr Yogel .very cordiaily, P^idf'iaerer looses an opportunity of misrepresentpjingpor abusing him. Is it not wonderful, therep|ore, that having a monopoly in purveying |§ political opinions, the Banedin publio were suffigyoiently misled to give Mr Vogei scant fcourtesy 'when he first paoceeded to address them. 'f\:'. We have no hesitation in saying that the proi? ceedinga at the public meeting held in the r: Dunedin Theatre on the Bth inst, as reported in jßthe " Daily Times." where of a character to reInflect disgrace upon any intelligent community, if;. A)i -iniemperate eccentric person of the name of li Grant, who hais ilgured in the local political his- [■ tory of Dunedin as a prominent firebrand for many £ years past, appears to have been put up to annoy f Mr Yogel. i-'Thiß worthy seems to have found a sufficient number of sympathisers to enable him '■ ':':■ effectually to disturb the business of the meeting ■• and prevent the Treasurer from explaining the pplicy and purposes of the Government. That fi a few violent ignorant persons should be able to W. thoroughly disturb a large public meeting is not very creditable to the good sense or manners of '-.'an/: community, but that the leading journal belonging to the same community should ; encourage this sort of thing by accepting the ; result as a political victory, is indeed lament •.able. The article which appeared in the " Daily of the following day, in which the writer i gloats over the fact that Mr Yogel was " remorse- ? leßsely hooted down and jeered at" by an up>;rriaroas mob, is one to make every true Mend of the public press blush for his profession. £■ That a very considerable section of the Dun- ■\ edin public thought the same, is evident from the ??&otthafc Mr Yogel soon afterwards received a requisition, signed by a large proportion of the \ of the townspeople, asking him to hold another ; : meeting for the i purpose of explaining the conduct ;. of the Government. At these meetings Mr Yogel gave an explanation of certain charges brought the Government by the editor of the |4?«J)aily Times," in his capacity of secretary of &" what is known as thp Press Telegraph Association. The charge made by Mr Barton amounted to nothing lesß than that the Government had perloined g a telegram belonging to the Association, and given IgjitOtb 'a Vfellingjon ministerial paper. We are glad '-the source from which the tele!:iT*.KßmL"Wßß\obtained has been discovered, and that and intemperate charge put forward by ll^lpßktftpn; ha'd;.no, greater foundation than bis ||g^pjbaseleßß ;/ Bußpioions. From our previous |gp||ipi|n<jsiice with this gentleman as secretary of ||| were quite [prepared to find

! him wrong in this particulr instance. In one very I importent respect the secretary of the Press Telej graph Association has broken the distinct understanding which existed between the members. A principal stipulation in this understanding was — as a matter of course — the careful elimination of all political coloring from the telegrams sent to members of the Association. So far from this having been done, Mr Barton has repeatedly used the Association as a medium for the dissemination of strong political opinions identical with those promulgated in the columns of the " o ta g° Daily Times."