The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 403, 23 February 1850, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

Be just and fear not : Let all the ends thou airas't at, be thy Country's, Thy God's, and Tiuth's.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23,1850.

That Coal exists in various parts of New Zealand has long been a fact of notoriety, and that its application to beneficially practical purposes would be one of the most valuable developments of the resources of the country was too plain to need proof. But we were scarcely prepared for such a gratifying disclosure of the great capabilities of the Waikato District in this respect, as will be found in the following communication with which we have just been favoured by the Rev. A. Gr. Purchas to whose ability and enterprising diligence in conducting the investigation, the public are indebted for the information which we subjoin. As the letter only came into our hands at a late hour last night, we can at present do no more than submit this authentic statement of the facts to the consideration of our readers, assured »that itj will receive the attention to which it is so obviously entitled. It suggests much matter for thought and future comment. To the Editor of the New Zealander. Sir, — Having occasion lately to spend a short time in the Waikato district, I took an opportunity of examining the localities in which coal has been found. A short account of what we saw may perhaps interest your readers. Coal has been seen in four or five places on the banks of the Waikato River, in the great ridge of hills, of which Taupiri is the most remarkable point. We visited three of these places ; two on the south, and one on the north bank of the river. That on the north bank has been the longest known. Many years ago a large landslip took place and uncovered the edge of a coal seam, but it was not until within the last few years that the natives became acquainted with the nature or value of the treasure so disclosed. The coal brought to Auckland for sale some time ago was from this place ; but being taken from the exposed surface, may be considered as an unfavourable specimen. At the time of our -visit, the quantity of clay washed down by the rains was so great that the »cam was nearly covered. We succeeded, however, in exposing a few feet, and found the upper seam to be abnut twentytwo inches thick, of close, compact texture, and brilliant fracture, covered by a good substance of dark brown shale, and bounded below by a much thicker bed of the same substance. In this lower bed oi shale we were much interested by finding fine specimens of kauri gum, interspersed with smaJl quantities of iion pyrites. We were unable from want of time to examine the lower stratum of coal ; but there is every reason to believe that it is of great depth, the shale appearing again about 20 feet further down the side of the hill. The situation of thii place is nearly opposite the village of Kupakupa, and is from a quarter to half a mile from the edge of the river. The land belongs to the well-known old chief Te Whero Whero, of the tribe Nga ti Mahuta. The second place in which coal was discovered is on the south bank of ihe Waikato, a little higher up the stream. It is called Papahorohoro, and belongs to chiefs of the Nga ti Maliuta tribe. The seam of coal was first seen by some natives who were dig ging for kauri gum in a little gulley about half way up one of the hills that bound the narrow valley through which the river flows.} jjAt the time of our firit visit, a very small portion of the seam had been removed a but sufficient was visible to lead us to think it worth ; careful examination. There was not a pickaxe to be obtained in the whole district ; we were therefore forced to content ourselves with a morticing axe, some spades and hoes, and armed with these we commenced our labours, and before evening had the satisfaction of uncovering the seam to the extent of about fifteen feet in depth, without reaching its lower edge. We also uncovered its upper surface for some distance, and seperatcd about half a ton of coal. I have the pleasure of for wai ding to you a specimen of the coal from this place. It is of a compact kind, having 'a brilliant conchoidal fracture, and although burning with a brilliant flame is very durablet A sufficient quantity for tiying its quality has been used to-day by Mr. Watson, blacksmith, of High-ktreet, Auckland, and found to be too good for smith's purposes ; that is, having too much flame. For domestic purposes, and as fuel for steatnboileri, it ii said to be superior to New South Wales coal, being clean and perfectly free from sulphur. In appearance it cloiely resembles the cannel coal of England, but differs from it in not being so easily lighted] The other place visited is a little higher still, on the tame side of the river, and as far as 1 am aware, was only known to the native chief who was my guide. It hat, 1 believe, no distinguishing name. The seam was exposed by a landslip, and is very large ; but from the hastiness of our visit, it was impossible to make more than a superficial examination. The portion uncovered was probably about 25 feet in width, and from 18 to 20 feet in depth ; but the middle of this is now covered by a new slip of earth, with shrubs, toe-toe, &c., growing upon it. Sufficient, however, is visible to shew the great extent of the bed. ■Both of these mines might be worked with the greatest ease, and, for the present at least, would require no machinery. They are situated at a considerable elevation above the river, thus affording a facility for drainage without the use ot pumps. The distance from the river's side is only a few hundred yards, with a gradual slope the whole way. There is water communication by the river Waikato and the little streamlet of the Awaroa, to within three

miles of Wa ik", upon the Manukau harbour, and then across the harbour to Onehunga. The portage fromt the Awaroa to Waiuku is very good even in its present natural state, and with a very little judiciously employed labour, might be made an excellent road. Trusting that some means may speedily be found of turning this store of fuel to good account, to the adadrantnge of both the natives and our fellow colonisti, I remain, your very obedieat servant, Abthur. G, Purchas. Fe hruary 22, 1850 We have to thank our Reverend correspondent not only for this interesting communication; but also for the specimen of the Waikato coal to which he refers, and which may be seen at our office.

We learn with regret that the disputes amongst the Waikato tribes, to which we have lately repeatedly referred, continue, and even grow fiercer ; and that there is little immediate prospect of their being so adjusted as to prevent a collision, the effects of which cannot be anticipated without the deepest concern and anxiety. Mr. Ligar, the Surveyor General, has returned to town after having spent several weeks in unavailing efforts to bring the affair to an amicable arrangement. He offered to purchase the land from both the contending parties, but the proposal was not agreed to. He also suggested arbitration as the fairest mode of settling the quarrel, intimating his own willingness to act as arbitrator; the suggestion at first seemed likely to be adopted, but it turned out that the only condition on which one party would concur in it was that Mr. L. should engage to make the others quit the disputed boundary — that is, as we once heard an Irishman naive' ly express it, "do justice in their favour^ Te Wherowhero — in addition to his desire to get utu for some insulting language employed by his opponents — alleges that his rights have been more than once infringed upon, that he must make a stand somewhere to prevent the entire spoliation of his property, and that he is resolved to make that stand here and now. On the other side, it is contended that he is ambitious, wanting to make himself King of the Waikato country, and to elevate himself above chiefs who deem themselves fully his equals ; and that he is grasping and avaricious, trying to appropriate to himself an undue share of land which ought to be equitably divided amongst those who collectively conquered it. We understand that Mr. Ligar intends to return to the interior without delay, but, we apprehend, without any very strong expectation of being more successful than before in accomplishing the pacific object of his mission. This is the more to be lamented as from the numbers now engaged in the contention, and the unyielding obstinacy with which both parties seem determined to uphold their respective claims, the results of an actual collision would most probably be wide-spread and calamitous^ It is obvious, however, that no exertion should be spared on the part of the Government to avert this evil in the only way in which they can prudently attempt to avert it — viz., by influence, and judicious mediation.

The First Anniversary Meeting of the Auckland Auxiliary to the British and Foreign Bible Society was held (as announced in our last) on Wednesday evening, in the Wesley an Chapel, and we trust was the forerunner of many similar meetings, to be held in future years for the same object, and with still increasing popularity and effect. The Chair was occupied by Alexander Shepherd, Esq., (Colonial Treasurer), and a number of addresses were delivered, impressively exhibiting and enforcing the claims of the Bible Society on the sympathies and co-operation of the Christian public at large, and especially upon those who appreciate the importance of a, free circulation of the unmutilated and unadulterated Word of God amongst the colonizing emigrants, and the native population here, for whose benefit (as our readers are aware) there has been a translation of the Scriptures into the Maori language printed by the Society. We subjoin a copy of the Resolutions, which were unanimously and cordially adopted by the meeting : — Moted by Rev. W. Comrie, seconded by Rev. A. Reid, and supported by Rev. J. H. Fietchcr : Ist— That the British and Foreign Bible Society i* founded on principles that commend it to the support of all sections of the Church of Christ ; and that the ouccess whicli has followed the distribution of the Scriptures by its agents, both in England and Foreign, lands, commands our grateful acknowledgment! to Almighty God. Moved by Rev. W. Lawry, leconded by Dr. Bennett, and supported by Rev. T. Buddie : 2nd--That this Meeting records the debt of gratitude it owes to the Parent Society for the liberal supply of Scriptures it has furnished to this country, both in the English and Native languages, and pledges itself to renewed effort to carry out its benevoltnt design, and to increased and more fervent prayer for the Divine blessing on its agencies. Moved by Mr. Eliott ; and seconded by Mr. Gorrifl : 3rd— That the following persons be the Officer! and Committee for the " Auckland Auxiliary" for th© ensuing year '.—President : (His Excellency the Governor in Chief to be reipectfully invited to be become President.) .Treasurer: A. Shepherd, Esq. Secretaries: Rev. J. H. Fletcher, and J. Rout, Eiq. Committee : Reverends W. Lawry. T. Buddie, W. Comrie, and A. Reid; Menr«. Forsaith, Hughes, Eliott, Coney, Gorrie, Dr. Bennett, Dr. Philsou, Mesiri. Hay, R. Matthews, R. & L. J. Gilfillan, T. Lewii, and J. Nesbitt.— Depositary : Mr. J. Williamson. In the course of the proceedings, a liberal collection in aid of the funds was tafcen up,

We trust that a new and salutary impulse has *been given by this Meeting to the sacred undertaking for the advancement of which here it was convened, and that during the coming year the Auxiliary will greatly prosper both with respect to the support it shall receive and to the effect which shall attend its truly benevolent and unsectarian efforts. Its comprehensive catholicity is the glory of the British and Foreign Bible Society ; and yet, strange to say, this has not unfrequently been made a ground of objection to it by some from whom better things might have been expected. As was well said at one of the Annual Meetings of the Parent Institution by that distinguished ornament of the Free Church of Scotland, Dr Grey, of Edinburgh, «' The Bible Society, from the pure simplicity and largeness of aim that claim for it the good will of all, liat been in some instances exposed to the censure of thoie who are strenuously wedded to a particular form of opinion. Inviting the co-operation of all, rejecting the kid of none whom the spirit of piety leads to engage in the good work, the Bible Society iiai sometimes incurred the suspicions of those who think their faith is never safe except when it becomes matter of dispute, and that they are departing from tbeir creed when they arc not giving battle to all those with whom they are not fully agreed in it. It appears to me that these have not rightly apprehended the character of the Bible Society, whose object was peace and conciliation. It was not called on to engage in controversy. Its simple object was to diffuse the message of peace, and it has, I think, well sustained its consistency, acting on the principles with which it started. In opposition to many adversaries and many accusers, it has main' tamed a silence, I may say expressive silence, recommending it much more to the judicious than noisy declamation or violent retort. I trust this spirit will prevail more and more ; and I hope and believe that the Bible Society will rise to a still higher place in the estimation of the Christian public, according as the principles of Christian union, which it has always exemplified in its own proceedings, came to be more fully understood. For I ask, from what class are the men drawn that chiefly support the Bible Society? — Among the Clergy are they not those that are most candid, and charitable, and catholic-hearted in reference to other Denominations of Christians. And then, among Dissenters, are they not those who are most candid and affectionate in piety, least occupied with secular politics, and most devoted to the general Spread and prosperity of the kingdom of Christ ? It appears to me that if the Bible Society be too peaceful a scene for those that aim at party objects, it has kept open a door, it has presented an inciting rendezvous, for the lovers of conciliation and peace." We may add a short extract from a speech delivered in Exeter Hall, at the British and Foreign Bible Society's Anniversary in 1847, fey the present excellent Bishop of Melbourne, who was then just about to depart from England for the field in which he now continues to labour in a spirit of zeal and Christian liberality. We quote the passage as admirably expressing what we regard as just and pious views on a point which has sometimes been urged against the Society — the freeness of its constitution, according to which it can accept and employ the aid of all (whatever their opinions may be) who are willing to co-ope-rate in the grand work of circulating the Bible, without note or comment, pure and fresh as it came from the Divine Inspiration under which it was written. Dr, Perry (" Bishop-elect of Melbourne") in assigning his reasons for attachment to the Society, said, "I would declare my adherence to this Society, because I love and heartily approve its constitution, the perfectly free character of this Society. There is no test necessary of the religious opinions of its members, and therefore none ii required. If, indeed, the Society circulated selections from the Scriptures, it would be quite necessary that we should be satisfied of the principles and character of those whom we appointed to make the selections ; but it is not «?.— Our Society, blessed be God, circulates Uie Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing lut the Bible, and there is no occasion for a test here. If any man will assist me in the distribution of Bibles to any of my poor people who are unable to provide them for themselves, I will not ask him what are his opinioss, nor by what motives he is influenced ; but I will be thank' ful for bis assistance ; am 1 will trust, that, whatever his opinions may be, and whatever motives may influence him, the assistance which he gives will be a blessing to those who receive it, and may, in the mercy of God, be a blessing to himself also. And I will say further, dear friends, I love the constitution of this Society, because I rejoice in the opportunity it affords me of co-operating with evangelical Protestant Dissenters. Ido not doubt— -I rejoice to believe—that many, many of the Dissenters in this country are, like persons belonging to my own Church, members of Christ, children of God, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven ; and therefore I regard them as my biethien, and I desire to love them as my brethren. I lament that they are separated from us ; I lament that we cannot co-operate with them ; I should, perhaps, rather lay that they cannot co-operate with us in all things. This, indeed, cannot be hoped ; but what is the apostolical rule in a similar case? — " Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing." Yes, my Chribtian friends, I desire to adopt that rule ; I desire to act by that rule ; and I do firmly believe that active co-operation with one, another in works and labours of love will be calculated, with the blessing of God, to produce mutual sympathy and concord, and enable us, notwithstanding all our minor differences — and the differences between evangelical Churchmen and Dissenters are minor differences' — to hold the unity of the spirit in the bond of truth : and therefore, dear friends, I say that I do love and heartily support the British itnd Foreign Bible Society, because of its free constitution." These are indeed Christian sentiments ; and we rejoice to know that they are participated in by numbers of the mosl^eminent and devoted ministers and members of the various evangelical Churches, who feel it a privilege and a duty to rally, heart and hand, round the British and Foreign Bible Society, — and who practically echo the emphatical language of Dr. Grey in the speech already referred to, — " What a blessed idea it was that gave rise to the Bible Society! What (should we have done without it?''

New South Wales. We have papeis from this colony to the 2nd instant inclusive. The Legislative Council had been further prorogued to the 26th of March. j The Colonial Revenue Returns for the quarter ending 31st December, 1849, presented a cheering aspect. The Total Receipts, (exclusive of the Port Phillip District) amounted to £55,740, being an increase of more than onefifth on the corresponding quarter of 1848. The sixty* seventh anniversary of the colony was celebrated at Sydney on the 26th ultimo, " with much of that nationality which usually characterizes the people on such occasions." There was a good Regatta ; and the Mayor, Mr. Hill, gave the inmates of the Benevolent Asylum (four hundred and forty in number) an excellent old English dinner of roast beef and plum pudding. The annual meeting of the New South Wales Auxiliary Bible Society was held in the Wesleyan Centenary Chapel in Sydney on the 16th ultimo. It appeared that during the year the Auxiliary had extended its operations by the appointment of agencies at Goulburn, Queanbeyan, Bathurst, Windsor, and Maitland. The income for the year had been £326 6s, lid. ; the expenditure, including remittances to the parent society, £237 12s. Bd., — leaving a balance of £88 14s. 3d. in the hands of the Treasurer* It had issued during the year 1122 bibles, and 1510 testaments — in all 2632 copies of the Sacred Scriptures. It was the most nnmerously attended meeting the Society had ever held in the colony, not fewer than 800 persons being present. The first half-yearly meeting of the shareholders of the Sydney Railway Company was held on the Bth instant. The Report was encouraging. The Directors congratulated the Company on having received a guarantee of a minimum dividend of interest from the public revenues of the colony, and a grant of land for the site of the Sydney Terminus. They expressed a solicitude to commence the work without delay, and therefore desired that shareholders who were so disposed should pay in full, so as to make up the amount which, according to the provisions of the Act of Incorporation,fmust be raised before they can enter upon their proper work. They slated iheiv selection of Mr. Charles Cowper as Manager, | at a salary of £600 per annum. An amendment was moved, however, on the ground that the same individual should not hold the office of Manager and Director. After the outpouring of an enormous quantity of " oratory" on the question, Mr. CowrEß brought the discus- ! sion to a close by accepting the post of Manager coupled with the condition of giving up his place as Director. In order to devote all his energies to his new duties, Mr. Cowper has resigned his seat in the Legislative Council, of which he was a very hard-working and useful member, as all must have observed who have read the proceedings of that Body. His elaborate ! and successful exposure last session of the iniquities practised at Darlinghurst Gaol was an i especially valuable public service. At a meeting held at the Royal Hotel on ' the 21st ultimo, Dr. Nicholson m the Chair, it was resolved to form an " Australian Philosophical Society," and a committee was appointed to make arrangements for carrying this very desirable object into effect. It appears that there was such a society existing ' in Sydney upwards of a quarter of a century ago, under the auspices of Sir Thomas Brisbane, who was himself a man of considerable i scientific attainments ; but when he left the colony it died away. We unite in the wish that the new organization may be prosperous and permanent. Business at Sydney was dull. British goods ! were still so plentiful that they were offered j at cost price or a little more. Tallow was low ; but there was considerable animation in the wool market. Californian adventure had j apparently lost none of its attractiveness. The convict question was warmly agitated in the Moreton Bay districts. An anti-trans-portation meeting having been held in Brisbane on the 12th of November, a counter meeting was convened at Ipswich on the 10th of December. Judging from the proceedings, it must have partaken more of the character of a bear-garden than of a deliberative or decorous assembly. Universal suffrage having been at first acceded, a majority adopted an amendment to the effect that the resumption of transportation would be morally, physically, and politically injurious to the colony. It would seem, however, that this was resolved, notsomuch from any convictionof the real evils of the system, as from an apprehension on the part of the labourers (who were present in great numbers) that the introduction of convicts would put themselves partially out of employment. After " a scene of indescribable confusion, no person Wng able to make himself heard so great was the excitement," the chairman abruptly vacated the chair. The squatters then held a meeting of their own at which they adopted a memorial to Lord Grey praying that a supply of "exiles" might be annually sent to them, "feeling assured that from one thousand to one thousand five hundred would be employed in these districts, and by none more readily than your lordship's memorialists from Brisbane." This is a severe stroke at the Brisbane anti-conyict memorialists, but only a just one, if they are not more virtuous than some of their neigh-

bouvs at Sydney. The memorial praying for convicts as a great boon received forthwith the signatures of twenty-six stockholders, employing collectively upwards of seven hundred men ; and a committee was appointed to send it round to all the stations in the districts for additional names. Another meeting was subsequently held at which it was resolved to establish a newspaper in accordance with the views of the pro-convict party, — the Moreton Bay Courier (to its honour) advocating the anti-convict side. Thirty-five persons put dwon their names as supporters of the proposed journal. However the Herald may try to explain away the matter, New South Wales does now stand in the humiliating position of bolstering up by the voices and even the solicitations of a considerable section of its inhabitants a system which almost — or altogether — every other colony is rejecting with loathing and abhorrence.

Recent Deaths of Notable Persons. The obituary list includes the following names : — Lieut. Colonel George Maunselt., who for several years had commanded the 3rd (or Prince of Wales's) Dragoon Guards, and served with great distinction in the Peninsula from 1809 to the end of the war in 1814 :— at Midhurst, Sussex, Admiral 9ir C. Hamilton, Bart., X.C.8., senior Admiral of the Red :—: — at the Isle of Skye, Captain Henry Dundas Beatson, late commander of H. M. cruiser Swift .—at Poonah,in India, Captain William Gage, second son of Viscount Gage: —in Dublin, of cholera, aged 43, Dr. W. Cooke Taylor, the well known author ; since the appearance of his first work, " The Civil Wars of Ireland," he has been one of the most laborious, versatile, and generally informed literary men of the day, his pen having been industriously and successfully exercised on a great variety of subjects, historical, critical, and political ; one of his most recent and popular pioductions was " Reminiscences of Daniel O'Connell by a Munster Farmer ": —at Brighton, of cholera, aged 70, Thomas Inskip, a writer of merit and originality, and a zealous antiquarian ; he was the personal friend of Robert Bloomfield, and of John Clare the Northamptonshire poet : — at Annesley Park, aged 72, John Musters, Esq., who had obtained a celebrity beyond that of an ordinary country gentleman, from his having been Lord Byron's successful rival for the hand of Miss Cha worth, (the noble poet's " Mary ") to whom he was married in 1806 ; the lady, it may be remembered, died in 1832, in consequence, it was believed, of the alarm and danger to which she had been exposed during the reform riots, at the sack of Colwick Hall by a party of rioters from Nottingham : — of cholera, at Hastings, Mr. Cash, chairman of the late Eastern Counties 1 Railway Court of Inquiry : —aged 50, the celebrated " Modern Troglodyte," Peter Allan, who had hewn for himself a suite of a dozen rooms out of the magnesian lime-stone rock at Marsden on the sea coast between South Shields and Monkwearmouth :— in London, of cholera, in Tothill Fields Prison, Williams, and, of the same disease, in the Westminster House of Correction, Sh\rpe, the notorious Chartist leaders ; in both cases, their sympathisers alleged that the malady had been induced by confinement and prison diet ; a protracted inquest was held on Sharpes body, but the verdict of the jury was simply — " Died from Asiatic Cholera." :— in his 83rd year, Jacob Perkins, Esq., formerly of the United States of America, " the inventor of engraving on steel, and of the method of transferring engravings from steel to steel plates for making bank-notes and other securities -." — in Scotland, the philosopher and mathematician, Mr. Andrew Bell . — Dr. John Reid, Professor of Anatomy and Medicine in the United College of St. Andrews . — in London, Mr. Nattali, the well-known bookseller and publisher : — Mr. Henry Colman, the American Agriculturalist, whose book on the fashions of England excited attention some time since : — at Sydney, suddenly, from the bursting of a blood vessel, Mr. F. W. Horncastle, of musical celebrity • — CußisToniEß Bullen, Esq., of the banking firm of Leyland, Bullen & Co., died in September, near Liverpool, leaving property said to amount to from £5,000,000 to £7,000,000. Notwithstanding his immense wealth, he was parsimonious to an extreme degree, having been induced to pay his physician's bill at Malta (where he went for the benefit of his health) only by a threat of legal proceedings ; he indulged in no expense, except in the purchase of pictures, of which he has left a number piled up with their faces towards the wall ! We observe also in the lists of the deceased, — At Dresden, in his 80th year, M. Sciiulz, the popular Saxon novelist, better known by the norn de guerre of Frederick Laun : — on the borders of the Lake of Como, the great painter Bellosio, whose famous picture of the Universal Deluge especially commanded great admiration : — at Paris, of cholera, Coulon, the celebrated operatic dancer : — in the Invalides, Jean Menard, one of the steersmen on board the Tonnant, when Dupetit Thouars blew up that ship at the battle of Aboukir, and who, on that occasion, escaped as if by miracle : — the Rev. Mr. Lowder, Chaplain to British residents in Shanghai, was drowned in September last, while bathing near Chusan ; the foreign community of Shanghai subscribed the munificent sura of 15 ; 000 dollars for his family.