CAPE COLONIES. (From the Hobart Town Courier, Feb. 14, 1849.)

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 294, 24 March 1849, Page 2

CAPE COLONIES. (From the Hobart Town Courier, Feb. 14, 1849.)

VVK have been favoured with Cape journal! to the 13th December, our own files not extending to that date. The Legislative Council met on the 12th. Sir Harry Smith had intended to propose an ordinance for crea ing a burgher force, or militia, to be ready in case of invasion by land or ica, but had retired the bill in consequence of the presentation of a great many memorials from the residents against the measure. A bill was passed for the removal of all legal restriction on public meetings of the inhabitants ; and the supplementary estimates bill was passed without alteration by the Council. Among the additions wai the increase of £500 to Captain Montagu's salary, as Secretary to the Go* vernment, recommended by three successive Governors, and finally ordered by her Majeity, in consideration of the additional labour imposed upon that gentleman in his office, and of the invaluable services he has rendered the colony. His Excellency warmly congratulated Mi. Montagu on this proof of her Majesty's readiness to appreciate and reward all meritorious public servants, and, after taking- a review of Mr. Montagu's life in the colony, it was justly urged by the South African Commercial Advertiser, that it would be universally felt that never was a reward more justly bestowed. The following is a copy of Earl Grey'i despatch upon the tubject— " Downing-street, 25th Sept., 1848. "SiR,-~lhaTe received your despatch of the 11th March last, No. 32, urging the propriety of acceding to the application of Mr. Montagu, the Colonial Secretary to the Government of the Cape of Good Hope, for an increase to his pre.ent sala-y, and referring lo the concurrent opinion entertained both by Sir Peregrine Maitland, and your immediate predecessor in favour of this measure. " The heavy aad responsible duties which have for some lime past been unavoidably imposed on Mr. Montagu, and the very high testimony born to his zealous and efficient discbarge of those duties, have induced me to submit his claim to the favomable consideration of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury.; and I have to desire that you will inform Mr. Montagu, that I have much satisfaction in being enabled to announce the concurrence of their lordships in my recommendation, that he should be permitted to receive an increase of i?s<)o per annum to his present salary of j£ J lso >to long as he may continue to ho.d the office of Colonial Secretary, and that such increase inouid commence from Ist July, 1847. " This augmetitat'ou of salary is made to Mr. Montagu in cori«ider«tiou of the peculiar position in which he has been placed, and of the very valuable services rendered by him to the colony. 4 " Whenever, therefore, Mr. Montagu may rease to hold the office of Colonial Secretary, you will be careful to make it understood, that the salary of his surcenor will be fixed at the former standard of £1500 a year, I have, &c, (Signed) Grey. " Lieur..Gen. Sir H. Smith, Bart., &c, &c, &c." We have before informed our readers that the inhabitants, in public meeting asiembled, had refused to submit to the admission of convicts on any terms into tue colony, and pledged thmiselvfs not to employ them, should they be sent against their wishes. The dissatisfaction txhibited when they arrived at that determination has been increased upon the receipt of intelligence that h r Majesty's Government have res>lved, without for a moment consulting the sentiments of the colonists, to transport to the Cape, as a place of detention and punishment, a certain class of criminals convicted of tiea on and felony in Ireland, and Chartists in England. Public meetings were held 1 upon the subj ct, and the inhabitants expressed their feeling that they had been injur/d by the selection of their country— which never d^eived other than grace and favour at her Majjsiy's hands— as a receptacle for criminals of any description, much less for desperate men who instigated the lower orders of their countrymen to acts of unparalleled wickedness, and whose presence is deemed inconsistent with the well-being of , society in the United Kingdom iUelf. Petitions were to be forwarded to her Majesty, prayinjr, not only for, the revocation of such order, but that she will bepleased to relieve their minds from all apprehensions, of the subject in future ; and the Governor w«s requested, the moment any of ihe convicts arrived, ti>. cause them to be removed to Robben Island, and; detained, without communication with the colony, until her Majesty's Government order their removal, elsewhere. Amid this agitation th« meed of thanks was duly awarded to Sir Harry Smith, who partially accedes to the admission of the prisoners, for having wiih his usual promptness submitted to the colonists* in all its# details, the proposal of the Secretary of State in a matter S3 deeply affcting the character of the colony, and the wel ara of the inhabitants and their posterity. In doing this his Excellency remarks, that he deemed it right to inform the Legislative Council of the inti-_ mation he received ; at the same time, to impress upon thsm and the colony, that times of difficulty— like that in which the mother-country was involved— demanded every assistance on the part of his Excellency to aid in the removal of that difficulty : still thathe was profoundly, qpposed to the Cape of Good Hope being made a penal colony for ordinary lelons, or for auy other, beyond a. temporary measure like the present one. It is worthy of remark that the last letter of Earl Gp*y was in form, unofficial, apprising his Excellency that the necessary order in Council would be prepared and propagated without delay, ajs it was supposed a

class of persons would ipeedily be sentenced in Ireland for political offences. The despatch of Governor Elliot, of Bermuda, to the Secretary of State upon the embarkation of the men per Bangalore, which testifies to the efficacy of the system of convict discipline as carried out at that establishment, with his instructions to the surgeon mperintendent of the vessel, and his despatch, to Sir William Denison, appear in the public prints of the Cape Colonies, as well as Governor Elliotts address to the prisoners on boatd. The Chief Rebel Pretorim is a wanderer in the far interior. At Megaliaber«r he found only the dead body I of his wife, who had expired on the day of his arrival there. The eldest son of the unhappy criminal was also in a state of great danger. The Governor's pacificatory arrangement! were being satisfactorily carried out. One poor foolish Boer, on whom the Commissioner was about to inflict a fine of fifteen shillings, pleaded in mitigation that he had saved an officer's Jife at Boera Plaats. Upon enquiry, this appeared to W? true, as bis statement agreed with that of Lieut. Salis, the only officer who was at any time in the power of the rebels, Upon this the Commissioner, instead of fining him 155., made him a present of 30s. The report publ shed by the Natal Cotton Company is highly encouraging. Cotton can now be coniidered onfc of the «taple products of Southern Africa. The progress in the growth of wool has been astonishing. In 1830 the quantity expoited was only 373,298 lbs. iv 1846 it was 3,194,602 lbs.