AUCKLAND

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 154, 17 December 1853, Page 10

AUCKLAND

[From onr Auckland Correspondent, Oct. 31.] We are again favoured with the light of his Excellency's countenance. He had been expected overland, but to our great surprise, the Government brig, with Caesar and his fortunes on board, came to anchor in the Waitemata on the 16th inst. He has been used to being received by none but the military and the officials, but this time, the day being Sunday, he succeeded very cleverly in procuring more general attendance. St. Paul's is immediately ..above the jetty; instead of landing immediately, he waited until church time, when the burgheis were congregating, and came- on shore among them. The Auckland Proviucial Council was opened -by the Superintendent on the 18th. His opening address was well read—barring a little boggling about the stops; like Prologue, in Midsummer Night's Dream, who did not"stand upon points." As to the matter, we were disappointed. It was, in fact, a glowing eulogium upon Auckland—very grateful to the feelings of the northern settlers, but telling them nothing save what they knew before. No exposition of future policy, no statement of assets and liabilities, concerning which we are still profoundly ignorant. What will be made of the Council," or what it will make, remains to be seen. As to the composition of it, I will only say that many of the best men are to not be seen therein. Col/Wynyard's success at the poll turned the whole tide of elections. The opposite party, instead of battling out every inch of ground, became listless, "rendering faint quittance," and let themselves be reduced to a mi»ovity. But no opposition is intended to the Superintendent, unless imperatively called for; the Council is going on quietly, and I am not without hope that it will continue so. Yet the rancour of party feeling is far from being extinct; the fire is smouldering, and the merest trifle might fan it into a blaze. Incedis per ignes suppositos cineri doloso. In justice to.lWyiivard, I state my conviction that he would never have stood, had he foreseen what was to come of it: but he is no prophet—not even a conjuror. We might say to him, as Sir Isaac Newton said to his little dog, " Ah, Fido, Fido, thou little knowest what mischief thou hast done!" It must also be allowed that the Council is going to work with a will, though

apparently getting into deeper water than it will be able to swim in. It is loading itself with an enormous quantity of work; motions and resolutions are being poured in by the bushel: on each successive day of sitting, a fresh supply appearing to have sprung up, like a crop of toadstools, during the night before, —while special committees will shortly number by the dozen. If the returns which are asked for be granted by the Government,good will be done; but I fear that only those will be given which are least worth having. Official mystery is only scotched as yet, not killed. The interesting question of the time is Grey's postponement of the General Assembly, and illegal appropriation of the Revenue. On this subject, is divided. Of course, the Council is well pleased to have the immediate handling of some.£l4, or 15,000 pounds, without let or hindrance : while the feeling in favour of separating the Auckland Province from the rest is so strong, as to cause what almost amounts to a separation to be received without disfavour. But few, very few, have attempted to justify the Governor on principle. " Pleasant, but wrong," is the word for the nonce. Yet it is clearly seen that many changes are required, which can only be made by the Assembly. A revision of the harassing and unstates-man-like tariff, the handing over the waste lands to the Provinces, and the power of appropriating a larger portion of our own revenue, are anxiously looked for: the questions of lesponsible Government, and of an elected upper chamber, comparatively, create little interest. It is most unfortunate that a more resolute stand should not have been made against Grey when he first betrayed bis intention of swamping the Constitution. Had he been met with a facer in the first round, by the united strength of Wellington, he would have turned faint-hearted upon it: he would never have risked the other settlements following that lead. But his divide et impera policy has succeeded once again; and self-government is little more than nominal. Minor powers are conceded in plenty, but essentials are wanting. To borrow the matchless illustration of Mr. Nominee Moore, we are allowed a bone knife, which will not cut our fingers, to begin with. Like Don John in the Play, " we are trusted with a muzzle, and enfranchised with a clog: therefore must we decree not to sing in our cage." You "may ask why we did not lead off ourselves in opposition to the anti-general policy of Auckland. The answer is, that in any thing which requires combination, Auckland is powerless for the present. Political animosity—the bitterest party-spirit, is the main-spring to every public question. All dislike Grey, but they dislike each other more; and his Excellency is courted by one party out of pure opposition to the other. Among these troubled waters, he is in his peculiar element. The mischief of calling the Provincial Councils first, is done. But it is not improbable that Grey may summon the Assembly just before leaving for England, so as to have " something to swear by" when he gets there; leaving Wynyard to work it. No one here believes that"he will venture to meet the Assembly himself. Too much would inevitably be brought to light, and the danger of the several settlements understanding each other at last—a fatal event to him—would be imminent. Besides which, he is incapable (and I believe he feels himself to be so) of Governing under Representative Institutions. Governing is easy work enough, so long as you have it all your own way; and he has found it so, notwithstanding much parade of fictitious difficulties in Blue Books, and the copious use of the hobgoblin fallacy. But it is quite another matter when you have to make good your own opinions against those of others, by legitimate means. Grey can drive, but he is utterly wanting in the tact which enables really high class men to lead. He has ordered the Brig to be in readiness, on her return from the Bay of Islands, for bringing up the Southern members of Assembly to Auckland. But he likewise stated (mv information is at first band) that he had broken the tidings to the Wellington members, and that they had acquiesced in the force of his reasoning. This is very strange. I have letters from members at Wellington, dated the 10th, the very day on which the Brig sailed—in which the writers complain that there is little chance of the Assembly being summoned at all. There is no better school than New Zealand foreacquiring a thorough proficiency in the art of disbelieving. You must draw your own conclu-

sions. I will--merely observe that His Excellency is moving all for popularity "in the North" touting for addresses. ■•■ "•■'... ' We learn that the question of separation if not advocated, is at least entertained in the South. The feeling here is very strong in favour of it, and there can be no doubt? that it would be much to the immediate advantage of Auckland. What with the Maori population which have made her what she is, and the intimate connexion with the gold producing co i o . nies, her interests are apart from those°of the other provinces; and the jealousy of Southern interference is extreme. The Northerners are sufficient to themselves. But there is an impediment in the way of separation, which to some, will be as nothing; to others insuperable. Separation can only be gained at the expense of independence. If the northern island be crossed by an artificial boundary line, it will be necessary to make provision for uniformity 0 f legislation on either side, even in trifiino- matters. It would never do, for instance, to have one trespass law on the near side, and another on the far side of a hedge. There must be some controlling power to harmonize. At present, this power exists within the Colony; abolish that power, by conceding separation, and you must substitute what has only just been shaken off,—the supervision of the Colonial Office; not of a Secretary of State, for even that would be endurable, but of certain notched and cropped scriveners, clerks in office, holding private correspondence with Governors, ruling according to their own clerkly devices, and stopping in transitu whatever might throw light upon the system. I can give no better proof of the intense desire that prevails for separation than by telling you that there are not a few who would accept the alternative. The separation of the Middle Island from the Northern, presents few«.r difficulties; for so strict an uniformity of legislation would not be then required. The project appears to have found favour among yourselves. In that, as a mezzo termine, our Northern representatives would probably acquiesce,—unless indeed, they resolved to stand out for all, or nothing. But how are Auckland and Wellington ever to work together? they will no more combine than oil and water: than the hundredth psalm with the tune of " green sleeves." The feeling may seem strange to you, at Canterbury; but it must he remembered that you had no part in the disputes wLicL originally raised it. No pains havebeen spared to allay that feeling, by which Grey lias been the only gainer; but it ranides sorely still. Mr. Fitz-Gerald's election address was reprinted by the Southern Cross, necessarily shorn, I regret to say, of its fair proportions. But even in its mutilated state, it excited much attention, and was inveighed against by the officials ; not a small compliment, this last, at Auckland. Nothing could have been more opportune, and it went far in disabusing our burghers of the idea (most assiduously fostered by the divide etimpera party) that the representatives of the SouthernfProvinces are likely to combine against the North in the Assembly.