The New-Zealander. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 22, 1847.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 137, 22 September 1847, Page 2

The New-Zealander. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 22, 1847.

He just ami I'ofu not: Let all the emission nimb't at, he tby Country s, Thy Goo's, and li uth's.

On Saturday the time of Council was principally taken up with Mr. Drown s motion for the production of all Despatches that had passed between the Home and Local Governments on the subject of the Land Cl ims. He spoke of prevailing disaffection, and of the importance of fi cc information upon such subjects to the country. The Governor answered by denying the existence of such disaffection as had been veprcse ited ; but quitted the subject, after a few words, by passing on to another motion of still greater interest ; to the letter which he wrs supposed to have written to the Lord Bibhop of New Zealand. The Governor denied having used the expression attributed to him ; he repudiated altogether such charge as was implied in the motion. Before the Council adjourned Mr. Brown | gave notice that lie would move on Tuesday next for the despatch No. 41, with all others named in its margin, and also for the production of a letter written by the Governor to the Bishop, dated the 30th August last. Yesterday, these motions came on accordingly. Mr. Brown said that he brought the matter forward more in the shape of a request than of a motion, being aware that even if his motion passed the Council, that the Governor might still refuse to produce the papers which were asked for, having a perfect right j to use his own discretion in the matter. j The Attorney General then rose, and said that the hon. member's motion would have been more fittingly embodied in a memorial than in a motion •" for that the Council would then have been spared any seeming pjrticipation in the conduct of the proceeding. But ! that as it had come before them in such questionable shape, he could not allow it to pass entirely without comment. He condemned the motion because, this supposed letter bore no reference to any measure then brought before the notice of Council ; and lilcewis c because it involved a general charge against the Church Missionary Society. The Colonial Secretary also condemned the motion : and Mr. Merriman defended the Society, believing them to be so loyal a body as not to wish to retain possession of lands ille gaily acquired. , The Governor then said that Mr. Brown s motion was irregular ; that if he had wished to make a rdquest, he should have brought it before him in the form of an address from Council ; and that then had he (the Governor) refused to produce such documents, it would l>e competent to the Legislature openly to express their sense of his lefusal. As it was, however, he was pleased to see that Council had not made themselves parties to such a motion. Indeed, from the manner in which it had been brought before them, it was not entitled either to their attention or respect. He was soiry to say in the first place that a breach of confidence had been committed, by the publication of a despatch in this country, which musthavebeen surreptitiously obtained without the consent of the noble lord at the head of the Colonial department, or of his own ; and, in the second place, that misconstructions had, he believed, been purposely made, of the terms of a letter addressed by himself to the Lord Bishop. He accused those parties who were now labouring to intimidate the government into acknowledgment of their illegaJ claims, of not contending for any great religious or political principle, but simply for the advancement of their own selfish interests ; and he called upon that Council as the law-makers of | the colony, not to lend their assistance to the machinations of interested and selfish men. That if any disaffection did exist in the country, it was the result of the agitation of a few individual land claimants, not perhaps more than 10 or 12 in number ; whose allegations were made for the purpose of banding together a party, for the object of securing what had, he maintained, been illegally acquired. Mr. Brown then replied, saying that the object of his motion had bean to elicit some information on that subject, and to allay if possible the consequent uncertainty that he believed to exist with regard to the dealings of government with the old claims ; but that lie found himself pretty much where he began. That if he had been guilty of any irregularity in his manner of producing this subject before the notice of the Council, he was open to any censure Council might think fit : but that lie had done his duty, and was only Sorry that the Governor had not thought fit to comply with his wishes. The matter then was dropped,