AUCKLAND.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, 3 September 1842, Page 103

AUCKLAND.

i By the Sisters we have received a file of the Government Gazette to the 17th of •August and of the Standard, to the 18th. tehe former is principally filled with, notices of forthcoming hearings of land claims, before Commissioners Godfrey and Richmond, at Kororarika, Waimate, Wangaroa, Manganui, and Hokianga, during the present and three following months. There is also a proclamation of the Governor, declaring a certain district in the north to be a county,which is named Eden, and establishing an (office for .the registration of wills, deeds, land memorials. From the Standard we fleam that, so far from any improvement /having taken place at Auckland, things are getting far worse. On the sth of August a public meeting was held to devise, if possible, some means for bettering the condition Of the settlement. We extract the following editorial -remarks of the Standard of the previous day : — " Although we have all along been strenuous advocates for the land we live in as a field for European colonization, and have on every occasion maintained the superiority of the country around the Thames over all and every one of the other settlements in New Zealand, we are still not so blind in our devotion to the ' Gulf of Shouraki ' as to suppose for one moment that it can become a great or an important settlement if neglected, or even if left to its own resources, however numerous these 'may be. That it has natural advantages over all the other settlements in New Zealand, is a fact that Cannot be denied. Our climate is unequalled — our harbours are safe, commodious, and easy of access. The means of internal communication are abundantly supplied by those noble rivers which pour their waters into the Thames, the Manakau, the the Waikato, and the Kaipara. Nature has at once supplied us with canals and roads by means of those magnificent streams. Our water communication is, in fact, equal to Canada; our climate more salubrious than that of Madeira; our soil rich and fertile as that of Sicily itself — equally adapted for the growth of corn, oil, wine, and fruit. Nature has indeed been prodigal of her gifts unto us; and if we are still sickly, starved, and ill-fed, she, at least, is not to blame. • • • • » " That we are at present in a sad and depressed state, we will not, we dare not, deny. We have exhausted the greater part, if not the whole, of our means in the purchase of town allotments and in the erection of kaurie shells or sheds, to protect ourselves from the weather. We have gathered together to form a town and a settlement, but we have done little to establish a colony. Our country lands, generally speaking, are still waste and unoccupied, as they came from the hand of nature. We are consumers, but not growers. This is our unhappy position ; and it becomes us to consult together how such a state of things may be remedied. In order to remedy the evil, then, it will be necessary clearly to understand the causes which have tended to impede the progress of our settlement; for, notwithstanding the size of our town and the number of our inhabitants, it must be acknowledged that our progress haa not been such as might have been expected from comparing this part of New Zealand with the other settlements, 'or even with the Australian colonies. We have, as regards the settlement, everything that is desirable, and the reason of our comparative failure must therefore be attributed to other causes; the first of which we are convinced is the delay in the settlement of the claims' to land. Tliis has not only paralyzed the efforts of the resident land claimant*, but it has also prevented their friends and the nonresident claimants from investing any more money in this country, or forming settlements npon their lands, as they would otherwise have done. We have no hesitation in stating that,

had the land claimants been confirmed in their titles to land on the arrival of his Excellency in this colony, the consequence would have been the immediate introduction x>f several thousands of immigrants, both from England and the adjacent colonies. The discredit thrown upon their titles has not only ruined the old settlers, but has tended much to impede the settlement itself. Another and ano less powerful cause of mischief has been the limited quantity of land put up for sale, as well as the high price at which the land, was offered — higher, indeed, at this settlement, by three times, than either in Port Nicholson or Nelson. The settlers in Auckland, after paying their, passage-money from England, without remission of one shilling from companies or Government, were still compelled to pay 20s. and upwards per acre, while the settlers at Port Nicholson received their lands at less than 55. ; many, indeed, in reality for nothing — seeing that their town allotments were, h? most cases, worth more than the whole amount of their purchase-money. Space will not admit of our entering folly upon the consideration of these two great impediments to the progress of our settlement, far less even to notice the many minor ones ; but we do think that the Government ought now, even at the eleventh hour, to review the past, and to retrace their steps. Let them commence de novo. Let them give the old settlers their lands, so as to induce them to settle immigrants upon them, and not leave them waste and unproductive; but, without titles, the old settlers will neither occupy nor improve their lands. It is vain to expect them to do so. If the Government really wish — as we think they do — immigrants to come to our colony, let them at once hold out to them strong inducements. Let the price of land be, for a time at least, reduced to an upset price of ss. per acre, and 'we shall soon see immigrants and capital flowing in abundance to our settlement. We are aware that many persons — especially some of those who have bought land at a high price — are opposed to this scheme ; but to such we would say that we would not wish this to be fixed at the permanent price of the land, neither do we look upon this sum as its real value in some localities, but we recommend the sale of land at the low price in order to give a higher — and its real — value to the re3t of the land by the free and liberal introduction of capital and labour. When we have both of these in abundance, then by all means raise the price ; but at present induce them to come by offering land cheap, so as to be able to procure for the remainder its full, if not more than its full, value. Let the public meeting confine itself to these two reasonable demands, and the Government must and will accede to them, unless they are absolutely determined to ruin the settlement for ever. The present settlers will not and cannot continue to pay 20s. per acre for country land ; the result of the last land sale affords too convincing a proof of this for the Government to hesitate any longer. Like enlightened merchants, let them sell their goods — the land — at its marketable value, and purchasers will be found in abundance." The meeting accordingly took place ; but, although numerously attended, no one was prepared with a resolution on the subject for which the meeting had been called. After a long conversation, it was agreed that a committee should be appointed to draw up a memorial to the Governor, to request him to offer land at a less price than has hitherto been done, and call another meeting on that day week to discuss it. In the course of the meeting Mr. Cormack said " He perceived by the Estimates for 1842, tha* the sum of £50,000 was expected to be realized from the sale of Crown Lands during this year; but we were now entered into the eighth month of the year, and the land sales had not realized £6,000, nor is it at all likely to increase, as there is not at the present moment a single acre of land advertised for sale in the Government Gazette. This ought to arouse the Government to some plan to meet the present depressed state of the times." The Standard of the Bth, in its remarks on this meeting, observes — " A reduction in the upset price of land, and a right of preemption, or the liberty of purchasing at a uniform price any portion of land, would do much to encourage capital and immigrants to our colony. Something should also be done by way of appeasing the Port Nicholson and Nelson settlers, whose unfortunate quarrels -with the Local Government have already done much harm to our settlement. Could not his Excellency do something to enable, if not induce, them to leave the mountains, marshes, and fens of Cook's Straits, for the settlements to the northward, in each of which there is an abundance of rich and fertile land, which would yield them a remunerating profit for the capital and labour they are now so unprofitably wasting on comparatively useless and unproductive lands ?" This is really kind of the Standard, but, from all which we have heard of the favoured spot which our contemporary so much lauds, we prefer our " mountains, marshes, and fens." At the adjourned meeting on the lOtb the High Sheriff presided. The remarks of our contemporary will inform our readers of the result : — ! " The Secretary of the Committee read the memorial to his Excellency the Governor, which had been agreed upon by that body. It was « very lengthy document, the concoction of which had evidently occupied much time and attention. It consisted of an elaborate review of the past proceedings, of the Goverement (which the committee

condemned, of course), and presented a gloomy view of the present stnte and future prospects ot the colony, unless certain remedies were immediately applied, and which were fully set forth in the memorial. We have not space for a copy of this elaborate production, nor do we think that we should forward the objects which the memorialists professedly have in view, viz., to advance the interests of the colony, were We to publish it. We do not deny the existence of partial depression in trade, which we trust will be only temporary, and may be ascribed to other causes than those pointed out; but we can Bee no good effect in giving currency to highly coloured pictures of our position, furnished in the language of despondency, if not actual despair. We may state, however, that the grand nostrums recommended in the memorial had reference to a speedy adjustment of the claims to land by the old settlers, and the lowering of the upset price of Government lands put up to auction." r> Although no admirers of Captain Hobson as Governor of New Zealand, we sincerely regret the circumstance recorded in our next extract : — " The deputation appointed to wait upon his Excellency the Governor, on behalf of the publicmeeting of Friday last (August 12), were in attendance at Wood's Hotel, at eleven o'clock on Tuesj day, when Mr. Sheriff Coates communicated to them that his Excellency was so seriously indisposed that he could not receivd them till the next day (Wednesday) at twelve. We regret, very sincerely, .to add that on this second occasion the account of the Governor's health was still more unfavourable — that access to his Excellency on business is strictly forbidden — and that the postponement of his reply must, of necessity, be con1 sidered indefinite. " The Sheriff informed the deputation that a reply had been prepared in writing ; but, as his Excellency was not well enough to affix his signature, it was not considered proper to divulge the nature of the course his Excellency may think proper to adopt. " Of course every loyal subject will deeply lament the immediate cause j>f this public disappointment ; but, apart from personal respect and attachment to his Excellency, it is much to be deplored that questions of so great moment as the memorial involves should be left in abeyance. Vessels are about leaving the port, and their cargoes will probably consist of exports such as we can least afford, viz., mechanics and other respectable emigrants. " It is much to be lamented, besides, that' accounts so wavering, as to our political prospects, should travel to Port Nicholson, and thence to Australia, as the Sisters, now ready for sea, must of necessity convey." One circumstance, however, 'gives us pleasure : we find that the working classes at Auckland have established a Mechanics' Institutions