The New-Zealander

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 209, 31 May 1848, Page 2

The New-Zealander

I}y I lie Govnii.mMil !)ik; Vicioum, Diul luujue Inhi\n l)fij!> piiiv.'d i i!icc oui li.i,w.e have iccoiwd lilt I',1 ', oi lii,- WiMiM-uiri Ini" n .!'>hNl lothc (ilh,jVi u ' f A< \\.\?\> fin '- i \iouio the lOlb, and Nuso\' Faimi.ni r t.>lb<> 1 :>:!) nil. The blig aimed at NJmki !iom \\ , n ;aiau on the Sill, tli! 4 b.iiqiu' fiom Wellington on Ihe 12th. All was qmel in llio Soiilli f vi' the jouiinlisls, whoaic neaily os hillei in iiuective iiLj.un.sM he IJisnoi 1 asJoi 11l mk luinself. We learwe iiiuslctMi tiy conclusions with these learned Theluus, and at least attempt to argue I hem out of false impulsions, should we even Lul of turning them ftom the mistaken position they ha\e assumed. The suspension of the Constitution is viewed with a very different eye amongst our Southern (untempoiarics than 1 hat with w hichlisiegaided by us. One, the Nici.son K\ uiiNni, consoles himself, uiulci the supposition tlnit we axe lo go Ijack to the old regime win lot a fiic new i'oim ol Government is lo l)e foiled for their exclui\i' l)cli;ilf. Tin, is a mistake — otheiwise we lead Kail GkcyV drh]i,ilcli \ei) much amiss. 11. M. Sloop H\cmiousk, Caj>ta:n Sorunr.Y, sailed fiom AVellington foi Kngland on the 2 ( .Mh ult., with the i eg' els and good wishes of the inhahitants. The I'j.y, Captain Oliver, left the same day lot the Auckland Islands. A numerous meeting of the Port Nicholson TJtnnch of the Evangelical Alliance was held at Wellington on the 17th of Apiii. A spiiit of cordiality and uiianimily pcivaded the minds of the cleigymen of the \anous denominations picicnt, and in the course ol the meeting ij is stated that the " Rev. S. Ironside advocated the impoitance of es'uihli Jung a monthly Religious periodical m tins place. Theie aie, lit Oaid, in this settlement two ncAvypapeis, each pul)l.shed twice a week, advocating the secular interest of the colony, and supplying the political and other ijeneuil infeliigence of the woild, but (here is no publication in which the pancjples and piogiess oi religion Lad any place. That a ileligious Peiiodical wan needed no one would deny, that it was piaeticahk- to ha\e one both established and suppoited, he had no ieais. A Magazine of about twenty-four pages, to he sold foi about sixpence, conducted upon the Evangelical Alliance, advocating the great I tiuths held m common by them all, and fuiuishing a succiuel accountof thepiogiess ofieligion thioughout the woild, would he was certain be acceptable to a numerous class of readers , would be suppoited, and might by God's blessing do much good.' 1 We are by this comeyance furnished with authentic information that the fiit.t emigiant s>hip for Otago, the John Wt*KLirMj, arrived at thai poit fiom London, on the 22nd of March, aftei a passage of \):\ days, with 29 cabin, 25 Intermediate, and GO steeiage passengers. The Phillip Laing, with 20 cabin and 200 slceiage passenger, left Greenock previous to the depaitine of the John Wicklifit, fiom London. We have marked several extracts, which shall appear in our next. The Honoiablc C. A. Dillon came passenger by the Victoria , and by the Indi\n, Major Arney, Captain HAiun',and Licuienant Page, of the 58th Regiment, and Captain Henderson of the Royal Aitilleiy. The Editors of the Wellington iNnnPENmsNT intimate an immediale intention of publishing once a fortnight an exclusively Maori Newspaper, designed foi the moral and social inhtiuction of the natives oi the South.

On Monday la^l seveial of the propeilies which had been admtised in Iho Queen v. C'oopci, ncie .sold by Messrs. Conjiell and "Rulings. r i l hc follonmij lots vote sold to the ■j'uu hasm named, at the piicet. aflixed .—. —

The remaining lots are ad\erthed for sale on "VVcdiK'clay next.

SurnEME Coliit. — We beg lo lernind juiyynen, vatnesscs, and wlioipsocvo else il may concern, lh<xt tbi', C'ouit opens its CunuurjycMon 10-muiww *noii»ing at lOu'ciock.

Orn atteniion has been ambled by a .soinc\Jnt lengthy aiticl' 1 m th" I>\im Nrws of the 2,">th Deeembei, tMiiitlod l»miisii C'oiomi's . a papei which may be \U'\ml m the blended liolit of a tioaliM 1 on then capacities — a cui^oiy sketch of their origin — nnd the 1 rial ion m i\ lnch, fiom local ciumn.sl.inces and position, they seveially stand to the '• cent ul e-mpne." The writer diudes his subject into se\eral heads, but as bis disquisitions aie lather pio!i\, and of no immediate local impoi lance, iv: filial 1 content ourselves with the following cxtiacl iclati\e to the third group among whom we are classed. The third group is dis ingiiishcd fiom the othei two as much by social pccidiaiities, as by local position, The nut lens o( Australian settlements, is New South Wales, and the dale of tlie first occupation, 1788 Jn ISO'l, the foundation of the colony of Van Dieman's Lhikl was laid. Until a comparatively recent period the mass of population in both settlements consisted ol j (onvicts and their kcepeis- Since 1812 great number? of free settlers have been attracted by the rapid fortunes acquired through sheep farming in a country possessed ot a soil and climate peculiarly adapted to that puriuit, with the j'uither economy ot white slave labour, under the designation ot assigned convicts. The influx ot fiee settlers of whom the wealthier and educated classes have formed a larger proportion than has been the case with any English colonies, except Virginia and New England— has converted the convict majority in Australia into a small minority, which, in so far as its influence on the tone of society is concerned, may now be regarded as penned up in Van Dieman's Laud to the great advantage of the neighbouring communities, and the impending ruin of that luckless colony The large admixture of " good blood," among the Australian settlements the free spirit inspired into them by their leniolcness horn Euiopean convention" ahties, the climate, and their peculiar pursuits, aic j impiessmar a healthy character on society t!<erc, which augurs well for its youthful greatness. These settlements too, have been less injuied than the two senior groups, by our restrictive and piolcctive policy. In the mctropolitay, settlement of Sydney convict slaves are nowjpKSst unknown, though some traces of thenmoral influence must he expected to remain for some time in the towns and out stations. Van Dieman's Land as has been already observed, is still a large goal or penitentiary. Port Phillip (soon to be anindepen* dent colony) Ims had comparatively little of the convjet admixture; in Southern and Western Australia and NcwZealaud, it has been unkuown, except in the persons of strangling runaways. Poit Phillip is a colony ot New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land. Large bodies of settlers from the mother country have been thrown at once into Southern and v\ estmi Australia and New Zealand, but in the last mentioned, settlement hadprcvioiislyconimenced from New South Wales, and accessions to the population aic still recened horn that quaitcr. The rapid progress ot South Austialia has been in no small degree owins to the facilities for obtaining; stock coming to the vicinity of New South Wales aud Van Dieman's Land, both rich in flocks and herds ; and even Western Australia begins to advance more steadily and quickly since, through the intermediate station of s onth Australia, it can more easily obtain stock fiom the earlier mentsWe quote tins that we may correct a feiv inaccuracies, and point out to the conductors of a Journal, whose tone indicates a friendly interest in Colonial prosperity, a determined evil which must inevitably affect the moral and social welfare not only of the Colony upon which the pollution is to he primarily voided, but of all the others more or less within its baleful influence. The Daily News is incorrect in stating, "since 1812" as the period at which settlers flocked to Australia in anything like numbers. Retiring Military Officers, Merchants, Traders, and a few chance adventurers did then no doubt lend a limited augmentation to the muster roll of the " free,"but it was not till eight years after that date that the stream of wealthy and educated emigration set steadily in, (lowing in a full, healthy, and almost uninterrupted tide for a dozen years or more thereafter, and then only checked by the impolitic trammels imposed by each ephemeral Colonial Secretary, on the acquisition of lands, worthless in their waste stale, but of much value to the colony and the empire when reclaimed by the hand of enterprise and the purse of the adventurous whose industiy should'-neither have been cramped nor quelled by vexatious delays nor grinding quit rents. Downing Street experimentalisers unfortunately thought otherwise and niggards of the soil they could not themsel\ es redeem they bent their best energies to crush the fortunes of those hardy enough to sever the endeanngtiesof home and kindicd,andsufficiently lesolute to brave the moral and social miseries of a convict land. The wisdom that lured by attractive baits, and liberal promises (too frequently disgracefully and dishonestly unfulfilled) the earlier influx of free settlers was not only controlled but countei acted. Free grants with six months rations to families, and pledged assurances of land to children were lescinded, and locations gradually became fettered with more and more oppiessivc exactions, until, in an evil Ihour, the present noble Secretary, then Lord llowick, made his debut as Under Graduate amongst the Colonial Office ineapables. From that disaslious hour free giants were no more, and from that hoiu the Australian Colonies have sensibly and seriously declined. The intlux of capital has been checked — the cmigialion of educated and estimable families stayed — and Squatting, — a monster of mannish and monopolising mould — has blighted the progress of civilisation by covering with the brute the territory which a more generous policy should have alloted to the human race, — a policy whose first workings achieved lesults unequalled in the annals of the worid. But Lord Guey is Paramount and, — his ample mind illumined by the concentrativc wisdom of n Wakefield — he commands that land shall be evenly, whilst its waste value is not two shilmgs an acre, and, thus, New South Wales oauses because England's Minister is positive ! Weie we disposed to caip at the application >f a term, we think we could satisfy the Daily Stews that Convict SlaVe, a phrase coined for a

j-pecnl paily pui pose, i<? an egiegious am cluins\ misnomei let it p.ns, wild I his single comment — tli< v coin id never was I lie si, no tin hours) liulish peasant has unhappily been compelled to be — his food, his laiinent, his hahitalion, all, were eveiy way supeiior, and hie lahoni meie child's play conipaied lo Ihi oppiesshe toil of the man whose lnead depended entirely on the sweat of his biow. The other settlements, sa\s the writer we are commenting upon, have " had comparatively little of the Convict admixluie ; in Southern and Western Ausli alia and New Zealand it has been unknown, except in the persons of stiaggling runaways." This is a combination of fact and fallacy. Fact in as far as New Zealand, (and probably Western Austialia) is concerned, but lidiculous fallacy as far as Southern Australia and Poit Philip are implicated. For the last four or five years thcie has been an incessant felon tide setting in strongly fiom Van Diemen's Land upon both those favoured shores. Via Launceston thousands of the conditionally pardoned, the freed by servitude, and pass pci milted, have migiated to Melbourne, Adelaide, and Sydney, whilst the former city has been exclusively benefilled by a direct importation, in three years, as per leturn, of 790 Penton- Villains, 202 Mill-Bankers, and 307 Parkhurslians, whose polished perfonnanccs ha\e furnished many a recherche paragraph for the local Journals — whilst the other day not less than 98 individuals ciossed Bass's Straits to lend their little aid in legcneraling the shoitly to be independent province of Victoria. That New Zealand has escaped this hitherto demoralising stream is mainly attributable to her greater distance, the heavier cost of passage, and her recent state of disorganisation ; hut as she becomes more settled and presents a more alluring field for speculation she cannot hope to escape her contingent of puddle — the more especially as the modern illununati in the science of prison discipline have lesolved to strip transportation of its penalties, to hold out a premium upon crime, and to deluge and destroy the Australasiatic colonies by ship loads of felons graced with the more euphonic title of Exiles ! Heaven forgive the theory mongcis : — all the harm we wash them is that they would practise their projects upon themselves, and letain the filth w Inch helplessness alone precludes those outraged communities, of which we form an indignant member, from rejecting. This is the evil which threatens the whole of the South Pacific, and which we would urge upon the Daily News and every independent Journalist to denounce. Whatever the .sins of Transportation definite, the infamies of Transpoitation sinister, under its Exile euphemism, aie infinitely worse. The former fettered the transgressor to a certain circle whcie his crime was known, and his conduct sciutinised — the latter will empower him to select his own field of operations — enteiing which, as a free agent, and with a quasi-unsmirched reputation, he will be enabled to pounce upon the unwary, and alertly to disseminate [the poison, which exposed to the eye would have been innoxious and loathsome. Talk of Jesuitiy ! What Jesuit ever devised a project so diabolical ? It is one worthy of Lucifer, the Son of the Morning— -one which will sap the very foundations of society, and which will eventually cover with merited infamy, the ministry that originated and the country that tolerated it.

From the numerous Journals lately received, we continue our resuniQ of European and Colonial intelligence. Ireland, and the lush are still the absorbing topics of British discussion. Unbounded liberality having been evinced in mitigation of physical misery, an earnest and an anxious investigation of the most practicable moans of ameliorating social wietchedness is employing the thoughts and exercising the pen of politicians and public writers of every shade and degiee of opinion. By almost all, the act now in force for the suppression of Crimes and Outiagcs, is warmly commended, unless, indeed by a few red hot tatriois of "Nation," bad lepule, — a band of clamomcr.s, who — if their words weie to be interpreted as the sentiments of their hearts, and not the vapours of their " heat oppressed brains," — are fit only to jnalce common cause with the steam Pi nice de Joinville, whenever that illustrious fhbustier shall deem it prudent to attempt a corsamsh raid upon "perfidious. Albion." The assassinations following upon the denunciations from the altar, ha\e e\okcd a new and staitling spirit in the hearts of the class tiom which the victims have hitheito been snatched, and although no relaiatoiy example has as yet polluted them, it is nevertheless a fearful tact that seciet societies have been oiganised, to sacrifice, in expiation, the priest of whatevci parish a protestant may be murdered in. Honible as such a wild letribution unquestionably would be, we are less surprised at Lhe broaching of such lawless doctrine, than tlfat it should now, for the fiist lime, be threatened. We trust however, that a vigorous enforcement of the law just passed will suffice to restrain unbridled passion on both sides. In Sydney, according to our private advices, business continued dull and money scarce. The anticipated decision in the great. Bank

ciso. was casting its shadow befoir (illinn; (lie colonial hi\ut with despondency and gloom. The nnpiaduuble pi ice so aibiliaiily affixed upon cm own land,, was discussed in Council on tlv 12th, and alVoided (lie eloquent hut \cisa(il(* Mi. Lowe an oppoitunity of showing his Jim Ciow dexterity, in an oiation,thc lepoil of which consumes ten columns and a half of tlio llku\i.i) of the 1 51b. li r a brilliant pioduction, say the Sydney icueweis. Would that the mover weie more honest. The motion was met by the previous question, and rejected by a majority of three, most of that majority being squatteis, and not one official reenrdi mj a vote, or offering an opinion, * The anhal of the "fust 'fleet" at Olngo, has elicited a srucs of justly indignant censures from the I-li'ralo on the baseness of the New Zealand Company, which — piolebsing concentiation and othci Wakefieldian doctnnes, — no sooner sacks the Hunt of the Wellington, Nelson and Taranaki settlers, than it bUains its licentiate eye in quest of new projects and fresh victims to kidnap. Verily it is little better than a society of legalised crimps-. John Bull has long been known to be an easy gull. Sawney ho\ve\er, has generally been considered too far noith to be snared even by the Wide- a- wakes ! A monthly periodical of Religious, Liteiaiy, and Scientific mfoimation, under the title ufc Tim Sydnty Guarhian is announced to appear on the Ist of June. It is to be under the superintendence of Clergymen of the United Chinch of England and Ireland. It will be more fortunate than its predecessors if the regret of King Richard — " Tis pity thou'rt short lived," prove not applicable to it. Dr. LEiciiAiinr has been awarded the Queen's Gold Medal by the Royal Geographical Society of London. The Royal Geogi aphical Society of Paris have likewise adjudged him its Gold Medal Mr. Sconce has published his " reasons foi submitting to the Catholic Church." We ha\e not seen those reasons but if we may cmUt the review of them by the Atlas they lack the cogency said to be so applicable to the roasting of eggs.

\'c |iist anil (c.ir not : I>iM nil the cn<K lliou ainib't at, be thy Ountiy's, 'J !\y (Jons, and Tiulli's.

WIS I) N ESD A V, MA Y ?< 1, IS -i 8.

\A) } SO| 1(1 to 11. Coolahau foi £270 0 0 2 c Capl. Poitci 30 0 0 :5 4 Majoi Gioy 50 .. 70 0 0 0 0 :, u a

srurREAN farms.

i nrrlwor *10. 56 J. A.Langford I'd JC3 1 U'lC 7 G £69 19 0 37 J. ttimms 4 10 0 94 6 1 ~)S T. Paton .... 0 5 0 131 1 4 74 A. G. Piuchas 15 0 0 289 0 2 75 '7(3 T, Somenille ]0 8 5 0 0 0 197 13 11 154 6 C 77 8 0 0 260 0 C 7G If. Litilewood 10 0 0 91 12 4 1)4 W. Hunter .. 4 0 0 80 0 C Amount tvcil lif sed. ... £. CI9SS 5 5