OTAGO. PUBLIC MEETING. (From the Otago News, May 30.)

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 327, 12 July 1849, Page 3

OTAGO. PUBLIC MEETING. (From the Otago News, May 30 .)

A meeting lnving been called by icveral of the inhabitants to take into considers' ion Ka 1 Grey's proposal of intioducing "convict exiles" into this Settlement, a numerous assembly met on Saturday, at the Church ; W. H. Valpy, Esq., iv the Chair. Mr. Kettle having read the requisition calling the meeting together, and the Rev. Mr. Burns having asked the divine blessing upon the proceedings ; the despatch of Ihe Secretary of Stale for the Colonies and that of the Lieutenant Governor were given to the meeting. The Chairman then called upon the Rev. Mr. Barm, who read the following propositions, which were " collectively" seconded by Captain Car. gill, And unanimously carried by the meeting : Ut.—" That this meeting deeply sympathises with (he difficult queition rais d by the Brit sh Government as to the dhposil of convicts who hay« undergoue part of their punishment under an experimental system of discipline and instruction ; and whilst they regard with admiration mid thankfulnars the benevolent efforts of statesmen for the complete reformation of these unhappy persons, and their final establishment in circumstances of usefulness and respectability, the meeting Rt the same time is decidedly of opinion, that a young colo iy is the very last which could venture to receive any portion of such a clan of persom into iti own bosom. 2n<l.—" That considering the peculiar temptations to which the settlers of a distant infant colony are exposed, owing to the diminished force of public opinion —the relaxed observance of religious dutiei wlrch a scanty and scattered population is apt to induce— and the greater facilities to intemperence or idleness afforded by easier circumstances, together with the casual and unavoidable advent of loose characters amongst them from other places, all requiring the most strenuous and care f ul maintenance of such moral and religious appliances ai a young community can command, in order to its own purity and well being. The meet ing 11 decidedly of O|inion that the influx of persons whose expulsion from the mother country was caused by their own crimes, whose alledged reformation is mainly based upon coercion and restraint, and whose evil tendencies may all retu n the moment such res raint i* withdrawn — is a proposal fraught only with «vil and cannot be too strenuoinly deprecated, being in fact a proposal on the part of the strong to fling off a burden, which it feeli to be intolerable, and to lay it upon the weak, 3rd.—" I hat amon?st a body of convic's under treatment with a view to their reform»tioii such, in the opinion of the meeting, is the difficulty of seperating the really reclaimed, from those who are only apparently «o, that in making a selection there would be lound ten of the latter for one of the former, and that the conse quest moral contamination [such as earned at Au klanr 1 , would prove not only • most serious injury to the Europsan settlers, but a fearful infliction upon the inoia s of the natives, amongst whom, in ti eir several reserves, they w ti'd sp edily find themselves. 4th. — '• That with regard to the righteous expression in Earl Grey's despatch, namely, ' that the tickets of leave (should) admit of lestricting them to particular districts, and of enforcing the payment of moderate sums in return for the cost of their conveyance, but do not in other respects inteifere with the freedom of the ineu to whom they are granted, nor diminish the or. dinary motives to industry and good conduct ;' the meeting is of opinion Ist. — ♦• That in addition to the burden of repayment, there would be a tendency to seek their services by persons whose only object is cheap labour, qrithout caring to give fair value for work done.jnnd which, toget l er with the feeling that most others were shy of them, would be greatly discouraging to such of those unhappy men as might be really disposed to do well, and 2nd. — " That the ; r introduction info the labour market would be injurious to the working daises at large, who were prepared to compete with th« labour of natives, and of Europeans, who had joined the settlement at their own expense, but not with men in the urgent circumstances of exile convicts. sth.— ''That the meeting ia decidedly of opi don with respect to ticket of leave men, that without the summary and rigid appliances of a penal settlement, it would be itrposs ble to hinder any number of them from going where they pleased, apd ncstl.ng amongst the natives, and therefore that the institutions of any settlement in which they should be located, must of necessity have much of a penal chaiacter. 6th. — "That the great majority of the Otago settlers, of every class, would never have come to New Zea land, except for the pledges that they were to have free initiations, and, that the Parkhurst expeiiment was never to be repeated ; and that the meeting feels assured that the si ttlers have only to avow, as is hereby most decidedly done, their unalterable hold upon these pledges, in order to their being fulfilled to the letter, and in the full spirit which gave rite to them."

Peutility op Land.— Mr. P. Crow, of Hi(?h Street, exhibited a line sample of potatoes a few days ago, grown from a slip ; as well as the proceeds from one root, weighing 18 lbs. They bad never been attended to, and the soil ii subject to inundationi.— Otago Newt, May 3D.