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Auckland Times, Volume 1, Issue 38, 16 March 1843, Page 1

The political ami particular intcresls of New Zealand are flagging just now, but the local energies of Auckland are fagging hard (o make up for it. It is a bad thing to want a directing of action—a worse one, 1o be obliged to confess that we do so; still, we cannot help saying that we no think we labour under the miserable necessity of decapitation , Under all our difficulties, however, it has never occurred to us for one moment to suppose that the vital energies of Auckland were deficient in themselves: it we had ever been despairing it would have been because we were not sufficienti\ informed. IVo have had the pleasure lately to v\ it ness the very extensive nertormances ot actual personal possession and i 4 dtiSfry.jwliieh I■ aye been rra4e by our recent settlers upon theTamaki. Messrs. Church and Kempt home among the latest o! those, who have been purchasers from the Government have put the plough-share to the furrow in right earnest; Major Bunbury has a maize crop upon his newly cleared land which would astonish Mr, Eales upon the Hunter, or Major Innes upon the Clarence in New South IV ales; while Messrs. Spain, Goodfellow, "White, Da\ ies, and a little host of others, are giving promise of an improvement which will make ns hereafter independent ot imported grain. Messrs. Shepherd and Porter are throwing open their lauds in this district upon the fairest principle of encouragement to useful occupation ; and we could see from one little elevated spot, within the range of a few miles, some dozens of scai-

tered homesteads —every one H which promises to he useful to the colony, and productive to iis spirited owner. tYe cannot sa> in too urgent language to the labouring population of Auckland—spread !—scatter! ! We are quite sure or this—that one tenth part of the anxiety which is hazarded upon the town in fruitless speculation would turn up a hit by the agency of the spade and plough-share. The lands we are now speaking of are extensive open downs, which have been proved to be matchless grazing selections, while the ridges and lower positions afford all the advantages necessary tot the purposes of agri cu 11 u re, wi ? L ! he admirable convenience of c natural shelter—and a spontaneous sylvan clothing tor the DULCE BO MUM . Stilb it is *(x coo ♦ t -* all this is “dead ur> hill wo-tk** for the seit lers then sol ves. M hy should such an enormous tax be put upon their personal sacrifices on the altar of patriotism, as has been done by the Government system ot auction sales? It is painful to say again and again that no feeling of co-operation or gratitude is displayed, either hy the Government at home, or the beputy-ation ! localised. There is not one man among all the useful persons'we have enumerated above, nor one among the many more whom we could name beside, who has not felt that every act of he Government has been an obstruct* >n and hindrance to all his ust ful purposes. ' IVe read in the following extract (from the Colonial Commission ers to the Secretary of State) an example of the sort of estimation

in which the colonies are held hy the people who have the management oi emigration, which every man ol common sense can see is the only safety valve for the British empire in its present condition of exeiieim nt. E m ran at i - n r o Ne ry Zeal an d . “To New Zealand the chief emigration, as*above mentioned, has been going on under the management of the New Zealand Company, subject to the superintendence and contronl of this commission. From the period when that duty devolved upon us, applications and certificates for between 6, oooand 4,000 individuals, whom they had selected or emigration, have been received by us for examination an;l approva*. hi the course of the present year a Iso. accounts having arrived of the lapce amounts which had been realised at the FIRST GOVERNMENT LAND SALK \ i NfVw Zealand, we . \cs h Ci? P)iir LprdS'hfp’s authority to expend twelve thousand pounu-s in he despatch of vessels with mi grants to the colony. fit ve. as yet sent two vessels which we engaged to sail from the Clyde. Tiie emigrants were chiefly selected from Paisley and its neighbourhood, for we under' stand it was the wish of her Majesty’s Government to relieve, it possible, by emigration, the distress which exists in that part ot the country, and we accordingly despatched an experienced officer thither, in whose and ability we had reliance, strictly enjoiuinghim however to forward to us the application of no person who was not suitable to the wants of the colony, The greatest difficulty, however, was in the end experienced in completely fi ling the ships. Many of the applicants were unfit, and few who were eligible were willing to go , * and in the end, even some emi-_ grants who had embarked at Liverpool for America, and had

lx eu cow pc 1 1 led tu [> ii into Greenock. were taken u!l hoard the Vessels in order to .complete the numbers.’* If any body will tor one moment look carefully over the above extract, and remember it is from an ofliciul document, he cannot fail to obsene that Uie only anxiety there displayed is one to relieve trie home country; there is no disposition to reciprocate ad vantages—except indeed so far, that having been accused before, in almost countless instances, of—vve will not say any thing harsh of having sent to the colonies such people as the colonies did not want, they—the commissioners—sent to Paisley, as the most clamorous place, to make a shipment of mal contents, — not to supply our wants, according to oscers transmitted with the * tvt'Jva thousmd (and a good many more thousand) pounds” we have been diddled vurur, 6 ( w tliA.il oAVn difficulties with our money ; and then in the most entirely shameless of all the public documents we have ever seen, they tell how they sent out into the highways for make-weight And this is the sort of arrangement which is simultaneous will) an act. of parliament to upset previous land contracts lhat, by every eejuitable provision of justice,, should be as sacred as those which secure the possession of Lord Stanley’s father’s estates* an act, which suspends every desirable contract an act, which, in short, renders nugatory every effort tor the sue cessful or useful settlement o! the colony. • < ■ •, “it’s a very fine thing to be father in-law, &e.”—but we can tell the Government at Home that people in the colonies are pert ectly aware of their necessities ; that we can see with the steady * eye of experience the

ignis fatuus of high prices by which (he quackeries of /Lakefield has misled them, —and that till they adopt liberal and judicious measures fo * uniting capital and labour in their emigration plans for New Zealand, they may despair ot the' advancement of this, the most eligible of the British colonies, if— if- there is always a little but now there is a big if— if it were not for the want of wisdom that has managed it, n