WELLINGTON.

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 53, 10 January 1852, Page 6

WELLINGTON.

The Wellington papers received this week contain little local news. That little we extract The "Rose," from Ahuriri for Wellinoton' felljhi on her passage with the schooner " Henry," off the East Coast, (the master having lost his compass and got quite out of his reckoning and brought her back to Port Nicholson, "it will be remembered that the " Henry " left this place on the 11th Dec, with the mail of the " Cornwall."

The Spectator says: "On Wednesday Dec 24, the stores and butchers'shops at Weliiiin-toii were decorated with a profusion of flowers and evergreens, in honour of the festive season of Christmas, the dark green foliage and crimson flowers oi the lluta serving as an effective substitute for the shining- leaves and red berries of the holly in our fatherland. There was a firstrate display of meat at the different butchers' shops which would have done credit to Leadenhall Market, and which afforded ample proof of the richness of the natural pastures of this country ;to give one instance we may state that an ox slaughtered at Mr. G. Luxford's in Willisstreet, which had been kept on a run near the J own, weighed fourteen hundred weight. The holiday folks on Christmas day were mostly bent

on a trip into the country, and the greater part visited the Hutt, which seems to ofler the greatest amount of attraction to those who desire the recreation of a country holiday. It is stated that Mr. Me' Lean, commissioner for the purchase of lands from the natives, has succeeded in completing the purchase of so raw very valuable and extensive districts at Aliuvirji}'" consisting of three blocks containing betweensix and seven hundred thousand acres. ?•,

Flour was quoted on the 31st December yt £\ 1. per ton ; bread, per 2 lb. loaf, 4d., a reduction upon its price in the previous week.

OTAGO. The " Otago Settlers' Association " have issueclra political address to their fellow-colonists in Otago. Assuming- the present time to be a crisis in the affairs of New Zealand, Sir G. Grey having- affected to give Representative Institutions to its inhabitants, they earnestly recommend the clue consideration of the subject by every man, in order to ensure nothing less than the same amount of self-government as they enjoyed in the mother country. They then recapitulate the circumstances connected with the foundation of the settlement, which justified their request to Sir G. Grey, on his last visit to the place, to confer upon them the powers of local self-government they had been led to expect. Sir G. Grey on that occasion replied that there were difficulties in the way of a Municipal Charter, but that he was about to pass a Provincial Councils' Ordinance, which would give them the powers they wanted in another shape. Before leaving, he gave them a copy of the Bill, requesting their observations thereon. The matter was accordingly gone through carefully by a Committee, the result of whose labours was approved at a public meeting held Dec. 3, 1850, by the adoption of a resolution defining the modifications which the Provincial Councils' measure would require in order to make it suitable to the circumstances of the district, those modifications being, the appointment of a superintendant, or other officer in the place of a Lieut.-Governor, with a more limited salary ; that the salaries of all the government office?^, should be paid from the Civil List, the contribution from the Otago revenue to that Civil List being fixed and defined by the amount of such salaries, and the remainder of the revenue being placed entirely at the disposal of the Legislative Council; that the appointment and salary of a judge being disproportionate to the means and population of Otago, his salary ought, if continued, to be paid from some other source, a recommendation being made that the establishment of Quarter Sessions would supersede any immediate necessity for a judge at all; that the allowance of 50/. to each member of Council whose residence should exceed twenty-five miles from the place of meeting was uncalled for in the district of Otago, and should be withdrawn; and that the Dwelling-House Qualifications in towns should be reduced from IQI. to 01.

These observations were acknowledged by His Excellency, who remarked that "he would take care to lay them before his Council." The Association express their surprise at finding, not only that no observations of the Otago colonists were laid before the Council, although documents from Nelson relative to the same measure were duly noticed and tabled, but that the Provincial Councils' Ordinance had become law, and in a shape more aggravated than when they first saw it, "as it places the whole revenue at the disposal of His Excellency, and (indulging in a piece of quaint humour) allows the Provincial Councils to dispose of the remainder. The Address then urges upon the Otago settlers in the most earnest manner to act vigorously in making,- known their claim for true representative institutions, to examine the^ ordinance imposed upon them, and to return six T men all pledged to protest against Numineeism, extravagant expenditure, useless offices, and more particularly the present constitution of the provincial councils. It reminds them that if two out of the six elected members are oftfne j enemy, they will have a majority in directing^ the affairs of the settlement, and disposing of^ its revenues. The Address contains the following reference to His Excellency's antipathy alike to Canterbury and Otago, which we extract verbatim :— "It is a significant fact, as reported in the proceedings of the late Legislative Council, that his fcxceJleney having admitted the lack of emigration iunds, except for Canterbury and Otago, at various times expressed his jealous dislike of these settlements, obviously " because their lar.d funds were beyond his control, in place of being applicable for

all New Zealand," as he says. And here let the process be marked, and deeply pondered, by which his hostility begins to be carried out. An Ordinance was passed by the late Council, whereby Government scrip has been delivered to parties connected with the old settlements, to the extent of at least 250,000/.; the holders of this scrip being entiled to bid at the Government land sales, and to pii.y—not in cash—but in scrip, whereby, as the Governor admits, there cannot be a shilling for emigration, surveys, or any other purpose, until tlit; whole of the scrip is absorbed. Nor is this all, Many of the scripholders, desirous to realise, have sold these documents at ss. for the pound : so that actual^ purchasers at Government sales will be able to g£s-their lands at ss. an acre. Now, it has been 'already announced by the official advertisement of a Crown Commissioner, that a township is withdrawn from the pasturage lands adjoining the Canterbury block to be sold in allotments; thereby inviting the scripholders to that township, who will of course supply themselves with labour, and the benefit of markets, altogether brought out and established at the expence of the Canterbury Association. And that Otago is to be dealt with in the same way is sufficiently obvious ; an individual who alleges himself to be in the confidence and sunshine of his Excellency's favour having given out that he has been consulted, and expects to be employed in the laying out of a township contiguous to the Otago block; and has even gone so far as to be giving friendly hints to parties about to purchase in Otago, to be in no hurry about it. It is plain that the effect of these operations, if allowed to be carried out, must b<' at once to reduce the value of lands already sold in Canterbury and Otago to ss. an acre, and to put an entire stop to any further sales. And yet there are partiesin Otago, although none in Canterbury, who are willing, for personal objects, to support that policy, to the ruin of their fellow colonists."