PORT NICHOLSON.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 41, 17 December 1842, Page 163

PORT NICHOLSON.

We have received the Gazette from November 16 to December 3, and the Colonist from November 8 to December 2. We are glad to find, by the half-yearly report, that the Mechanics' Institution is progressing favourably. Lectures have been delivered, by various gentlemen, on education, self-culture, political economy, popular physiology, and geology, which were numerously and respectably attended. A school has been established, at which nearly seventy children, of both sexes, are being well educated, at very low charges ; and the library and museum have been enriched with many donations. The corporation appear to be applying themselves to business. Several important matters have been discussed. On November 12 it was proposed, that the town surveyor should lay out a market, but the subject was adjourned without coming to any decision. It was determined also to apply to the Government to extend the Cattle Trespass Ordinance to the borough ; to give notice to all persons who had built or encroached on public reserves ; and to apply to the Company's surveyor to set out the line of road from town acre No. 489 to 513. At the meeting of council, December 1, a question arose as to whether the second election of aldermen should take place on the sth of the present month, or on the sth of December in the following year. On a division, two only were of opinion that a new election was required in the present year, and seven considered that the present members sat until December, 1843. The amount collected in Wellington towards relieving the sufferers from the late fire was £331 12s. Bd., and £43 2s. 6d. more has been promised. The importance of exporting flax appears to be strongly felt at Wellington. The Colonist of November 22 has some judicious remarks on the folly of those who have paid any attention to the best means of preparing it making a secret of the methods they adopt. Our contemporary observes — "If the New Zealand flax were an article whose value depended upon monopoly, then we could understand and pardon the efforts which have been made by those who imagine that they have succeeded in discovering a successful mode of preparing it for the market, to secure to themselves the benefit of the discovery. In such a case, any one might be expected to guard with jealousy a secret which would be valuable to himself, and the disclosure of which would be attended with little benefit to the community. But, so far from this being the case, it may be affirmed that the price of New Zealand flax would be greater if a thousand tons could be prepared than if the quantity brought into the market amounted only to one. hundred tons. Nor is there any conceivable amount that could be procured for exportation within the next twenty years, which would have any perceptible effect in lowering the price. Instead of competition proving injurious, it would in reality be an advantage; or rather no competition would arise. " There would be a system of co-operation under which all parties would be engaged in the work of production, all interested in devising means for improving the process of manufacture, and for perfecting the machinery, and all alike benefitted by any improvement that might be suggested^ ~ " We make these remarks, because we have very little doubt that, had all the various methods which have suggested themselves to the minds of the different parties whose attention has been directed to the subject been made public, there would have been, before this time, some machines invented as near to perfection as any machine could be made before a practical application had disclosed its inevitable defects, and pointed out the manner of their removal. The difficulties which one person experiences, when he attempts in solitude to frame a plan, might be easily remedied by a fresh mind brought to bear upon the subject ; and every one, probably, would furnish useful practical hints, of which all might avail themselves. Had this been done, it is probable that, at this time, we might have had a large number of those who are employed, with but little advantage to themselves or the community, actively engaged in producing an article of export of the very utmost value." The Gazette of the 23d says, on the same subject — " Two things were made evident by an article in the Colonist hut week, on the subject of flaxdressing. The one, that the European flax plant yield* not more than one-fourth its weight of flax, while the New Zealand flax plant yields about three times the result; and the other important point is the laborious processes through which European flax has to pass, even, in these days. The Colonist's article did not exhibit the whole amount of labour required to produce European flax. It has to go through three distinct processes after it has been cot, all of which, even at present, are conducted by labour, almost unaided by machinery. At the same time, one process by hand is sufficient to produce the finest New Zealand flax. A calculation in figures, upon assumed data, may tend to exhibit the relative cost of preparing European And New Zealand flax. Let us suppose tha Quantity upon which the experiment is to b«

made is one hundred- pounds of raw material. Let us suppose that it would require three shillings to be expended in Europe to extract the fibre .from this quantity of European raw material; but if the New Zealand flax were $o be cleansed in Europe instead of New Zealand, as only one process would have to be conducted to ' obtain the fibre, while three processes are required to obtain the fibre from European flax, assuming that each process is equally expensive, it is evident that one shilling would perform the task there. But only 25lbs. of European flax would be the product in the one case, while 75lbs. would be the product of < New Zealand flax in the other cape. The , result would be thus, in extracting fibre from European flax and from New Zealand flax, in Europe, that 25lbs. of fibre would be obtained from European flax, at a cost of three shillings ; and 75lbs. of fibre from New Zealand flax, at a cost of one shilling; . or it would require nine shillings to obtain ' .the same result/from European flax as it would require one shilling to obtain the same result . from New Zealand flax. We add another assumption, which is, that thf; two kinds of flax would be worth the same amount for each lOOlbs. If the data upon which we have proceeded is anything near the truth, the results of these figures show that we could afford to pay ; nine times the money price paid to flax-dressers in .Europe, without being placed at a disadvantage, Consequently,' if one shilling per day for such labour be paid, then we can pay nine shillings a day for similar here; if one shilling and sixpence be the European rate, then thirteen shillings and sixpence will be our equivalent. '* We might have a school of industry, in which to have children instructed in the art of dressing flax; but we think something better than the shell might be provided for them, with which to conduct the process. " Were the habit of dressing our flax by hand generally cultivated, it could be pursued profitably in conjunction with almost every country pursuit. There are very many days when cultivators cannot perform out-door labour, and' when they and their children are idle, which might be employed in dressing flax. This will particularly apply to small cultivators, who will be sure to form a large class in this country. Even the whaler might be so employed during the many months of the year that he is without pursuit or occupation." A correspondent has also some well-timed remarks : — " Sir — The experiments now making towards the preparation of the New Zealand flax for export have, as you are aware, arrested the attention of every one who. feels interested in the prosperity of the colony, and expectation is strong that some one or other of the machines, . either constructed in England and being sent out, or in progress in the colony, will be sue- . cessful. ' " Had the natives, instead of leaving off the preparation of flax for sale, as they have for some time done, continued to prepare it in quantity increasing with the extended demand, which necessity for an export will now more than ever occasion, the colony's flax trade would have - been on a footing independent for years to, come of all machine preparations. The price at which they can produce it is, to say the least of it, no barrier to its export ; on the contrary, taken in connexion wi(h the quality of the flax produced, I belieye it will stand a favourable comparison with anything .that maybe confidently expected of machine production for > a. lapse of time. In ■ the absence, however, of such supply — proceeding, as those best acquainted with the occupations and feelings of the natives well know, partly from devoting more of their time than formerly to potato cultivation, and partly from a desire to maintain and make us feel our dependence on them for a flax supply — it has occuared to me and a few others, who have paid some attention to and feel interested in the matter; that a measure there is, simple, and easy of immediate adoption, which, while it would have the effect pf stirring up the natives to an active competition, opens up a field for the employment of starving British families, far extended as the flax swamps, hills, and plains of these islands, and create at once an export for the colony to . any extent that may be desired. ' " The measure I allude to — the training of children to the native process of scraping with the shell, and their constant subsequent employment I—appears1 — appears to form an important and certain element of production, which ought to be immediately rendered available. To overlook or delay its adoption, at once so simple and effective, so certain and so extensive in its results, would certainly be to neglect the * bird in the hand for the supposed two in the bush.' From a long and intimate intercourse with the natives in the flax trade, I have an entire confidence that boys and girls, from nine years of age up-, wards, may be easily trained, in no long time, to prepare it by the native hand process. The native women prepare from seven to twelve pounds a-day, or, at the most moderate statement, half-a-hundred .weight a- week ; and if we look for a moment at the' hundreds of factory women and children in Great' Britain, whose hearts would bound with joy at the prospect of making but a living in this distant land of their hopes, might not motives of benevolence, not to mention the placing of our flax resources on a certain and independent basis, at all events these combined motives, be sufficient to induce a model establishment being set a working, on a scale to produce in as great quantities as possible, and exhibit to the British public the realization -of their cherished hopes of New Zealand?" By the Gazette of the 26th, we learn the particulars of the loss of the Brothers, which we alluded to in our last, though we erroneously stated that she was a whaler : 4 "Captain Broc#oP the crttter Brothers, ac-

companied by Captain Smith, R.A., arrived from Akaroa, in Mr. Price's sealing boat, on Wednesday night. "After a long and successful cruise to the eouthward, the Brothers entered the heads of Akaroa Harbour on Thursday, the 10th. November, under storm sail, having just escaped from very heavy weather. The wind, which is frequently the case there, proved very baffling. It was sometimes a-head, sometimes aft the vessel, and alternately it fell calm. Numerous hands, for a vessel of her size, were attending the sails, which had very frequently to be shifted. In an instant, while the vessel lay becalmed, a squall, not equalled in fury by anything of the kind seen by any of the old and experienced hands on board before, burst upon the craft, and though all were watchful, sufficient time was not allowed to let go a single rope before the vessel was buried in the deep. Fortunately the boat was not lashed to the deck, and had her keel downwards, or not a soul would have lived to narrate the disaster. All on board the vessel, excepting a Maori woman and two children who were below, stepped into the boat while the vessel was sinking ; the boat proceeded to Akaroa, but not without considerable risk to the passengers, in consequence of filling with water, and not being properly equipped, while the wind was blowing hard. The unfortunate Maori woman and children lost their lives, in consequence of not being able to get out of the hold of the vessel. " Captain Smith had visited Otago, the Bluff, and New River, in the Middle Island, and Port William, Patterson's River and Port Adventure, in Stewart Island, and Ruapuki, an island in Foveaux Straits, distant about twelve miles from the Bluff. Of all the harbours he had made accurate surveys. The latitudes and longitudes were obtained. Sketches of all points likely to guide the stranger were made. A sketch of nearly all the coast between Otago and the Foveaux Straits had also been obtained, and the map of the Middle Island to the southward of Akrroa was found to be very inaccurate, and had been corrected for a distance exceeding one hundred and twenty miles. These valuable documents, together with all the surveying instruments and sundry other things, are, it is feared, los>t for ever. Captain Smith has already made, from memory, plans of the harbours, which will show their size and position, and he will be enabled to write a report, descriptive of all he had seen and done, but, though useful, they will not replace the lost papers. " Commodore Lavaud rendered every assistance in his power to Captain Bruce, and the brig Guide was obtained to endeavour to lift the unfortunate craft, but the efforts were unattended with success. The vessel is in nine fathoms water, and lying upon a stiff bottom of mud and clay, and consequently not easily dealt with. Captain Bruce had traded successfully for many years on all parts of the New Zealand coast, for a house in Sydney, and with bis accumulations purchased the Brothers, in which he was upon his second trip only when the unfortunate accident happened which has deprived him of all the produce of his hard earnings. The vessel and the whole of her cargo were "his own property. He endeavoured to get insurance effected in Sydney, but could not succeed. The offices there would have given him a preference justly, we think that his uniform success entitled him to be made an exception ; but the heavy losses they had made in their New Zealand insurances had made them come to the determination not to insure craft engaged in our coasting trade, and only to take risks upon vessels running between well-known ports. " Captain Smith proceeded by land to Pigeon. Bay, and by boat thence to Ports Levy and Cooper, of all which he has brought sketches, but which he could not survey in consequence of having lost his instruments. At the last named port he was joined by Captain Bruce, and proceeded with him in their little craft on their perilous voyage to this place. "Captain Smith -speaks in the highest terms of the uniform kindness and attention he experienced throughout his trip from Captain Bruce, who rendered him every possible assistance in the prosecution of the objects of the voyage; and wherever they landed similar attention and assistance were shown him by all the white residents to the eouthward." The same paper gives the following, which we hope may prove unfounded : — "The barque Lord Auckland, 628 tons, Captain Jardine, which arrived at this place in February last, with emigrants for Nelson, is reported to be wrecked in Torres Straits, not far from the spot where the Martha Ridgway was lost. We cannot vouch for the authenticity of this report, and merely give it as rumour." A letter from the Honourable C. Dillon also appears, which we feel it our duty to give publicity to :—: — " CA.UTION TO COLONISTS AND EMIGRANTS. " Sir — Having been greatly inconvenienced myself by false representations made to me by Phillips and Tiplady, brokers, in England, I wish to warn other colonists and emigrants by my fate, and I have no course so good as your paper, which is much read by parties at home who are desirous of settling ua this colony. I, as well as many more,- left England, under the most solemn assurance that the ship we sailed in would call at Nelson on her way to this port, and that we should be landed there ; instead of which we have been brought here, and will by that means lose five of the best weeks in the year for fanners, besides suffering many other annoyances. There are among the passengers for Nelson in this ship, possessors of 1,200 acres of land, who would be employing at this time from twenty-five to thirty men ; a thing to be considered, I fancy, if the accounts we hear

from that place be true. Now, tbe advice I would give to persons who come here to settle, would be to have all transactions between them and the brokers in writing, and especially to have the .port at which the ship is to call first specified, and in no case whatever .to rely on verbalassertions, however solemnly they may be made. I think they would find it worth their while to have their agreements looked over by their solicitors, that there may be no inaccuracies. Hoping I do not trespass too much on your valuable space, I remain, " Yours, &c. " CONSTANTINE DILLON. " Ship George Fife, Nov. 25." The Colonist of November 18, in some remarks on this settlement, says — "There are complaints made, we believe, with regard to the quality of the land, which are scarcely reaspnable. It is too much to expect that a soil which has been fo/ several years nourishing a vigorous growth of fern, should suddenly, with no other preparation than burning off the stalks, and scratching the surface with a plough, produce a luxuriant crop of wheat. No farmer in the world could reasonably expect Buch a result. He would know that the ground required to be freed from the roots of the fern, because the wheat, which is an imported plant, could not sustain the competition of the indigenous product which had so long maintained possession of the soil. But of this, at least, we are fully assured, that wherever there is sufficient power in the soil to support fern of from six to seven feet in height, there, when the ground is properly cleaned and prepared, crops of grain of corresponding luxuriance may be anticipated. Nothing is more dangerous than apparent facility. The very circumstance, that fern land' can be ploughed and sown after a mere burning, will have led to a waste of capital, and will produce a discouragement even more injurious. Any one, however, who will select land with judgment, and proceed as he would do in a similar case in England, may confidently rely upon the result. " The position of Nelson, however, shows that something more than the mere sale of land and conveyance of emigrants, is requisite to the establishment of a colony upon the Wakefield system. If every person who landed had his own small allotment upon which he might locate himself, or if the emigrants were left to disperse themselves over the country, squatting wherever they found a place suited to their purpose, then but little capital would be required — no more, in fact, than might suffice to maintain them until their first crop was raised. This sum would be quite inconsiderable in most parts of New Zealand, because of the general abundance of pigs and potatoes, upon which such emigrants would subsist. But the Wakefield system, the main object of which, as regards the colony, is to provide for the transference to a new country of an old community, requires a very large supply of capital. In such a community, a considerable proportion of the labourers are employed in works which do not yield any immediate return, and but few, comparatively, in producing food. Those who are engaged in agriculture do not immediately, nor probably for a year or two, raise much beyond what is required for their own subsistence; and, consequently, all the rest of the community must be supported out of capital. This result, so obvious to us who are on the spot, appears to have been overlooked by parties in England ; and we can hardly escape suffering in some degree from the result of their omission." And on a previous day (November 8), in an article on some statements which had appeared in the New Zealand Journal on clearing wood land, in which it was said that "land which requires clearing, is much richer than land that is free from wood," observes — " This remark would appear to be applicable to the whole of this colony, whereas, it is well known that the immense Kauri forests to the northward, even if cleared, would present no land fit for agricultural purposes, from the exhausting properties of the timber. The largest farming establishment in New Zealand is that at "Waimate, the head missionary station, near the Bay of Islands; where the finest crops have been grown, and than which there exists no richer soil in the island. Nearly the whole of this was covered whith high fern, and it is proverbial that the greater the height and luxuriance of that plant the richer is the mould. It is true, that about Port Nicholson the forests occupy the most productive land, and when cultivated v will, no doubt, yield remunerating crops; but we can name numerous places where timber is exceedingly scarce, and where the ground is by no means inferior in quality. At Otaki, the soil produces in great abundance — at Wanganui the flat plains of fern land extending to the eastward have been reported available in every respect for cultivation; at New Plymouth vast tracts of land lightly timbered exist, which are said to be admirably calculated to farming operations; and in the interior numerous plains are to be met with (Otawao for instance), which might be cultivated with ease, and would produce abundantly. We have been led to offer these remarks, as the writer of the article alluded to seems to have formed his opinion from the nature of the land around Port Nicholson only, without reference to other parts of the island." The old chief Warepouri died on the 22d of November.

Nitrate of Soda is likely to prove an excellent manure for strawberries ; and, contrary to most known cases, it may be Applied over the herbage without injuring the plants.

[advertisement.] To the Editor of the Nelson Examiner. Sir — We,' the undersigned, cabin passengers oa board the ship Bombay, beg to express our^H proval of James Moore, its commander. J^K: seaman, we feel in him the greatest confidence ; for his gentlemanly conduct and his high character for integrity and kindness, we hold him in the greatest esteem. The surgeon-superjntendent, Samuel Hodgkinson, Esq., also deserves our best thanks. (Signed) Francis Bradet. Harry Hughlings. Thomas Parkinson. Richard Ridings. George Binns. Elizabeth Eames. Robert Eames. w_^ Important to Mariners. — A. letter received at Lloyd's, from their agent at Cork, states that Captain Hill, of the Guiana, arrived there from Moulmein, reports to have found an opening in the Barrier Reef in Torres Straits, two miles wide, in lat. 12 deg. 12 mm. S. The opening appeared quite free of danger, and is a new passage. In coming through, Captain Hill also states he saw the wreck of the Fergusson, lost some months since on the Great Barrier, which bore S. W. by S., distant about six miles. In the reign of Henry the Fourth of France, sugar was so rare in that country, that it was sold by the ounce by apothecaries.

„ , BIRTH. On Sunday last, the lady of A. Macshane, Esq., immigration agent and the New Zealand Company's, medical officer for the district of Nelson, of a daughter.