THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, March 4, 1843.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 52, 4 March 1843, Page 206

THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, March 4, 1843.

Lea journaux devienncnt plus ne'eessaires a mesure que les homines sont plus fegaux, et 1' individualisme plus a craindre. Cc aerait diminuer lew importance que de croire qu' Us ne servent qu' a garantir la liberty : ila maintiennent la civilisation. D* TocacEviLLi. 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 underrate their importance to suppose that they serve only to secure liberty : they maintain civilization. De Tocqueville. Of Democracy in America, vol . 4, p. 202. We beg to call the attention of absentee landowners and their professional advisers to the following extract from the Conveyancing Ordinance passed by the Legislative Council of New Zealand : — " Every deed or will executed out of this colony shall be received in evidence in every ' court Of justice in the colony, provided the execution thereof shall be verified on oath, by any one of the witnesses thereto, in manner following, that is to say, ; - - Where the same shall have been executed in Great Britain or Ireland, it shall be so-ve-rified before the mayor, provost, or other chief magistrate of any corporate town ; If in any British colony, before the officer administering the government .thereof, or before two justices of the peace ; If in any foreign country, .then before any British consul resident therein : Provided also that such verification shall be certified under the seal of such body corporate, officer, or consul, or under the hands of such justices, as the case may be."

In the Colonist of the 14th ult. we find an article upon the selection of the additional land to which the Company, by its arrangement with the Government, has become entitled ; which commences —

" It has been stated, upon what we believe is unimpeachable authority, that Colonel Wakefield does not intend to select any land for the New Zealand Company within the limits of the first and principal settlement, as definefc by Captain Hobson, beyond the 110,000 acres included in the first land sale in July, 1839. The consequences of this, if true, are twofold. In the first place, so far as the" acts of Colonel Wakefield are concerned* it would appear to sever all future connexion between the Company and this settlement, founded upon any

ground of mutual interest, by depriving the Company of every possible anticipation of future profit from public works to be constructed here. And, in the second place, it puts a stop to our accessions of settlers and of labouring immigrants, by stopping all sales of land within the district, excepting through the intervention of Government. Under both of these points of view, the circumstance, supposing the information to be correct, which we cannot doubt, possesses a considerable interest to the settlement."

After laying some stress upon the improbability that the Company would further expend money upon improvements in the first settlement when the bond of interest had ceased to exist, we have the following saving clause : — " It is, however, possible that the relinquishraent of the unselected land within the first and principal settlement is only to enable the Company's Agent to select a large district at Wairarapa. If this is the case, a, portion of the results we have anticipated would for a time be averted, and the settlement would possess the great advantage of a road through the surveyed lands of the Hutt. We should be glad to find that this is the case, since, in that event, at least to the extent of the road in question, we should be assured of benefiting by the Company's expenditure." It is not so much with the intention of commenting upon the remarks of the Colonist that we have drawn attention to them as it is with the view, if possible, to come at something like the justice of the case not only as regards Wellington, but ourselves also. We confess to having always been under the impression that one great security to the settlers of continned expenditure by the Company — of a lasting interest in the various settlements — was the fact that they would possess lands in their neighbourhood ; or rather, whenever possible, actually in the settlements themselves ; so placed, at all events, as that increasing population would make them one with the settlements. We should contemplate with anything but satisfaction the making of arrangements which should tend to destroy this security. It is not that we ever considered that the Company were bound by any agreement with the land purchasers to lay out any more on the settlements than that portion of the purchase-money which was set forth in the terms; but we had always looked upon it that the advantage of being allowed to place funds in the hands of the Company, with the object of mere economical expenditure for our benefit, was not the only advantage we were to derive from our connexion with them. We have not yet arrived at the wise state of universal doubt as to the efficiency of higher motives to good action than those which some appear to think the sole evidence of judgment and foresight; yet the removal of any species of security lessens the aggregate of what remains ; and, in this instance, if the bond of interest be removed, we at least lose the security as regards those who are tied by interest alone. Averse to putting in claims where, on examination, nothing may be "found to back them but overweening expectation on our parts, yet we cannot release ourselves from the impression that, unless forced into it to avoid some great loss to themselves, there would be a breach of that good faith in which throughout we have so implicitly confided, if the Company were to leave us in the lurch, transfer their chief

interest in New Zealand to some other part of the islands, and, pouring forth all their resources in that quarter, deny us the benefit to be derived from these resources in their transit, and destroy between us and their property elsewhere the bond of reciprocity of interests. Other things equal, there cannot be a doubt that land selected in the neighbourhood of an established community must be far more valuable than that at a distance ; and we can hardly imagine natural advantages so great to present themselves as to outweigh, at once the force of interest from increased value, and the force of equity from the tacit contract. The opportunity of selecting in the neighbourhood of other settlements is not likely to be given/ Altogether, we think it not arrogant to lay down a general rule as to what would be equitable in the matter, namely, to select in the neighbourhood of each settlement, in quantities

the amount of which would be affected by the nature and availability of the land, by the extent to which the funds supplied by the settlers had contributed to afford the right of further selection and possession, and by the general state of affairs both as between the Company and the Government, and as to the commercial relations between the various settlements. We can imagine no state of things in whidi one or more of these considerations should be allowed wholly to outweigh any other, nor do we believe that any generally beneficial arru^tej ment could even appear to require the s^H fice of one of them.

Up to the time of writing we have been unable to procure a sight of a Ne:v Zealand Gazette of the 15th of February ; and from 1 the Colonist we can only learn- that there is a question unsettled, or rather, we should unhappily say, only too clearly settled, as to the land on Te Aro Flat. As to the particulars, we have no information, only that it appears to be clear enough that the natives have never sold that portion of the town of Wellington ; that, up to the present time, all endeavours to prevail upon them to do so have failed, and that they absolutely refuse to part with it. We say nothing as to where blame should attach in. the matter ; doubtless, wherever the burden shall be found to rest it will be made heavy enough by the reflections of all concerned, and many not interested. What we have to do with the matter, indeed, is not confined to the particular case, nor necessarily includes it, save as an instance to cite as what has occurred and may occur again, and therefore to deduce the importance of a*. once deterraiuing what is to be, what should be, done in this and the possible like of this. Any idea of giving up the lan '. with the improvements upon it to the natives, does seem really too absurd to b- a contemplated for a moment. Yet there » no question that there is sufficient room fo r a claim on their part to make it anything but an agreeable exercise of power to oblige them to receive a compensation which they may choose to consider inadequate. In a country where settlement had been conducted on a different principle to that which has regulated it here, yet where the native titles to land not absolutely sold by them were generally acknowledged, their claim would be far more forcible, and the difficulties arising from the morale of the matter would be far more serious. As it is, however, we see no insuperable bar of the conscientious sort likely to interfere with a summary assessment of compensation, to be regulated by the general value of land previously to the settlement of the present European inhabitants at Fort Nicholson. The equity of the arrangement made (not so much between the natives and the white men as by the white men for the natives) by tKe setting: apart of the Native-Reserves would be wholly set at nought and destroyed if they were allowed to come in and claim land in the centre of a town, after the value of it had been so enormously increased as must always be the case by the industry and outlay of the settlers. The principle upon which the reserves were made, namely, to prevent the natives from being driven wholly out of the benefits of civilization and improvement, implied as a matter of course that, without them, they would have been so driven out. It is a thing taken for granted that all is sold before it is thought necessary to reserve a part out of that all, to prevent the ill consequences of the all being sold. It was just out of consideration for the supposed want of foresight in the natives that the reserves were made ; and if, whether designedly or accidentally, the objects aimed at in this arrangement are otherwise obtained, the whole foundation upon which it stands fades away, and in^ equity the reserves should no longer exitfV It is needless to continue to turn the thing" this, that, and the other way ; the case, we imagine, must be plain to all, that the Maori claim to land situated as ii this of

Te Aro Flat, or to compensation therefore | equivalent to its present value, cannot be allowed without striking at the root of the Maori Reserves. Thai the necessity for mooting such a question should have arisen at all is much to be lamented ; that there should be an equitable obligation on the Government to take iteps the equitable nature of which the natives cannot or will not perceive, is exceedingly unfortunate ; , but, lamentable or unfortunate as it may be, the fact that such is the( equity of the case Lptands unaltered and unalterable thereby, ftkid the difficulties thai| present themselves only render it the ln'orfe imperative that, in overcoming them, there be promptness and decision. Whatever the Government may think fit to do as to making the Company liable to somewhat larger expenses, as a sort of fine on tlxeir remissness (as remissness it is supposed there must l\a^e been), and as a peace-offering to the 'Maories, it does not much concern us to consider; but the principle in any such arrangement should not be lost sight of that the existence of the reserves by the Government for the Maories is inconsistent with any reserves of the like natuie by themselves. There must be no slurring over the question this time : it must be settled, and upon grounds distinctly stated and explaine4^o, or suuh claims will not end with this one. We are glad to be able to state that the suburban section in the district Waimea South, in which there is a considerable quantity of surface limestone, has been ) taken of Mr. Patchel.t by some limeburners, j -who are now worki «g it. The lime is sold at the kiln at £2 10s, per ton, and delivered in the town at £3. For the use of the town and its neighbourho yd this is far preferable to the Massacre Bay lime, as it is not necessary to slack i until required for use. There is now an ad- itional reason, however, for the working of he coal at the Motupipi or elsewhere, as tj lere cannot be a doubt tha.t this lime migb'|J>e purchased .consider- ' "ably cheaper if the; burners could procure 1 coal at a reasonable price. We look with ; some anxiety for ths selection of the rural sections containing 'the coal, as we shall then expect to see the working of it commenced with some system, and, it cannot ! be doubted, to the torofit of the owners, as it must be to the 'advantage of the settle-

inenc. i A remarkable c<jmer, of very considerable magnitude, wj^t first noticed on Thursday evening. Its' tail, when the nucleus was near the horizon, had an inclination to the northward of 'the zenith, of about five degrees. Last evening, the nucleus was observed to dip the hills at about half-past seven, wß|e the tail did not disappear below them ujfil about half-past eight ; and what was ve{j[ remarkable, a distinct and strong ray if&ff^-^&ettxv- iTtsMus&irit from the .zenith tli^i the tail, and forming an acute angle witfc it) stretched far up into the heavens, som* thirty or forty degrees beyond the tail. !■ Men the nucleus of the comet was near th| horizon, it bore about southwest by west] . It appears to be travelling to the soutlvfi ird, and may probably not be visible in tijjj northern hemisphere. The Thomas Sfl rks, which left Wellington on Friday, arrii ed here on Sunday last. jVVe received no IS sllington papers by her, although some of t^ i passengers brought late popies with them,^ hich we regret we have not been able to ge a sight of. The Shepnerdess, having a -j nail on board, left Wellington a few days& ifore the Thomas Sparks. She purposed calling at New Plymouth, which accounts for W non-arrival. ! We beg to apprise our readers that the present number closes the first volume of j>ur paper. | j A mail will be raid* 5 up this day for England, and all .part* of Australia. Letters must be posted befjre four o'clock.

The motives of the *>t actions will not bear too Strict an inquiry. It s allowed, that the cause of nost actions, good q bad, may be resolved into he love of ourselves? but the self-love of some nen inclines them tof please others ; and the selfove of others is w icily employed in pleasing nemselves. This in kes the great distinction beween virtue and yfoL—Lacotum. it i