The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 262, 2 December 1848, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

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

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1848.

In another part of this day's impression, we copy, from the Herald, a sensible but a selfish article, on "The Defenceless State of Sydney." The fleet which had been descried off Malta, appears, all at once, to have aroused our slumbering contemporary ; and to have put him upon a vigorous display of mettle. It is positively rei'ieshingto behold this ; for, unless our memory plays us very false, this now energetic Herald, was, erewhile, wont to sneer at, and to snub those of his contemporaiies, who, desirous of taking time by the forelock, acted the treacherous part of exposing the helpless position of universal Australasia, to foes who might thereby be tempted to take advantage of the weakness so rashly proclaimed. It could not reasonably be expected that an Australian treatise on the importance, or rather on the imperative necessity of Colonial defences, should be discussed as a national, rather than a mere local question ; and therefore, we are by no means surprised at the slur again hurled against New Zealand ; nor at the selfcomplacency with which its sacrifrce,for the aggrandizement alone of New South Wales Proper, is enunciated. But, assuming, for the mere sake of argument, that the Herald were empowered to enforce its own wishes. That one of our much coveted regiments were withdrawn that we were denuded of our mlgluij naval armament, comprising one stupcndousVost ship of nineteen guns /—one omnipotent sloop of eighteen— and one old, second class, surveying, Steam sloop. What then ? Would the transfer of such a force, maintained with a view to keep the nathe mind impressed with Eugland's power, and, by the preservation of peace, to instil a love of useful and industrial pursuits, (such as each succeeding day promotes,) into the Maori heart -.—would, we repeat, the transfer of a force so utterly insignificant, be

Jackson, if seriously menaced 1 ? We will venture to answer our own question, and to say, not the slightest ; — not more than it would be to Auckland, if visited by a light squadron of French cruisers, to whose incursion, from her greater proximity to Tahiti, and her infinitely scantier amount of European population, she is far more exposed. Without other and much more efficacious means of defence, than that of which the Her <an would so unscrupulously strip us, Sydney could present no opposition to a very moderately equipped hostile squadron : — and her citizens might rest assured, that by disarming, instead of intrenching New Zealand— their natural advanced guard — they would but aggravate, not avert their own ruin. Nay, the Wow to be struck at them might acquire additional vigour by our prior discomfiture, leaving, them in the enemy's jaws, as Hamlet says, " like an ape, first mouthed to be last swallowed." The security of one port cannot be purchased by the sacrifice of all the others ; and, instead of dwelling upon the defenceless state of Sydney, the Herald would have shown itself more deserving of its reputation of the leading journal of the fifth quartet of the globe, had it, in an enlarged, and liberal spiut, advocated alike the construction of defences suited to the exigencies of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart Town, Launceston, Auckland, Wellington, and the se\eral ports, and valuab'e British dependencies in these seas— which, if Britain cannot defend, she should cease to controul. The time and the hour require that Australasia should be separated from the Indian command ; and that her protection should be confided to stronger hands, and more powerful ships tßan the occasional cockle shells, which pay, hmgo intervallo, flying visits, for license, and a lark. Without undue arrogance, we may venture to assert that the varied and the valuable possessions in these seas are of sufficient importance to demand the care of a distinct and adequate Naval Command ; with a sufficiency of iiist, second, and third class frigates, with a due proportion of steamers and sloops, so that all the ports might be in communication with each other, and be thereby relieved from the apprehension of becoming the piey of an active, enterprising, and watchful foe. We cannot but coincide with our contemporary, the Herald, in his views that war would cause a "scramble for colonies," because we were ourselves the first to point out the very great probability of many of England's future naval conflicts being fought on the waters of tlie Southern Pacific. The modem policy of France affords the strongest evidence of the correctness of such a suspicion — sirce, with no other possessions than the comparatively worthless Marquesas, and her Tahitian protectorate, she has maintained formidable squadrons of powerful, well appointed ships, on the ceaseless prowl throughout all our adjacent seas. Our every port has been inspected — their abject helplessness are well known — the pitiful class of English pennants, rarely to be seen theiein, are the objects of their mirth ;— and,— supposing France to declare war,— an aggressive squadron could pounce upon its quarry long ere an inferior piotective one could be organised. Compare, for example, the relative force of French and English, men and gur.-s, in the Pacific squadrons, in 184.4. How they may stand now, we know not ; but, then, Jin weak, ineffective, ships, we had 258 guns with 2,233 men to oppose to 454 guns and4,290 Frenchmen, embarked in some of the heaviest and finest ships of the large frigate and corvette classes ! We trust the Herald will not rest satisfied with having fired a random shot on this momentous occasion ; but that he will open his ample and effective broadside to enforce attention to the disgiace and ruin into which the southern world may wantonly be plunged. We will give gun for gun, not as an enemy, but as a zealous and unflinching ally, and we trust that our brethren of the colonial broad sheet will take up the fire, until their respective harbours be placed in such a state of security and leasonable defence as to enable them and us to do our devoir for the hearths we love and the old flag we honor. No country but England would recklessly leave her sons the prey of the spoiler: and those sons will do but children's duty to ring such a peal into the ears of their deaf old mother that she shall, for the sake of her own tranquility— if from no more exalted motive — so strengthen their hands that, in their hour of need, they may demonstrate to the world theirs is no bastard blood.

We have been favoured with the loan of The Polynesian, of the 15th and 29th of July, and the 5th of August; together with The Sandwich Islands News, of the 3rd of the latter month. From these journals, brought by the Balfour, American whaler, which touched at the Bay of Islands, to land Mr. Perry and another passenger from Tahiti, we this day copy the details of one of the most extraordinary discoveries of almost any age or time — a discovery which far eclipses all the fabled legends of Cortes and Pizarro— and recals, whilst it outstrips, and that in tangible reality, the wildest visions which lured a

Gold, glittering, glorious, gold, has been discovered, in amazing quantities and of the utmost purity, in California. The locality is the American fork of the Sacramento; and the treasure lies strown, from the surface downwards, over an extent of territory measuring, it is said, one hundred miles square. Since the discovery, which seems to have originated in the digging of a mill race, the country has known but one vocation, — the search after the precious ore. From the army and navy deserters are incessant. Towns become tenantless— districts unpeopled— whilst 20,000 individuals, men, women, and children, are occupied in digging the costly metal—and that so successfully that the product of each is given as at from sixteen to fifty dollars' worth a day. From the motley assemblage of the offscourings of all nations— from the utter absence of all law and order— we fear that a succession of dire and sanguinary tragedies must result; and when we consider that the harvests are being neglected—that no thought for supplies of food is entertained—and that access to the intoxicating cup is easy—we think we can detect the infallible elements of an overwhelming misery, such as will scourge many of the gold finders to madness and to death. The yellow fever, as the Polynesian graphically terms it, has found its way to Oahu, where notices of intention to quit the Hawaiian kingdom for the golden main, keep pouring in upon the newspapers. Sixty-nine passports had been granted, as many more not requiring passports had departed, and numerous others were preparing to follow. Each succeeding arrival from California proved but more strongly confirmatory of the reality and vast richness of the treasure fields. Men's minds were in a state of the wildest excitation, and we fear that the dazzling discovery will only prove another and a painful illustration of the truth that no amount of glittering dross ever made a nation great, or a people happy. We refer to our extracts for further particulars, simply observing that the gold, a small sample of which has been kindly sent to our office, is of a very pure and substantial grain. Single pieces weighing five ounces have been taken from the earth. One man, but three weeks in the trade, calculates he has exhumed to the value of three thousand dollars!

TiiE,,ship, so long in process of construction, at the Great Barrier Island, by Captain Gillies, and which is by far the largest yet laid down in New Zealand, was liberated from the stocks at Nagle's Bay, on i^aturday, the 11th instant the very day her future commander (Devlin) sailed with a party from hence to be present at the interesting ceremony. The launch, we are informed, was a beautiful one, the gallant bark, with the appellation of Stirlingshire, dashing into her destined element in magnificent style. The peculiar buoyancy of New Zealand timber was shown in a remarkable manner on the flotation of this ship, which chew but five feet of water forward and eight feet abaft. The following are some of her pnncipal dimensions •.— Length on deck 114 feet. Breadth of beam 28 " Depth of hold 19 " Register tonnage 410 " Let us compare these figures with those of H. M. S. Colossus, of 80 guns, launched at Pembroke on the sth of June -.— Length on gun -deck 190 feet. Breadth of Beam 57 " Depth of hold 23-4 « Register tonnage 2589 « i Fiom this comparison it must be eviden that the Stirlingshire is an enormously lofty wooded vessel, and, consequently, disproportioned ; it may be unstable ; since the dwarfish ship of 410 tons, although not one half the breadth, nevertheless, measures hut four feet 1 four inches less in depth of hold than the ! Colossus of 2589 tons— or of upwards of six times greater magnitude. The beam of the giant is but three and one third of her length, whilst that of the other is somewhat moie than one fourth. We are perfectly aware that there are few merchant ships which will bear comparison with men-of-war, yet as the build of our mercantile navy is so much improved of late, it is a matter of importance to call attention to blemishes as well as to beauties. Let us look, for example, at the construction of that splendid craft the Phantom. Here are her figures : — Length on deck 86 feet 6 inch Breadth of Beam 22 " 6 " Depth of hold «. 11 " Register tonnage 158 new 263 old. However desirable, in a ship, a large carrying capacity may be, it cannot be denied that sailing qualities are sc?rce less requisite ; the speedy ship saving probably quite as much, in food and wages, as the sluggard achieves in extra freight •, and being, from the beauty of her appearance, and the celerity of het motions, 'by far more likely to command passengers, and to convey them at a greater profit. It is a. patter of much gratulation to the colony— especially to the Northern Province, which has distanced all Southern competition— that ship building is being carried on with so .vmnh gnirif. and so much acknowledged excel-

leuce of workmanship and material. Van Diemen's Land has acquired a high and well merited reputation for the beauty and stability of her vessels, and we rejoice to think that from the shores of the Barrier and the Waitemata, specimens of naval architecture equally substantial and equally graceful are gradually launching on the Pacific wave. The Stirlingshire is a remarkably substantial ship. Her timbers, of Pohotukawa— the hardest wood in the country— are of extraor- . dinary strength. She is planked with kauri, and will be ready for sea in about a month, so that the great difficulties incidental to a first essay being now overcome, they will be much lessened on a future occasion. The Stirlingshire had her rigging fitted at Sydney. She will proceed to Mahurangi to load with tim-< ber. We have been a frequent and a gratified visiter of the elegant brig, building by MrNicol, at Mechanic's Bay. Whether for solidity of construction, or gracefulness of conformation, she is, equally, an object worthy of attention. She is now nearly ribbed up ; her floors and timbers being of the approved Pohotukawa, of a fine natural curve, and in close contact each with the other. The lines of this brig are exceedingly beautiful : her entrance is remarkably fine-, her bow round as an apple •, her fore body and midship sections roomy and capacious ; and her run as clean and as, clever as that of an opium clipper : indeed, she gives every indication of possessing speed and stability, and will unquestionably prove the gem of New Zealand. Her dimensions are as follow :—: — Length on deck 100 feet 0 in. Brertdth of Beam 25 " 6 « Depfhofhold 13 " 6 « Burthen per register .... 250 tons, new. Mr. Nicol calculates upon completing her frame in the course of the ensuing week, when he will immediately commence planking her with kauri. Her fastenings are of copper. She will have a raised quarter deck to give additional accommodation; and her cabins will, we are informed, be fitted with the samebeauty and taste for which Tasmanian craft have been so deservedly distinguished. Prosperity to our ship -builders ! May they flourish and increase amongst us. To her wooden walls England stands indebted for her majesty and might •, and, with such forests at our command, and the ability and enterprise to convert them, we trust that the infant scion may profit by the parental instruction. The great drawback is the uncertain supply of artisans— Mr. Nicol having frequently expressed a desire to obtain an extra number of hands.

Scotch Church. — On Thursday evening an adjourned meeting of the subscribers to this building was held at the Hall of the Mechanics' Institute. The report of the. committee haviag been read and adopted, the completing of the edifice with scoria, or by substitution of timber was considered. The latter was a suggestion of the committee, of the propriety of which, they, however, gave no opinion. The motives for the suggestion were alleged to be twofold— the recent earthquake at the South, and the limited state of the exchequer. The latter, we opine, was the more weighty objection of the two. Despite the apprehensions of some, not descendants, we imagine, of those Scots wha did wi Wallace bleed, the advocates of scoria won the day : — an earthquake, amongst exhausted volcanoes, being voted an idle bug-bear ; and a decision having been come to,to build the walls of scoria, to roof the church, fit the doors and windows, but leave the finishings and decorations until their pockets had grown richer, An additional subscription list was opened, to which the worthy chairman, Mr. Shepherd, obtained many namesby his suavity and good humour.