TARANAKI.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 249, 18 October 1848, Page 2

TARANAKI.

From a Correspondent of the Wellington Independent. The past winter has been the finest that has ever been expeiieaced since the formation of this settlement. Liijht 8. E. breezes or ralms have nearly always pre vttiled, accompanied by briUiimt lunbhine, and only now and then succe eded by flight frosts at night. Dust has been blowing during moit of the winter on roads that art; usually at that teason covered with mud, and the rains that have been copiously filling during the past week were really wanted for the growing crops. This long' spell of fine weather has allowed all farm, ing operations to be prospcuted without interruption, and good progress has been made in pteparing the land for root and other spring ciops. A notice has lately been posted from Messrs. Tooth, the brewers, of Sydneyi stating that they would be purchasers of the produce of 2 to 300 acres of Barley, at from 4s. to 4s. 6(1. per btjkliel. This may have some effect upon tke quantity -of laud appropriated to that grain ; but the extreme mildness of the winter, give* us reason to fetir that our old enemies, the caterpillers, will be in full force again during the ensuing sunnier. Several of our settlers hnve commenced operations on the new Omata block ; it is a beautiful district of m xed land, and a valuable addition to the settlement. A party under the guidance of Mr. W. Carrington proceeded the other day a few miles down the coast, to procure specimens of some substances reported to be coal and fuller's earth. If the specimen brought up be coal, it is' undoubtedly of very bud quality, but as this was merely taken from the surface of the heacb, where it crops out in several places, it may be indicative of something more rateable underneath. The clay seems to answer all the purposes of fuller's earth \ in discharging greasr, Sec., and will probably prove worth attention ; samples of both will betaken to Eng1 land by Mr. C. Hursthouse, who proceeds there forthwith to give oral and written information as to the state and prospects of Taranaki. Manukou and Auckland have of Inte proved much the best markets for our flour. Three vessels bad

within the last few weeks. They say there thnt if our flour were shipicd in good napks like the Y. D. L. flour, instead of beinir put into slight caluo bags, that there would be hut little difference of price between them. The New Plymouth ale and porter of Seocomb's brewing was much lib d at Manukou, and realized a satisfactory price. The Star of China arrived herp, from Sydney, on the Ist inst., after an absence of six weeks. She landed her cattle the same day, in first rate order, and will probably return for another ctngo. The orders for sheep, sent to Sydney by tlm vessel, were not executed, owing to the difficulty of obtaining there the Leicester breed, which our farmers seem to prefer. The pure Merino, certainly,"appearB too tender for this climate, yet thp Leicester would probab'y prove too coarse, and as we have a flock of superior and pure bred South Downs in the place, the common run of Sydney sheep, crossed with this breed, would probably be found as profitable as any, when the prices of wool aud mutton find here their relative value, New Plymouth, Sept 4, 1848.

Mkmortai. of the Inhabitants op Nelson to THE GoVKRNOR-IN-ChIEF, FOR A FAIR SHARE Or the Public Expenditure, to construct Roads and Bridges in this Settlement. To His Excellency the Ggvbunor-in-Chiiif of New Zealaud, &c M &c. The Memorial of the (.Undersigned Inhabitants of the Settlement of Nelion, New Zealand, iheweth, That by the last offipial census to which your memorialists have access, the European population of the l>rintipal settlements in the colony amounted respectively to about the following numbers :— Auckland and county of Eden, 5,000 ; Wellington, 4,500 ; New Plymouth and other places, 1,500; Nelson, 3,000; *nd that Nelson consequently displayed a proportion of less than one-fourth of the whole. But as the population of Auckland and Wellinuton have been, till within a rerent period, considerably under the foregoing, while that of Nelson h»s remained nearly at the same amount for the last five years, the proportion which the latter bears to the aggrep;a'e population may, for the present purpose, be assumed as one-fourth fully. That according to the best sources of information acccusible to your memorialists, the government expenditure upon public woiks, roads, and other similar objects, in the two divisions of the colony, has, since ♦lie foundation of this settlement, been in the following proportions, as nearly as they can compute :—

That of the total swrn of ,£91,60 f thu<? expended, the settlement of Nelson hai receive! JE.200 only, or about one-seventy-fifth part of the whole ; of which sum one-hnlf only has been expended «pon roads and ' bridges, and the other half on Government buildings and tbeir repairs. That no part of the above mtn of jLOXtGOi arose from military or naval sources, but solely ir« in the civil revenue of the colony and grants , in aid thereof from the Home Goventnent. That your memor alistB admit the justice of apportioning i he expenditure in ench settlement to the Hniount of revenue raised in it, so for as such revenue in nctually raised from the settlers the nselvts. It is fair th t the proportion of taxes contributed by them bhuuld he expended among them after the necessary deduction made for the Genera' Government. But in the two settlements of Auckland and Wellington a very large part ot the revenue hat riien from fundb not contributed by tl c colonists, nor in any way the result of their induitry and capital. The Government establishments, the military and naval foicea stationed in those places, and the expenditure of the large grants of money made by the Home Government, are tiie evident tources from which by far the larger part of the revenue arises ; and your aemorialistß can discover no ground on which the settler* of Anckland and Wellington shou'd claim (ti the exclusion of Nelion) the local expenditure of a revenue so created, On the contraiy, as Nelson does not participate in the great expenditure of which that revenue is the m«re per centage, it would seem more just that it should receive a greater proportion ot the revenue. The aiere fact of the levenue being collected in a particular place, gives no claim to iti expenditure there. Two-thiids of the revenue of Upper Canada consist of taxes levied on importi at Montreal Hnd Quebec, both in the Lower Province and which are duly paid over from the one Treasury to the other, on the express ground that a specific portion of the commodities on which those taxes are levied in the Lower Provinces being consumed in the Upper, the taxes in reality come out of the pockets of the inhabitants of the latter, and they are therefore returned to them for expenditure. The piinciple is there admitted, that the place of collection is not the test of the right of expenditure. That depends on the source of contribution. It cannot be suppoted that Great Britain, is making the large grants it does, and in distributing its military forceo, would wish to see the advantages to be derived from those acts more partially appropriated than circumstances might compel. If the hostile position of the natives, or oiher circumstances, oblige the troops to be stationed, and many military works to be executed m the other settlements, accompanied necessarily by a great expenditure most beneficial to them, Nelion can scarcely be thought exacting if she asks for h large share of the revenue through which that expenditure is reflected. The proportion which the population of Nelion bears to that of the other settlements has already been stated. The industry and enterprise of the settlers of Nelson i* proved by the fact, that more land has bren here brought into cultivation than in any other settlement, and that in live stcck it stands far superior to Auckland, and not much behind Wellington. Yet it is left to fight the hard battle of colonization almost unaided by Government expenditure, while the other ■ettlementi receive from the revenue alone between seventy and eighty times the amount of assistance be•towed upon it. That your memorialists admit the great importance of opening up by military roads the dense forests of the Northern Island, and of maintaining a line of military defences against the numerous native resident therein ; but they conceive themselves to have claims not less strong. Roads are required in Nelson not for military purposes, but for the promotion ot the peaceful and wealth-creating purmits of the agricultural^ and flof k-owuer. and without thpiii theip tyirwwniixuui—

must be greatly retarded. It cannot be denied that on those pursuit! depends chiefly the prosperity of the colony • that in their extension, and in the increase of European population which will accompany it, a better security against the natives of the North will be found than in any number of even the bravest of the British forces, or »ny amount of military works. The Wairau district, in which the rural lands of the settlement are chiefly allotted, and which is opposite to and within half a-day's sail of Wellington is at the present only acceisible by a had road of nearly two hundred miles long, while it is believed that one could be made through the mountains, which would not exceed from thirty to forty miles in length, connecting Nelson with the very best part of the Wairau. Besides this the roadi in the Nelson district made by the New Zealand Company are fast fal ing to decay, and require a considerable outlay to prevent the expenditure alrendy made upon them from being entirely lost. A bridge acroiu the Maitai within the town, and one over the Wairua by Mr. Duppa's are much wanted. Your memorialists can form only a proximate idea of the amount of money which would be required to complete the various objects indicated in the foregoing, but they believe they are not far from the truth iv estimating it at the sum of ten thousand pounds. In conclusion, your memorialists pray that your Excellency will take into consideration the foregoing statements, and adopt the necesnary measures to secure to Nelson such a portion of the funds at your disposal as may in some degree compensate for the very small proportion of the bounty of Government which has a« yet fallen to its share, and as may be sufficient to carry out the vital object of connecting thi< district with the Wairau, and completing and perfecting the roadi and bridges in the settlement. [Here follow the Signatures ] The Comet arrived on Tuesday from Sydney, with 12 horses and 40 head of cattle, having made the passage in eleven days, with little or no lots. Captain Cork sailed again on Thursday, and will return direct with sheep. There wa» no news of a late date in Sydney from England.— Nelson Examiner, September 23. Barley. — We learn that the fine samples of barley taken to Syduey by the Comet on her last voyage gave perfect sHtisfnction to the house for which they were puichafied. Several hundred bushels were shipped last week in the Victory for the sume parties, and a quantity will also be forwarded next week by the Despatch. If our agriculturalists will only exercise a little care in harvesting, so us to produce a clean bright sample, such es we have seen, we believe that a market for it in Sydney will be found to almost any ex'ent, and at a very satisfactory pricr. All the purchases which hare been made this year for Sydney, have been at 4s. a bushel. — Ibid. We believe that the Crown grants for the land in this settlement were brought lrom Wellington on Thursday, to that the Company and the settlers have had to wait nearly seven years for this bare act of justice from the Government. — Ibid. We hear from a gtntleman just arrived from Otago, that that infant settlement is showing every sign of life and activity. The settlen who have arrived are greatly pi ased with the country, and are looking forward confidently to the future. We can see no impe» diment to the success of this new colony, tor it will escape most of the drawbacks which have clogged the wheels of the older settlements, and we believe a finer country does not exist in New Zealand. Some of the Sydney papers, as well as our Auckland contemporaries, delight in sneering at the Otago settlement, and all manner of absurd things have been said of it. If we mistake not, Sandy will very little regard the kind friends who commissernte his misfortune in bf ing placed on so inhospitable a spot, but will imi c them to come and see him half-a-dozen years hence, when they will tell a different tale — Ibtd.

Northern Div. £ 1841 (last qvarter) 3,0 5 1842 . . . 7,022 1843 . . . 1,259 1844 . . . 2,993 1845 . . . 2,342 1846 . . .6 000 1847 . . . 20 0 0 1«48 (half-> ear) . 10,000 Southern I £ 26 607 1,678 473 465 5 734 20,000 10,000 Div. £52 C2l £-38,983