WELLINGTON. [From the Wellington Independent, Sept. 6.]

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 246, 7 October 1848, Page 2

WELLINGTON. [From the Wellington Independent, Sept. 6.]

We hear that the operations on the Wiararapa anoF Hutt Roads, for some time discontinued, are to br I again resumed. The expenses consequent on carrying out these woiks, are defrayed from innds granted by the imperial Execi.tive. It m.ty be urged that as the colonists do not beai this but den, they have no right to be inquisitive as to the mode and manner of expenditure, but such objection we hold to be ol little weight. £20,000 per annum is a very consideiable amount, and rightly would be productive of the gieate^t benefit. V\ c say not that the money has been wasted, but we say that after more than two years of such expenditure, it is €i lemarkahle and significant fact that so little has been effected, bo little accomplished. We believe we are correct in stating the total amount expended on the Hutt Road to exceed .£27,000, Allowing £1,500 per mile, this sum is sudicient for the completion of eighteen miles of road. Competent judges do affirm that £1000 per mile is an estimate nciirii" the mark, but let us <aKe the fir«t calculation. Is a length of thoroughfare, equal to the sum expended, completed ? By no means. We que>tjon if vine miles of load be properly finished. The system hitheito pursue I has been one which we have c»er opposed. Overseers, gangers, and laborers havejbeeu employed by the day, and " contracts" have not been resorted to except in one or two minor instances. But wu know thftt Uic work performed by contract did not cost the Government £10 per chain, or £800 per mile, and knowing this, u-e have frequently wOndeied at the j tenacity witli which the day s^ stem has been so perseventhly fallowed to so expensive a tune. The JmI penal gra t, economically Iml out, would, in a few ycai?, open up the whole of the Port Nicholson district,, | but unless contracts for the woik bi v resorted to, the I road to Wiai'diMpa, a ?iven distance of forty miles, will cjst the British or Local Government a miaitcr of n million steiling. We trust Captain Grey will look iuto the matter. Funds so lihera'ly beatowed should be appropr.ated to the best advantage. The contact system would not only ellect a givat saving of public money, but would woik mure satisfactorily for those employed The Wairarapa Road is a most important pub \c work. The extent ot capital invested in the valley, and the amount of export, yeaiiy increasing, derivable irmn the Hocks of the sett ers there located, rendei the opening of the district, at the earliest possible date, and at tue most economical late, imperative. If the system hitherto pursued be persevered in, the v illey may possibly be opened in ten years — under thecontract s> stem, allowing £10,000 each year for that line, the road might be made lit for the pui poses of coimnunicatio and transit within tlueo.

We have often been amused, ia perusing the journal* from the neighboring colonies, to observe the complacent self-satisfied tone with which they regard their own particular sphere, aud their attempts to depreciate tiieir neighouis, particubrly New Zealand, towards which they affect a sympathy not easily to be reconciled with their iIJ-concealed feelings ot jealouiy and dislike. F equent instances of this may be met whh in the Herald aud other Sydney papers, and though we have sometimes noticed their misrepresentations, we have more commonly treated them with silent contempt. In looking over a recent file of South Australian Gazettes, under the head of New Zealand we find the following morceau quoted from the Melbourne Argus, with the hearty concurrence of the Editor ot the former Journal, who coiuiders the proposition to be one of great humanity. The editor of the Melbourne Aiyus, iv alluding to the expected arrival of the first body of settlers at Otakou, observei— 11 We are disposed to think that our merchants hare been guilty of much greater departures from the strict rule of right than they would be if they had vessel* i» readiness to bring off the whole of the people who are to be entrapped into this mad project. Ail past expei ience has shewn that New Zealand can m vcr be colonized vuithout a war i.f extermination with the natives ; it would, theiefore, be seiving the best intercs s of humanity, and equally benefiting the immigrants and this province, if our luggestious were acted upon." The dishonesty of this crimping project is too glaring to require any comment, its gross ignorance is not less obvious. Experience, to which the»e Boeotians appeal, shows that the New Zealanders with few cxceplions, if fairly dealt with, are not only disposed to be peaceable, but desire the pretence of the lettlem among them; that during the late distutbances the great body of them adhere to the Government; that from one end of New Zealand io the other peace is established wl h every prospect of its continuance. ; that nil the seU'ements are steadily proipering ; and that the greit waut in them is labour, for which they offer higher wages and greater inducements than can be found iv the neighbouring colonies Referring more particularly to the settlement in que*tioa, if a war of extermination with the natives wure raging in New Zealand, it would not affect Otakou, where there are few or ao natives. One thing at least would be necessary to the success of this ci imping scheme, — the consent of the Qtakou settlers ; and even with their

present slight acquaintance with the climate and capabilitiei of New Zealand, we greatly doubt their desire to exchange their newly adopted country for either of the colonies in question ; nor do we think the large admixture of Exiles, Pentonvillians, or under whatever other name the emancipated felonry in the Australian colony rejoices (which, on the confession of the journals to which we have referred, is to be found in the population of those colonies), would prove an additional inducement to the newly arrived Scottish emigrants to cast their lot in among them. — Spectator,

We have heard that the new settlement of Canterbury (the prospectus oi which we published last week) will be carried on with great vigour, certain influential parties who take great interest in its success having pledged themselves to raise £250,000 for the purpose of the undertaking as soon as information is received in England of the land being acquired from the natives. The settlement of New Plymouth is to be sepaiated from the Northern Province and re-united to the Southern Settlements, to which it naturally belongs. There is also a report that a Roman Catholic settlement will shortly be formed at Akaroa. From all these circumstances it appears to be ceitain that immigration will once more be directed in a steady and continuous stream to the Southern settlements, and the absurdity of attempting to continue the seat of government of this colony at Auckland becomes every day moie apparent. — Wellington Spertator, Sept. 15.