THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, December 3, 1542.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 39, 3 December 1842, Page 154

THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, December 3, 1542.

Lcs journaux dpviennent plus neccssnires a mesure que les liommcß sout plus fegaux, et I' individualisrae plus a cMindre. Cc scrait riiminucr leur importance que de croire qu' its nc survent qu' it garantir la libertd : its maintienncnt U civilisation. I>E ToCaUEVILLK. Pc la Iv<sniocratieI v <sniocratie en Amcrique, tome 4, p. 220. Journals become more necessary as men become more equal, nml individualism more to be feared, It would be to underrate their importance to suppose that they serve ouly to secure liberty : they maintain civilization. UK ToCftCKVILLE. Or Democracy in America, vol. 4, p. 220. The inefficiency of the police of this place is becoming every day more apparent. Robberies are so numerous, the offenders so frequently'undetected, that to speak of any thing like protection from the constabulary force, such as it is, would be farcical. The benefit derived from the police establishment of Nelson is as near zero as possible. Assuredly we have paid enough in duties to entitle us to be secured from these the most flagrant outrages — burglary, malicious destiuction of property, threats of personal violence, only too likely to be perpetrated if redress is attempted at, together with minor robberies. Against all these there should be at least some security, even though below that ordinarily afforded in civilized communities : but it is not so. Either the men have been badly selected, or the wages are not high enough to induce men who are fit to undertake the duty, or the number is not sufficient. Somewhere lies the cause of the evil, here or there. The fact is notorious, - that no lr.an sleeps in security who has property to lo&e. It would be worth while to ssceitain how many «f the inhabitants of that class sleep without firearms loaded in their houses. But this precaution is of little u<c. Men coming from a country "where they have been surrounded by the'protection afforded, by at all events a rro Icrately efficient police, may be forced so out of old habits as to sleep with pistols under their pillows but seldom, save under the most urgent circumstances of personal violence, to use them : there is too

much of the law-respecting, violence-hating temper about them to allow of their doing so. There is a laudable check even upon the natural spirit of self-defence in the minds of the inhabitants of a well-gbverned country, arising from a more or less implicit faith in the magic " law." What men in England shoot at the robber whose depredations are not accompanied by attempts at personal violence ? Very Jew. They have been accustomed to look to other means for protection. The timid, generally speaking are alone tempted to do this, having lost their self-possession from alarm. This selfrestraint — a virtue in fitting place and circumstances — may, however, cease to be so. Men, without reasoning about it, will find that such is the case, and act as upon the first instinct. When this happens here, which it unquestionably will before long if matters go on thus, and a man or two has been shot at and wounded in the act of robbing, and a few shot at and wounded and one killed by mistake, it will perhaps be thought time to look into the matter, to find where the mischief originates, and mend it.

We have arrived now at the end of our third quarter. We find, upon reflection, no cause to regret the course we have pursued in any important question ; and without pretending to infallibility, and we trust free from conceit, we contemplate with satisfaction what we have done and what we have attempted to do. But others are the right judges of this ; and, leaving egoistical gratulation, we take a cursory glance at the progress of the settlement. The progress and improvement of towns and town lands is, we know, fallacious as a sign of prosperity ; yet it is impossible not to notice the really valuable character of the results from the capital and labour employed in the town of Nelson since we first appeared before the public. Hindrances from misgovernment notwithstanding, here is a town often months' growth, with roads, piers, jetties, bridges, and other necessary works, some finished, others in a fair way to be so. We pretend not that some private capital has not been spent on building in the town which, for the benefit of the settlement, we would have gladly seen expended in agricultural pursuits. But slill the thing is altogether healthy. No speculation in land-buying — none in building; all bona fide building for the use of the builders, or previously engaged tenants. The country land is being distributed with a degree of rapidity not equal to the expectations of settlors, nor to what a real knowledge at home of the difficulties of surveying would have secured for us ; but far more speedily than at Port Nicholson or Taranaki, and as much so as usually happens in other settlements, according to whatever plan the land may be given out. The whole of the suburban land of 50 acre sections will have been given out in three weeks from this time, and a portion of the country 1 50 acres ready for examination previous to selection. There are fourteen sections at least on. the Waimea districts under, or getting under, cultivation by landowners, either on their own or others', besides many let out in smaller portions to persons whose labour is also theiv principal capital. At the Motuaka, two gentlemen are fanning their sections, besides the lesser agriculturists. In* the Wauka pah Wauka four sections are partly cropped and being worked upon. In the Maitai,- the sections chosen, one and two, are in part underlet and getting crops on them. In Brook Street Valley also the agriculturists are not idle. Add to these I the numerous gardens of from one to five acres, in the wood and in Brook Street, and we shall find that our progress in the really important matters is far from contemptible. Coal lies thick in the country sections to be

chosen in Massacre Bay, and is being now worked : limestone also. A cargo of coal and lime may be daily expected here, and the former will doubtless be shortly exported. The emigrant ships proceeding to the Indian seas will always take a cargo rather than go out in ballast. Limestone, too, we have here close to the town, in the South Waimea. district. Why is this not worked ? This is the instance of negligence, and it is sufficiently flagrant to make a stranger think that we had no spirit in us. We need not say how much it is wanted : the settlers know, and ought to have acted on their knowledge ere this. Our harbour

has been tried and not found wanting : its narrow entrance, once thought ci difficulty, has proved to be none, but rather an advantage, making it ati extensive dock, rather than anything eife. * Active private Sflpital in greater abundance* unquestionablv^-ive want, as do other new settlements. It is d.fficult in a new settlement, wliosc position, capabilities, and resources are as yet unknown in England, to procure sufficient to meet th^impatienee of the actual settlers, looking upon capacity undeveloped fur the want of it. But, patience. Every day will make our settlement more known, and with the results of that knowledge we fear not to say we shall be satisfied. In th^ mean time the extra labour is most hd^iP* tageously, most judiciously employed by the combined capital of the land purchasers, under the direction of the Company's agent. The system still works well enough — labour and capital, by its aid, keep their balance — the scale is far from uneven. There is everything to hope. Still keep useless expenditure down, damp the spirit of overspeculation. Remember that production, not yet exchange, must be the source of prosperity and wealth, and fear not. Heaven helps those who help themselves. Here heaven sets the example. Put your shoulders to the wheel — heaven forgets not its part of the bargain.

One word to gentlemen who have business and occupation in the town, and want to do a little farming within walking distance of their offices or stores. If, from being unable to go far to choose a spot, you are compelled to cultivate' inferior land, especially fern land, get lime. Lime must be got plentifully and cheaply, if it is intended to farm with profit at once the land of inferior quality, such as that around many of the most picturesque sites for residences irn Me immediate neighbourhood of Nelson.