AUCKLAND.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 238, 10 February 1855, Page 4

AUCKLAND.

(From our Auckland Correspondent.) I have intermitted ray correspondence so long, that you will probably have supposed it to be altogether discontinued. But the cause is merely this, that during the Session of the General Assembly, your Canterbury members were sure to supply you with all necsssary information ; and that since the departure of the southern members from Auckland, there has been nothing worth telling to communicate. Indeed, there is little, even now ; but shortly I apprehend, there will be a great deal, with all of which you shall be duly made acquainted. Colonel Wynyard's resignation of the Superintendency—under imperative orders, as I have reason to believe, from the Home Government—you will have learned from the public journals. It was high time. The confusion arising from his holding of four offices simultaneously, can scarcely be appreciated out of the Auckland Province, where alone it has been severely felt. The ex-responsible ministry, on coming into office, might have called upon Col. Wynyard, in his capacity as Governor, to dissolve the Provincial Council, the proper mode of terminating his Superintendency ; and hemust have compln d, because he could not have had allowed it to be .«aid at home that he had overthrown responsible Government, after having granted it, for the sake of eight hundred a year. No one could doubt that such a course of proceeding would have been right, i n principle; but although strongly urged, they deemed it inexpedient. After the ensuing election, I shall shew" you that their refusal was a grave political error, even with regard to themselves. Had they dissolved the Auckland Provincial Council, Mr.Wakefield,through whose intrigues they were of office, would have been powerless. The candidates are Messrs. Brown >nd Whitaker. I have not the slightest doubt of Brown's winning hollow ; but we must not sing before we are out of the wood. The main difficulty to get

has been Whitaker's land regulations,' for the supposed benefit of working settlers. $y these he has declared that he stands or falls- Could we have signified approbation of the scheme, all would have been plain sailing ", but it was a question of principle, juf/r vc could not yield were it to win a dozen Superintendences. By dint of quiet and assiduous reasoning, the impression created by the regulations is beginning to wear away; but there was certainly a very strong feeling in their favour at first. • But they are now law, if adopted by the \ Governor; the power of introducing them ' is given to the Governor (that is, if any act whatever of Col. Wynyard as Superintentendent since his assumption of the Governorship, be valid) and cannot be taken from him by any future act of the Provincial Council. The new Superintendent, therefore, will have no choice but to carry them oat, faithfully and effectively, whether he approve or disapprove of them. You will observe, by the reports of Council, that Whitaker withdrew them once, stating that it was not right to embarrass the future Superintendent, yet a few days after came down to the. Council and passed them. Another difficulty to get over has been the conciliatory spirit in which Mr. Brown acted towards the southern members. It has been seriously argued that he ought not to have 1 voted on any occasion—l suppose whether right or wrong—in support of men who proposed a change of capital. His votes against Greenwood's Electoral Bill, giving Auckland 21 members out of 42, has been brought up more particularly, against him ; for there are many who will not be persuaded that the giving the Governor power to form rotten boroughs at pleasure would have been a betrayal of the colony, Well, that vote has been a loss of " political capital" —a serious one—but a clear gain with regard to political integrity. I have still faith in unflinching adherence to that which is right; it- is sure to profit in the long run. The Pensioner force, which turned the last election in favour of Col. Wynyard, is with us now, the large majority being free from the indirect control of the Government Having fulfilled their agreement, they hold their cottages and acres in fee simple. I heard it argued by one of themselves, yesterday evening, at a Ho wick meeting, nemine contradiccnte, that they ought not to have had the franchise, at first, "because they were placed in a position to support the Government, and to ride down the settlers." These arejthe very words. I took them down. I should have been sorry to see them deprived of the franchise, but think that proper means should have been taken to secure the complete independence of their votes. They stated, broadly and emphatically, that they were not independent at the date of the last election. They are so now; and with their independence Auckland has gained their own. If this election be won, the trammels of this Province are burst, and Auckland will walk, pari passu, with the other five. Whitaker talks Chartism, like Wakefield ; but both of them, in practice, are representatives of the old, rotten, effete system of Government. In fact, it is the dying- struggle of old official-dom. The^Governtnent influence, of course, is freely used against us. A most scandalous placard, bearing the signature of a Government officer, and affecting Brown's personal character, was posted \about. This was brought under the official notice 'of the Government on the 4th of January : the answer was, that the said Mr. Lusk was not an officer of the General Government. We thought otherwise, but brought the placard under the official notice ■of Col. Wynyard,in .his,second capacity of Superintendent; the answer was, that Mr. Lusk had resigned on Jan. 3. The near

coincidence of time was odd, but we were not even told that the resignation had been accepted before the 4th; and if not, it was the duty of Government to have refused it. The military also appear to be in a state of great anxiety as to the result of the election. One of them, a gallant captain of Her Majesty's 58th, labouring under some strange impression that the election had already begun, was in such a huny to record his vote for Whitaker, that he tendered his voting paper in the Resident Magistrate's Court, to the great bewilderment of the clerks.

The news of the appointment of the Governor of St. Helena reached us yesterday, by the William Denny. Being senior to Col. Wynyaid, he will be also commander of the Forces. Great is the dismay in high quarters, and the rejoicing elsewhere.