PORT NICHOLSON.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 83, 7 October 1843, Page 331

PORT NICHOLSON.

By the arrival yesterday of the Ursula, from Wellington, after a run of only twentyfive hours, we have received New Zealand Gazettes to the 4th instant. The North Star sailed for this place on the same day, but was to call at Mdßfca. She may therefore be hourly expected. We must limit ourselves for the present to the following extracts : —

By the Government brig Victoria we received Government Gazettes from August 30 to September 24.

Lord Stanley's reasons for disallowing the acts mentioned in our last paper are to the following effect : — Corporation Bill. — Because it placed the power of establishing beacons and lighthouses in the hands of the corporation; and because it vested in the corporation all lands within its limits, with the exception of certain reserves. The objection to the latter power is, first, its being declared repugnant to the act of last session of Parliament for regulating the sale of the waste land of the Crown; secondly, because it vested in the corporation property of the Crown, which her Majesty had not placed at the disposal of the Local Legislature; and, thirdly, because it may be attended with the improvident waste of a large extent of most valuable land. Another law may be enacted by the Local Legislature for the same general purposes, excluding these objectionable provisions. Post Office Ordinance. — The Postmas-ter-General having undertaken the conduct of that service, no place is left for the operation of the local enactment.

Land Claims Ordinance. — The first reason for disallowing this ordinance, which was passed in 1842 to amend that of 1841, is that it does not provide against an admitted evil, the accumulation of land in new colonies in the hands of persons without capital, or the means of introducing labour. The ordinance of June, 1841, which had been assented to, limited- grants of land to 2,560 acres, beyond which no grant can be claimed. This restriction was abandoned in the ordinance passed in 1842, and which is now disallowed. The next ground taken for its disallowance is that a large body of settlers had represented that it would be injurious to their interests. The principle of the ordinance of 1841 was to value the land, to those who had obtained it in times of insecurity and had expended labour and capital upon it, at a low rate, which was considered just. That principle the ordinance of 1842 abandons, and, placing all parties upon an equality, fixes a uniform price of 55., wherever and under whatever circumstances it had been obtained. To the justice of. this Lord Stanley could not assent. The Governor is then instructed to be guided in future by the provisions of the enactment of the 9th of June, 1841, which is of course revived by the disallowance of the act which repealed it. In consequence of the disallowance of the above act, an advertisement appears in the Gazette, dated Auckland, September 6, stating his Excellency the Officer administering the Government directs it to be notified that a list of the confirmed claims to land in New Zealand, revised in accordance with the ordinance of the Ist session of the Legislative Council, No. 2, now revised, will be published in a supplement to the Government Gazette of the present week. This is followed by an advertisement stating that authority has been received from Lord Stanley, consenting to allow all claimants who have established their tides the option of exchanging their land for grants in the unoccupied portions of the district in which the town of Auckland is situated, especial reference being made to the proportional values which have been established in the colony for town, suburban, and country allotments. According to the fist of grants of lands revised in consequence of Lord Stanley's disallowing the bill of 1842, it appears that an immense majority of the claimants are great gainers. A few very large claimants suffer, but a large proportion of the claims are greatly increased. Many who have been advertised as entitled only to 500 acres are now declared to be entitled to 1,000 and up to 2,560 acres. The Officer administering the Government has appointed Charles Babington Brewer, Esq., to be Judge of the County Court for the district of kelson; Peter Dodds Hogg, Esq., to be acting Collector of Customs, vice George Cooper, Esq., resigned ; and the name of William Halse, Esq., has been ordered to be removed from the list of magistrates of the territory. Notice is given that a monthly overland mail will be sent to New Plymouth by way of Kama. —Gazette, Sept. 30. The Government brig Victoria arrived yesterday from Auckland, with the Chief Justice and Registrar of the Supreme Court. Mr. Commissioner Spain has not returned in the brig, as it was expected and hoped he would do. From the news we have gathered, we suspect no further progress in the settlement of the land question will be made, until his Excellency Captain Fitzroy arrives in the island.— Gazette, Sept. 27. We are informed by the Government Gazette that the following bills have been disallowed : — The Corporation BUI; the Postage Bill ; and the last Land Claims Bill. Permission is given to the Council to introduce another Corporation Bill, keeping in mind the reasone for the disallowance of the recent bill. Should these reasons only permit a bill with very restricted powers, we question Whether the Council would not waste its labour ia framing such an act, for if its application is to be optional, we suspect the several communities in the island will not seek to cause it to be proclaimed. — Ibid.

The Glenarm arrived in port yesterday from Valparaiso, with a cargo of mules, asses, and horses. On the passage, the Glenarm called at Tahiti. Our old fellow-settler, Mr. Stokes, has returned passenger in her. While at Tahiti, we understand Mr. Stokes possessed himself of some interesting information respecting the occupation of Tahiti by the French, which we hone he will enable us to communicate to the public at an early date. — Ibid.

The Indemnity was safely launched from Mr. Mathieaon's slip on Sunday last ; after having undergone a thorough repair. We believe Messrs. Ridgways, Guyton, and Co., have not yet determined the mode in which she is to be employed. — Gazette, September 20. On Monday last, a deputation waited on the Company's Principal Agent, with the subjoined resolutions —

" 1. Resolved, that though the lands which have been surveyed and selected in the first and principal settlement must hereafter be the most valuable, they are not so immediately available for the use of the settlers as other lands in the immediate neighbourhood of Port Nicholson.

"2. Resolved, that the settlers of Port Nicholson require immediately an extensive district in which to depasture their increasing flocks and herds. "3. Resolved, that the Wairarapa valley is not only of immense extent, but the outlet or readiest means of communication with the other large surrounding districts, and affords the greatest advantages for immediate occupation, alike for the agricultural and pastoral settler, of any district yet described in New Zealand ; and that it not only is close to, but can be approached from Port Nicholson with facility by land.

"4. Resolved, that the Company's Agent be requested to adopt forthwith the measure necessary to render approachable and to open for sale the district of Wairarapa."

The Company's Agent stated in reply, that he had long been impressed with the importance of the Wairarapa valley to the Port Nicholson settlement; and that he had addressed the New Zealand Company sometime since upon the subject Meanwhile, considerable progress had been made in rendering the district approachable, and twentyfive men were now engaged in cutting the road up the Hutt ; and for the present he did not think he had authority for doing more ; but he thought it very probable that at an early period he should receive definite instructions from the Directors, and that, should they be in accordance with his own views, he would hasten to meet the wishes of the settlers to the utmost extent in his power. — Ibid.

Legal Promotions. — On Tuesday, Mr. Serjeant Wrangham appearedinthe Courtof Queen's Bench, and was called to take his seat within the bar. Sir Gregory Allnutt Lewin, Knt, the Hon. John Chetwynd Talbotand Samuel Martin, John Arthur Roebuck, and William Henry Watson, Esqrs., were severally called within the bar as Queen's counsel.

11 Printing Telegraph." — A Mr. Bain, of Wotton, near Wick, announces the discovery of an electrical printing telegraph, by means of which he can, " by one set of types, set up a newspaper in London, and print it simultaneously in every town in England and Scotland, nearly as fast as the steam machine throws off the sheets." — Brighton Gazette.

Convicts in the Dockyards. — The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty have ordered the officers of the dockyards in which convicts are employed to furnish a report of the number of labourers it would take to do the same amount of work as 100 convicts, and the difference of expense, taking into account the cost of the hulks, &c. — Standard.

Scottish Church. — We hear that the Government intend to bring in a measure for settling the affairs of the Kirk a few days before the meeting of the General Assembly. The heads of the bill have been seen by parties in Scotland interested in the matter, and we understand they are such as will satisfy the " forty thieves," and the Glasgow " memoralists." — Glasgow Chronicle.

The Quarter's Revenue. — The revenue accounts for the quarter, made up to the sth inst., have been looked forward to with anxiety. On all branches of revenue, the Post Office excepted, there is still a falling off. In the Customs there is a decrease in the quarter of £275,510, as compared with the corresponding quarter of 1842. On the year there is a decrease of £1,076,836. In the Excise the falling off in the quarter is inconsiderable. The decrease in the quarter is £1,788 ; on the yearthe decrease is £1,059,093. In the Stamps the decrease in the quarter is £6,361 ; in the year, £146,790. In the Taxes, in the quarter, £8,055 ; in the year, £146,082. The Post Office alone, of all the regular sources of revenue, exhibits a steady increase. On the quarter the increase is £2,000 ; on the year, £103,000. — Examiner, April 8. Tbb Comet. — Sir J. S. W. Herschel writes — As an opinion seems to have obtained a pretty general currency, that the light which others as well as myself have regarded as the tail of a great comet is, in fact, nothing more than the zodiacal light, I request attention to the following. The phenomena are so utterly unlike that I do not understand how it is possible for any one familiar with the zodiacal light for, an instant to confound them. On Friday, the 17th, and on every evening since that time, when I have observed the comet, the zodiacal light has also been displayed in the most striking and perfectly characteristic manner, occupying its usual place among the stars, and having all its usual characters, while the comet in no part of the extent of its tail so much as touched upon the region occupied by it Furthermore, Mr. Cooper distinctly states that he saw the nucleus at Nice, and, as that gentleman has given proofs enough of his acquaintance with the appearance of comets, I cannot suppose him to have mistaken any other object for one. Lastly, I have myself, on one occasion, distinctly seen the head with its so-called nucleus. In this also I could not be deceived. The writer then relates some facts, which he says seem to indicate • rapidity of diminution in point of lustre only to be explained on the supposition that the comet is receding from us with great velocity. The train, too, is diminishing rapidly in brightness, though it retains its position with remarkable pertinacity ; at least, it did so on Wednesday night — Coffingwood, Hawkhurst, Kent, March SI. [The above corresponds with the time when the comet was seen here. It was first noticed in Nelson on the 2d of March. — Ed.]