WELLINGTON.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 179, 16 February 1848, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

New Appointment — Godfrey John Thomas, Esq. to be Auditor General of the Province of New Munster. New Zealand Company. — The Company's crown grants for Port Nicholson and Porerua have been duly executed by the Governor-in-Chief, and were handed over to Mr. Wakefield, principal agent, on the 27th ultimo.

The Governor and his party it appears, reached Well ngton in the Inflexible steamer, 10th ult., after a fine passage of four days only from the Bay of Islands. His Excellency subsequently visited Wangauui and

Otaki, where Te Rauparaha was freed from furthe captivity; and after swearing in Mr. Eyre, as Lieut. Governor of the Southern Province, departed for the Chatham Islands, to inspect the site of Messrs. Enderby's whaling station, which is to be established there under special Grant from the Crown. The newspapers before us (the New Zealand Spectator and Wellington Independent) unite in denouncing the suicidal act of liberating Te Rauparaha, and if the language attributed to him, at all approach correctness, there can be no doubt but he will gratify his sanguinary disposition if he can. Most of the leading incidents since his Excellency's arrival at Wellington, may be gatherpd from the following selection! trom the Independent aud the Spectator ;— On Monday morning (17th Jan.) the Inflexible and Racehorse returned from Wanganui with the Governor-in-Chief and suite and the Lieutenant-Governor. The Racehorse reached Wanganui on the 7th instant, and the weather being fine, the Lieut. -Governor was preparing to disembark, when, owing to a sudden change of the weather, the vessel returned to her anchorage at Kapiti. She arrived off Wanganui again on the 11th inst., when the Lieutenant-Governor landed, and had an interview with some of the chiefs belonging to the taua. Here he was subsequently joined by the Governor, who arrived in the Inflexible on Thursday. Te Pehi and Ngapara had an interview with the Governor and made their submission, expressing their desire to live in peace, and their intention of giving up all further thoughts of fighting. Mamoku, who was staying some miles np the river, in answer to a message sent him on the arrival of the Racehorse, returned word that if the Governor came he would see him, but that he would not have anything to say to the Lieut - Governor. He did not come down while the Governor was at Wanganui, and his Excellency, on his departure, appointed a general meeting of the tribes to take place at Otaki, at which promised to attend. The two vessels then left Wanganui on Saturday evening, and arrived the following morning off Otaki. Here Te Rauparaha, who for the last eighteen months has been either a prisoner, or under surveil~ lanic, was at length set at liberty. Te Whero Whero, Teraia, and other chiefs from the north, also landed to have a "korero" with the natives at Otaki, who had mustered in great numbers to meet them, and to welcome back Te Rauparaha. The Governor went on shore at Otaki, and was very well received by the natives, who seemed very much pleased to se him again. Thompson, Te Rauparaha's son, gave an ent tertainment to the Governor and his suite in the European style ; the table was covered with a tablecloth, and the guests were provided with knives and forks, and a very substantial repast cooked in the English fashion, was served. Te Whero Whero and the other chiefs were left with Te Rauparaha at Otaki, where a general meeting of the tribes will take place to-morrow, at which Rangihaeata and Mamoku are expected to attend. Yesterday (Jan. 28) being the day appointed for the swearing in of Mr. Eyre, as the Lieutenant-Governor of New Zealand, at 11 o'clock a guard of honor of H. M. 63th legiment, under ths command of Captain Murray, preceded by the band playing some lively airs, proceeded to the lawn in fiont or Governmenthouse, and drew up ready to receive their Excellencies. By 12 o'clock, a large concourse of settlers had collected in the grounds, and we noticed some two or three hundred decently dressed natives amongst them. The oath« of office were administered by Capt. Grey to Mr. Eyre, in presence of Major Getieral Pitt andja number of naval and military officers. His Ex. cellency then administered oathi of office to his Honor Mr. Justice .Chapman. Lieut. Colonel M'Cleveiti, and the Hon. H. Petre, were then tworn in, by his Honor Mr. Justice Chapman, us membei s of the Executive Council. At the conclusion of the certmony the band struck up " God s,ive the Queen," and H M. S. Racehorse fired aioyal saluie in honor of the occasion. His Excellency the Governor in-Chief, and Mrs. Grey, accompanied by several ofnceis, proceeded over land, on Wednesday morning, to Waikanae. At Williams Town, on the Poiirui Road, Capt. Grey met a number of natives, who commenced a converhution on the subject of ro,td<. His Excellency told them that the Maories would be employed forthwith oa the Wdirarapa line, and that too immediately after they had finished planting their potatoes, at the rate of two shillings per day for each man. The natives weie then told that the hours of work would be from StVen to five, to which they demurred, desiring to be employed on the original scale, viz., from eijrht to five. His Excellency promised to take the matter into consideration. Captain Grey expressed himself highly delighted with the improvements made since his last visit. His Excellency then proceeded to Parramatta, and after inspecting that place, took boat for Pdhautanui.

Te Rauvauaha.— This chief wag lauded at Otaki last Sunday. During the day, only one or two of his re ations visited him. On Monday, several of hit friends be&an to collect, and on Tuesday the great gathering of the tribe took place. Rauparaha addressed them in a very energetic strain, to the following effect :— " Ngatiraukawa, I was de'ained on board the man of war. But what surprised me most that you — my old companions — jou who I have led to battle, made no attempt to avenge my disgrace. Rut I must have payment — for the iudigmty. The white people and the Ngatiawa were together, but let the white people remniii. I will have the Ngatmwa." He then called upon his children, as lie termed them, to espouse his quarrel, taking care to take up all old animosities, in order to excite his auditors, he wag, however, guarded in his expressions against the Euiopeans, for fear of injuring his present purpose. We mak eno comment on the above. The Chops. — We are sorry to say that a high, south-westerly wind, which blew a couple of days las* week, did some damage to the standing wheat. In some instances, we are told as much as five or sir bushels to the acre were blown out of the ear. Some descriptions of grain suffered more than others, but the more tender, we belitve, wa» that known as " Fulton's prolific." This is a point which is worth ascertain ng. It is certainly unfoitunate that after the great promise which the crops gave, anything shonld cccur to deprive the farmuof a poition of his hard earned profits ; but we hope the loss will not tv m out as great as it wai feared. By the Glpsey, from Hawke's Bay, we learn that a melancholy event had occuned there, by which three human lives had been sacuficed. Mr. Alexander's extensive lange of storehouses at Wakari, in which resided a person named William Thompson, caught fire in the middle o the night, and his wife and two children, one a girl of sit, the other a hoy of eighteen months old, were unfot tuiiately burnt to ashes, and property to a considerable amount destroyed. The fire commenced at the roof of the vtrandah in front of the home, not near the chimney, and it is a reinaikable fact that no live embers were in the fire p. ace. Certain natives were strongly suspected of having set fire to the place, in consequence of some tlmats held out by them, when Mr. Thompson refu§ed payment for pigs wh eh at the time weie nut delmiecl.

WANGANur. — We have been favoured with a copy of the statistics of this district, as it is termed, but strictly speaking the Town of Petre, as furnished to the Government, by the Chief Civil Magistrate, on the Ist January, 1848. It is really a melancholy document to look over. Just seven years ago, this settlement had its advent, and notwithstanding the constantly recumng interference of jcal or protended native owners of land, and the disheartening doubt whether labour was expended in a right direction, the settlers held their way s'owly it is true, but still onwards. And now, what do we see? Not a single acre under cultivation ; — the settlement contracted to abou one-fourth of a square mile ;— its bone and sinew gone, and a remnant population whose dependai cc is mainly, if not wholly, on the fictitious and mutable expenditure of a military Jost ! This is indeed lamer, table. Bad as had been \d tieatment of the bone fide settler in this first and jnincipal settlement, it falls short of that experienced by the settlers at Wanganui, There, nineteen-twen-tieths of the land was never purchased for the real, i existing, resident owne.s and despite of reptesentationand remonstrance to the Principal Agent of the New Zealand Company, the settlers were necessitated to seltct their sections from a map ' constructed in some parts from avowedly stealthy surveys.' Thi we believe the originating cause of the impediments to the seitlement of Wanganui. Othei cansrs no doubt contributed to produce such a state of things as is presented by the ofli Jal returns, but be that as it may, the settlers are the suffeieis assuiedly by no fault of theirs, and to them ample reparation is due. We have little sympathy foi the absentee holde is of land in Wanganui, but we have abundance for those who located themselves and per-evered to the end. They have besides, our earnest wishes that satisfaction may 1)b made in some de»ree — for what can compensate for 41 vigour turned into con upturn,'' — tor their nnproducuve expenditure, and for j pars spent in trouble. The Civil Population of the Town of Pctre, now comprised within one fourth of a squire mile, amounts toIGG. TitE Wairau. — An excillent site for a sea-port town has been r< cent'y fixed upon at "Wai to j, at the head of Queen Charlotte's Sound, on the Middle Island, approachable from Nelsun, through a wooded valley of eight miles. The Mo a.— -The Amazon whaler lately left behind her at Ndson, some bones of the Moa, or one of the varieties ol dmomis which a sailor had picked up somewhere to the southw.ud. These bones are the tarsomctataisus (the slunk hone of the leg,) and the pei feet bones of the foot. The length of the foimer is 15^ inches, and 13 and 15 inches respectively in circuiufeieiice at the top and bottom. The .bones of the foot are 8] mcl es in length, this, of course, is independent of the base of the tarso-metatarsus, which, ■with the integuments, would have made the foot of the living bird nearly 14 inches long. The circumference of the first joint of th<» foot at the largest part is 6{ inches. According to the scale of Profe&sor Owen, judging from the length of the tarsometatarsus the bird to which these hones belonged must have stood Hbout 8 feet 2 inches high, aud therefore could not have belonged to the gigantic order of the dinornis, which Professor Owen has shown to have stood 10 or 12 fee high. The person who collected the bones now in Nelson, stated that they wereso plentiful at the spot where he obtained them, that he believed he could gather the skeleton cf an entire bird, and has promised to endeavour to do sa, and bring it with him. The Moa, which for some time must be extinct, as there are no native traditions of its existence which can be relied on, is conjectured to have been destroyed by the early inhabitants of the country to cupply themselves with food.