The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 313, 30 May 1849, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

He ;ust ami (ear not: Let all the ends tliou aiuis't at, be tliy Country's, Thy God's, and Truth's.

W E DNEBDA V, MAY SO, JB4 9.

The " Adelaide," schooner, Captain Gedge, ani\cd from Ilobait Town on Sunday morning; whence the brig" Sisteis," via Wellington, had sailed on the 17th ultimo The " Esperanza," was again laid on for Auckland, and would follow the " Adelaide " in a few days. Van Diemen's Land, if we may judge from all accounts, whether public or private, is still in a most distracted state, — her trade destroyed, her energies lepressed, her resources recklessly squandered, by an Establishment founded, it would seem, not for the just rule of free horn Britons, but for the mere benefit of those privileged to batten on their ruins. The Colonial Times of the Ist instant, extracts from our journal at considerable length, especially with reference to the inducements held out to artizans to migrate hither. The j Editor winds up his observations with the shrug familiar to galled endurance, lemarking, with a sigh, that — what with Adelaide, and Poit Phillip, Sydney and Auckland, not afiee mechanic, or labomer, will be left to Van Diemen's Land. The Editoi, however, rejoices in the prospect, m Inch the necessities of New Zealand piesent to the Tasmanian agriculturists of getting rid of the'r surplus produce ; and the pith of the Journalist's congratulation is its matter of fact fidelity. Here is a nut, (albeit a deaf one), for the dear land sophists to crack. Let them ponder this beautiful " effect," which "defective conies by cause" of the costly fetteis in which their disciples have bound New Zealand. Could they desire a more conclusive demonstration of the ruin their system entails than this of a countiy incomparably less fertile, and infinitely less extensive, feeding a larger and a finer territory, and which has been vaunted to be, (as it intrinsically might be) the Granary of the Southern Ocean ! Yet, such is the consistent Colonial Office — " Justice to the Colonies !" — Van Diemen's Land lies Convict- crushed — New Zealand groans in Land-bound impotence, and that, too, at a moment, when a garish lure menaces the depopulation of her infant state ! Of the present aspect of, late flourishing, Launceston, the following abstract, from a letter dated the 7th instant, impaits a description much too true. " Here I am, once more, in the old quarter. An absence of fifteen months has not been unproductive of change, but that change I lament to say, has been materially for the worse. Poor Launceston ! It is dull, spiritless, woebegone. It really seems as if it were deserted. Numbers have left and are constantly leaving •, and of those who lemain, many are not in a position, and all of them indisposed, to buy largely. You may judge, therefore, of business prospects. The most sanguine confess, that unless Representative Institutions be promptly conceded and great improvements be the result of their introduction, that trade must languish still more, and utter desenion of the place ensue. Hope is, however, strong within us, that great political changes are at hand. God grant that such may be the case, for the beautiful land seems blighted, and the energips of a spirited people paialyzed. I find the climate cold, after yours, but the atmosphere is dry and bracing." The picture of Launceston here presented is by no means a singular one. It is a family likeness of the whole Australasian group, easily recognizable from its minute fidelity of fact and feature. It is a painful one, it is true, taken at the moment of unexampled general oppression, when the sitter is almost in extremis — reduced to the lowest depth of prostiation by the Quacks and Vampires so long permitted to drain his vitals and ours. Theie IS hope, however, that changes, and a more generous treatment, are at hand. The mighty emigration movement, which stirs England to the core, has roused attention to Colonial worth — has drawn the veil of Colonial wrong. The Press of England begins to find the Colonial question one worthy to be discussed, and the more it is discussed the moie they discover that the Colonial Office is the feitile sourco of every injury inflicted, of every injustice done to Colonial Britain. They perceive that the Colonies, instead of being left to be the precious pocket petquisites of a needy and a woithless clique, ought to be made the invaluable as they are the available instruments of relief of British distress — the extended sources of British supremacy and success, not the mere disgusted and discontented serfdoms of Colonial Office domination. It is full time that a discovery, so essential to the Nation, so vital to the Colonies, should have been made ; — and we, in common with the few who have long been labouring to pluck that film from the English eye, cannot but hail with rapture the mighty assistance we have now received, and in which our on n petty efforts must be so beneficially absorbed. The noble stand made by the Court of Policy of British Guiana, in defence of their representative lights, is one great and glorious fact calculated to open the eyes of England to the syst ematic oppressions of her Colonial Office despotism. " Lord Grey," says the Spectator, " employs the power intrusted to him by the British Crown and Cabinet, to follow up and

enforce injustice with a tyranny that exceeds the boundary of the Constitution. If British Guiana were ' an English County' he a\ould be nrpr\cncn !" '•' Set you down this :" ye Colonists ; and rejoice in your diminished proportions of English Libeity ! Hut, if the saw of the Spectator be sooth, and the language of Sir Hobeit Peel woithy of the biealh that gave it currency, then surely an impeachment should be as valid wheie " injustice" and " tyranny " is exercised against any " integral portion of the empire !" I The indignant stand, made by the colony of New South Wales against the " injustice " and " tyranny "" — not to say a word of the duplicity — of Karl Grey in attempting once more to degrade that ill used province to a penal settlement, is another startling instance of Colonial Office domination which the people and pi ess of England would do well to keep in view. To pull New Zealand down to the like polluted level was a project left for the present aibitrary keeper of the Colonial seals to devise, and we earnestly hope yet to see it passed to the credit of his account, if not repaid with interest. Were it our cue to hunt up illustrations of Colonial Office wrong, and Colonial suffering, we might siring them together by the gioss •, and, in so doing, compassionate Eail Grey as the most unlucky of Ministers that ever ren dered more hateful the hated bureaucracy over which he so dogmatically presides. The instance furnished by British Guiana, and a neighbouring example from Trinidad shall, for the piesent, suffice, and from " The Emigrant," we contrast the following chaiacteristic exhibitions of the self-denyings of a nobleman, with the grindings of a grub. The council of government at Trinidad assembled in the new cou'icil-rootn for the first time on the 2ml of November. Lord Harris indJ^eJ in a set speech on the occasion, and fo>!< the opportunity to present the biisver of the Secretary for the Coloaies <o the despatch forwarded with the e«t unite* for thp year ; and to announce that the Trinidad shire of the imperial loan wou d be £39,000, as a'»o to tbrow out sjme suggestions as ( o iU application. With regard to the estimwles, Earl Grey lp>ves the question of retrenchment enti'ely to Loid Harris and the c .uncil. His lordship, however, enters into an elabora te argu ment against the reduction of salaries. Still, if the i Governor and Council will reduce, he will let them. The following passive in Eul Grey's despatch is extiemely creditable to Lord Harris's disinterestedness; but not quite so creditable to Earl Giey's sense ot justice : " With respect to the apportionment of the reducti >n at a d fferent rate pir cent, upon silaries ot different amount, your loidship has proposed a gra('u.ited scale which, whilst it would deduct only 1 per cent fiom Sdlaries under j£2o ), wou'd lubject your own salary to a deduction of 30 per cent. But I cannot concur in the justness of this prine pie ; and I am of opinion th it the deduction should be made atone uniform rite per cent, from all salaries whatever, or at all cv nts, fiom all salaries exceeding £150 ayem." Lord Harris dd-eives honour for the noble exanople lie has s< t our ovtrpu'd col nial governors. But Lord Grey cannot be bi ought to understand how a salarj which baiely affords necessaries of liie to o hardworking man, ou^ht not to be to lightly touched as the semi sinecure (we ipeak of the class, not of Lord Han is), affoidnij luxuries, of one of his owu castf. The appointment of Mr. Rarkley to the gorernment of Gtmtm (wri'es the Daily News) is evidence of the sense cirertnined by the Colonial-Office of its own degraded position. It triss to avert farther censure on the affairs of this colony by seiz.ng on this young person's viigin reputa ion and interposing it between th colony and public repu'ation. 1 know Mr. Barkley — he ii gen«ii>]e, amuiole, and well-me«ming ; he \< accomplished, out not qualified; and if he succeed, it will be more by good luck than in consequence of fitness. His appointment is a piece of dishonest quackery — sop to the Weat Indians, and intended to avert city wrath. And for it Lord Grey deserves contemp iathei than praise It is not ten years since the Colonial-offict sent Sir Henry M'Leod to Guiana to arrange this civi list question, and it is now obliged to send out Mi. Baikley to re-seitld it. Now, lir, a civil list is just that question which every community ought to settle for themselres, without the inteiference or revision ol colonial secretarii s or colomal governors ; for they best know what they can afford to pay for the maintenance of s.ciely And this principle shows the vice of our colonial system, which is interference. So long as we have a colonial-office, it will be meddlesome. Wha» the colonies require are— l. The abolition of the Colo-nial-office ; 2. The right to elect all their own officers, commencing with tbc governor, except the judges ; 5 The right to tax themselves as much or as little as they please; 4. AJrefei^nce on all great constitutional questions to the privy council. — These are the only remedies for our present system. Precisely ! So long as we have a Colonial Office, it will he meddlesome . — and it will also be arbitrary and ignorant. For twenty years, in England and in the Colonies, and in every manner and way, we have striven to inculcate that fact, and to impress upon the Colonies that THE ABOLITION OF THE COLONIAL OFFICE WOULD, INDEED, PROVE THE COLONIAL MaGNA Charta ! May that glorious consummation speedily he achieved, and may every Colony unite in earnest and inflexible exertion for its most desirable accomplishment.

English intelligence to the 3rd of January, via Adelaide, had reached Van Diemen's Land. The Journals give but limited details, although their extracts are somewhat lengthy. Several of these will be found in another page. We may condense the leading facts into the following brief compass, gleaned from " The Colonial Times" of the 24th, and " Hobart Town Courier"' of the 25th ultimo •.—. — The wool and tallow markets were firm, ihe former having an evident upward tendency, a< d the sales arc said to show an advance of a halfpenny to a penny p r pound ; tallow main'aineJ its price, but the stocks were large, ami the likelihood of a small decrease was antic patcd. Sperm oil was worth ,£B5.

The wheat average for the s'x week*, ending 20th December, was 49a. 7d. p»r quarter. There had been a gradual decline; on the lat JanUiry the highest price was 575. Eight hundred London bakers became inS'lJveit liut year. The Times remarks, "There ig scarcely any branch of Britifh manufacture which has not lately experienred a beneficial reaction or prosperous impulse from (he 1-ite couvulsions in continental Europp. The rj. Mit disrui bair-es in France weie l.kely to conduce to a most impoitant event — namely, the removal of the fancy silk tra le from Paris and Lynn 3 to England." The Leeilt Mercunj «tat s, " that there wpre several |>ai tii>s in Coventry, Manchester, and Ln don, recently ai lived fiom Paris and Lyon» aa pioneers; and, from information that might be relied upon, there w.is e»e,Mf reason to believe tlut several establishments wo'ald foiilnvith he lemoved to England." The Tunes of the Ist January says :—" Consols have closed to-day within a fiac'ion of four per cent* rtlwe tluir pr'cc on the lsl of January lasr, wh;n, with the exception of Italy, Europe was in a state of profound repo^o, and the woist casualty anticipated by the speculators was the possible death" of Louis Philippe ! The bulli <n in the Bunk is £2 600,Q0Q in eve=s of that p-riod n.n'l within about a million of its highest ) ont piecoduis; the modnesj of 1846 while the banking ren-ive has incieaied £1, 400,000, and is nearly ball a inilliun higher than at any period bince the passing of the Bank Charter Act." On the 3rd of January Consols opened at 89^, declined to bi) and 88-/, and are now 89 to 89j. News font Van Diemen's Land to the 3rd August, and fiom Sydney to the 10i!» August, had been received. The proceedings of the non-elecion faciion of Port Phillip lmd excited sonn mirth. It is consider* d that the Melbourne people, by the election of Eul Grey and otl.e s, luve disfranchised themselves. It was rcpoited that the arrangements had been concluded by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Company with Government for the line of iteamers to Australia. The fii<st packet was to start on 24th Jan. | The Eng'Mi political news is unimportant. There d'd not appear to be any p ospect of a charge of Ministry before the meet ng of Parliament on the <l.h Ffbrui ry. Her Majesty and tJie R yal Family weiewell, and spending the r Christmas «eason at Windsor. The Eail of Auckland, First Lord of the AdmiraHr, died on the 31 t December. Tne Earl oi Ox'ord had alsn die I. The Hon. E. H. Stnn'ey has been elected for Lynn, in the room of the late Lord B ntinck. Lola iloutei (Countess of Landsfi Jd) has arrived in London. The affairs of Rome are engrossing public attention. Advices to the 24th December had been received from Rome, which slate that the utmoit trinqu'llity prevailed, and that the junta and parliament were carrying on the Guverom-ui satisfactorily. There appears no symptom of reaction in public feeling; and, although the Pope has been deposed from his temporal power, he exercises his spiritual p iwer in full pleni. mdc. All parties demand war with Austria, and a piutist against ihe expedition of G neral Cavaignac lias been published by Mie Mini try. Proceed-iV'S bad heen taken against the muiderer of Count Rossi. The Pensiero Italiino, of Geno<>, of the 14th December, publishes the following :— '• The Frotisional Government bus be-so proclaimed. It consists of the Seuatoia of Home and Bologna, and of ths Gjnfalioniere of Ancnna. The l*ope was declartd to have forfeited his temporal power. The Minister S'eibini harangued the people, and announced that the Pope alone a* Bishop, tliould be permitted io rettun to Rome, and that the entrance of the city was to be in'erdkted to all the <-aidiiidl^ and prelates. The people, rnthusias'ic with juy, traversed Ihe streets of Home, dying, ' Death to the Pope ! death to the cardinal, !' " In France a'l rema ned tranquil ; thepjaceful termi« nation ot ilie election of President had be.en prcductite of ihe mo,t beneficial effects on funded and other property. There had been some di-turbances in St Petersburg!^ cms- d by a rumour tb<»t the nobles vrere about to expel ihe poor, to get rid of the chol ra. The war in Hungary is carried on with a refinement of baroanly that is scarcely to be believed. The Austrians in the m,]itaiy hospital at It gen burnt out the eyes of the sick soldiers with scalding pitch, broke their limbs, and then left them to die the most torturing and lingering death. Since January, 1547, half a million of eouls have emigrated from B.itain. Si cc January, 1848, this unexampled emigration hid assumed the form of a spontaneous and regu ar stieam. The Tones conjectures that henceforth nearly the whole annual increuse to the Britiih population will emigrate. Information from Canada describes that colony 83 benjj in a very wretched and a very hazardous condition. The feeling of the people i-, that they have been ca^t off and abandoned by the paient country, and that it is becoming a matter of the p'ainest prudence, if no* of the roo6t pres«ng necessity, that they should abandon a Government that wi'l not protect their interests, m oder to lake refuge under a Government that will, • Ireland retains its unenviable precedency for misery Murdeisaie, as usual, the horrible topi s of discuision in {most districts. Skibbeieen is again reduced tt> a state of the greatest wretchednjas. The army in Ireland was 50,000 strong. The cholera is> causing much , alarm throughout the United Kingdom. It ii said that in one day i? 1500 of duty was paid for brandy alone at the Leitn Custonn, in consequen33 of this alum The Times refuses to insert any adveitiseuaent in which the word " cholera* is prominent. An association was to be formed, with its centre io Loudon to he entitled "The League of Social Progreis,'' opened to members of " a\\ creeds, classes, sects, and pi ties, who are agived as to the evils arning from the present system of selfish competition and individual antagonism, and are of opinion that society can alone be renovated and restored to healthy und beneficial action by a new organisation of land, sk'U, capital, and labour on ihe associative system." Ie is estimated that the parish of Saint Martia'g, London, will sive i, J2,500J 2,500 per annum by the adoption of the. Artesian water .-upply system. The prin'ed indictment against M r . Duffy, of the Nation, measures one hundred leet in length. The judgment of the cou.t on the demnrrcr in the case of ihe Queen ag iust D^ffy was to b^ given oti the 2nd January. There were 8,000 paupers on Ihe out- door and work* houie re ief in Skibbeieen. A ournster of Lincoln's-im has undertaken to prove that there never were such persons as Shakspere, Ben Johnson, Cnaucer, Spencer, Beaumon f , and Fletcher, and that '• the monks were ihe anonym >us authors of those historical, classical, and dratn«(ical compositions enoneotuly attributed to Mister William Shakspera and oihers !" The formation of a Locomotive Ste«m Carriage Company for the conveyance of passengers and light goods on common roads has been encouraged by the most conclusive assurances from scientific men, who hive made themselves acquainted with the recent improvements of Si James Anderson,

Tica-Meeting.— A Society and Congregational Social Tea-Party is to be held, this ereniug, in the "Wesleyan School Room, at six o'clock. Sacred Harmonic Society. — In consequence of Mr. Makepeace's Lecture, announced for this evening, the Sacred Harmonic Society will meet for practice, to-morrow evening, Thursday, at 7 o'clock, when thr following pieces will be n henrsed :— The Evening Hymn— Tallis; The Heavens are Telling— Hdy.in ; When rising Shines the M.trniiif; Star ; Hark ! the Glad Sound— Webb.