PORT NICHOLSON.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 35, 5 November 1842, Page 139

PORT NICHOLSON.

By the Mana, we have .the Gazette and Colonist to the 19th of October. The former has a judicious article. on the necessity of immediately providing the mean&of grinding the 'heat which will be this year grown on the lutt, and which it is stated will amount to two undred tons. "It is evident that we shall oon have grain sufficient to support a flournil*, and it is equally clear that if immediate teps were taken to secure an efficient mill for he colony, it could . not be provided before it rill be needed. The undertaking would thereore now be peculiarly timely. If we do not >rove ready to give the highest price which can >c obtained for wheat, that which is produced it Taranaki and other parts of the coast, will jot find its way into this market. And if we are lot prepared to grind wheat, we cannot even ■jive the price which may be obtained for it in Sydney, and to Sydney direct under snach cirfinmstances it may be expected to be conveyed. H*-yet Nelson has no flour-mill; bat if one be. erected there before we erect one here, a trade which otherwise would have been ours will be intercepted, and even the colonists of ihe older settlement will hare to retort tber* and pay tri-

bule. This, however, for New ' Zealanders would be far better than having to send to Sydney, to which we must all resort; greatly to the disadvantage of- all the settlements, if a good mill be not forthwith erected here or at Nelson."

The whaling season appears to have been a failure compared with the two proceeding ones. This is the more unfortunate, as it is the first time the settlers of Wellington had embarked in the trade. A matter of some consequence presses itself on the consideration of the inhabitants, namely, how the men employed in whaling are to be maintained until the next season, as " they must live — which they will do honestly if they can." Mr. Park has been appointed Town Surveyor by the Council, with a salary of £50 per annum. Mr. J. Smith Treasurer to the Corporation, which he has undertaken gratuitously, and the Town Clerk's salary has been fixed for the present at £50 per annum. We were not previously acquainted with the following interesting circumstance :— " Captain Smith left this some weeks since in the cutter Brothers, to examine the whole of the harbours and country on the east side of the island. There have been thousands of reports about the Middle Island, but they are so contradictory, that it has been impossible to form any opinion of the advantages of any particular locality, though of the islands generally opinion is highly favourable. Captain Smith is expected to return in about a month, when we doubt not he will furnish very valuable information. His scientific attainments, experience, perseverance, and powers of endurance, highly qualify him for a task of the kind." Mr Golder, at Petoni, announces that he has invented a machine for dressing flax, and invites the formation of a Company to lay out about £100 in getting a machine made under his direction for the purpose. It is really to be regretted that no one is to be found, either in England or the colony, willing to make the experiment whether or not anything can be done with this valuable plant.