The New-Zealander. SATURDAY, OCT. 2, 1847.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 140, 2 October 1847, Page 2

The New-Zealander. SATURDAY, OCT. 2, 1847.

Be just and fear not: Let all the ends thou aims't at, be thy Country's, Thy God's, and Truth's.

As we anticipated, Lord Grey's thaumaturgic bill for "economising capital," does not ob« tain a favourable reception in the South ; on the contrary, it is, if possible, at a greater discount there than with ourselves. A remonstrance, which will be found in another part of our paper, has been drawn up by the principal merchants of Wellington against this indigest and crude piece of legislation, and forwarded to Captain Grey. We think that they need not be under any apprehensiou of this measure being fofced upon the Colony i its uliimate fate is sealed; for we cannot permit ourselves to donbt that His Excellency will abide by his former declaration, that his own personal vote in council should never be suffered to turn the scale. But the memorial is well timed, and useful in another point of view. Owing to the absence of the ho"orable member for the South, the Governor will have a casting vote, and must account to Lord Grey —who will naturally be disappointed and angry at finding the time he had devoted to the composition of so statesman-like a despatch entirely thrown away—-for not having availed himself of it. It is, therefore, necessary that he should have something to shew, as an excuse for non-compliance with his Lordship's wishes, and for the slight so thrown upon his financial capabilities. This must be furnished by ourselves, anil may be offered without scruple or suspicion of factious opposition ; for the most distinct and univer* sal expression of disapprobation will be the i best support that can be given to Captain Grey himself. We are indeed of opinion that a second memorial ought to be prepared and signed in Auckland, to be presented immediately a'ter the report of the committee in this bill shall have been brought up; for the original m< asure will by that time have been so completely transformed, that the former petition will hardly bear upon it in the altered shape. It is not that the measure will become less objectionab'e by the changes introduced, but that some of the old objections will no longer apply, and that it might possibly be urged, with some plausibility, that by the alterations made, the bill had been squared up to meet the wishes of the settlers, unless they shall again explicitly declare their disapproval. The grounds of dissent taken in the Wellington protest are much the same as those upon which a stand has here been made, with the exception of the observations made upon the clause which makes Foreign Silver coin a legal tender in the colony, at a value to be fixed from time to time^ by the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. The real objection may be much more simply stated ; that Foreign Silver, which is at times a great convenience, will readily pass current so long as it is able to find its own value; merchants will find that for themselves, without any assistance from government; but that from the time of its bearing a fixed value within the colony, it becomes useless for lemittance, unless the market and legal price should chance to coincide. The Memorialists likewise apprehend that the New Currency Notes, if issued, will speedily share the same fate as 'he Debentures of Capiain Fitzßoy, thus forming a permanent increase to the present funded debt of the Colony. We must confess that we always thought that danger over-rated, so long as the draft bill remained in that form in which the southern settlers possess it. But, as it now stands, after the alterations in committee, the chances of such mishap are seriously in* creased; for a reason which we purposely delay preferring until after the report shall have been brought up, reserving it as an objection to the third reading of the bill, A curious complaint is introduced into the Memorial, as a kind of preliminary observation, which is not unworthy of notice. It is observed that though H. M. steamer Inflexible, (which hi ought the draft of the. bill from Auckland), remained in Port Nicholson eight clear days, not one copy of the draft was delivered to any person there until ten days afterwards, namely, the twenty-fifth of August, thus depriving them of the first and quickest opportunity of stating to His Excellency their opinions on a measure of such importance. And they hope that this is the result of accident, and not of design. The circumstance is certainly rather suspicious, but the explanation indirectly offered by them appears to be negatived by the postponement of the final consideration of the bill until the end of the ses ion, purposely that the Southern settlers might have time allowed for the fait expression of their wishes. Without this, however, Captain Grey's own explanation of the mishap ought to suffice; that he could assure them that the circumstance occurred purely by accident; that the bills had been packed in a box containing other papers, which had not been unsealed until after the arrival of the steamer. The New Zealand Spectator, from which the Memorial is extracted, avows itself favorable to the: measure, Without entering into

the long disputed question, whether a journal should attempt to lead opinion, or be content to follow it, be it observed,— absit invidia verbo, —that the Wellington press is supposed not to represent the general feeling of the settlement. And the knowledge of this has been forced upon ua by the receipt of a long despatch from the .south to ourselves, giving a very different account of the state of things and of opinions to that which we are accustomed to read in print, accompanied by the expression of a wish that it might find a place in our colnmns, seeing that those of the Wellington journals were no longer open to that side of the question. This we mention in all courtesy towards our brother editors, being unable of our own personal knowledge, to affirm or deny the justice of the complaint. The " Voice from the South " itself, although written with much ability, and much internal evidence of the truth of its representations, we have been obliged with great reluctance to suffer to lie on our desk, as bein# something too "spicy" for the reserved and temperate tone by which we wish to see our journal characterised* It would be a bright coloured patch, the purpureuspannus of Horace, upon our sober hoddon-grey, To return to Lord Grey's Currency Bill, we should not forget to press the consideration that Sir Robert Peel's Bill of 1844, a much more workman-like production, is now generally accused in England, of the prevailing stagnation and distress. And even should it not be the prime cause, which is by some supposed to be the quantity of capital abstracted from the market by the Railway Speculations, it has at least clearly disenabled the Bank of England to afford that relief with which it was formerly accustomed to ease the pressure and difficulty of the moment, until confidence should be again restored. Representations to Government in England are pouring in from every side, and the long-repeated warnings of the majority of those connected with Banking affairs, disregarded because they were supposed to be interested, are now proved to have been not without foundation. If Sir Robert Peel himself has faiied, what can we expect from the Noble Lord whom Black wood has audaciously and irreverently dared to call " a buck-toothed ninny."

Auckland Brick and Tile.— We are glad to take this opportunity of mentioning the great improvement which has taken place in the manufacture of Auckland made bricks. Those which we have been for a long time accustomed to use, for the want of better, have proved, as in the case of St. Paul's Church, utterly incapable of resisting the weather peculiar to this place. The specimen of Mr. Walker's brick and tile, which has been this day shown to us, appears to be free from the defects so long complained of ; and should his kilns continue to turn out equally with what has been burned as a sample, .we may congratulate the colonists upon being able to draw from their own resources as dura' ble an article as could be imported from home.

Post Office. — When mails arrive and it is necea sary to close the Post-office temporarily, to allow time for sorting the different letters and newspapers, it would be as well if the public were to be informed by means of a piece of paper on the outside of the closed door, or window, the precise hour of re-opening aud closing again, so that the uncertainly occasioned at present, by the want of so trifling a precaution, may be prevented*

Embarkation.— Tlie detachment of the 58th regiment iutcnded for the Bay of Islands, with the remainder of the Gsth, destined for Port Nicholson, emharked from Official Bay, on Thursday last, on board the Thomas Lowry, the band of the former v regiment playing them down to the water-side. A fieldpiece was also embarked for service to the Southward.

St. John's College.— At a meeting of the Society for promoting ChrUimn Knowledge, the Bishop of London in the chair, held in April last, the Standing Committee gave notice of their intention to propose, at the ensuing general meeting, a grant of £1,500, to be placed at the disposal of the Bishop of New Zealand, towards the completion of St. John's College, Auckland, in addition to ihesum of £st>obefore granted. A similar grant was to be made to the new Bishop of Melbourne.

New Auctioneers, — An Auctioneer's License has been granted to the firm of lliomas Westou and Co., and we observe that their firsjt sale will take place on Tuesday next, at their store Shortland street.