Original Correspondence.
To the Editor of the Ntw Zealander, Sir, As the Editor of the Southern Cross has distinguished my last letter to you, by a long notice in his paper of Saturday last, I am induced again to tresspass upon your indulgence for space in your next number, ior a Jew observations in reply. The writer of the article referred to, assumes that I, in opposing with my feeble voice iheattemptto get up a laudatory address to Captain Fitzßoy, am actuated by personal animosity. If any one ventured to tell the editor of the Southern Cross, that he, in his virulent abuse, not alone of Captain Grey, but of every Governor who has ruled here before him, was actuated by a. desire to gratify his individual hatred to those gentlemen, and not by public spiiit, and a wish td seive the community, the editor of the Cross would doubtless and very naturally feel hugely indignant. Now, it is unfair in that gentleman to assume that he monopolizes all the public virtue in the colony ; and I think ii very hard that he will not allow me the credit of good intentions which he claims for himself, and permit me to raise my humble voice in warning my fellow colonists against the snares of the designing, who would entrap them by;their sympathies for the fallen and unfortunate man, into a public approval of the acts of the unwonhy Governor, without giving me so vile a motive as the gratification of personal animosity. The editor of the Cross has " disposed " as he says, of all my objections. I grieve that my opinion ot Captain Fitzßoy is by no means altered by the ingenious defence set up for him. An address is proposed expressive of the admiration of the colonists for the numerous virtues of the ex Governor ; it is objected that his first public act was to put the most ungentlemanly and cowardly affiont upon his predecessor in office :—: — that, says the Cross, is "frivolous ;" it is objected, that he caused the fall of Kororarika, the terriole loss o» property to the unfortunate settlers, and the destruction of the prestige of British authority. The editor puts in what Mr. Weller, senior, would call an alibi, "it was notCiptain litzßoy, but his advisers," and the " Great Grey " lias been since seen enjoying a ride upon the stolen horses. It Js objected that Captain Fitzßoy annihilated the revenue,— No I says the Cross his officers would not collect it 1 1 In my ignorance of even " the A. B. C. of political economy," 1 was under the delusion that if a m«n gave twenty shillings worth of labour or goods for a debenture value thirteen shillings, he musi neecssarily be a loser ; No, says the Cross, "he is not a loser, because some other man made a profit!" A debenture, the editor is polite enough to inform us, " is simply an acknowledgment of debt"— and so it is i and the known credit and solvency of the maker of the debenture rule its market value, but a debenture, which is a legal tender for its nominal value, is another thing altogether ; and if, as was then the case, the people of this colony were indebted to parties in New South Wales and England, and were obliged to remit-to their creditors at the price of 13s , these same securities for which they had paid 205., I find it difficult by any combination of letters in the economic alphabet to spell anything but toss on such a transaction. It is objected that Captain Fitzßoy annihilated the land, revenue, and fixed upon the colony the cost of road.making through lands, from the sale ot which it derived no profit. But says the Cross, we owe our chief cultivation to those sales, and £20 an acre applied as at present will not make roads, there/ore Captain Fitzroy did right. But the editor of the Cross should know that but few of the original Id. and 10s. an acre purchasers are cultivators, that the makers of " the pleasant fields," are in great part those who haVe i |,nr has id at second hand, at such prices as eight, ten, ,welve and fifean pounds an acre; and that, of the original speculators, some having netted a handsome profif | have Lf. the colony, and others are now prepay ing to do so. Therefore, I again repeat, the public has list the price of those lands, and 1 see no reason why even if it required an acre to make roads, that we
should not have had 8, 10, 12, or 15 pounds, the present value of these acres, to aid us in that expenditure.
Timea danctus et dona forentes. If I could have believed that certain part \c% (amongst 'whom I except you Mr. Editor,) the originators of tin's notable political dodge, were perfectly sincere and single minded in their present purpose ; if I could believe that their only object was to offer as private individuals, privately, balm to a wounded and disappointed spirit, by an expression of esteem and condolence, I should have been amongst the last to ofler obstruction to such a proceeding ; but when I see that men, as I have before said, are sought to be entrapped by their private sympathies into a public declaration of confidence in and esteem Of the late Governor of this colony, I think it but right again to remind them, that he left us a public debt, — that he annihilated our revenue, — that his measures caused the total destruction of one settlement, and endangered the safety of all,«that the colony under his rule was reduced to the depths of distress and despondency ; that in the face of this distress, and in opposition to the often expressed wishes of the public, he persisted in a reckiess, expenditure, and in maintaining an extravagant and in some parts, a most obnoxious public establishment ; and, that there are on public record agafast him, in this colony, charges of falsehood which have never and can never be disproved— not such charges as ingenuity and illwill can torture out of a loosely worded despatch, but downright, palpable, tangible— misrepresentations— I had, perhaps, better call them. On the other side oi this long account it is buf just that I should record, that in his anxiety to develope the resources of this colony, ho once ofieied a prize of ten pounds lor the best specimen of an indigenous sponge. lam, Sir, &c.,.&c, ■ m ' X. Auckland, August 1 5,^1848. J
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZ18480816.2.4
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 231, 16 August 1848, Page 2
Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,092Original Correspondence. New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 231, 16 August 1848, Page 2
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
No known copyright (New Zealand)
To the best of the National Library of New Zealand’s knowledge, under New Zealand law, there is no copyright in this item in New Zealand.
You can copy this item, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It can be modified, remixed and built upon. It can be used commercially. If reproducing this item, it is helpful to include the source.
For further information please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
Ngā mihi
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Auckland Libraries.