Wellington Independent. "NOTHING EXTENUATE; NOR SET DOWN AUGHT IN MALICE." THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 1871.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3094, 5 January 1871, Page 2

Wellington Independent. "NOTHING EXTENUATE; NOR SET DOWN AUGHT IN MALICE." THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 1871.

— . \ While the Victorian journals are praising the Postmaster- General of New Zealand for his statesmanlike ability, and showing how favorably his administration compares with that of their own Ministers, one or two New Zealand journals industriously vie with each other in attempts to decry him. In every step he takes they detect some sinister design. If the duties of his office call him North or call him South, the journey is put down to some personal and selfish purpose. Every business trip he takes is "a 'pleasure excursion," and if it is to America or Europe it must be " for his health." He is compared to Julius Ocesar — nay, on more than ore occasion it has been clearly shown that he is worse than Nero ! Of late however he is depicted as a Heliogabalus entirely devoted to the gratification of his pleasures, although it is not explained how, in addition to his other duties, he can find time and mental capacity to make' a postal convention with America or arrange a contract for the San Francisco service. Of course the occasion of his departure for America and Europe is too good to be lost, and all that is conceivable in the wide range of human wickedness — no matter how incongruously the charges cohere — is conjured up and ascribed to him. He is going' home, we are told, to enjoy himself at our expense and never intends to return. He knows the money can never be obtained, and he will never try to obtain it. He has appointed himself Agent-General at a salary of £2000 a year, &c. They know all about him, and yet they " wish to know what he is going to do." He has great ability — he has no ability at all. He haggles over a few shillings — he does not know what economy means. He has lowered the reputation of the colony in the eyes of Victoria and at the same " cleverly managed to raise it !" His scheme of Government Insurance and Annuities is a dodge for raising the wind, and the Post Office Savings Banks is another device of a " desperate financier." They may be informed that the Post Office Savings Banks Bill was prepared by Mr Eichmond, and the system was begun by Mr Hall — nevertheless they contend the wickedness of the thing belongs to Mr Yogel. What was creditable in them is villany in him. The absurdity of this systematic depreciation would be only amusing if it did not tend to degrade the reputation of the press. We are glad to see that our contemporaries begin to see this, and we reprint elsewhere some very pertinent remarks on this point. Besides, as the continual dropping of water will wear away the hardest rock, and as the Colonial Treasurer is but human, it is just possible that the fierce vituperation of Wellington journals if further persisted in will make him less anxious to renew that assistance to Wellington he has on more than one occasion been able to render. That he has devoted himself so anxiously to the public interest and never relaxed his exertions, notwithstanding the abuse heaped upon him, has already sufficiently illustrated his magnanimity. But it may be prudent not to try him too far. It would be worth while, if only as an experiment, to try an opposite course. For the good he has been able to do, suppose they were henceforth to give him credit. Nay, they might go so far as to praise him for making the attempt. Nor would they be chargeable with undue leniency, as public censors, were they from this time forth to suppose that the Ministry of which he is a member are not more than ordinarily wicked and corrupt, that there is still some element of good in them, and that with a little encouragement they might rise to the height of being able to carry on the business of the country with only a little less judgment and principle than these exalted journalists themselves ! For ourselves, we are unwilling to believe that they are utterly lost. We cannot think with' all their faults, that they are loholly reprobate. We rather incline to the opinion entertained of them by the leading journals of Great Britain and Victoria. We think the estimate of British statesmen must go for something ; and if New Zealand stands higher at home than ever it did, we aro not quite sure but the credit is due wholly to them. The policy of the Government (most ridiculously ascribed to the Treasurer exclusively) has been much commended by the London " Times," the " Examiner," and other influential organs of .public opinion, and the Commissioners they sent home were received with a respect and deference rarely accorded to colonial representatives. The present mission of the Colonial Treasurer, we venture to think, may be productive of very great benefit to the country. We do not pretend to any better information than our contemporaries — but we imagine it is but the necessary step to ascertain how and on what terms the money can be had for carrying out the measures passed by the Assembly, with scarcely any dissentient voices. These measures were freely and fully discussed, and the Ministry were instructed by the House to carry them into effect. To do so to the best advantage is their bounden duty, and it is the proper business of the Colonial Treasurer to ascertain for himself in the home money market the best way of raising the necessary funds. As the Minister of Works for his own satisfaction started off to examine the new route to Wairarapa, so, we imagine, the Colonial Treasurer has set off to London to make the enquiries on the spot that are absolutely indispensable before proceeding to carry into effect the wishes of the Assembly. It would appear from a printed telegram that the Treasurer is to return before the Assembly meets, and it seems a very natural inference that on the information he may acquire in his present mission the policy to be submitted to the new Par-

liament will mainly depend. It is abundantly evident that the defence loan must be raised not only for the proper purpose of defence but for recouping the General Government for advances made under its provisions. We cannot imagine the Government would do so foolish a thing as wait till the "end of the war," beforethey made all needful enquiries, seeing that in the opinion of the leading home journals the i close of the war will be the very time when money willbe most difficult to be had, from the large loans that the combatant powers will then have to raise in the market. We can only excuse the Ministry for not sooner sending home that one of their number whose proper function is to deal with the finances of the colony, on the ground that he was engaged as Postmaster-General in making arrangements for a new postal service. But the delay has not been great, and if the details of that new service, as we should imagine, require his presence at Washington or New York, a saving is effected by his undertaking in his own person both a postal and a financial mission. Charged with such responsibilities, he carries with him the best wishes of every right-thinking colonist, and he is fairly entitled to a charitable construction of all his proceedings until his return. The rumor that his colleagues had any doubt of " the advisability of his projected journey" shows too plainly that "the wish is father to the thought" to require any contradiction. Dissensions in the Cabinet were never more inopportune, and we should imagine were never more improbable. Agreed on so many cardinal points of policy, it is idle and mischievous to speculate on their differing ou questions of minor importance. But it is simply ridiculous to conceive a Cabinet being held on Sunday to determine whether the Postmaster-General should be the Minister chosen to proceed to America to settle the details of a postal contract, and whether the financial Minister should abrogate his functions, and relegate to another in London the responsibilities peculiar to his office ! It is surely unnecessary to repeat he is not going home as Agent- General on a salary of £2,000 a year. Before he could accept such an office he would have to resign all the offices he holds, and holds, we make bold to say, with great credit to himself, and great advantage to the colony. An AgentGeneral must necessarily be a servant to the Government, and we are sure we will for once carry these journalists with us when W3 assert that it is highly improbable the Hon. Mr Yogel will ever accept a position involving his retirement from the present Ministry.