(From the Wellington Independent November 9,)

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 271, 3 January 1849, Page 3

(From the Wellington Independent November 9,)

H. M. S. Havannah, Captain Erskine, arrived in port on Sunday from Auckland, furnishing dates from that place to the 13th Nomnbrr. His ExcellencySir George Grey and snite, Colonel Bolton, R.E.,and other officers arrived in the llavannah. On the receipt of intelligence at the North of the effect p'oduted by the late earthquakes, the greitest anxiety was manifested to know in wtat shape tbe inhabitants of Auckland could express th>'ir sympathy for their fe'low colonists in the South. A public meeting was at once convened, and a subscription entered into upon the spot, and we believe that in the course of a few hours, more than five I undred pounds were subscribed. We beg in the warmest maniier that l.)ii»ua^e permits to return our acknowledgments, on behalf of the co'onists of the bouth, to the Auckland lesiden's for their generous, manlj, and noble display of feeling. This proceduie of our northern friends, is honorable to the head and heart, for at the lime they fully believed that we were in the lowest depthi of despair and misery. The panic has, however, passed over. Work is plentiful, and labour scarce; wages high, and food cheap; the greac inconvenience of moving from shattered houses to uninjured dwellings of neighbours, has been in almost every instance obviated, and a str-mger entering the town in the course of a tew short weeks will scarcely credit the reports he may listen to. The inhabitants are, of course, sufferers to a considerable amount, though we are convinced our northern friends will be delighted to hear that but little, if any, real distress is known in the place. Cases of extreme hard>hip may here and there be met with, but the gr at majority of sufferers are slowly but su-ely, oveicoming their ltssei. This spontaneous but&t of nood and generous feeling, will we trust kn t the north and south more closely together than they have hitherto been. A Public Meeting will be held at the Britannia Saloon, on Thursday evening, when we trust all who can attend will.

By the Auckland papers we perceive that Sir George Grey has at length resolved to give us a " constitution. ' But what a mockery — a Nominee Councilnominated and removable atw ill and pleasure — in which tbe settlers cannot possets the slightest interest either direct or indirect. We trast his Excellency will pause before he-hampers us with such a thing of emptiness. The Gq. vernor-m-Chief should remember that the settlers have a»ked for a reality, they do not require— and will not accept— a shadow. The colonists havd repeatedly urged their right to possess local powers of self-g>vernment— Rep-esnentative Institutions. And it will redound but little to the credit of his Excellency the Governor-in-Chief, provided, after all that he has said and written upon the subject, he should shirk »be question, and force upon vi an abortion in the shape of a nomiuee Council. The men who are nominated may accept office, but by bo doing 'hey will lose self-respect, and the esteem of their fellow-colonists. And can Sir Guorge Grey forget that the settler* at Otakou were induced to found a new home, at this di'tance from the mo'her country, in a great measure through the belief that the colonists of New Zealand were living; under representative ms'itutioni ; and, further, that Ih 1 ; Canterbury settlement has heers mooted under the same impression. Will the British and lo<al authorities break faith with those already selt'ed and those who intend coming out? If S9, they belie their name and character. This subject, however, will require fuithcr consideration.

Working Men's Essay upon the Sabbath.— We lately recorded the gratifying fact that no lew tun 950 working ircu had competed for the piizes offered by a Christian gtntleman fngased in promoting a movement in fa»or of a better ob-ervancu of the Lord's Day, ami who wai desirous of eliciting the opinions of the labouring' men ihermelves upon the subjei'fc in a manner best adapted to s'lence such parties as those who have just compelled Mr. Hindley to withdraw his bill, and to enlist the active symp»» j thiei of every clasi of the community, in securing the ; poor man in the full enjoyment of rights founded upon the revealed will of his Maker, and absolutely essential to the moral and physical well being of the human race. Amongst the essays received, was one which the adjudicators were constrained to lay aside, as being the work of a female. At the same time, the essay was of such a nature that the adjudiuatois determined that it should not be lost to the worlJ. It was therefore, propped to the ipnter, (» (arm servant) to allow of its publication ; and she Was requested, at the same tirce^to write a sketch of her Hie to prefix to the es«ay. In both these proposals she acquiesced, and the \olume is abrrit to be published under the ' title of " The Pearl of Days " Let it be remembered that this production of the pen of a female hervant, but of a girl trained fioin infancy to reverence the Sabbath, is but one of 95 '.written all by labourers, in the s-ime tpirit, it not all with equal genius. We are uiat fied to be able to say, that the while subject has been brought under Her Majesty's notice by the zealous activity of Lord At>hley, and that the Queen has invited" The P arl of Days," with a selection from the 95 J assays, to be dedicated to hrself. 'J h's •ta act the part ot a fimihh Quern. Such relation* contracted between a Sovereign and the humblest of hec subjects are a guarantee for public oidt-r worth millions of armed men. Would that Queen Victoria were not the only aoveteign that can cultivate these relation!.