PORT NICHOLSON.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 11, 21 May 1842, Page 43

PORT NICHOLSON.

We have received papers from Port Ni-

cholcou up to the 7th instant. A Government notice appears in > them, signed by. Mr- Spain, the land commissioner, giving the description of the lands the claims to which are to be investigated. Parties interested are required to attend and produce documents, and a fee of £5 must be paid before the investigation of any claim, or* of any opposition to it.

A Mechanics' Institute has been got up at Wellington. Some of the leading inhabitants are officers of the institution. A meeting was held on the Ist of this month, at which upwards of 100 persons enrolled themselves members, and donations were received to the amount of £30. A public meeting of the subscribers to the late Port Nicholson Exchange and Public Library, was held on Friday the 22d of April. Mr. Brewer called their attention to the following letter : — (Copy) " Wellington, April 20, 1 842. " Dear Sir—l am instructed to apply to you as the secretary of the Public Library and Museum, and to inform you that, under the proclamation issued by his Excellency Capt. Hobson, with regard to the occupiers of Government reserves, you are liable to immediate dispossession by the police magistrate, without any compensation for the improvements which have peen made upon the ground occupied by that institution. j " If, however, you are willing to yield up immediate peaceable possession, the Judge of ' the County Court will recommend to the Colonial Government that you should be allowed a compensation for the building according to a ! valuation to be made by a competent party, and which recommendation would in all probability be acted upon. If possession is not given up, you will be immediately ejected.

" I shall be happy to hear from you on the subject to-morrow.

" I am, dear sir, " Yours ever truly, " R. Da vies Hanson, C.P." The following resolutions were carried unanimously : —

" That this meeting have heard read, with surprise and indignation, the letter addressed by Mr. Hanson to the secretary of the late institution, especially as there is good authority for believing that Mr. Hanson has received no instructions to write in such a dictatorial manner on the subject.

" That, considering the advantages to be derived from the establishment of a Mechanics' Institute in this settlement, Dr. Knox be requested to communicate with their secretary, and offer them the building with its contents, on condition that they discharge the liabilities of the late institution."