NEW ZEALAND.

Auckland Times, Volume 3, Issue 143, 4 October 1845, Page 1

NEW ZEALAND.

Accounts Siave arrived of some proceedings in this colony which the Chronicle designates as "native outrage and cjovernatorial forbearance." The circumstances are these :—A chief of the Bay of Islands, named John Heki, collected his tribe, and proceeded with them to the town of Russell, under pretence that a native woman, married to an Englishman named Lord, had insulted him. The natives took possession of the town and of Lord's house, plundered different houses, took what they desired or needed, insulted the women most grossly, and finally and deliberately cut down the flag staff and the British flag. The motives with which this outrage was committed were evident. In their war dance, performed upon the beach, one cried out, " War with the whites!" Another exclaimed, " Rauperaha has killed whites, and why should not we ?" They complained that they had been tricked in the sale of their lands, &c. The police magistrate, Mr. Beckham, with the fate of Captain Wakefield and Mr. Thompson before his eyes, refused to adopt the least measure of resistance. The inhabitants, however, thought that some punishment would be inflicted on the natives for so gross an outrage in an European settlement, and for the cutting down of the flag. The outrage took place early in July, The Governor sent for troops to Sydney, and thus reinforced, Captain Fitzroy proceeded to the Bay of Islands about the end of August. The troops were to be conveyed to the vicinity of the culprit chief; but some missionaries interfering, got them sent back to Russell, Capt. Fitzroy agreeing to meet the chiefs at Waimate.

The Governor, in the meantime, discovered that the natives of these parts were much depressed by restriction on the sale of their land, by the whalers ceasing to visit the coast, and by French and Americans, especially the former, inciting them to pud down the English flag, and hoist their own in token of defiance and independence. He or« dered the custom officers to be removed from the Bay of Islands, which was

declared a free port, and went to the natives, telling them to give him ten guns in token of submission ; Heki, he said, had already apologised for dej stroying the flag-staff; the chiefs made speeches, and the affair terminated

Captain Fitzroy (adds our contemporary) has introduced a bili exempting the natives from British law. " Some modification of this kind might have been wise; but the length to which the Governor carries it seems to be little less than a law of indemnity and impunity to the natives. A warrant issued against a native must be handed to the chief to execute, who gets £2 for exe» cuting it within fifty miles, and Is. amile beyond that distance. No native is to be imprisoned for theft or debt, but is to be mulcted in four times the value of a theft, and must give bail before trial to that amount."' A letter, dated Wellington, Oct. 10, says, " Things have come to such a state here that we are all on the point of starvation. laamI a am walking the beach, not knowing how to procure a meal's victuals: we have been compelled to sell the land that we purchased to get us food, for £6, land having decreased in value about 100 per cent; and I expect in a short time people will be able to get it for ss. per acre. The greater part of our gentlemen are returning home, very much dissatisfied with the place."— StirlingObserver.

When we last noticed the state of this colony, we had reason to point out what we believed to be the error of the Governors, in vindicating the conduct of the natives in the massacre at Wairau, and throwing the whole blame of the circumstances leading to it upon the settlers. After the plunderings and cutting down the flag-staff at Russell, Governor Fitzroy acted with some spirit in sending to Sydney for military assistance ; but when 200 men were sent him he again relapsed, and has acted like a child in marching his men to the place, and in demanding the natives to lay down their arms, which they did to the amount of ten muskets, and which were immediately delivered back to them again, with a look expressive of the idea that they Were good boys for being so obedient. The soldiers were then marched away, and the natives left to resume their old practices when they please. To complete the farce, this pitiful Governor has remitted all custom duties—upon which the treasury of the colony almost wholly depends—at the Bay of Islands, which is not a settlement at all, but at the most a missionary station in possession of the natives, while the said duties are still levied at all the settlements. Hence trade is leaving the settlements, and concentrating at the happy Bay of Islands, where chieftain Johnny Hackey —who cut down the flag-staff, besides stealing pigs from the settlers, and forcibly taking away one of their wives —and his tribe resides. Whatever the intentions of the Governor are in thus tampering with the natives, he is infallibly laying the foundation of a future war for their extermination. Hard is the lot of the Polynesian islanders. The silly kindness of Captain Fitzroy in New Zealand, and the cruel barbarities of the French in Tahiti, will be productive of the same results-the destruction of the native population; for the settlers, despising the temporising policy of their Governor, will arm themselves and protect their families and property, and inflict summary vengeance upon the native who dares to meddle with them,— lbid.

Arrest and execution of Zurban*. Accounts from Spain describe the Me of the unhappy Genera! Zurbano. He was taken on the 19th, and shot, without trial, on the 21st. The following is art account of his arrest and execution: "The arrest was effected on the 19th by* an old partisan, under the name of EI Rayo, at a house in the environs of Logrono, where Zurbano had kept himself concealed with his brother-in-law* Cayetano Muro, an officer of cavalry* The latter was shot dead, as he was jumping out of a window to make his escape, by one of El Rayo's soldiers. Zurbano was taken immediately to Logrjpno, where the Commandant-General desired him to prepare for death, and we have received intelligence that he was shot at eleven o'clock on the morning of the 21st. Zurbano was the youngest son of an honest farmer of Barea, near Logrono. His father wished to make a priest of him, and he studied for that vocation; but he was subsequently put to work on the farm. He married very young, and hired an extensive farm, but becoming weary o£ that sort of life, he turned smuggler. He got into embarrassments, his wif® died, and he married llermenegilda Martenez (his widow,) the daughter of an innkeeper, and continued the contraband trade, but with so little success r that he finished by associating himself with a band of thieves, of whom he became the chief. A prosecution wa? commenced against him, and he was condemned to death by default. Be wandered a long time in the mountains, and his wife was arrested as his accomplice, but she made her escape from the house in which she was im« prisoned. The civil war breaking out, Zurbano one night entered Logrono* and went secretly to a monk, to whom he communicated his intention of joining the Carlists, and as an earnest of his zeal, revealed a plan for blowing up the powder magazine of Logrono, in order that the Carlists might take session of the town during the confu-* sion. The monk introduced him to several friends and Zumalacarregmy and the affair.was decided upon, but when everything was ready for execution, Zurbano went to the civil gov* ernor and offered to reveal what was going on, with the names of the parties engaged in the plot, on the condition of his receiving his own pardon for past offences. This was granted, and Zurbano, having formed a small band, com* menced against the Carlists those bold excursions which raised him in the end to the highest grades of the army, and ended by the catastrophe which has involved the whole of his family. As to the monk, he and another person were executed, and several of the inhabitants of Logrono were sent to the Presidios, for the part that they had taken in the plot got up by Zurbano " It was in a granary in the neighbourhood of the village of Ortigosa, in the Cameros Mountains, near Logrono, that Zurbano was taken —lbid.

There are fewer unemployed seamen in the port of London than for many; years past A Totness gentleman bought some new railway shares for £2O, and in a fortnight after sold them for £l2B 155., making a profit of £IOB. The Tablet says that Mesmerism hasbeen " distinctly prohibited by the pro-, per authorities at Rome." The Spanish government has transmitted funds to Paris and London for the payment of the foreign legions of the respective countries.