Colonial Extracts.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 356, 29 March 1856, Page 3

Colonial Extracts.

BIVAL CLAIMANTS FOR THE CAPITAL.

It would be decidedly wrong for us to take for granted that the New Zealancler represented the feelings and wishes of the people of Auckland ; but if we did we should have no alternative but to conclude that the whole population, Native and European, had become rabid under the impression that tiie seat of Government was about to be removed to Wellington, as if it ltad nob been virtually established here by Sir George Grey in 1851. " The capital,"' says the Now Zealander, "on the worthless plea of being more centrally situated, is to be attempted to be withdrawn from a thickly inhabited Native and European population to aggrandize a rival settlement, thinly peopled, periodically shaken to pieces, and ■Av/th neither agricultural, commercial, nor maritime preteusion3 to warrant such a claim." To prevent this removal of the Seat of Government the Tarauaki and Ota^o members are to be bribed out of the General Revenue of the Colony. A correspondent recommends that £5000 be voted to make a direct trunk road to Taranaki, £2000 for a by-weekly post between Auckland und Tarauaki, and £1000 a year for the permanent improvement of their roadstead : a subsidy for a steamer between Otago and Sydney, the writer thinks, might reasonably be voted out of the General Revenue! The Hollo way style in which Auckland is cracked up by the New Zealander at the.expenee of the sister settlements would be amusing if not calculated to mislead. What is Auckland but the depot of a large but decreasing native trade, and the seat of comparatively large military and civil establishments. The value of the exports of Auckland for the quarter ending December the 3ist, was less than the value of the exports from the port of Wellington by £1500, while the exports from Wellington during that quarter were less by 100 per cent, than the average exports of previous quarters. No comparison can be instituted between the value of the live stock possessed by the two Provinces. Auckland has a population of some 12,000 European inhabitants, Wellington of 9000, which is being rapidly augmented ; while the William Denny left Auckland with over 60 passengers, and nearly as many more had booked their passages to Sydney on her return. The abstract of the Revenue and Expenditure of Auckland for the quarter above named shews an expenditure over income,exclusive of debentures, of nearly £3,000. In Auckland the balance in the Treasury was only £7,453, although £10,000 had been borrowed during the quarter at a minous rate of interest. In Wellington the balance in the Treasury was upwards of £l">,000. The Superintendent of Auckland in his opening address prophesies " a coming period of depression," and states positively that the market for her coming produce would be lost. Here the value of our chief produce has risen enormously, and the market for it can never be destroyed. The

capital of this Province must double annu-

:illjr, whether Wellington becomes the or not, and her population will in a similar ratio if the proper arrangements are made for the pmpose. Wellington d.cs net depend on any su^h adventitious and fie titious aids as Auckland embraces for her prosperity. As to this city being ncriodieally shaken to pieces we must, take the liberty to doubt, but if Auckland had ben\ once shaken to pieces it would have been a very 'liffieult. matter for her to periodically undergo : i similar fate. It' once shaken to pieces, we doubt not she would continue in pieces. — 11 ellinyton Independent.

Woor. Shit* from Wellington- — I'lu ship " Seringapatam," Capt. Gregory,

sails this day for England, with a full cargo of wool, &c, valued at upwards of £15,696. The expedition which has been used in loading this ship, we think, highly creditable to Captain Gregory. The vessel has been less than forty days in port, one fourth of which was occupied in discharging her inward cargo, and in the remaining portion has been loaded, and is now ready for sea. A great number of friends, old and respected colonists, are passengers by her, on a visit to the mother country, and we wish them a quick passage, and a speedy return to the land of their adoption.— lbid.