Colonial.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 655, 16 February 1859, Page 3

Colonial.

WELLINGTON.

We have the following from our correspondent, containing a summary of events since: last mail; . some of which we have already alluded to. .':..- Feb..7, 1859. ; < Things have been much at a stand still, since I last wrote, and I have but few and nipt particularly interesting items of intelligence to communicate. Mr. Carter has been returned without opposition for the Wiiirarapa. This gentleman by his.energy arid activity has obtained a hold on the affections of the'electorspf thai district, which will not"I think be easily shaken. He>yas 'entertained by them at a picnic oh New Year's Day,and was well received. , The settlersin this district, I ara'glad to say, begin to take energetic measures for supplying the want' of education, so long and" so keenly felt by them. Subscriptions: have been solicited, and have been hitherto .liberally ; responded to. .A section in the Three Mile Bush is to be applied for as the site of a new; school rooni, and .there is but little doubt that the application wilt .tie. granted. It has ; been suggested to niaketha'tVportion of the Wairarapa' known by the nanie of the " Lake," a' port of entry. It would1 r^uire1' about for the necdssary; Work*,1 and- it is' confidently asserted that lio engineering' difficulties' stand in their way. • ■TheSwedishbarqiie Equator arrived inport on the 1 82 nd ultimo.. This isf the first time ■ in!our history : that .Swedish; colours have floated on our waters. , She, is .chartered; by .Mr. Suisted (an old settler : here),;and,is bound;for Otago, where of; late years' her charterer (previous to his visit to Europe) ; re--Bided..'; t She.was .136 days, on .lier passage., The captkiii Was entertained at dinner oni the 2i6th,by " the "passengers, and seems to haye 1 deserved their thanks; >

■ ;A-new;Saw Mill by Messrs.1 Robert' and Janies Wallace, at Ohariu, was opened on the 19th January < andis now in< full" operation. The timber trade' seems to be largely on the increase! in this province and is evidently a profitable one. Messrs; Plummer and Sons have become the purchasers of a mill . lately ; in possession of Messrs., Mabey and Morgan.; An-inquest iwas held before'Mr. Robinson, J P. at Manawatu, on the body of the man Clarke1 found dead on- the West Coast (to which I have already ' alluded), and', a verdict returned of wilful murder against .'• some -. person or : persons unknown; the jury- at the s&me time expressing their opinion : tliaV sufficient'suspicion attaches'to''his late travel- • ling companion (tire German) to warrant his apprehension/aiidwarrants have'beenissued'accordingly. . Mr. Lewis of the land Office lately sold a quan- ' titybf Government land pursuant to governmental advertisements, 1 aiid-for'so doing-one of the political opponents,of-.the:Government has laid an iriforraa- - tion against hiih'in the Resident Magistrate's Court - for. a breach of the' Auctioneer's Ordinance ; and seeks tp.enforeeithe penalty of £50 against him for , so doing ; (i.e< selling without a license).; I can only ] say, t.hat.^r.'Atcheson,. tlie .plaintiff, in this case, shows a want of sense,at least. I will let you know the result, when adjudicated upon. In the face of ' the late decision of Judgei Gresson, application has ; been iriade for an injunction to restrain the Superin- - tehderit from a further expenditure of public funds. ■ The; base will "be argued" some time this week. I .think there1 is no doubt as to the judgment that ■ must be come too. From these facts you will ; at once.perceive>that political warfare has agairi ; commenced,,and,that these skirmishes, are but the ; prelude to a more, lengthened engagement. . .■. It is rumoured,.and I believe with some authenti- : t city, : that his Excellency the Governor will shortly -again, visit'us.,,His arrival will be hailed with i '^pleasure, -and. it is^hoped L his influence will be Z. brought to p&? 'on the, question of land purchases 1 \ irpm^tUeAhatlyes. A^^r rumour, states that the ; " General Gpyernmerit intend to convene the General - •AWemblyjishdrtty~aVspecial assembly—and that h'lVellington is'tb'be ;the rrendezv6us^ This. I beg ;; Vleave to'doubt,'as-it fwbiild'be;attended'with great g; trouble. Legal opinion is, Tbelive, to be taken as - :.t<Twhetner;, in consequence of the abstraction ;of two iof iour, provincial members,: the Council of this proi .yinpe:can be said.tojbe. actually in existence. If de(cidedfthatit is de jure defunct, it will require an oAct of the Generai Assembly to revive it, and, until J.. such is, ;passedj'Df. Featherston will, I presume, be \ ' compelled "to act as"sole.provincial authority. The i Clohtar^ arrived from your port last night, and the I Midlothian on Saturday from[England, but I have i ~ notifeenable'aisyeti tb'glean any particulars of her i; voyage. The Boomerang sailed on the Ist instant | for Melbourne, "and itisjhoped on her return she I '!; will place us in possession of two European mails; f", The steaineri White Swan and Lord Ashley'seem to |; •be entering.into a very senseless opposition with I I one another,'arriving from the: same ports arid lea-; k"- ving-for the same ports on the same dates. Surely I';?-some arrangements might; be entered into to' ob- |> viate this.; . 1.-. Business.has been quieter this w,eek—though |- money is easier, and. prices'have been fully main- |, tamed., The.Huttrmarket was .well-attended and k,. the usual ■business transacted, though prices were I considered pn : thispecasipri low.;■■ We have largb I arrivals of wool from the interior, and merchants I are busy snipping the same for the European | markets. The. Louisa; the; first wool ship of the I; season, 1 cleared" for L6nd6n: on; Saturday, and will I" in all probability sail to^day. Her1 cargo is esti- |, mated to be worth £12,500.: Th'eCldntarf has some | 1300 bales ready for. her, and the Robert Small is I nearly .full. .<.... | A cargo of horses imported pcr ■; Robertina by Mr. |- ; Mills; has. realized good,prices, viz., £34 10s. per I head.- ......

I F.& Qn dit, that a new paper.is to be' shortly * started here, under able! management, an.d to,i be i of I' a: strictly neutral character as regards' politics. I I •"Will thisbe possible?

We have papers- from this province to the sth instant.

The •Independent' has added to its stock of flaws discovered in the legislation of last. session as follows :— MORE BLUNDERS. Scarcely a day. passes without some addition being made to the catalogue of blunders that disgrace the; Statute Book of 1858. Among the most Taunted Acts of that session-was an act for the prevention .of bribery ■< and corruption at elections. It will hardly be believed that, thanks to the most incredible negligence; the application of this act is confined to elections for the House of Representatives. , Such is nevertheless ,the case, as our readers will perceive from the following statement.

The 16th and 17th clauses of the Act referred to Tun thus,— "Throughout' this Act, and in the construction thereof; the word election shall, mean the election of any member of the, House of Representatives ■•;.? the word Elector shall mean any person who shall have the right to vote at such election ; and the :w"ord candidate shall mean any person who/shall have been nominatedas required by law at any such election, or who shall have declared himself a candidate at or before any such election. "The Short Title of this Act shall be, ' Corrupt Practices Prevention Act, 1858.'"

By the Ist of these clauses the- operation of this Act is clearly confined, as wehave already stated, to the election of members of the House of Representatives :—by the second, a title is given by which alone it can be> legally cited. Now let us turn to the Provincial Elections Act. In this we shall find not a word! touching bribery and corruption, until we reach clause XI, which informs us that—

" An act passed by the General .Assembly of New Zealand, intituled' The Corrupt Practices Act, 1858,' shall be deemed to apply to any election of Superintendent of a province, and of any member of a Provincial Council of a province.". Of course this, clause was : intended to introduce "the, Corrupt practice* Prevention. Act "at provincial elections; but owing to the absurd misquotatiou of the title, the intention remains instatu quo. Election* for. the House of Representatives must be conducted in fear and trembling;—but at provincial elections the wildest, safurnalian aretunrepreßaed. Let Ijhe.Rowdies rejoice, and- be; glad; for the days of banners, beer and bribery, are not ; yet at,an end.

A PBKBH FIX. Rumour states that the Ministry, in order to get rid of the mass of blunders encumbering that miscliiev6tis' abortion, the New Provinces Act, intend shortly to sumnroh the General Assembly to meet at Wellington, with the view of repealing, it, and passing .a more effective measure in its stead. If they really contemplate any such step, it may be well for them, before taking it, to glance at a certaiii measure entitled the'•' Electoral Districts Act, 1858." Clause 1 of this Act lays down, as a fundamental rule, that " The House of Representatives for New Zealand 6hall consist of 41 members: "—the present number of. members being 37. In order to provide the four 'extra-'legislator's,''clause IX directs that "in the month of October, 1859, the Governor shall cause writs to be issued for the election of members for the House of Representatives for the several districts following; namely, Marsdcn, ..Wairarapa, County of Cheviot, and' County of Wallace." Now it is clear from these two clauses that, in the first place, a House of Representatives; with less than 41 members would; be ; illegally constituted; and consequently, that it cannot be legally constituted until after the due return of the writs'for the a(]ditional members'. As these writs cannot be issued until October next, they can scarcely be returned before next December. January or February, 1860, are cbriseqiiently the 'earliest.month's in which a legally constituted1 General Assembly can be brought together.

i Should the -absurd application for an injunction against .the Superintendent,,be realty carried into court, Judge Johnston wjll be called upon to decide the point Whether, thanks to the abstraction of two of its members by the! New Provinces Act,, our Provincial Council be actually in existence. If, as is expected, his Honor decide that it is de jwredefunc^ it will require'an Act of the General Assembly to revive it. As wehave shown above,1 no such net can be: passed for the next twelve months :-^-arid '.until it is passed,, Dr;- Fe.atherston will be compelled, to take upon himself the responsibility of acting as the sole Provincial Authority within tlie Province of Wellington. ;'■ V : The same'paper has! the folio wing:—

His. Excellency's; VjtsiT,-^—lt is xihderstood that in the course of a few weeks his Excellency intends visiting the south, and taking up his abode for some time at the' Government House here; The early arrival of his Excellency lias" so often been reported, that;the. announcement will perhaps be doubted by many, but we believe that .rumour's hundred tongues will riot decqive.us this'time; some very linlqoked for bccurrence will alone prevent the contemplated visit. It is now three years since Governor Browne took up his abode in the north, arid from the period of the introduction of responsible Government in 1856 he has devoted the larger share of his attentiori to the native;race. The natives of this; province will, equally; with the colonists, be glad to meet his Excellency; again, in 'the hope that he will bririg.his personal influence: to bear on the question of land sales. The natives are-"as anxious to sell their land as the cbloriists are that' it should be bought; but^ under present arrangeriierits, neither the desire to sell nor the, vtfish to have it bought appears capable of being realised.

News trom the seat of war, about 130 miles up the river Wanganui, at Pahitana, has arrived, as late as the 2lst January. The natives had besieged the pa of the, murderer, and surrounded it with a deep trench and undermined it in every direction, so thai escape was impossible. The besiegers, however, appear to W very reasonable in their demands, having offered to allow the women and children to leave, and; to spare even the men if they would march, out with their, arms reversed. This they would not consent to do, although they have no provisions left; and so bitter is their spirit.that when two of their women escaped they were fired at by their own husbands. The cause of this war was the savage murder of two men (one a native teacher), a woman, and two children, in their beds a,t Kerikeri-roa.-^-Spectator, Feb. 2.