William Pember Reeves

“ In New Zealand the mistakes and misfortunes which had marked the birth of South Australia had been repeated, and to them had been added an unsuccessful war with a portion of the native race. The troops in the colony were but a handful, and the war-like Maori tribes, if united, could have swept the settlers into the sea. Grey reached Auckland in November 1845 to find confusion and despair. ”

“ In Cape Colony Grey was successful in averting a Kaffir invasion on a large scale by capturing certain of the chiefs in a fashion somewhat similar to the seizure of Rauparaha. Afterwards, when starvation and disease had broken the strength and spirit of the Kaffrarian tribes, he dealt kindly with them and gained their confidence. At the same time he strengthened and extended the colony by the introduction of the German legionaries and other German settlers. To aid this work he twice pledged his private credit, a step he had also once taken to complete an important land purchase in New Zealand. ”

“ The policy of developing colonies by borrowing and spending state loans is obviously open to abuse. But it would be more easy to show that those who followed in Vogel's footsteps went too far and fast than that he himself wasted public money uselessly. Finane apart, he left his mark on the institutions of New Zealand; the public trust and state life insurance offices have flourished; women's franchise, proposed by him in 1887, became law in 1893; the conservation of the New Zealand forests, which he unsuccessfully prayed for, is now a recognised necessity ”

“ In 1890, however, he proposed and carried the completed form of manhood suffrage, and in 1891 he enjoyed a triumph in Australia, where, as one of the New Zealand delegates, he was a striking figure in the federal convention. There he made a stand, and a successful stand, for 'One-man-one-vote,' and fought, not successfully, to have the governor-general elected by the people of the federation. After addressing large meetings in Victoria and New South Wales, he was welcomed with enthusiasm in his old colony, South Australia. ”

“ By employing the natives on wages at road making, by ostentatiously honouring friendly chiefs, by discountenancing land-grabbing, and encouraging industry among the Maori, Grey was able to gain remarkable influence over the race. He purchased large areas of their land for settlement, but refused to sanction any infraction of their treaty rights. It was partly for this last reason that he took the responsibility of refusing to put into force the constitution sent out to him from Downing Street in 1848, under which self-government was to be granted to the New Zealand colonists. ”

“ He did most useful work in 1880 as joint commissioner with Sir Francis Bell in settling the native land claims on the west coast of the north island in an equitable manner a work the unfair postponement of which had bred great discontent and alarm, and after doing which Fox was knighted. The rest of his public life was devoted to an earnest advocacy of temperance. The prohibition movement, now so strong in New Zealand, owes much to his long and zealous help.
Fox's active career was chiefly marked by the part he took in gaining self-government for New Zealand ”

“ The courage, endurance, and humane care for followers and natives, which were the best qualities displayed by Grey, in these unlucky journeys, recommended him to Lord John Russell as the right man for the difficult post of governor of South Australia. ”

“ A speculator, though without greed or hardness, his rashness in his private affairs gave colour to the harsh verdict of the many critics who declared that in public life he was a gambler masquerading as a statesman. ”

“ The home government lent the colony some necessary moneys, and the settlers began to grow food. The discovery of copper at Burra Burra and elsewhere made an end of depression, and when in October 1845 Grey was shifted to New Zealand, it could be claimed that the clouds had passed away from South Australia, and that in no small degree his good sense and resolution had brought about the change. ”

“ The imperial troops had been withdrawn, and though, with some reluctance, the imperial government guaranteed a loan of 1,000,000l. to enable the colonists to carry on the warfare with their own militia, the colony and the provinces owed some 7,000,000l., and were depressed and disheartened. Vogel believed that if peace could be secured the great natural resources of the islands might rapidly developed by making roads, bridges, railways, and telegraphs with money borrowed by the colony in London. He proposed to raise 10,000,000l. ”

“ Against noble aims and a real love of lofty principle, against a life untainted by corruption or the grosser forms of self-seeking, must be set notable faults the faults of a bold temperament and of an acute man of action, most of whose life was passed in command or controversy. ”

“ Major Atkinson's prudence, bravery, and untiring energy placed him very high among the officers who had to overcome the peculiar and very great difficulties of New Zealand bush warfare. At the end of 1864 he became minister of defence in the cabinet of Sir Frederick Aloysius Weld [q. v.] and urged the adoption of the 'self-reliance policy' with which Weld's name is identified. This was that the imperial troops, of which ten thousand had been engaged in the war — for each unit of whom the colonists were paying 40l. ”

“ As minister of lands he endeavoured to plant bodies of unemployed workmen on the soil as peasant farmers holding allotments under perpetual lease from the crown in state-aided village settlements. Though some of these failed, more prospered. Ejected from office in 1887, Ballance was elected leader of the liberal opposition in 1889 and formed a ministry in January 1891, on the defeat of Sir Harry Atkinson [q. v. Suppl.] Though in failing health he did not hesitate to stake his ministry's existence on a series of progressive measures of a remarkably bold and experimental kind. ”

“ His voluntary resignation of the premiership in March 1873 ended his career as minister, for it was followed by his retirement from parliament; and though in 1879 he came back again to lead the conservatives against Sir George Grey, and carried a vote of no-confidence against Grey's ministry, he lost his own seat after the dissolution which ensued, and never again took part in politics. ”

“ While still young he emigrated to New Zealand and settled as a small shopkeeper at Wanganui, but soon abandoning shopkeeping for journalism founded the 'Wanganui Herald.' In the Maori war of 1807 he helped to organise a company of troopers and received a commission, of which he was, however, deprived by the minister of defence on account of certain critical articles on the operations of the war printed in his newspaper. ”

“ From 1863 to 1864 he commanded the Taranaki Forest Rangers, a body of bush scouts and riflemen which has been described as the worst dressed and most effective corps the colony ever possessed. In the opinion both of the men he led and of competent onlookers. ”

“ His parliament authorised the borrowing of 4,000,000l., but refused to touch the public lands, which were the endowment of the provinces. Except during one month in 1892, when Sir Edward Stafford ejected the Fox-Vogel ministry, Vogel remained in office for seven years, and was always at the head of affairs, though not always premier. ”

“ The best remembered of these was the fine speech made in 1868 to the Canterbury pilgrims gathered in the council chamber in Christchurch to welcome George William, fourth baron Lyttelton [q. v.] , one of their settlement's founders. Another address, given at Wellington in 1893, contained an appeal for bible-reading in the state schools; a third showed sympathy with Christian socialism. ”

“ Thereafter poverty and bodily infirmities combined to keep him out of public life. He lived quietly near London, where for the last three years of his life he held a small post, under the New Zealand government, the duties of which were nominal, and the salary 300l. In addition to this quasi-pension the colony after his death gave his widow 1.500l. Vogel died at Hillersdon, East Molesey, on 12 March 1899. ”