NEW PLYMOUTH.

Auckland Chronicle and New Zealand Colonist, Volume 1, Issue 37, 27 May 1843, Page 2

NEW PLYMOUTH.

From the “ Nelson Examiner.”)

[We are very happy, at any time, to receive and publish information, relating to the progress and condition of our fellow-countrymen at New Plymouth ; and hope that the following communication will not be the last we shall receive from the same hand. We trust our merchants will not forget the hint which our correspondent has given them, and that the example set by Messrs. Fell and- Ce.,. will not want followers at a fitting time.— Ed.] To the Editor of “ The Nelson Examiner .” “ Sir, —I observe a notice of New Plymouth, in your journal of the 4 h instant, and the expression of a wish for more information respecting the 6tate and prospects of this settlement ; I have therefore thrown together a few facts, which are at your service if you think them worth printing. “ During the last ten months, since the arrival of the Company’s present Agent, there have been forty tw o arrival’s of vessels of various sizes, chiefly, however, small craft. All these have been discharged of cargo and passengers without accident or damage of any kind. During some heavy gales, large vessels have held safety to the moorings, and smaller ones have generally gone to sea ;. but the latter class may now find a safe harbour in the Waitera, the entrance to which has been deepened and widened by a recent flood. Bad weather never comes on suddenly in the Taranaki Roadstead, and sufficient time is always given to get vessels away from the coast. These facts, which are now well known to the Port Nicholson merchants, ought to be published also at Nelson ; with which port, l am inclined to think, we are likely to have more intercourse than with Wellington. Ts is’ plain that a trip to. Nelson,, must be more easily and safely accomplished than a passage down the But, of course, this advantage will not be worth much to Nelson, unless the supply of things useful and desirable is as good (here, and the prices as low as at Port Nicholson, “The Company’s wages to.labouring immigrants will be lowered, after the 15th of April, to sixteen shillings a-week,, without rations; but, to prevent some of the hardships attendant on this reduction, the resident Agent has been instructed by Colonel Wakefield, to allow the labourers who have arrived in the last four immigrant ships gratis occupation of town sictions- (one quarter of an acre each) for two year®, with liberty to purchase them at (lie end* of that terra for £5eaclt section. About fiflypersons will avail themselves of this permission ;. although, lam happy to say, the farming settlers are prepared to employ most of them at 3s. 6d. a-day. It is supposed* that landowners may cultivate their property with profit oa this ra£e of wages. Of course, the town sections disposed of in the men-, tier mentioned, are not among the most valuable of the 750 reserved by the Com pany for sale in the settlement. “ Preparations are in progress for !at<ge crops of barley next year. The lighter lands are very well suited for both barley and oats, and the prospect of a considerable demand for malt, to be used in the M 7 e!lington brewery, with the certainty of a large increase of live stock, will,, I think, tend to reduce the cultivation of wheat in favour of oats ami barley and Indian corn. There is abundance of excellent timbe r land, within half an hour’s walk from the beach, which may hereafter be cleared and put into wheat. “ The crop of potatoes in European gardens is so ample that the Natives find no sale for their stock ; and, as this source of money-making will be so cm entirely dried up, it is possible they may turn their attention to flax-cleaning, which at present they rather dislike. The European children can earn more money by bringing in wood, doing odd jabs,, and working with their fathers, than by cleaning flax ; so there is little or noth ng to say, just now, about the preparation of the- “staple” of New Zealand in this district, formerly inoted for producing the m st arid best of t. i “ I have seen maps of Nelson, and of the accomodation sections. Your settlement has rather a straggling look, on paper at least, when compared with (he compact district of Taranaki. But, if the land is good, and its situation convenient,, the want of beauty and regulari'y in a map is of no consequence, save to those who aim at gulling distant and ignoiant speculators. In the meanwhile, you have the incalculable advantage of a safe and sufficient haven. Wishing you all the success yuu can desire or deserve, I remain, sir, Your obedient servant, . A Resident of Taranaki. (From the Wellington Spectator.) “ We have received Auckland papers as late as <he 18 h of this piesent month • in the Clj,iomcle of the 18th, we have two

leaders discussing at soma length upon two nil engrossing topics, with Englishmen, namely, church and state, and the conduct pursued by the one to varas the other, and towards all the rest of the unfortunate people ca lied their subjects. It appears that the good people of Auckland, as well as ourselves, are looking (if we are to believe our conteinporaryj forward with no might degree of interest for the arrival of Captn. Hobson’s successor. 'That he will be of the true Tory breed there can be no mistake, and in all probability, in keeping wiih the hitherto Colonial system, an ex-mem-ber ot our naval or military establishment. Colonies, whether like those of ancient acquirement, or those of modern loritiation, being deemed the peculiar property ot the C'rouii, and consequently legitimate sources ot small pationage for official aspirants and expetants. We agree with the Editor, that we may anticipate veiy little good from any change which may take place in the representatives of Downing Street in these Settlements. God knows* they have very little scope elt them, and, therefore to lay any stress • port what they may promise, is only to deceive oucselves, Formerly, indeed, when men were nominated to the local official situations, they were so tar honestly dealt by as to be continued in . them, although, perhaps, with small hopes of promotion ; but. now a-ilays* such is the pressure of political influence at home irom icithout upon those within, that many of the Colonial Governor-ships, stripped as they are now of every thing in the shape of locbl patronage, are now eagerly grasped at, by honourable men, who would formerly have thought the offer etf them under such humilitating terms an insult, and those who, for the sake of promoting the real interests of the Colony, voluntarily undertake the most essential and arduous duties of the differ ent settlements, as soon as the accumulated industry of lluir fellow Colonists will bear the screw of taxation, are very graciously bowed out of office, to make room for those w ho condecendingly accept of office ; which, k has been discovered, cannot be safely administered by any gentleman who has any local intersest. This is one of these base subterfuges under which the system of exclusiveness is attempted to be justified, in the Army and Navy,, it is, or was formerly, a breach of the articles of w ar, for an officer to have any intercourse with the privates, it not even with Bon-commissioned officers. Now, let us see what is the effect, or rather would be, if this is to he cat tied out through, our civil establishments. A gentleman, however well qualified he may be to fill a legal or civil situation, Gannot hope to do so in a community in winch he has taken up his abode in a Colony because, he may be supposed to have private feelings, or private interests to gratify ; and therefore it is, that individuals, who have no connection w th a place are sent from a dist; nee, if not from the mother country, to fid the various situations—legal or otherwise. Now, let us for a moment, take a view of the arguments adduced in justification ot JMch system, and see what is the conclusion to be drawn from it? Why, slthcti the Government must expect, and, indeed, daJI upon the various communities to srnd their various offiqials to Coventry, or else, if they have the ordinary manners and social feelings, which all men who ought to- be placed in sneh positions should possess, they at once become disqualified for their appoint ments. i:i We therefore'conclude for the present by repeating what we set out with, that as far as regards the essential interests the free settler® of New Zealand, it can matter very little who may be the successor to Captain. Hobson, or Captain Ally-body, so long as the pneseut system, of Government is to be pursued at home.