Local Intelligence.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XIII, Issue 748, 7 January 1860, Page 4

Local Intelligence.

MAOEI MEETING.

Yesterday his Excellency the Governor left Christchurch for Lyttelton, to embark again on board the Niger for Auckland. His Excellency was accompanied by his Honor the Superintendent, Captain Steward, and a number of gentlemen; the cavalcade took the line of road by Dyer's pass, whence his Excellency was enabled to obtain a favourable view of the plains on one side, and the harbour on the other, and to inspect the Governor's Bay District, ;which, though named in honor of the Queen's representative, is not often favoured by a visit from one of them. ' v On reaching Lyttelton, a number of Maories resident in the different native districts of the province, who had assembled by arrangement, met the Governor in Dampier's Bay. On the approach of his Excellency, they commenced a song of greeting, which was joined in by the whole number present in chorus, and was accompanied by shouts at. intervals, by waving of hats and sticks, and by various contortions of the body in time to the harmony. The following few lines are a short quotation from the song. They have reference, as may be imagined, to the short visit of the great man :—

The starry host, awaiting The rise of Matariki! . Lo! he ascends his path; Performs his heavenly course, And disappears again!

The Maovies, men, women, and children, numbering in all a little over two hundred, were ranged round, the Governor in a sort of semicircle, one Kingitone (Kingston) a native from the East Coast, taking a forward part in the arrangement. This man, who is married to a woman of this tribe, has come down, we understand, to agitate the King movement, for which purpose his peculiar demagoguish eloquence tends to fit him. He took no more active part in the present ceremony, however, than we have indicated. An address was presented to the ■ Governor by John Paratene, and read by him in the native language. Of the address the following accurate translation has been kindly handed to us by Mr. Buller, the interpreter:—

"Port Cooper, January 6th, 1860.

" Our Friend, Governor Browne, —We salute you. Welcome! welcome! welcome thou, the head of New Zealand Assemblies, both European and Maori. We salute you. Listen to our cry of welcome —from the People of Kaiapoi, of Eapaki, of Purau, of Port Lev} 7, of Akaroa, of Wairewa, and of Taumutu. Give ear also to our sayings. We come unto you with oar complaint as unto a doctor that he may administer relief. It is this : we are without house or land in this town for the purposes of a market place.

"We are like unto a cormorant sitting on a rock. The tide rises, it flows over the rock, and the bird is compelled to fly. Do thou provide a dry resting place for us that we may prosper.

" These are the articles (of trade) we propose to bring to town:—firewood, potatoes, wheat, pigs, fish, and other things. We want this place also as a landing for our boats.

"Friend, the Governor, we greet you as the white crane of rare appearance.

" Friend, hearken ! We are striving to adopt the example of the Pakeha. As an instance of this we seek your approval to the erection of a (flour) mill at Port Levy, and we ask your assistance in the same manner that you have aided the people of the Northern island in the construction of.their mills: and that you will send us a wise man (a millwright) to superintend the work, that it may be properly done. All the machinery has arrived, and we have paid for it the sum of three hundred and eighty pounds fifteen shillings and three pence. ■ The assistance we ask of you is to erect a house, to set up the mill, and to dig an aqueduct. And when the proceeds of the mill are sufficient we will repay your advance. Let this be made a proof of your regard for us.

" Here is another subject for us to speak of, 0 Governor. The voice of all the people is that our land reserves be sub-divided, so that each may have bis own portion. We ask you to give to each man a title in writing to his own allotment.

" But we leave the matter in your hands, 0 Governor. Our reason for urging the sub-division of our

lands is that our difficulties and quarrels may cease, that we may, live peaceably, and that Christianity and good works may*thrive amongst us. " These are our farewell words to you. Depart, 0 Governor! Eeturn to your home at Auckland — farewell! farewell !■ farewell!"

This address has been undergoing preparation ever since Monday morning last, in the assemblies Avhich have been held at Rapaki and Lyttelton by natives from all parts; it has been repeatedly revised and corrected, and in this occupation^ great deal.of apparent excitement has been displayed, much to the amusement of all white spectators.

When the reading of this poetical document, to which there wore attached 32 signatures representing all the families of the different districts, had been achieved, a reply from his Excellency was read, of which the following is a translation:«—.

"My Friends,--! am glad to see you. Our K ,- eaf Sovereign the Queen who reigns over the peopfeof many nations : loves you and cares for you. $x\ gave orders'to" the Governors who came before mo ! she has given her orders to me; and she will gi v ,l orders to those who may come after me, '[[J. orders are always the same, —" Take cave of j r>v people; make no distinctions between the 'Maori and the pakeha, unless it be for their own good Make my^people live together in peace, and teach the Maori to follow the example of their pakeha brethren. Tell them to listen to the missionaries aiid to send their children to school. Advise tliein to be sober and honest, and to shun evil coinmuni. cations, whether they bo with pakeha or Maori." These are the commands of our gracious Queen. " I am glad to be able to provide a dry resting place for you as you desire, and have directed your good friend Hamilton to purchase a place for you There you will be able to bring your firewood, your potatoes, wheat, fish and pigs. " I am glad that you have erected a flour mill, an( j when I go back to Auckland I will enquire if there is1 money ready, and if so, I will lend you some. You must know, however, that I have only a certain amount to lend. I have lent it all, but when those who have borrowed pay their debts (which may not be for some time) I shall be again able to lend, and will lend to you in your turn. " I regret to hear that differences exist among some of you respecting your timber lands. What you say about subdividing these lands and apportioning them in fair proportions to families and individuals is good. To assist you in effecting such a subdivision of the land as the chiefs and owners thereof may cordially agree to, I will direct an officer of the native department to accompany you to the places in dispute and to witness the fixing of such boundaries as you yourselves may decide; but you must understand in making you this offer that you are not to have any quarrels or disputes among yourselvesin settling the boundaries. " If I find that you agree in this arrangement, I shall then recommend to the Queen that titles similar to those of the Europeans should be issued to such individuals or families.

"It will always afford, me the greatest pleasure to hear from time to time that you are making good use of your reserves, which are now become valuable by the settlement of Europeans; and I trust that you will by industry and perseverance farm them to good advantage. "You should also build comfortable and substantial houses to live in, as some few of you have already done. This will tend very much to promote your own health and comfort. All people acquire wealth by being frugal and industrious, and you have the means at your disposal, by having a ready market for your produce, to become a prosperous people; and I trust the time is not far distant when you will more fully appreciate and recognize the advantages of living under the protection of the good and wise laws of the Queen of England. "Farewell, my friends! Live in peace with each other, and remember that the bible tells us to ' do unto others as we would they should do to us.' "

His Excellency and suite then departed toLy ttelton and shortly afterwards embarked on board Her Majesty ships Iris and Niger. The natives remained about the same spot during the afternoon, awaiting the division of a sum of money among them, being the balance of a payment on account of the lands between Kaiapoi and the Clarence River, about 1,600,000 acres, which land was purchased by Mr. Hamilton some three years ago for £200; another sum of £200 was afterwards given, and now a final grant of £100 ha 3 been made, to satisfy all parties.

The Airedale arrived yesterday evening at nine o'clock. She brings on the northern mails, and passengers and cargo, transhipped from the Lord Ashley, at Wellington-. The latter boat sailed from Wellington on the 3rd for Nelson, whence she would leave for Sydney easily on the appointed day—the sth. There is no fear, therefore, of the homeward English mail being too late. The Airedaile brings 7 horses and about 70 head of cattle from Wellington, said to be the first instalment of some thousand head of stock to be transported by steamer from the province of Wellington. One of the seamen of the Airedale was drowned in Wellington harbour on Tuesday last, by the capsizing of a boat. There is little or no news from the north.

The Cricket match between the Avonside Eleven and Sixteen of the Niger and Iris men-of-war, on Tuesday, was a mere joke. There was only one innings, at the close of which the eleven were 206 ahead of the 16. Mr. Parkerson on the side of Avonside made 57, being one more than the score of the sailors.

The wool clip is begining to come down freely, and the wool ships in harbour to fill up. The Mermaid on Thursday had 783 bales of wool on board and 41 casks of tallow. The Regina and Cashmere had each between 200 and 300 bales. The Mermaid expects to clear by the first week in February.

■ Sotjthebn Provinces Almanac. —In this Almanac for 1860, an error has crept into the Customs tariff, in the enumeration of articles declared to be exempt from duty. Candied Peel which is enumerated among the free articles, is in reality chargeable with duty as among the articles intended by the wording used in sub-section 7, cl. 1, of the Customs Duties Act, 1858.

The conclusion of Messrs. Lumley and Jones' magical and theatrical enterprise in our town is announced for Monday evenuig, ■when.Mr. Lumley takes his benefit. Those who have not seen Mr. and Mrs. Jones' smart acting may be assured that it is worth seeing. The magic is entertaining also; and certainly the best trick of all is the ' transformation trick' of Lumley into Jones and Jones into Lumley, in the converse positions of wizard and imp. The fun of this change is capital, nor is the interest of Hie legerdemain lost in it.

Fobestey.—On Monday the brethren of the Ancient Order of Foresters, Court Star of Canterbury, No. 2309, held their annual festival, assembling at their New Court House, Christchurah, and marching in procession, with banners flying, and accompanied by a band of music, through the towu and on to Riccnrton. The festivities of the day were concluded by a dinner at 5 o'clock in the evening,-at the Court House, on which occasion there was a numerous attendance of brethren and their friends.

Public Ball,—His Honor the Superintendent gave a ball on Thursday evening at the Town Hall, Christchurch, in honor of His Excellency the Governor. The attendance was very "numerous, including His Excellency and suite, His Honor the Superintendent and the officers of the Provincial Government, His Honor the Judge, Commodore Loring, and the officers of the two men-of-war now in port, and some 250 or 300 guests from various parts of the province. The Hall was prettily decorated, the walls being covored with white calico, divided off into panels, displaying in appropriate arrangement and in illuminated letters of large size, the initials respectively of His Excellency, His Honor the Superintendent, Mr. FitzGerald, and Mr. Godley. The entire room was decorated with, numerous flags tastefully grouped and with festoons of flowers and evergreen shrubs. Although the room usually appropriated to refreshment was thrown open as a supplementary dancing room, ample evidence was afforded of the insufficiency of, the Hall to afford accommodation to so large a number of guests. We understand that the decorations were principally the handy-work of Mr. J. F. McCardell of Ohristchurch, who deserved" all credit for tho very artistic and pleasing effect of his labours.