The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 337, 4 August 1849, Page 3

The New-Zealander.

Be ju3t and fear not : Let all the ends thon aims't at, be thy Country's, Thy Gon's, aud Truth's.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 18*9.

The proceedings of the Legislative Council on Thursday were for the most part formal, and only preparatory to the fuller consideration of the measures which the Governor has proposed for adoption. The Bill for " Quieting Titles to Land" and the " Crown Lands' Bill" were re- ! •pectively read a first time ; and the second reading of them was fixed for this day, when the Council will re-assemble at two o'clock, and when the principle of the former measure especially will come under discussion. The Returns relating to this subject, which were laid on the table on Wednesday, were ordered to be printed in such a form as may seem expedient to a small committee appointed to luperintend the matter, — it being stated that the documents contained various observations made by the clerks merely for the information of the Governor, which therefore it would not be necessary, and might not be desirable, to print under the authority of the Council. — The substance of the Returns of course will be printed, aud a curious revelation, we believe, it will be, respecting the ways in which various " titles" were acquired, investigated, and ultimately granted. The most interesting additional notice of motion was one by the Colonial Treasurer, that prayer should be offered up daily before the commencement of the business of the Council. The propriety of this proposition must be readily and earnestly acknowledged by every man who, conscious of the fallibility of human wisdom at its best, recognises the constant need of guidance from above in all private and public concerns of life. It was a strange omission by which an observance, so important in itself, and so invariably kept up in the Imperial Legislature, should have been so long neglected here ; and Mr. Shepherd acted as well became a member of a professedly Christian assembly, in calling special attention to it. The only difficulty that we can anticipate is in relation to the proposal that the prayers should be read by the clerk. We can understand— although we may not participate in — the objections which some rigid admirers of ecclesiastical order may en-

tertain to the performance of such a service by a layman. But if this point should he urged, we cannot doubt that the Colonial Chaplain would, though it might involve inconvenience to himself, regulate his arrangements so as to devote to this duty the short time at each sitting of Council that would be required for it. The proceedings to day, we need scarcely observe, are likely to be of considerable importance.

The more closely we look into the character of those enactments in the Marriage Ordinance on which we animadverted a few days since, and the fuller information we obtain respecting the : hardships which they inflict and the consciousness of unmerited injury which their operation keeps up in the minds of the large and respectable classes oppressed and insulted by them, the more satisfied are we that the tone of reprehension in which we referred to them was rather too mild and mitigated, than too vehement or indignant. Uncalled for by any necessity, unprovoked by any abuse of privilege on the part of those who are aggrieved by their sectarian injustice, indefensible on any principle of enlightened or equitable legislation, fraught with elements of wide -spreading discord and mischief in their prospective tendencies, we cannot but wonder why it was that such enactments were ever made in New Zealand, and why it is that they continue in force to this day. The ministers and laymen of the denominations injuriously affected by the Ordinance, owe it to themselves, to the cause of toleration j and religious freedom, and to the colony generally, to take all legitimate means to procure a full and speedy modification of it in the particulars referred to. The occasion afforded by the present Session of the Legislative Council should not be permitted to pass unimproved. In addition io any representation which the Ministers may for themselves judge it expedient to make, it would be most desirable that a public meeting should be convened, at which the real nature of the obnoxious restrictions may be explained, and a Memorial to the Council for their complete and immediate removal adopted. As we have already intimated, we confidently anticipate that in such a movement, the Presbyterians and the Wesleyans (on whom the exclusivisni of the Ordinance more immediately presses) would not be left to their own unassisted efforts ; but that others, not so directly interested in the question, would yet, on public and patriotic grounds, co-operate cordially with them. We have reason to believe that some such step as that to which we have now alluded is under consideration* It is obvious that what is to be done in the case (so far as addressing the Council is concerned) should be done with as little delay as possible.

Since our last the Government brig has arrived, and we have received our usual files of papers from other parts of this Colony. The dates are, Wellington to the 25th July, Nelson to the 14th, and Dunedin (Otago) to the 7th. A scheme for promoting Immigration under the auspices of the New Zealand Company, which seems to have been for some time in contemplation, has been matured, and Mr. Fox, the Principal Agent, has issued a prospectus of it according to instructions which the Court of Directors forwarded by the Mariner. It is offered to bring out persons of the labouring class in Great Britain and Ireland whom their friends here desire should come to the colony, on reduced terms as steerage passengers : viz., a written undertaking, satisfactory to Mr. Fox, must be given to pay £10 for each adult, £5 for every child between 7 and 14 years of age, and £4 for every child over one year and under seven ; — the money to be paid within six months after the arrival of the immigrants. — The men must belong to the class of manual labourers, as distinguished from those who intend to buy land, or to invest capital in trade, and they will be expected to work in the Settlement to which the passage is granted. Preference will be given to young married couples having no children, and to females accustomed to farm and dairy work, and domestic servants. We have litt'e doubt that this plan will be carried out more efficientlyi and with more advantage to all concerned, that the corresponding scheme propounded in December 1847 by the Government at Auckland, which only issued in disappointment and loss to those who were attracted by its proposals. A flood more destructive than any remembered by the oldest settler swept the Hutt valley on Sunday the Bth ult. Enormous trees were uprooted, and large portions of the banks were undermined and fell in. Nearly half an acre of land was thus swept away in one place, together with a road sixteen feet broad. The " Independent" ascribes much of the injury to the culpable negligence of a few of the settlers who have been in the habit of throwing their trees and woodland rubbish into the river, thus stopping its channels, and causing such a devastating overflow as this ; — and calls for a law to punish those who do so. It appears that Mr. William Paterson, a settler of Wanganui, has discovered a process — (it is said by a solution of alum) -for effectually cleansing away from the New Zealand Flax (Phormium tenax) the gummy substance which has hitherto presented an insurmountable obstacle to the experimentalist,

and interfered with the commercial value of the flax as an article of export. By Mr. Patersons process " the fibre is not in any way injured or weakened, and the whole leaf may be used ; whereas in the common mode of preparation that part nearest the root is usually rejected from the great amount of gummy matter it contains." The inventor has exhibited his process at Wellington to several persons, including Judge Chapman and Mr. Fox, who pronounced it satisfactory in its results, as well as easy and cheap in its application. It is said that Mr. Paterson intends to publish a full account of it. b-bould the discovery realize the anticipations entertained of it, it cannot fail to prove of vast benefit to the country. Our young and promising contemporary the " Otago News" has not only outlived Captain Cargill's despotical attempt either to crush or to reduce it to a slavish serfdom to his own will, but has enlarged its size ; comes out weekly instead of fortnightly ; and is bidding fair to take a respectable place amongst the Colonial journals. A series of articles entitled " Notes on the Suburban and Rural Districts of the Otago Settlement" has been commenced in its columns, written, the Editor states, by " a correspondent well acquainted with the Otago Block, and free from any interested motives or party prejudice."