THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, October 21, 1843.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 85, 21 October 1843, Page 338

THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, October 21, 1843.

Les jouruaux deviennent plus ne'eessaires & mesure que les homines sout plus igaux, et 1' individualisme plus k craindre. Cc serait diminuer lew importance que de croire qu' Us ne servent qu' a garantir la liberty : ils maintiennent la civilisation.

Dk TocqueVilli. 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. Dl ToCdCEVILLE. Of Democracy in America, vol . 4, p. 202.

We believe we do but express the general sentiment when we state that great surprise was felt by our fellow settlers that Major Richmond should have neglected, on the occasion of his late visit, to put himself in communication with the local magistrates of this district, who, from their station and influence, may reasonably be supposed to be the parties best qualified to report on the state of public feeling. Surely these gentlemen, whose interests are so closely connected with the prosperity of the settlement and several of whom may be numbered amongst the earliest of our settlers, are more competent to state the wants and wishes of the colonists than a mere temporary Police Magistrate. And were the case otherwise, it i 3 presumed that common courtesy should have suggested to the Government representative the propriety of admitting into his councils those in whom his Master had reposed confidence by placing them in the commission of the peace. Major Richmond seems to have forgotten — or, it may be, he has yet to I learn — that a community of free Englishmen can but ill brook the discipline of the martinet, or the iron rule exercised over a convict gang. It may be the practice in the army for a superior officer to communicate only with the individual next in rank-; but amongst civilians the practice is both hateful and intolerable, and especially so to the inhabitants of this settlement, who had long been familiar with another British officer — a naval one — whose savage murder they can never cease to lament. He was courteous to the most humble; and though in the possession of immense power, never exercised it without giving those whose interests it affected the opportunity of expressing their wishes. We have noticed this conduct because it appears to be part of a uniform system which the Major hascomplacently chalked out for himself; for we understand that he pursued a precisely

\ similar course upon his first arrival in Wellington, where he acted notronly independently of but in direct opposition to the local magistrates, and to the publicly expressed wishes of the inhabitants. And in our case, the first act, upon landing, of this self-sufficient gentleman was to disallow the addition to the police force which the resident Police Magistrate had deemed it necessary to make, not alone for guarding the settlement from Maori depredation, but to preserve the peace among the refractory portion of our own population. Not even a solitary constable at the Waimea or the Motuaka can be afforded. We only wonder that the old force did not suffer curtailment ; and in all probability it would if a smaller were considered competent to secure the collection of the revenue. So that in fact the taxes which we pay are partly expended on a force which is deemed just sufficient for the protection, not of our lives and property, but of her Majesty's revenue ! whilst the remainder is swallowed up by the Auckland do-nothings and their peripatetic half-pay captains. And in New Zealand this passes for government !

We will now examine the grounds upon which Major Richmond founds his opinion of the peaceable intentions of the natives and of our security. In the first place we are told that he had visited Porirua, and had seen Rauparaha ; and as he saw no preparations for war he concludes that none is intended. Tnis method of reasoning may be satisfactory to the Major, but we doubt that it will make many converts to his opinion. Whatever Rauparaha's intentions may be, time only can disclose them ; and we are disposed to gi\e him credit for more sagacity than would be sufficient to teach him that any preparations which he miy make must, to be effective, be made with secresy. Major Richmond, however, has a little diffidence ; he does not rely, in this instance, solely on his own observation : there are Rauparaha's peaceable assurances \, and there is the Rev. Mr. Hatfield, who lives with the tribe, and who says that no prepara'ion for aggression could take place without his knowledge. We are by no means certain of this ; and, moreover, have but little faith in the conclusions which missionaries draw from native conduct. In Mr. Hatfield's estimation, Rauparaha may be a humble and penitent Christian ; but we look upon the actions of his past life, whrch, from his boyhood to the last sad tragedy, are written in characters of blood. If Mr. Hatfield is so perfectly acquainted with the preparations and intended movements of this tribe, the collection of a war party, completly armed with muskets, ball cartridge, and tomahawks, for the Wairoo expedition, could scarcely have happened without his knowledge ; yet the intelligence has never reached us that he made the authorities at Wellington acquainted with the fact. If the missionary living amongst them was deceived on that occasion, where is the security that he may not be again deceived ? With regard to the degree of credit which is attached by Major Richmond to Rauparaha's peaceable professions, we must take the liberty of saying that we are much deceived if Major Richmond is really such an innocent as to believe a word that the crafty old savage uttered. If he were disposed to be over credulous, M'Donogh's proclamation, founded on the missionary version of the Maori version, must, ere this, have cured him.

We beg to call the attention of our readers to Mr. Hanson's letter. In our next w«t intend to insert the remarks which have appeared on it in the New Zealand Gazette.