THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, September 2, 1843,

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume II, Issue II, 2 September 1843, Page 310

THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, September 2, 1843,

Les journaux deviennent plus ne'eessairps a tnesurc one les homines sont plus egaux, et I' individualisme plus, a eraindre. Cc serait diminuer leur importance que de croire qu' Us ne servent qu' a ganntir la liberte 1 : ils maintiennent la civilisation.

Sx TocauEviLLit. De la Democratic en'Amerique, tome -i, p. 220 i 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. ' ' Dk ToconxyiLLß. Of Democracy in America, vol . 4, p. 202.

The sailing of the Sir John Franklin from this port with 22 mechanics and their families, making altogether a total of 67 souls, is a circumstance which calls for some renlark. By many it will doubtless be taken as an indication of anything but the' 'favour-, able progress of the „ settlement ; whilst others, possessing more . experience inAhe planting of new settlements, will see l|u this (to the. uninitiated) apparently un^j favonrable omen the clearest evidence that actual colonization is really begun : that the building mania — the universal struggle to provide shelter for roofless families^ is past, and is succeeded by the more pleasurable occupation of cultivating the soil. A reference to the returns of the , immigration agent for this settlement will satisfactorily explain this seeming contradiction. , The gross number of male adult steerage passengers landed here by the New Zealand Company's vessels up to April 15 (the date of the latest published return), was 752. Of these 331 were agricultural labourers ; the remaining 421 consisted of various trades ' 206 of whom were mechanics depending chiefly on house-building ) for employment. During the first twelvemonth of the.settlement's existence, the amount of this last description of labour was by no means felt to be too large ; every one was under the necessity of building a house of some sort ; and for nearly that time scarcely anything but building, road-making, and surveying was attempted. These were the golden days for sawyers and carpenters ; WHen the services of many who scarcely knew hoy to handle their tools were eagerly Secured at from ten to fourteen shillings a day. --This, however, was a state of things which could hot last for ever; and the period of its duration was shortened' % y variou^ causes ; Buch as the importation of "iitnher from &c Northern Island and Vain Diemeh's, Land-r the arrival of carpenters *nd other flrecnanick

in every yessel^jm the {torts.*© f Arist?a!ia,. wfi|ire,.at*^t 'scifiption^oi^TAbdur'was as rauchldVerJlQcked "as ours is now — tbeKcontinued orsproportioa of meclianics to agricultural labourers and capitalists in the succeeding vessels of the Company — and, lastly, the important fact that/, the giajority of the p'opjftlatibn being ' provided j^ith feomforfcatle houses,, and all with habitations of some sort, the services 11 of ih'e'Suil&erahd trie Various trades which he employed were, no loiiger required. It is therefore plain that (however encpurJMng

and healtlif ul 'the progress "of . .a n,ew I*£p| ment may be) the individuals necessari

employed in house-building, daring the first months of its existence cannot. continue to be so employed if, in the. subsequent arrivals of immigrant vessels, the original proportion of that particular class should be found amongst the new comers ; consequently, their re-emigration to other settlements and other colonies is valueless as a test of the prosperity of that which they leave. Fortunately for those who cannot obtain work from private individuals in this ' and the sister settlements of Wellington and New Plymouth, the scheme of the New- Zealand Company provides employment for them on public works, at suck wages as insures to them at least a sufficiency of the necessaries of life ; and hence the absence in these settlements of the distress so frequently felt in ipther colonies during their infancy fromffce sudden fluctuations in the demand for*ls|| bour. It is but natural, however, that mechanics should feel a repugnance to engage in road- making, ditching, &c, and that they should rather seek employment in their respective trades in Sydney %v: Launceston — -large and} comparatively, lojig] established towns,— where more of the lu2t- ; uries of life are in demand than there^an I be in • a settlement less than two years'oMJ Whatever fortune may attend them, the^ have at least our best wishes that a total I want of employment in Australia may never cause them to regret their abandonment of road-making in New Zealand.

We understand that Mr. Fox, barrister, of Wellington, has accepted the office of New Zealand Company's Agent for this settlement; and. that he is expected in the Tyne, which was to; leave Wellington the latter end of this week. f\

In the report of the public meeting -at Wellington, which will be found in another page, there is an extract from the reply of Jus Excellency the Officer administering Government to the Wellington »e«^grial on the subjeetrpf the Wairoo massacre|| As we have no room .this week for/ comment, < we merely direct our readers' Attention to the ironical insult 'to ''the. living and the slander of the dead compressed into the last six lines. Our opinion of Mn n Sbortland's un fitness to govern has been frequently expressed ; but we must do him the, justice to say that we believe he had no hand in concocting this cold-blooded production — his respect for the talents and character of some of the victims would alone have prevented him. ■ _. We have made inquiries of a gentleman who came out in the Mary as ,to. the correctness of the report we mentioned last week respecting the appointment of Major Campbell to the Governorship of New Zealand, and he assures us that it is entirely without foundation, as the Mary'Tvas purposely detained ten days, in the expectation of being able to bring out certain information on the subject, , . •''. It had been announced that '-tbe Ursula would positively leave Gravesend on the 10th of May. As she is reported to. be a fast sailer, we may daily look for -her- arrival. A large number of passengers is expected by her. < ' : The passage of the Tyrye was prolonged by her calling at the Cape, for the passengers left there «irice the wreck of the Prince Rupert, and by the necessity of putting into Hobart Town for water. -!

( The passage of the Mary' was als% ; soHi'etfhat prolonged! tfy her haying sprang 4ier mainmast shortly after les\ing England^

• The editor of the New Zealand Journal is bestirring himself to get the Post-office authorities to make some arrangement by which the mail may be sent to and from England and New Zealand via India. If such kn arrangement can be effected, it will occasionally be of service by enabling us to forward letters, by vessels abound to India; but, unless a regular packet communication be established between India and Australasia, we fear that letters sent from England by that route would frequently take ei£tt or teh'rnonths to ! reach us. It is nowjusr (Four weeks since we received a file of Bombay papers, from the Ist of October to the 2d of ..January inclusive, and it frequently happens, that we ,do not receive Sydney papers* until they ore four months old, iv consequence of „their first visiting the Bay of Islands and Auckland.

We learn that Sir George .Gipps has promptly acceded to the request sent him for troops. Her Majesty's ship North Star left Sydney for Auckland on the Ist of August, with. 50 rank and file of the 90th Regiment. Whether more are to follow, or these are considered sufficient to afford the requisite protection, we cannot say. If the rumours concerning Rauparaha's preparations for War have any truth in them, so small a force as this can be of but little service to the ■ scattered settlements in this district, New Plymouth, and. Cook's Straits. At present, our enemy's ignorance .of ou~r weakness is our only protection. i

On Monjday. last two men named Har-

Ipreaves were brought before the acting Police Magistrate and fined ten shillings each, for cutting down a tree on land to which they had no claim.

We regret to announce that Mr. Kater, who came out as surgeon superintendent ii> the Sir Charles Forbes, was yesterday drowned within the harbour by the upsetting of a flat-bottomed punt. Two boys who were with him were saved, one by swimming ashore and the other by clinging lo the side of the punt. '♦

Our subscribers are respectfully informed that the present number closes the sixth quarter of the Nelson Examiner.