SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 1850.

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 395, 26 January 1850, Page 3

SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 18 50.

The River Chief arrived last evening from Melbourne, bringing papers to the sth instant. They contain no intelligence from England later than had already reached us. We find, however, the following from the Cape of Good Hope, dated the 11th October :—: — " The Attorney General having requested a few gentlemen to wait upon his Excellency the Governor, at one o'clock to-day, to hear read a private note from Earl Grey to his Excellency, in answer to his private letter of the 24th May, 1849, per H.M.S. Childers. That letter was, read by the Attorney -General, in the presence of Messrs. Rutherford, Macdonald, Eaton, and Jerram, and was to the following effect •• — " The Letter was dated 23rd July, and his Lordship, after expressing his regret as to the opposition of the colonists to the general measure of convict transportation to this colony, intimated that that system was in consequence abandoned, but expressed a hope that by making this concession to the feelings of the colonists no opposition will be manifested towards receiving the convicts by the Neplune, in which event he will send out an equal number of free emigrants at the cost of the Home Government ; but if the colonists peisisted in their opposition to receive the convicts by the Neptune, those funds would then necessarily be employed in providing for them. " The Anti-Convict Association still maintained that the " pledge " should be observed, although the former chairman of that body, when nobody else would do it, had sold wheat to the Government to supply the Neptune. Mr. Jerram, one of the Finance Committee of the Association had also resigned."

The suggestion that steps should be taken to place the Auckland Mechanics' Institute on a more solid and enduring footing, which we offered in our last, has been followed up more promptly than we anticipated; as will be seen by a Notice in our advertising columns calling a Meeting of those who feel interested in the subject for Monday evening next. We regard this with pleasure;— a pleasure not derived from any puerile vanity because it has immediately succeeded our own reference to the matter, for we merely gave expression to a wish which we knew was entertained in various quarters, as well as by ourselves — but because it is a satisfactory evidence of a prevailing disposition to accomplish this object of public benefit, and, if practicable, to accomplish it efficiently, and now. We trust that many will manifest a desire to aid in the undertaking combining so much of the ulile and the dulce — the improving and the agreeable — by giving the countenance of their presence and cooperation to this preliminary proceeding. The Meeting will not, we suppose, hold out any such inducements as that of eloquent speechmaking to attract an attendance ; for its design seems to be business rather than oratory ; nor will it, as we hope and believe, have any admixture of political feeling, or religious peculiarity, to satisfy the tastes of ocntending parties either in the Church or the State -.—but we cannot permit ourselves to apprehend that it will engage-less of the regards of the enlightened and benevolent amongst our fellow-towns-men on these accounts. Besides — as every one of common observation must have seen — small Meetings, provided they are composed of men of the right stamp, are frequently more influential than the congregations of masses, — except indeed, the object be some appeal to physical force, the very antipodes of the peaceable and philanthropic efforts contemplated here. The " re-organization" of the Institute, of which the Requisition speaks, we take to mean its re-construction, with the retention of so much of the old structure as has been found valuable, and the addition of such enlargements, and the introduction of such modifications, as experience may have suggested, or the progress of circumstances which the transition state of a new colony like this may have rendered either available or necessary. We desire to see the Mechanics' Institute here become a medium for the communication of information, both moral and intellectual; and also of enjoyment, as, for example, by means of music, for which — (thanks to some of our towns-folk, none of whom will, we think, object to our naming Mr. Outhwaitb as their chief in this particular line)—- we are as a community, it is to be hoped acquiring some taste. To our operatives, — to the men and their families, who are during the day engaged in the pursuits of humble though honourable industry ; and then to all classes, particularly the

young of both sexes, who may desire to avail themselves of its benefits it may be productive both of pleasure aud profit. Much has been done by Mechanics' Institutes within the fifty years since Dr. Birkbeck established the first, and much remains to be done, especially in rising communities like ours. We are aware, indeed, that Christian men have sometimes repudiated such Institutions because an infidel or semi-in-fidel taint had polluted their management. We earnestly trust that nothing of the kind will be permitted to defile the re -organized Me* chanics' Institute here ; for, should it be, our present advocacy of the project would certainly be changed into determined hostility. But we anticipate the formation of some plan at the Meeting of Monday which will give substance to the scheme, and, general satisfaction to the public. We really do not know what the plan or programme of that Meeting may be ; but, concurring, and willing in every way to help forward its object, we thus strongly commend it to the regard of our readers. The matter being one in which we ardently desire unity of purpose and action, we cannot but be gratified by the cordial tone in which the Southern Cross takes up the project. In our contemporary's wish that there may be " a strict avoidance of any thing like party in the arrangements," we heartily concur. Principle, not party, should be the motto of every Institution that aims to be — or that deserves to be — popular.