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THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, October 1, 1842.

Les journaux deviennent plus necessaires a mesure que les homines sout plus egaux, et I' individualisme plus a craindre. Cc serait diminuer lew importance que de croire qu' ils ne servent qu' It garantir la liberty : Us maintiennent la civilisation. j Ds Tocoueville. De la Democratic en Amerique, tome 4, p. 220. Journals become more necessary as men become more equal, and individualism more to be feared, It would be to their importance to suppose that they serve •nly to secure liberty: they maintain civilization. Da TocauEyiLLE. Of Democracy in America, vol. 4, p. 220.

The Municipal Corporation Ordinance to the council the " power, so often as shall be deemed necessary, to make and levy au equitable rate or assessment, in the nature of a borough rate in England, upon all real property within the limits of the borough." This rate is to be paid by the occupier of such property, or, in case' of no occupier, then by the owner. " 73. In case it shall be impossible to levy the rate due by reason of the property ratable being unoccupied or otherwise, the arrears at any subsequent time, be leviable upon any goods which may be found upon such property." These powers are important to be considered in determining the question whether we can afford to have a cc/poration yet or not. It has been said we are too poor — there , are not yet sufficient inhabitants to provide funds for what would be needful to be done. Is it not a reply to such objections to quote the above ? Eveiy absentee landowner is equally liable with Ofrselvea to the payment of rates. He cannot let his land at any time, or sell it, without making an allowance to the lessee or the purchaser for the rates which may be in arrear. The limits of any borough are I not to extend more than seven miles, from

the principal market place ; therefore the j town as laid out by the Company's surveyors will most probably be the borough also. In that case (and it is likely to be more rather than less), there will be 1,100 acres of land to be rated : of these, 100 are the private property of the New Zealand Company, for which they will have to pay rates. The New Zealand Company will also have to pay rates, until sold, for the unsold allotments which are still in the wheel at home, as well as for the unsold of those allotments reserved for sale in these colonies. When we add to these three items the number of individual absentee proprietors, we shall find that the resources of the council will be far from contemptible. We have become so accustomed to the idea that the absentees will not render us any further assistance, and to feel a sort of vexation at working for the benefit of those who have invested capital in property to which our labour and enterprise is. to give its only value, that we begrudge any outlay which, though beneficial to ourselves, will also to a great extent go to benefit the mere speculators in our success. We will say nothing of the unwisdom or otherwise of allowing this one idea to get too strong a hold of us, but only remark that, just* or not, wise or not, there is nothing in this of the corporation rate-levyings to alarm those whose minds such fixed idea rules, but rather the contrary ; so that, independent of the satisfaction of procuring means for the improvement of our town from sources hitherto 'despaired of, they may also have that (if it be any) of feeling and sayjng— " Well, we shall get something out of them at last, so that if they will win upon our success, we shall at least levy something in way of rates upon the stakes." For the consolation of those holding real property within the probable limits of the borough, and therefore or at the same time holding an opinion that it is not fair that they alone should be taxed, we quote the following provision : — " 12. And whereas there may be persons interested in the good government of a borough, and qualified to have a voice therein, but who may not have property ratable under this ordinance; and it is not fitting that any man should have (directly or indirectly) any power of taxing the inhabitants of any borough, or any share in the management of the funds thereof, who shall not himself contribute thereto: be it enacted, that every person claiming the right of voting aa aforesaid shall, at the time of preferring such claim, pay to the returning officer the sum of twenty shillings, which sum shall be accounted for.^and deducted or returned, as the case may be, from any rate which may. afterwards be assessed upon such claimant." In conclusion, we may remind our fellow settlers- that the ordinance was printed in this paper, beginning in the eighth number and ending in the tenth.

The Literary and^ Scientific^ lnstitution was opened on. Tuesday Jjurt 'by. a special general meeting. The t building is a creditable one, and will afford room for the reading portion of the inhabitants of Nelson for some time to corns, we imagine, the dimensions of the reading-room being 30 feet by 16. A place of resort of this description is very useful in a new settlement. If the tastes likely to be encouraged by such institutions were not kept alive in some way, we should become altogether barbarous, unrefined, and with the worst species of unrefinement, that of relapse. There is now a handsome room, in which public meetings can be held, lectures delivered, and where one may stroll in, evening or morning, and refresh one's eyes with the sight of at least the outside of some books. A great humanizer and sign of humanity, a good range gf books, however little thumbed or looked into. If only that what lies nearest one will suggest .subject of conversation, it will be a^great relief to have an occasional literary talk going on, after the topics which new settling has made common and some' what nauseous. „ The funds of the institution are low, and the books show a present deficit. To meet this, many members advanced some one and some two years' subscription, an

example which doubtless will be followed by the remaining members. On account of the heavy rain, the meeting was not so largely attended as we could have wished.

We give, in another column, the report submitted to a public meeting on Monday last, by the committee appointed to superintend the affairs of the school established as a branch of the British and Foreign School Society, by the inhabitants of this place. It will.be seen that some money is wanted. A small sum, however, will suffice. This, we doubt not, will not be allowed to be wanting. There is much cant canted about many things, and also about education ; but of this the canting arises from the want of .honesty and consistency in its profesSed advocates, not because too much is or can be said of its importance. In this profit-and-loss age, what shall one say to induce people to hand out their begrudged mite, and what is perhaps more necessary, to give a little time and attention, so as to show an interest in the progress of the boys and girls, the future men and women of the world ? Stick to the apparently impregnable fortress of some lying motto, such as " Posterity never did anything for me, &c." Stick to it, and die in the unholy faith, you that will ; we have nothing to say to you. To all others we say, Come and help us. Just think, is it not one of your first duties, whatever the others may be ? What a sin it will be for us of this place, if an education of a good, useful description fail amongst us. What success of any sort can outweigh it ? We, for ourselves, say decidedly, none.

We have more than once passed strictures upon what appeared to us to be the mismanagement of the Post-office at Wellington. Under these circumstances, it is but just that we should insert the following extract from a letter addressed to us by one of the leading inhabitants of Wellington, in reply to an application from us as to whether our * papers had reached him regularly, we having been informed that there was much complaint on the subject : — • " They have all turned up eventually. There is no fault attributable to our postmaster," either for non-delivery of your paper or for not forwarding the Wellington papers to you. The sole cause of delay is in the uncertainty of everything connected with coasting craft." It has been suggested to us that some remarks in the Examiner of the 13th of August bose the construction of imputing felony to the manager of the Post-office. Need we say that nothing could be further from our intention ? The words used were, " We know that the only papers which do not arrive here from Wellington are those that are put into the box at the Post-office." The fact was, that we were getting accustomed to be without our own copies of the .Wellington paper. It had frequently hapTpened that there were Gazettes in Nelson of which we knew nothing. Being pretty regular in our attendance at the Post-office on the arrival of a- mail, we should have applied to private individuals if any had received copies ; but we invariably found that the only parties who had papers were those who received them by parcel ; and in this way for a long. time .we were supplied with Wellington news. Add to this, we were informed, on the very best authority, that the Gazettes were regularly posted for us and others. The Colonist, up to the 13th August, had not been posted for us, we find. We regret exceedingly if, in what we said, we were unjust to any one ; but we think, it must be allowed that we had good prima facie evidence.

Seventy-three head of cattle and one mare, part of the cargo of the Eagle, were sold, partly by auction, on Fifeshire Island, on Monday last, and partly on the following by private contract. The average price was £10 a head for the cattle. 136 sheep were also sold. The remainder of her cargo is for Wellington. The Guide vlrived from Sydney on Wednesday, bringing 160 sheep, eight horses, andibur heifen. The sheep were sold immedia^ty on arrival, at 255. a head. * Four horses had died on

the passage, and five heifers. The horses, we understand, are valuable animals, and superior to any that have been hitherto imported into these islands. It is worthy of remark, that the horses that died were all slung, and those which were preserved were taken out of the slings in consequence of the illness apparently produced by them. It is a question, then, which this case appears almost to have decided, whether it is better or not to sling horses for a voyage.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NENZC18421001.2.5

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 30, 1 October 1842, Page 118

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,864

THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, October 1, 1842. Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 30, 1 October 1842, Page 118

THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, October 1, 1842. Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 30, 1 October 1842, Page 118

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