Original Correspondence.

New Zealander, Volume 2, Issue 83, 2 January 1847, Page 3

Original Correspondence.

To the Editor of the Nevo-Zcalander. <; Ift .^m **************** I hive been led to make the above reflections by looking over the sentiments of one of your correspon den s, signing himself "An Old Settler," in the last week's New Zcalander, and delivered with all the selfconSdence of some of our magistrates. Allow, me, Mr. Edbor, to say that the whole letter would have suited very well in those chys when the divine right of kings and priests was received as indisputable ; but these dogmas are at least three centuries behind the present age. By whom will it be asserted or believed, at the present day, that every net of the Governor, and every enactment of the legislature, are not f.iir matter of animadversion, and that we oight to wait until we discover by its practical results tVe evil effects of a law, before we comphin of its penalties, or grumble at its provisions. Why should not the sets of Government (more especially seeing the interest, the well being, and the very existence, in some cases, of thousands of human beings depend upon them,) be scrvtinized with all the care and energy with which every »ther department of science and philosophy are investigated, and it would be well if an "Old Settler" would point out the reasons why "private individuals and public journalists cannot judge of the bearing, reason, and connections of law, on which there may be a differeice of opinion, as well as people holding a public situation, — surely he does not mean to sty that the eilici.il Four, and the non-ofrichl Three, of our hte Councillors, were in possession of all the wisdom in the Colony,— if so, alas for the poor "Old Settler" and the Colony! However, Mr. Editor, it seems we are not to .vait lorg ere we see, aye, and feel too, the working of some of these memorable laws ; the one I have principally ir. my eye, at present I believe they call but very falsely, the " Aministration of Justi m Bill."— Now, Mr. Editor, I will only call your attention to its vorking in a single instance, to show the nature cf the beast. It would appear (and mind 1 im writiag from a report of the trial furnished by the slerk of the police office himself, and published in the Advertiser of last week) that a Frenchman by the iinmo of Dominick Pcrraris went some months a<yo to Hicks' Bay, about 300 miles from Auckland, and sold his vessel for I7f pigs, each to weigh alive 300 pounds, and the whole to be delivered to him within six months, when ths purchaser, some native of that place of the name of Tome or Tommy, was to have the vessel de livered to h;m j but mark the sequel, when pigs to tha

amount of Thiily had been delivered, tho said Tome , comes to Auckland, understands by some means the existence of the aforementioned act, and of its judicious mamagempnl under the able hand of our Resident Magistrate, Capt. Beckham, and thereupon finds it convenient to break the bargain, and sue poor Fenavis for £100 for 110 pigs— thirty of which were sold, alter bfcinw brought to Auckland, to Mr. Ward, in Shortland Crescent, for £12! And now, Mr. Editor, and men of Auckland, listen to die astonishing verdict of the Bench, "We sentence you to pay 2d. per lb. iortnc pigs, and 4s. per bushel for the corn at Hicks Bay. «— Yes, Mr. Editor, and this verdict has been cairled into execution too, and poor Dominick's vessel lias been sold, and instead of getting 170 pigs, he has got 30 of the size agreed upon together, with some fewbu-nels of corn, and the very native who thus refused to complete his bargain, has been the fortunate purchaser. Of course, Mr. Editor, Major Patience, from his very recent {arrival amongst us, and consequently his entire ignorance of every local matter, cannot be much to blame ; but how the other magistrates could have come to the conclusion they did, is totally inexplicable, for had they examined any person connected with the coasting trade, such ?s Mr. Duncan Campbell, or Mr. Findley, Mr. Millar, or in fact any one at all acquainted with the thing, they would have discovered that^l. per lb. is a very fair pi ice, for pigs at that distance, taking into account the ribk from deaths, and loss of weight, &c, &c. It was reported that Capt. Grey was to administer impartial justice between the white and native races, but it appears that the old system of partiality, of sacrificing the individual white man for the purpose of the Maori, is revived again with all its old and additional horrors. W hen, Mr. Editor, is this unfortunate Colony to be established on a basis something like justice and equity— of all the eyils suffered by law or nature, those inflicted by the sanction of unjust law are the most intolerable: when are we to expect this system to cease, and New Zealand allowed, at least in some small measure, to resemble other part of the world — or is imbecility and injustice like a night mare always to crush her to the earth. Pray, Mr. Editor, desire an "Old Settler" to inform us how long we are to submit to similar 1 inflictions before we complain, or how long we must be in learning that wiong principles must lead to disastrous results. Yours, &c. A LOOKER-ON. Auckland, December 30, 1346. [A "Looker-on" will pardon us for suppressing a portion of his letter. Wo are not insensible to his zeal in stepping forward as our champion, to defend us against the "Old Sot tier," but notwiihstantling our desire to give every one as much liberty of speech as possible, vto could not sanction the application of the strong expressions oont lined in the former part of "Looker-on's" letter to the "Old Settler." We have a shrewd guess as to the identity of our mild and gentlemanly leprover, and assuming our impression on thia head to be correct, we assure our zealofis champion that the "Old Settler" deserves not to be charged with ignorance and folly— Ed. N. Z.}