The New-Zealander. WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 1847.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 117, 14 July 1847, Page 2

The New-Zealander. WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 1847.

Me just and fear not: Let all the ends thou aiiub't at, be thy Country's, Tliy (Jod's, atifl Truth's.

We give insertion to a letter, taken from the Wellington Spectator, on the subject of the confiscation of the native lands, to which we invite the attention of our readers lnitiils only nre appended to it, but the nuthoiship is unmistnkeable ; agnovimus proeerem; there are too few men of that calibre in this counhy to give much troub'e in »ssignmg its parentage ; too few, at all events, comb'nmg'aueh ability with mature cxppiieuce of the country mid of its n.itive inhabitants. Yet we '-annot help suggesting to him, that in analyzing the iiKttrnctioiis of Karl Grey — in meeting ihe case at all with reasoning, he has descended from the high ground. He has conceded an advantige to his opponents unneressaiily. The simple question is th s, whether or not a compact was made with the Ab*>rijj'.ines which secured to tln j m the possession of the lauds ; anything beyond that is out of the pleadings. Arguing about the abstract fight of the natives, no mater how acutely, merely invites rrjo<nder, opening (he door to ceaseless argument and mystification. It has. moreover, the fault of admitting- indirectly, certtinly, but still of a Jmiuing— that the ex istence of the compact is not alone decisive of the ques'ion. The Qu"en st»nds pledged, and her promise is paramount. There the question begins, and there it ends. We ourselves, although perfectly nwaie of the weakness- of Earl Grey's chain of reasoning, studiously on that account abstained from examining into it. We have been resolute from the beginning, to consider his justification of the measure as barred — refusing to entertain it all. We do not want so many ways of getting rid of the instructions ; one good way is enough. These various mode 9 of overthrowing them remind one of the fable of the cat and the fox : how the fox detailed his hundred tiicks and shifts to escape the hounds ; ■with so many devices, he was surely safe. The cat had but one ; but ih.it was a sure one. Even while they were talking, the ciy of the hounds was heard : the cat got up a tree ; but Reynard, after doubles and turns innumerable, was tired out and taken at last. We observe that an attempt is made,' in some observations upon this letter, which we reprinted from the Wellington Spectator, on Wednesday last, virtually to get rid of the word "possession," in the treaty, by means of a subtle definition, or rather explanation off its meaning, supported by a quotation from Kent's Commentaries' The writer, we must suppose is learned in the law ; but is it possible that leg*»l study can have so perverted any man's sense of justice. What do the Maories understand of fine drawn distinctions, supported by law, English or" Ame-, rican, to which, at the \\me of signing, it is' as-aimed that they were not amenable. The question is simply, how they themselves understood that word, when they signed the agreement. He can quote Palty in support of his own argument ; let us try what we •an find in Paley in support of our?. '♦ A contract is a mutual promise. The obligation therefore oi contracts, ti.e^sense in which they are to be interpreted, and the eases where they are not binding, will be the same as of promises. ." From the principle established in the last chapter, ' that the obligation of promises is to be measured by the expectation which the promises any how voluntarily and knowingly excites,' results a rule which governs the construction of all contracts, and ie capable, from the simplicity of it, of being applied with great ease and certainty ; viz : That, Whatever is expected by one side, and knoion to be so expected by ihe other, is to be deemed a part or condition of the contract. 11 A sentence deserving, especially in' the colonies, to be written in letters of gold.'

It is our intention to devoie, for a few weeks, an article in our Wednesday's publication, to su jccts connected with our climate nnd rural economy. We are prompted to enter on these topics, partly, from our inclination to occasionally leave dry politics for such interesting and refreshing researches 5 nnd partly, under the impression that if we have it not in our power to give our country friends much information, still our articles might have tin beneficial effect of stirring up enquiry. In a new colony very many agricultural settiers are found to be amateurs ; they probably on severing themselves from their professions and occupations at home, have adopted a mode (jf life more independent, and more conformable to tin ir feelings. We find in eonsi quence, on making enquiries on any particular subject connected with Agriculture, that every man has his own little rxpeiii'tice to acquaint us with, and his decided opinion to give for our iuiomiatioD ; quot homines, tot sententi*. But

the experience of any individual is seldom sufficient to form a system, or lay down a rule ; vet Ire experiences of many compared together, will not only prevent the occurrence of mistakes, of false deductions from loose observations ; bnt if the phenomena be correctly noticed and compared, will be productive of true theories, and promote the formation of l«ia- tica ! ruhs. As our object is two-fold, to disseminate among settlers, the infoimation which some only possess, as well as to furnish emigrants as they artive, with the result of others' experience, in some cases so dearly bought; we invite our agricultural readers to furnish us with any interes;insj facts which may havp fallen under (heir particular notice. It is however positively essential that we should make ourselves acquainted with certain pecu iarities in our c iinatc, before it can be determined, what or how much, can be effected by cultivation. We find indeed, that some important points connected with our subject have been either unobserved or omitted by those who have pub ished acco-ints of the New Znalaud climate. The peculiarity most commonly notie d by we'l informed persons, is that the temperature is not so high as in corresponding latitudes in the norther.i hemisphere This is attributed to the cooling effect a surrounding waste of waters has on the air; the quantity of land to absorb and radiate the sun's heat, being comparatively small. Hut we have also a shorter summei in the southern hemisphere, by at least seven days ; this may make a slight difference. Yet it must be observed that although the temperature of the whole year may be less, we doubt if that of the winter is lower than in the same parallel of latitude north of the equator. Sir C. Fellows, speaking of Smyrna, (N. l&t, 38^) in February, states that " the wind from the north-east was so high and so cold that we could not face it. Ice covered every pool, and every stream was frozen ; as the sea was dashed up by the wind upon the marina, it immediately formed a coat of ice.'' Now frosts are rare in the neighbourhood of Auckland j the thermometer not having been known lower than 36 ° Farht. Ie is rather singular that no snow has been seen -to fall here, although it is not a stranger to the inhabitants of Sydney. j It is pretty evident then, as far as the i winter's cold is supposed to affect \egetation, that anything can be grown here which is found iv similar latitudes north of the line. The heat of our summer, as we are made acquainted with it by a thermometer hung in the air, is certainly more temperate than what might be anticipated, from a latitude of 3G ° or 37 v'u ' The mercury usually stands in the shade at noon, during the three summer months, at from 70 ° to 8u ° Farht, We have purposely said nothing about mean temperature ; fur it affords no guide to the character of a climate. Quebec may nppear to enjoy a very temperate climate, vrere the mean of the whole year taken, yet the thermometer ranges there 1 15 degrees ! The mean temperature ol the summer mouths at Nelson is but 60 ° f by Mr Barnicoat's observations,~-«lower than that of London. And yet they ripen there, peacl.es on standards, melons, figs, &c, which it would be fruitless to attempt in the warmest counties of England. There must be some other agent then at work, hitherto unobserved by meteoro'ogists. It is the heat of the direct rays of the sun which are as powerful here, whatever the temperature of the air may be, as in the north of Africa. We see its effects as clearly in the darkened vis-ige of the white man, as in the ripening of fruits, which the temperature of the thermometer iv the shade would not allow us to expect. The heat of the ground, is, in summer, sometimes intense, from the same cause ; ai.d hence it should be one object in growing plants introduced from warm countries, to keep them as near the ground as we conveniently can. We found during the last summer, that the thermometer two inches beneath the surface of the garden mould, indicated during sunshine, at least from '20° to 25° more than on* 1 in the &hacle, at the same lime* It has already bejn stated that the air is cooled by the sea ; now; by bringing this circumstance in juxtapo»ition with that ol the direct heat of the sun's rays, we ate very naturally brought to the subject of shelter. All that is required iv the cultivation of delicate or tropical fruits, supposing other essentials attended to, is to afford them the sun's heat, and shelter them from the winds. How very different is the climate of an uninilos?d tract at home, to what is enjoyed under the shelter of a hedge- row ! And yet many peisons form their opinions of the capabilities of this climate, tern pei ate as it is, from what can be effected in its' present open and exposed state. They overlook the fine rock and watermelons, the large cobs of corn, grown by the natives in their very simple manner; aud they have not probably seen the excellent lemons grown on standard trees at Kaitaiaand Hokianga, or the luscious grapes produced from staudard vines, by the French missionaries at the i3ay> and at Tauranga. The bamboo is now growing luxuriautly near Auckland, and we have a pine apple which has been exposed to the present winter with* •out appaient injury. Successful cultivation then depends, in this

country especially, on shelter. It should b the object of the agriculturist to create shelte for his cattle during the stoims or' winter. I should be the object of the cultivator no only to create shelter, to interrupt the coo winds, but for his delicate plants, to grovi them near tlie ground or aga.nst some solic body, to obtain the powerful heat the sun affords us in this latitude. We enjoy in I hi* country a healthy and invigorating atmos. phere, a temperature the most agreeable and ilie most equal in the world ; yet we are convinced that by a little management, fruits might be ripened, which are now only produced in climates uncomfortably hot, or danger usly unhealthy. Peihaps, some of our readers who have resided in the dry climate of Australia, may fancy they perceive an obstacle to our practical suggestions in the quantity of rain that frills in this neighbourhood. There is certainly more rain at Auckland than in the interior. But there is also a great and rapid evaporation from the air being usually in motion, and from the beat of the sun's rays. The change is so great and so sudden from the. notoriously parched New South Wales, to the moist New Zealand, that a person arriving here from that ountryis apt to judge more trom his personal feelings than from observation. Yet, we may set it down trom some little experience, that there is not too much rain at any period of the year for our light and volcanic soils, and ii is only in the winter that the stiff clay soils around Auckland occasionally become too wet foi working. In the summer season ram is often desired j and the long drought of last summer was as injurious as it was unusual. We have never seen any injury caused by wet to the growth of ordinary crops; inleed, during the past week a gentleman *>n pruning some vines found a perfect bunch of grapes, which had withstood the late unusually wet season uninjured; and notwithstanding their thorough washing, really possessed a very tolerable flavour. The volcanic and light soils have this advantage over the clay ones — they do not require drainage. If it is intended to bring the clay soils to their maximum of fertility, they must be drained as well as sheltered. If our readers are not yet tired, and havp given us the.r attention thus far, they will perceive that we are now thoroughly embarked on our subject; which we hope to resume next week.