The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 6, Issue 446, 24 July 1850, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

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

WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 185 0.

By H M. S. Havannah, which arrived here on Saturday night (having made the passage from Sydney in seven days) we have Sydney papers to the 13th inst., and various other colonial journals. The latest Home News we find in the Adelaide Observer of the 29ihof June, which places us in possession of some intetesting English Intelligence, received by the barque Midlothian, which sailed from Plymouth on the 21st of March, with a large number of passengers, amongst whom was Judge Crawford, the recently appointed Second Judge of the Province. In Parliament, the Australian Colonies Bill had given rise to various desultary conversations, leading, however, to no immediate result, as the Mill was not to go into Committee until the 22nd,— the day after the depaiture of the Midlothian from England. Lord John Russell, in presenting a petition from the in • habitants of the colonies of Australia, praying that the measure, as at present framed, might be passed into law, had stated in strong language his belief that the Bill would be received with great satisfaction by the parties whom it would more immediately affect. .. Mr. Gladstone had raised the question whether the Government were willing to make piovision in the Bill for the application of the principle of local self government to the affairs of the ( hurch of England in the Australian colonies, by declaring it lawful for the Bishops, Clergy, and Lay members of that Church to establish such regulations as they may consent to amongst themselves. Lord John "Russell did not encourage the expectation that this would be done. He feared that such clauses might involve the difficulty of granting a power which might be found inconvenient in the colonies. Meanwhile, a very important alteration in the measure of last year has been asceitained as forming part of the present Bill. It is no less thau the making over to the Colonial Legislature of a power to dispose of the waste lands of the Crown, and to appropriate the revenue derived from such disposition of those lands. As the concession is deemed one of great moment, we introduce here the jubilant article in which the Sydney Herald announces it:— • We have received o copy of the Australian Colonies Govtrnmeut Bill in the shape in which it hai been brought befo c Parliamert dv.ing the present session. And we rejoice to perccire in it one most important iinprovemr nt on the measure submitted last year. In adverting to th.s tuhject a few days ago, we intimated our genera) concurrence with the views entertained by the Time* as to (he liberal ipi.it in which Hr.R Majesty's Government reie proposing to frame oar future constitution ; but wo nevertheless expressed u decided conviction,tbat the colonists would never reft satisfied until th management of |>ui>li<; land* and <>l the revenues thence anting fchould have been transferred from the Lords of the Treasury to iho local Legislature. Even this has at length been cot c.-drd ! 'I he Bill 'till contains the proviso ih.it the Le^islatwt Council sh»ll not interfere in any mannei wuli \Ji.•ale oi otl.ei appioprialion of the land* belonging to the Crown within the colony, or with the revenue thence arising ; but in the clause defining 'he po era of the General Assembly, theieibthe following renoa*ltable na*«ai>e :•— "XXXII. And be it enacted, that the s- id General Assembly of Australia shall hnve power to make and enact such laws as may be required for all or nuy of the purposes nfter mentioned ; (dint is to say), tot telling, demising, graining licnikes for occupation of, or otherwise disposing of wants lands of 1h« Crown in the colonies represented in such General Astern bly, and for the appropriation of the money to arise from •uch dispositions of such laud, any h n£ in an Act of the sixth year of Her Majesty, intituled ' An Act for regulating the sale of waste land belonging to the Crown in the Australian colonies/ or in an Act of the tenth year of the reign of Her Majesty to amend such Act and to make further provision lor the management of such Und, to the coiittary nothwnhstauding." Here, then, is the great point gained ; the point for which the colonist* have been strugg ing, almost without hope, through a long ter'es of yeurs ; and which Sir George Gipps, Lord Stanley, und even Warl Grey hirnteli, used roundly to declare never could nor never wouid I c conceded. Toward ihe achievement of this Imd-non victory, out late eloquent and learned rrpiesematwe, Mr. Lowe, largely contributed ; and we only regret that we cannot personally congratulated him on the iheering issuo. It mny be doubted, honey. r, whether the General Assembly will be so competent to settle the vexed Land Question on principles geuerally batiifactory, a» the Legiula urei of the respective colonies Fot our own part, we shouli have be< n much bttttr sutUfied had each province been left to deal with its own t- nitory and tcintorial revenues as tt might think fit. But still, assuming the above clauses to hove putsed into law, the great principle is settled, that the colouies have both the ability and the right to maiuge the administration of their yw lie lam's. The principle gained, tl c beat mode of carrying it out muy be left to the teachings of experience. If it shall be (ound th.il the clashing interests of the cun»iitueut parts of the Qetieral Auembly cannot, be »o far harmonized as to admit of sound legislation, and that the prevailing opinion of the keveral provinces 11 in favour of a tmns fcr of the powers of that body, ai r^ard* land, to the separate Legislatures, we hnve no doubt that the law will be modified ec ordm K ly. We congratulate our fellow-colonists on the pioipect they now have of po«set»iiig a constitution as nearly perfect as they couldjreaionably desire.

We find in another number of the Herald that the Bill contains a provision that, upon the petition of the inhabitants, Her Majesty may erect the country situate to the northward of the thirtieth degree of south latitude into a separate colony. " This division,' observes our contemporary " would give the Bellinger River to this Colony, and the Clarence Hiver to the new Northern colony, the line running about midway between them." Amongst the briefly mentioned items of intelligence we find it stated thnt the Peninsular and Oriental Company's tender to convey mails to New South Wales via Ceylon and Cape Leeuwin, had been accepted. A detachment of Sappers and Miners was about to be sent to New Zealand, in place of the unfortunate party lost in the wreck of the Richard Dai t.

Tub anxiously looked for decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the long litigated and deeply important case of the Rev. Mr. Goriiam against the Bishop of Exeter, was delivered by Loid Lanodalk on the 18th March. The judgment of the Court of Arches was reversed, and Mr. Goriiam was to be instituted to the vicarage of Bampford Speke, from which the opposition of his diocesan had so long excluded him. The Court disclaimed all authority to settle matters of faith, or to deteimine what ought to be the doctrine of the Church of Kngland on the question of baptismal regeneration, or in any other paiticular ; the only point for the Council to decide was whether Mr. Gorham's doctrine was repugnant to the doctrine of ti.e Church as by law established Having reviewed at considerable length the Articles and Formularies of the Church of England, with a view of showing that this was one of the subjects on which the Reformers designed to leave a latitude for the exercise of private judgment : and having enumerated the names of many of the most distinguished ornaments of the Anglican establishment who, without incurring censure or reproach, had held opinions respecting baptism substantially the same as those maintained by Mr. Gorham, — his Lordship concluded by stating — " His Honor the Vice-Chancellor Knight Bruce dissented from the opinion they had formed, but all the other members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council who weie present were unanimously of opinion that the doctrine held by Mr. Gorham was not contrary or repugnant to the declared doctrine of the Church of Kngland as by law established, and that Mr. Gorham ought not by reason of the doctrine held by him to have been refused admission to the vicarage of Bampford Speke. The Court should theiefore humbly report to Her Majesty that the sentence pronounced by the learned Judge, in the Arches Court of Canterbury, ought to be reversed, cind that the Bishop of Exeter had not shown sufficient cause why he did not institute Mr. Goriiam in the said vicarage.". . . .The report states thai loud cries of " Bravo," from the crowd of anxious auditors who densely fi led the Court, resounded through the room at the conclusion of the judgment. Although, (as we some days ago intimated) the general expectation was that this would be the decision, so near an approach to entire unanimity amongst the members of the Judicial Committee had not been anlici* pated. It is stated, that of the three Prelates who, being members of the Privy Council, attended the hearing, the Archbishops -of Canterbury and York had expressed approbation of the judgment — the Bishop of London not concurring in it. Both in and out of the ( hurch great excitement provailed on the subject. A large meeting of clergymen had been held in London, the object of which (although the proceedings were of a private character) was understood to be the organization of measures by which the High Church party, who contend that baptismal regeneration is a fundamental doctrine of the Chuich of England, might obtain a general protest against the interference of the Privy Council (which they hold to be an essentially Lay Court), in purely spiritual matters. The Times of March 20th contains a remonstrance against the decision of the Council, signed (it is stated) by a number of dignitaries of the (/hurch, who pledge themselves to take all means consistent with •' the present legal position" ot the Church to obtain an authoritative declaration " as to the doctrine of holy baptism imputed by the late sentence," —by procuring either license for the Church in Convocation to declare that doctrine, or an Act of Parliament to give legal effect to the determinations of the Bishops collectively, on this and all other matters purely spiritual.. .The Rev. G. A. Denison had made himself very prominent in the movement, having gone so far as to publish in the Times (of the 1 5th of March) a Protest, not merely impugning the judgment of the Council, but denying the supremacy of the Crown as the Head of the Church. This Protest was brought before the House of Commons by Mr. Hume, who inquired what notice the Government intended to take of it. Lord John Russell read a statement which he had that day received from Mr. Denison, disclaiming any intention of denying Her Majesty's supremacy " in causes spiritual, by the judges of the spintaality," but contending that the Constitution did not accord to the Crown, without :i Synod lawfully assembled, the right of deciding a question of doctrine, as

the Committee of Privy Council had done in effect. The noble lord intimated that the Government did not intend to proceed against the reverend Protester. It is abundantly obvious that a great struggle between t lie opposing parties in the Anglican Church is now likely to take place. We shall await with interest the fuller information on its progtess and character which the next arrival of our English files will no doubt supply.

The question for some time past in agitation respecting the continuance or discontinuance of the Irish Court, appears to be at length decided in the mind of the Government. The ViceRoyalty is to be abolished, and " the 'scutcheon of Lord Clarendon will close the seiiesof vice-royal shields in the Castle Chapel " The Times fiist announced, manifestly on authority, that " the days of the miniature coint of the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland ate numbered ;" but all doubt on the subject was set at rest on the 19th March by Lord John Russill stating (in reply to a question by Mr. Humk), that it was the intent, on of Government to introduce a bill with that object. The (Belfast) News Letter undertakes to give the following outline of the projected arrangements for the future: — The contemplated arrangement is to create a Secretary of State ior licl.iiul wilh a wit in the Cabinet, ami to transfer to him, by Act-ofl'arli.tment, such of executive righis. is an: at present vested in the LoidLieutenant. Ihe piero^<tive right will go to the Queen. Tin's Societaiy for lii'lmd will have a Parliamentary Under- "-ecretaiy and an office establishment, uniting the Chief -ecietaty's office in Dublin La-tle with the Irish-o(licr> in London. By the constant residence in London of the Secretary for liel.md, Irish members of Parliament will have the Government oi Ireland always on the spot, without chopping in at the Irish- office, or going to the Home office, or writing over to a LordLieutenant of Ireland, as at present. Ihe arrangements will of court se involve some others, and be perhaps tbemselv' s«om cwhat altered ; but the abolition of the Viceroyalty 18 expected to take place before the opening of next session. Such, atleabt, are understood to be the proposed charges, An occasional visit of the Queen is part of the plan. The Freeman's Journal and Mr. John 0' onnell (no very formidable combination,) had declared war against the change ; but it seemed to produce little excitement through the country. The house owners and tradesmen of Dublin are the only parties likely to suffer much by it: and to them the loss will probably be more than made up, if the Queen should, as is anticipated, reside for a few weeks every summer in the metropolis, or its vicinity. Sir Robkrt Gore Booth had been returned to Parliament for the County of Sligo, vacant by the retirement of John Ffoluott, Esq. A " General Order " had been issued from the Adjutant General's office, dividing Ireland into the military districts of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and Kilk< nny, and appointing Commandeis to each respectively. An appalling accident had taken place at the Limerick workhouse, coinciding singularly with the dreadful catastrophe at Killarney, of which we lately gave an account, both in the scene and nature of the occunence, and the number of lives lost. A false alarm of fire having been given by one of the women, the inmates rushed to a ladder, by which they expected to escape from the lofts to the ground floor. The ladder broke, and numbers were precipitated to the ground. Others, as they pressed eagerly towaids the passage, fell down in crowds, and the melancholy result was, that twenty-seven weie killed, or rather suffocated from falling on top of each other. The majority were young females. ' The Coroner's jury severely censured the guardians for having placed 5t,0 persons in so insecure a building; indeed some of the jurors were disposed to return a verdict of manslaughter against them.

Intelljglnce from California to the 9th of May had been received at Sydney. The most prominent part of it is the account of another calamitous tire at San Francisco, by which three hundred houses were burnt down, and property destroyed to an extent far beyond that reached by the conflagration of December, and of the estimated value of four millions of dollars. A full narrative of the fire will be found in our other columns, as given by the Alia California of May 4. We also insert copious extracts from Cahfornian journals of various dates in Apnl, all of which will be new to readers here, We wish we could discover in these — the most recent — statements any more animating ground of encouragement with respect to many of the ventures to the land of gold than those it has lately been our duty to publish ; but we regret to be obliged to report that the prospect, particularly as regards timber, was still gloomy in the extreme. Even such ravages as those of the conflagration just referred to, were not likely to give any considerable or peim.inent impulse to the price of building materials — the quantities daily pouring into San Francisco being overwhelmingly great. The following passage, which we find in the Sydney Herald, tells an ominous tale in a few words. The Wowing is an exiract from a letter dated San Fr.incisco, Mey Ist:— " Timber will noi pay the expetue of duties and landing : 40,000 feet of timber per Maukin was offered fui 40 dollars, and refused ; 30 shiploads per diem at an average— 3,o "i,OO >of feet arrived in wo days. The schooner Marys, of Launceiton, sold for jg 100 ; the Thomai Lord for £200 ; a splendid Frenoh ship of 800 tons— first voyage— sold for £300,— the mas«

ter actually loses 23,000 dollars by tliii alone ; a noble splendid yatcli, which cost jC7OOO at homo, sold lor JLISO. I low jCI BO0 by this" We have seea a letter just received m this town from one of the passengers by the Fanny, dated [lotiululu, May Bth, which gives a corlesn .ndingly dispiriting account of the state of tninES~"ar Oallttmrlt*. -Wo- Jw wot aopy the water's my words, .is they generally have special reference io the affairs of private itidividuals,whose names we do tiot feel free to make use of. But the substance of the statements is is to the following effect : — that some deemed it better to sell limber and houses at Honolulu than to take them on to California, for although the articles did not sell theie for as much as they cost in Auckland, yet at S.m Francisco they would not be worth the fi eight and duty.— that the exporters by one vessel had lost threefourths of their potatoes ; and what remained produced only six pounds per ton ; thenonions were sold for 4d. to sd. per lb. ; maize which cost them 4s. per bushel, sold for 35., and oats which they paid 3s. lOd. for, sold for 3s. 6d. The merchants at San Francisco were offering only half the freight for whole cargoes of Houses and Timber ; and in some instances, (as in that of the Maukin, referred to in the extract above) one dollar per thousand feet could not be obtaiued. The concluding sentence of the letter contains a mullum in parvo view of the writer's opinion on the whole subject, — "I am considered one of the most fortunate passengers in the brig, having no goods, by which all the rest have suffered more or less severe losses." It is with unaffected pain that we publish statements which to some must be so disheartening ; but it is our duty to piesent faithfully such information as reaches us on a subject of so much interest to many We still, however, anticipate that potatoes, onions, and other vegetables, and that hay, which we are gratified to see now becoming included in our list of 'exports, will remunerate the shippers. We do not lay so much stress on the lowness of the rate at at which the potatoes referred to sold at Honolulu, as thiee-fourths of the quantity shipped having been lost, what remained would probably not be of good quality. And, in another part of the same letter, it is stated that the supercargo of the Lady Leigh who put in at Honolulu, sold his cargo there at a good profit. The potatoes and onions which he had brought from llobart Town were "in first-rate condition" and sold— the potatoes at £20 per ton, and the onions at 10d. to lid. per lb. We have yet seen no sufficient reason to doubt that these articles— provided they arrive in a sound condition— will bring at least a fairly paying price. But conjectures are little worth in this case. As we have said from the commencement, Californian speculations partake so much of the character of a lottery, that it is simply foolish to ptedict what will be the final issue of any involvement in them. We are far, however, from abandoning the hope that, by and by, when affairs become more settled, and fuller , experience is realized, ( ahfornia will present a permanently valuable market for vaiious products of our Colony.

Intelligence from Hongkong to the end of March had been received at Sydney. It included the impoitant facts that the Emperor Taouwang, or the " Glory of Reason" was dead ; and that an overflow of the Yellow River had produced great misery in the north of China ; thousands were said to be dying of hunger in the neighbouihood of Shanghae.

Resident Magistiutes' Court. A case, happily of a very unusual kind here, was brought before this Court on Satuiday. James Massey was charged with falsely making or counterfeiting coin. John Trafford. constable, deposed that, on receiving information that the prisoner had counterfeit coin on his person and in his dwelling house, he had procured a search warrant, and gone, accompanied by Corporal llazutt, to his residence. He found in the work-shop, which was under the dwelling-house, a half-crown mould (which he produced in Court). Upon this he took Massey into custody, after which he returned to renew the search. On doing so, he discovered, in a box in the work-shop, twenty counterfeit sixpences, and a mould for casting three-penny pieces. On yet another search, in company with Corporals Mazlitt and Powley, he saw Hazlitt pick up a bag which contained nine half-ciowns, thirteen shillings, and twelve sixpences, all of which were produced in Court. The prisoner when taken into custody said, " he was in our hands, but if we would let him go, he would recompense us ; if we would make away with what we had found, and summon his wife for what she had done amiss, he would give us £50." No coin was found on his person. Corporal Hazlitt corroborated these facts. He also stated that, while he was searching, he saw the pr soner stoop down, as if to hide something, and on looking he found two moulds, one for shillings, the other for sixpences; Some of the coins he thought were finished others were in an unfinished state. The pjisoner was committed for trial at the next Criminal Session of the Supreme Court. Anne Massey, the former prisoner's wife, was charged with attempting to pass base coin to a native, Ta Watine, as payment for a basket of potatoes. The Maori, not liking the

appearance of the money, applied to the constables, who thus were led to investigate the affair. The evidence not being sufficient to bring home to the woman the crime of knowingly uttering the counterfeits, she was discharged. The activity and propriety of conduct manifested by the Police in the whole traucarfion merits all commendation , and we trust that the discoveiy has been made in sufficient time to prevent -my considerable quantity of the base com getting into circulation.

Auckland Mechanics' Institute. —On Monday evening, a Lecture on " Spectral Illusions and Natural Magic" was deliveied in the ILill of the Institute by Dr. Bennett After some introductory observations, designed to guard against the supposition that it was intended wholly to deny the possibility or the actual occurrence of supernatuial appearances, the Lecturer proceeded to dwell upon the various sources of deception which undoubtedly had induced a belief in apparitions, in very many cases where closer investigation or fuller acquaintance wiih the laws of optics — the anatomy and physiology of the eye, and the other oigans of the senses, — and the extent to which organic diseases or functional disoiders more or less directly affecting the brain, tend to the pioduction of seemingly unaccountable sights and sounds, — would have dissipated the distressing delusions, and led the subjects of them to smile <it the causes of their own apprehensions. The several ptinciples of explanation which were advanced, were illustrated by selections from the most remarkable and best authenticated " ghost- stories "on record. The " prodigies" presented m the regular course of nature, or evolved by science and art ftom established natural laws — which, however, appear so extraordinary to the uninformed, as to merit the title of "Natural Magic," — were then more biiefly advetted to. The attendance was large and respectable, notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, and the consequent miry and slippery state ot the streets, — especially of the passage ftom High-street to the Institute, which was almost as bad as anything we had to complain of last winter.