Sir Julius Vogel.

Some three years ago he had felt it incumbent upon him to say that he had an extreme distrust of Sir Julius Vogel. The occasion on which he had mentioned this was when the Atkinson Ministry had been out-voted in Parliament, and were appealing to the country. There appeared to be no leader of the people. Sir Robert Stout had retired to private life, and it was doubtful whether he was coming out again, and there was a cry raised in the South that Vogel, who had just arrived in the colony, should be asked to lead the Liberal party. He (Mr H) could not see that Vogel was a Liberal in the sense which be fitted a people such as this; he had just been contesting a seat at Home in the Conservative interests, and had been associated with some parts of the history of the colony not altogether such as to inspire confidence in him. He therefore felt impelled to say, and under similar circumstances he would do so again, that in Vogel he did not see a leader entitled to the confidence of the people at large. He was glad to say and it must be satisfactory to many thousands in New Zealand, that Sir Julius Vogel while holding a most important office in the present Government of approved Liberal principles, and these Liberal principles had predominated, he had been a most useful Minister for the time being. At any rate, a Government was not to be condemned for the sake of one man. Sir Julius was a personal friend of his own, but he had told him before what he was saying now, that he did not deserve and had no proper claim to lead the Liberal party in New Zealand. He said this now to put himself right in supporting the Liberal party. By way of contrast, he would ask the electors to consider who, if the present Government were defeated, were to take their places. No doubt Major Atkinson would be sent for. He was put forward as the exponent of interests which he (Mr Hutchison) hardly believed he himself supported. He would be found to be page 8 an exponent of monopolist?, mortgage companies, and such like, in the new Parliament, and though they might throw some crumbs to the people, still it would only be for the purpose of veiling their own designs. which are those of monopolists, and their government would be a system of organised hypocrisy. (Applause.)