The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY JUNE 3, 1884.

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 7183, 3 June 1884, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY JUNE 3, 1884.

When Sir Jur.rns \%qeL was asked if he, would become a candidate for the Bast Coast seat, his answer was that he would do so if it was the general wish of the constituency. At first it seemed probable that there would bo no opposition, for th,at every min who had presented himself to the electors Would retire in favour of the 'hew coiner. Then it became known that one of the candidates—by far the worst of them—had no intention of thus abandoning the situation; and finally the others, on receiving that 1 piece of information, And on ckre-| fully reading Sir Julius, Yoqel’b manifesto, came to the conclusion that they, too, ought to go to the poll, partly because his programme was not satisfactory, and partly because, if the ‘choice were to lie only between him and Mr W. L. Uses,:the latter might perchance creep in, with the certainty of at once taking dp the position of principal political nuisance and bore in the whole circle of the Australasian colonies. Then Sir JuttUß Vo.fi el, deeply pained, of course, at th'e blindness of those Who Woilld not take him fit Ilia oW'ii Valuation, withdrew, and for a while it seemed as though lie had determined to wash his hands of New Zealand politics, and to allow the colonists to ruin themselves, or settle their own affairs after their own stupid fashion. But there were some who formed a truer estimate of the man, and who felt sure that he would unselfishly look elsewhere for the opportunity ot doing good which had been denied him on the East Coast. That opportunity was not long in presenting itself. The Ashburton seat became vacant, and some of the electors sent gir Julius Vogel a requisition asking him to stand. The Press Association message calls those gentlemen influential. They may be so, but wo do not attach much weight to a word which, in these days, clings to deputations waiting on Ministers and to electors when signing requisitions as naturally as a limpet does to a rock. We cannot say whether outside influences were delicately brought to beat*, ot Whether the idea of securing Sit JtrLifis Vogel as ft representative sprung , spontaneously in the breasts of these Ashburton patriots. But, whoever originated the requisition, it drew Sir Julius once more from his retirement. He returned a gracious answer, and is now an avowed candidate for the vacant seat. Considering his wretched state of health, and the multitude of irons he has in the fire (some of them not very hot) it must bo a real comfort to him that it will not be necessary for him to tax his inventive powers very heavily for the purpose of framing a programme for the Ashburton audience. Events have rather crowded each other. The rejected address to the East Coast constituency is not yet old—indeed, though second-hand, it is as good as new, and with slight alterations to suit local angularities, will fit the Ashburton elector at least as well as bis brother of the East Coast. But it cannot be altered greatly, and, we presume, cannot be altered at all in any part which was intended to attract special. attention throughout the colony. Sir Julius Vogel took care to remind the East Coast electors that he was not enunciating a policy or delivering a financial statement. But he said quite enough to let intelligent men know pretty nearly what course he would pursue when ho had triumphed over the two important “ ifs ” of, firstly, getting into the House, and, secondly, of attaining power when there. We have no intention of going over the . ground again at any length. A child can understand that if Sir Julius Vogel were to find a seat in Parliament, ho would make a bold bid for, office, and it is equally clear that if he attained it he would have recourse to borrowing on a far larger scale than is contemplated by the Atkinsow Government, or which would be contemplated by any Ministry which had not Sir Julius Vogel as its moving spirit. It is a dangerous and demoralising policy, and therefore oughtto find nofavour with any section of Now Zealand colonists. Least of all should it meet with acceptance at the hands of the masses, and yet we fear that a section of the worlcing-classes would welcome the man who offered once more to scatter over the country with a lavish hand the golden shower of further loans. Doubtless some would make money out of the expenditure, and a few would keep what they made, but for the colony at large the result would be disastrous. The few years of plenty would slip away, the last of the borrowed millions would vanish, and there would settle down on the country a depression compared to which the dull times of to-day would appear enviable prosperity. The burden would fall heaviest on those least able to bear it —on the working classes—and the colony would be reduced to a state of poverty, from which it might not emerge for half-a-dozen generations, unless earlier release were found in dishonour. If we have misinterpreted Sir Julius Vogel, we confess that we are entirely at a loss to understand what it is that he offers the people of New Zealand. He assumes that the country is in great straits, and that the public men of New Zealand are entirely unequal to the task of lifting her out of her difficulties ; and he announces that he can do the work, and that he is ready and willing to come to the rescue. “We dispute the correctness of his assumptions. The country, though suffering from depression, is notin great straits—is not oven poor; and, if ordinary prudence bo exercised by the Government and by the people, wo are well assured that prosperous times will again make their appearance without recourse being had to such expedients as constitute very nearly the sum and substance of Sir -Tulius Vogel’s statesmanship. Blot out from his public career in New Zealand the history of the borrowed millions, and how much will remain ? We do not deny his ability, but after such a letter as lie was pleased to write to the electors of the East Coast, there is no need for any great show of delicacy in dealing with his claims for political honours. If Sir Julius Vogel were a far greater man than we take him to be, if the country were in infinitely more perplexing difficulties, and if his utterances commended themselves fully to the intelligence of thinking people, we should still hold that at present there is to his sitting in the Logislaturg of Now Zealand and to his having any part in guiding her destinies,

an obstacle .which every constituency .should regard ns ibsuperablot He is not a Now Zealand colonist.; He is h%Ve avowedly iq'aly fori a few.months, Jana V‘3. interests lie notoriously in other parts of the world. If New Zealand requires saying, her own true eons, the men who bear the heat and burden of the d«yj who cling, to her through gttod report and pvil rejddrb, whose homes ■ are iiete, hnd whose interests are hound up in the general Welfare of the country of their adoption, they are the men to whom, and to whom alone, appeal must be iiiade for guidance in troUbloils as well as m ; prosperous timefl. It will be'a bM 1, day for NoVv Zealand when the ranks, ttf her oWn citizens .'cannot supply leaders in whom she can trust. Thatman is eminently blessed who is placed in a position to save his country, and who, after long years of toil, succeeds in his, task., But here is one who wishes ardently to .persuade a country that it wants saving, and who offers to do the business in three months, during the course of an excursion, undertaken partly for his health, and partly for the furtherance of his private business.