WELLINGTON.

Anglo-Maori Warder, Volume 1, Issue 23, 28 September 1848, Page 3

WELLINGTON.

[We have cut off a few flowers of rhetoric from the beginning and end of this letter, being unable to make room for them, but all the material is retained. We have republished it because it coincides so closely uilh the view uetuok some wbile since of Loid Grev's anaiigemeut with the Company.—Ed. A. W. W.] To the Editor of Ike New Zealand Spectator. * * « * « «

The recent arrangement with tlia Company provides that for three jears, commencing fiom | the 6th April, J847, a loan of £136,000 spread i over that time should be made to the Company, I that to tbein should be given the entire disposal | of Crown Lands in New Minister, and tlie right iof pre-emption of all native lands there ;—it then, ' divides itself into a twofold character contingent on the continuance of the Company after a lapse ' of three years* If they continue, they must rei pay the English Government all loans, but they I may appropriate permanently Crown lands,—if ; they do not continue, their debt to the English 1 Government will be cancelled, and they are to ! receive ss. per acre for all the land formerly ; awarded to them (1,073,482 acies)—This sum ', (amounting to £263,270) is made chargeable on I the Land Fund of all New Zealand, and an an- ! nual payment of interest at the late of 31 per | cent, (amounting to about £9100) is guaranteed | from the same source. | Before 1 endeavour to show the injurious results to this colony in case either ol the Company's existence or decease after three years, I must first premise that even the advantages of their intermediate life seem lather problematical, as far as we are concerned. In 3 months half their time of grace will have elapsed, and hitherto they have shown no proofs of resumed colonisation (the express object of their resuscitation), except aslegards the new settlement of Otakou, which had been promised many yeat» back. No attempt to promote the prosperity of the old settlements has been made,—-the creation of new ones appears to pay best, —and we I accoidingly hear imnours of moie proposed j quasi— theological swnlimnntc,—moie dralts on J the Exeter Bali bank of credulity—that of mercantile speculation having been long since I drained. The long headed merchants of the City have become li.o sharp to contribute their ; haid earned funds towards the furmation of mo- ' del Utopia.-,—but only let a long sanctimonious epithet, as " Free Church ol'Scotland;" " F"ro- | testaut Anglican," &c, be italicised in a prospectus, and immediately the rharitablejpuisesof a " Uoly Legion" (»o careful of religion in distant parts and so negligent of it in their own parishes) shower their treasures on the blessed work. 1 now revert to the consequences of the arrangement made w iili ihe Company. If the Company continue, after 3 years all Crown lands vest entirely in them, and as a consequence, the whole Southern and Middle Islands, and half the Northern one become their territory, and domain. They n ill then be our virtual Government—the teul inouarclis of New Munster, and we shall no longer be ruled, as we now are, by the responsible bureauorracy of Downing-slieet, but, what is far worse, bj interested speculators in "Now Zealand House." Government will limn be bound hand and foot, and only rendered useful in the preservation of the peace among the Company's feudal vassals. Representative Institutions, a free Press, and the English character, must eventually subvert this intolerable stale of affairs, but what a ii.iiu of evils would in the mean tune have lun riot through the land ! If the Company do, on the other hand, die on •he 6th April, 1830, (and tin, is highly piobable for their own interests clearly indicate the expediency of such a death), what will the icsult be ! The Land Fund of all New Zealand is saddled with, in all human probability, a pel maneut debtof £2U5,370 and an annual payment or interest to the amount of j. 0100. Now, it must bo remembered that this anangement has been made, when the Company themselves (not peculiarly famous for the over moderation of their claims) piopose "the transfer to ihe Government oribe 1,07.?,000 acres of land lo u Inch the Company has at ptesent a- light, togtthvi «itb. an obligation to satisfy the engagements of the Company as above staled ."—these eiig.'acitK-uts they slated toamountto JL'JOt.OOo.about ciuo,"OJ or which was owing lo the Governim-nt itself.— Instead of agiveuig to this cuiupaiatively mudriate piopos.il, Loul Giey prelcis what he appeals to think a beilei one, which is to the effect —in the event or the Company's death—ol cancelling their debt (nlwt »ilh sums already lent and pioimsed) 0fX'236,000 lo the English Tre.isuij—or lelieviHgthem liom all liabilities incurred dui mg the three years, and or compelling; New Zealand to pension them oil' w ilh £Mu»? per annum till it is able lo liquidate in then t'.ivou a debt 0f£2u5,370. This, will he an easy deathbed with a vaiigeaiieel-kriHlier pleasant tbanotuciwise. Lord Grey very prudently (us-

the Company) charges the payment of this money on the Land Fund, the only fund over which the Crown Ims an exclusive power, the onlv one disposable? at (he dictum of a Secretary of Stale. It is true that an Act of Parliament has enjoined its pay men', ffcod would any Legislature in New Zealand willingly admit such a charge in the Colonial Estimates f In the Northern Province they would very justly argue thai their colony bad in no way benefited, but materially deteriorated in consequence of (he Company's territorial speculations in the South. Their settlements have'been abused, vilified, ridiculed, and injured by the Company and itsagei.ts, and is it just that they should be compelled to pay their tiaducers at least (taking Hie half) £4700 a year, *o ranch being a de.id loss to their Emigration Fund ? Even here, notwithstanding all the beneficial presence of the Company, I think a Legislature would sanctioning a yearly payment of nearly £SOOO to a Company, who in future an? not to stir up a finger on account of the colony, except to the instalments of this debt, as they fall due, who are to be " for alloiber purposes dissolved," except that of annually abstracting a certain quantity of the colon) r » h!e blood. They m-ij prusper, but our emi~ t/rahon will deca), and their affluence will be at the expense of our poverty. It is a mere quibble to Bay that Lord Grey places ** Emigration" and *' Survey Expenses" as pi unary charges on the Land Fund, ioi if this pension is to be paid at all, it must pro Undo be a reduction of our resources fut the promotion of Emigration.

Recent Sales of SrocK.—The following prices hive been realised at ihe recent sales of stock by Messrs. Uethune & Hunter * —Cargo of the BriQktman —5 bullocks, average i-i : 13 . u; 71 heifer cows, average £3 : 5 : 0; 7-1 yearling heifers, average £2 : 15 : 0; 22=» ewes sold at 10 : Cd a head, and 75 wethers at 12s. a head. 5 fine large well b*ed mares brought from i.25 to £3O euch. * The following were the prices of the cargo of the Despatch sold the same day—2l head of miiid cattle at <m of JE3 per head ; 327 ewes at 7 : Gd. per head. At the sale of the cargo of stock ex flclso, yesterday, the following prices were obtained—sß bullocks bought t on an average, £i : 18 : O per head ; 65 heifero and cows £i : 3 : 0 per head, and 77 yearling heifers £3:2: C per head. 487 wethers, ex Subraon, which were sold yesterday by Mpbsi*. Jnmes Smith & Co. after the sale of cat'Je. realized 9 : Od. each.— lb.Avg 9. YYh4Likg Smjioxs.—The following is the latest report from the whaling stations at Hawke's Bay : Morrison's, 36 tuns; Lewis's, 28 tuns; Perry's S2 tuns ; Portland hland, 2") tuns. At Air. Jenkins* station, at Waikanap. 9 tuns have been obtained.