The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 258, 18 November 1848, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

He just and fear not: Let all the ends thou aims't at, be thy Country's* Thy God's, and Truth's.

SAT^URDaTy, NOVEMBER 18, 1848.

On Thursday the Legislative Council — formed in accordance with the Bill repealing the projected Constitution of Earl Grey — met for a l)i ief and sudden session, After the customary oaths had hecn administered His Excellency read the addtess — which will be found in the repoit of the Council's proceedings. To the calamitous state of affairs iv the Southern Province, then ; and, to the urgent necessity for passing the three bills brought before them, are to be attributed this hurried convocation of om Colonial Senate. Of the expediency, if not of the absolute necessity, of llis Excellency's presence in the South, there are few, if any, conflicting opinions. " The restoration of public confidence and the whole future prosperity of Wellington" do most unquestionably depend upon the promptitude, the energy, and the address exhibited in remedy of those disasters which have overwhelmed the town, and which—judging by his despatches, prophetic of fuither evil, and cowed "by those which have already occurred— have filled 'the mind of the Lieutenant-Governor with maudlin terror, and guided his pen with drivelling prognostications of desolation and doom. Instead of animating the despondent, he has been the first to give an added bitterness to their apprehensions, by a gratuitous and unseemly exhibition of his own. If the Man -quailed beneath the unwonted terrors of his position, the Governor was imperatively called upon to rally his energies, and to cheer and inspire the people confided to his rule, rather than to prostrate them, and damage their settlement by expressions, ex cathedra, such as these, wafted on the four winds of heaven, and, which if calmly weighed, are, after all, but the sorry evulgations of a very nervous individual. '• A blow has been struck, (quoth the despatch wiiter,) at the prosperity, almost at the very existence of the settlement, from which it will not readily recover. 11 Did Lisbon recover from her blow — compared with which, that of Wellington was but the fillip of a lady's glove? " Every one seems to feel a presentiment that it will end in some still more fearful catastrophe than any which has yet taken place. The terror which so frightful a visitation naturally produces in most men's minds, will I apprehend diive from the colony all who can find the means of getting away." We hope, like BurChill, in the Vicar of Wakefield, we may, without piofanity, exclaim — " Fudge!" When Tcrentius had withdrawn his shattered legions from one of the most sanguinary fields of the ancient world, such was his well groundconfidence iv the energy and constancy of Rome, that in reply to hit despatch, detailing his defeat, he received the thanks of the Senate, who pronounced him to have deserved well of li'S country because he had not despaired of the affairs of the republic. We would counsel Lieutenant-Goveinor Eyre to study the Terentian maxim, recommending him to pause ere lie again indulges in doubtful predications and injurious predictions. There is uuff enough in Port Nicholson to defy despair, andeneigy sufficient to repair the calamity under which they labour. May thcii arms be sttong — their heaits resolved. Yesterday, the first and most important

bill brought before the consideration of (lie Council -was " An Ordinance to piovide for the Establishment of Provincial Legislative Councils m the Colony of New Zealand." Against the passing of that Oidinanco, the following petition, from eighteen of the piiucipal mei chants of Auckland, was presented by Mi. Merrhnan, seconded by Mr. Kennedy, and otdcteJ to be printed. To His Excellency the Govcinor-in-Chicf of New Zealand sirni the Honorable the Members of the Legislative Council in Council assembled. The Humble Petition of the undersigned Inhabitants of Auckland, Humbly Shcwcth, Tlut your Petitioners in common with their fellow Colonists in the Southern Division, have long and anxiously looked foiwaid to some amelioration of i heir political condition with reference to the want of lcprcsenttition of the people in the Legislative Council of this Territoiy ; and had hoped that it was your Excellency's intentiou, with the advice and consent of your honourable Council, to confer this privilege upon them at the earliest opportunity. That your Petitioners have read the diaft of a Bill to he cal'ftvl the " Provincial Councils Bill," which has been submitted by your Excellency to the Legislative , Council, with feelings of the deepest disappointment, . fpcling assiued that a council formed upon the princi- I pies o( that Bill could never give satisfaction to the great bulk of the Colonists generally, nor work to the advantage of either the governing or the governed. Your Petitioners, therefore, humbly pray that your Excellency and your Honor ible Council will he pleased to postpone any further consideration of this Bill, until your Petitioners shall have had time to lay before your Excellency and your Honorable Council, their wants and wishes, as far as the same may be justly conceded to them, and also until such time at your Petitioners' fellow Colonists in the South may have been able to make known their feelings on this all -important subject. And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever I pray. &c, &c. [Here follow the signatures.] To the second reading of the bill Mr. Merrhnan stated he should offer no opposition, but that he would divide the house against going into Committee on a Bill — one of the utmost importance, it might be, to ,the future destinies of New Zealand — an act which they might hoist upon their shoulders as Sinbad did the old man of the sea, and which might rule the colony with an equal oppression. We can, at present, but glance at the Hon. Member's objections ; which, with a full, repoit of the proceedings of the Council, and our own observations, must be deferred till our next — In the meanwhile, we give but a meagre ab' stract of a debate, in which the battle of representative freedom was begun, and contested, inch by inch, with an^energy and a spirit especially commendable in a senate so shadowy — a to spectral of legislative machinery— apt counterpart, perhaps, of the hanquetting enjoyments of the Arabian barber's brothei— with this difference,thatAewent through the motionsof a dinner easy of digestion, — whilst the Council bolts a succession of pills as nauseous to many of themselves as difficult for the public at large to swallow. On the motion of the Attorney General, that the Council should go into committee on the Bill, Mr. Merrhnan accordingly proposed " That the further consideration of this Bill be postponed until the sentiments of the colonists can be ascertained." Upon this the Council divided, and the original motion was earned. Upon the reading of the third clause of the Bill, Mr. Kennedy proposed the following amendment which was seconded by Mr. Merriman and supported by the other unofficial member, Mr. Barstow, but, as a matter of course, carried by the majority. It shall be lawful for the Governor cr Lieu'enantGovernor of the sProvince, by .etters patent under the Great Seal of the Province, from time to time, to issue writs for the election of such other persons, by the householders of the Province, to be Members of the said Legislative Council; provided that the number of Members of the said Council, who shall be so elected, shall always exceed the number who hold any office under the Crown or under the Colonial Government. Mr. Kennedy's amendment caused an animated debate, eliciting from His Excellency a declaration of his fixed, and well- considered, determination not to introduce a representative system under the existing circumstances of the colony. He denied any analogy between the early American settlements aud those of New Zealand. In the one, a body had migiated fiom one country, carrying with them their own customs and laws, regulating their own expenditure, and providing for their own protection. Here all was different — The Colonists were from many and different quarters — they w?re the minority, protected, at the expense of England, against a brave, intelligent, and warlike race, who had ceded their sovereignty to the British Crown, which had previously recognised their independence. Ere that sovereignty had been asserted numberless Europeans had become residents — Claims to immense tracts of land had been preferred, and much' litigation and jealousy between the races had been entailed. His Excellency would not rush into perilous experiments. He would advance slowly and surely, but in the right direction, as he contended this Act was. ! Mr. Merrhnan, in reply, remarked that His j Excellency had stated that he would not be hurried into adoption of rash measures, and yet His Excellency sought to urge the Council to the hasty enactment of a Bill which he for one had not had sufficient time to consider. We cannot go farther into these matters at present •. we shall only observe that the Bill was carried through committee, together with the Postage and Supreme Court Ordinances—

aftci which the Council adjourned until foiu o'clock to day. Upon the passing of the Acts, the Council will stand adjourned sine die, His Excellency proceeding southwaids with lI. M S. Uwannah ou Sunday, as we ate informed.

On Thursday Evening, a Public Meeting was held, at the Hall of the Mechanics' lnstitute, for the purpose of adopting an address, expiessive of the deep sympathy enteitained by the inhabitants of Auckland towards their unfortunate fellow colonists of Wellington, and in oider to raise a pecuniary subscription so that a partial relief may at least be icndeicd to some of the most pressing cases of distress. Considering the little time that had elapsed from the notification of the intended meeting, it was more numeiously and respectably attended than could reasonably have been anticipated. Mr. Heale having been voted by acclamation to the chair, the Bishop of New Zealand was lequested to open the business of the evening. This His Lordship, accordingly, did, in an eloquent and feeling address, during which he observed, that he had needed to use no incentives in furthering the aims of benevolence—that every where the heart was as liberal as the hand was piompt. I will, said his Lord&hip, give you two examples, suppressing the names, but leaving you, from the circumstances, to guess at the donors. From one person, probably the largest sufferer by the sack of Kororareka, I received ten pounds, the contributor intimating that he had himself known what it was to require the sympathy and assistance of his fellow man, and that Providence having since blessed him with the means, he was happy to have it in his power to tender his quota in relief of others. The other example, is that of a sorrowing mother, bereaved of her four children, upon whom the grave has recently closed. In her own deep distress, this poor woman had yet a | heart to feel for thai of her fellows, and a mite ito offer in its alleviation— an offering, as it were of thanksgiving for the recovery of a sick husband slowly convalescing. A series of resolutions were presented and adopted by the Meeting, the principal speakers — amongst whom we may enumerate the Revds. Messrs. Lawry and Watkin, and Messrs. Cleghorn, Hyam Joseph, Rout, Forsaith, and Whytlaw — deprecating delay in transmission of the contemplated relief and enforcing by argument and illustration the excellence of the adage — Bis dat gui cito dat. There was a commendable unanimity in the matter before the meeting, the only difference of opinion occurring as to the manner in "which the distribution of the funds might be most efficiently carried out— the Bishop appositely characterising the offering as " Fiom the town' of Auckland to the town of Wellington." Incidental allusion to the rivalry existing between the Northern and Southern Settlement was made by more than one of the speakers ; but all in the most generous and conciliatory sphit, and deprecatory of any bitterness between men sprung fiom one common stock, embaiked in one common purpose — and equally sundered from the land of their common nativity. The Rev. Mr. Watkin denied the existence of any acrimonious feeling entertained by the inhabitants of Wellington towards those of Auckland. We should have been content to pass the Rev. Gentleman's assertion unchallenged, had it not been accompanied by an accusation against " irritable editors," upon whom he charged the odium of such a feeling. We, for our own part, beg to disown this impeachment. We have never had a feeling, save that of kindness towards Wellington, in which to indulge. We have met unseemly vituperation in a tone that deplored its indulgence and deprecated its recurrence— and we turn to our pages in vain to discover in what instances we merit the charge of being " irritable," or by what means we have sought to embitter the settlements one against the other. If our Revd. accuser will but point us out one calumny to which we have given currency, we pledge ourselves to make the most full and ample amende. Differing as we do on this point, we cannot dismiss the subject without congratulating the inhabitants of Wellington on the able advocate and successful mediator they found in their Reverend representative, whose temporary sojourn in Auckland has proved so opportune. We give an ample report in another part of our paper. The Executive Committee paid into Bank, yesterday, upwards of £500, on account of the relief fund ; in augmentation of which, two sermons will be preached in the Wesleyan Chapel, in the morning and evening of tomorrow.

Yesterday the horses by the "Elizabeth and Henry." were fold at the yard of the Blue Bell Inß, by Me. Hyam Joseph, at prices ranging from £20 to £10, The cattle by the same ship will be offered to public competition on Tuesday and Wednesday neit.