The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 6, Issue 448, 31 July 1850, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

Be just and fear not : Let all the ends tliou aims't at, be tliy Country*, Thy God'i, *nd Truth's.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 1850.

We have received by the Overland Mail the Wellington newspapers to the 29th of June, inclusive. We subjoin a few notes on the intelligence which they contain. H. M. Steamer Acheron had arrived on the 20th of June after a two days passage from Otago. The interesting particulars of her recent surveys will be found in our Shipping column. The William Alfred had arrived from Sydney, having as one of the passengers, Sydney Stephen, Esq., the newly appointed Judge of Otago. The American whale ship Orion, Captain Ray, 400 tons, was advertised to sail for California about the 6th of this month (July). The 18th of June, (the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo) had been celebrated by a ball given by the settlers of Wellington to the Lieutenant-Governor and Mrs. Eyre. About one hundred and fifty persons were present, and the whole passed off in the most pleasing style. William Good, who had been convicted of the horrible murder of the lad Ellis on board the General Palmer, underwent the extreme penalty of the law on the 17th.. It is stated that his demeanour since his conviction was quiet and resigned, and that he occupied his time chiefly in reading religious books. He had been brought up a Protestant, but he expressed his intention of dying in the Roman Catholic communion, and the Rev. J. J. P. O'Reily had been in constant attendance on him. That rev. gentleman addressed the spectators from the platform, making, at the culprit's desire, an explicit confession of the justice of the sentence ; he said " the wretched creature has given the freest and fullest power to me to confess again before you that he and he alone committed the fatal murder." The executioner was a black man who arrived in the colony about two years ago. A great number of persons were present, amongst whom several maories were noticed. A long letter from Mr. C. E. Yon Alzdorf on the prospects of the New Zealand Flax Trade appears in the Independent of the 22nd, and is entitled to attention on account of the zeal and perseverance with which that gentleman has devoted his energies to the subject. His main object is to show that a more extensive market than New South Wales can afford is absolutely necessary, and that such a market can only be secured by the enterprise of an active Company. To prove that the New South Wales market is overstocked, he states that " wool lashing, which in the wool season fetched there from £36 to £38, and even as I much as £42 per ton in several instances, is

now sold there for £25 to £26 per ton ; and as none will be wanted until next wool season, and as vast quantities continue to be shipped from here, and are unceasingly preparing in several districts for further shipments, the price in Sydney must in proportion continue to fall." The writer seems to have little faith, however, in the public spirit of his Port Nicholson neighbours. To meet the case, would he says, " require a degree of public spirit, which has long since been on a deadly decline in this community, once distinguished for its high spirit of unanimity for every purpose creative of general advancement in our colonial career." The object is to find means to send shipment after shipment to England, waiting, as must necessarily be the case, for twelve or fifteen months for a return ; and to attain this, " a Company "he contends, "is our last hope !" The New Plymouth correspondent of the Independent reports, that wheat sowing was going forward in that district in the beginning of June, with an augmented activity proportionate to the remunerative price paid for flour; and that owing to the Californian demand, carrots, onions, and potatoes were paying well ; the price of dairy produce also was satisfactory. .... The writer gives some statistical returns, according to which, the population has increased 73 during the last year : — in a population of 1190, there were 59 births, 10 deaths, and 8 marriages : — the places of worship had increased from five to seven : —there was an increase of 605 acres in the land under cultivation; of the 2,751 acres returned under this heait, about 850 were in grass, 900 in wheat, and the rest devoted to turnips, barley, and potatoes : — there were 1,500 sheep, 900 cattle, and 53 horses : — the exports and imports are described as indicating prosperity. There is scarcely any news from the other settlements in the South. Captain Impey had safely returned to Nelson, from an exploring trip which he had undertaken for the purpose of discovering a route from the Wairau to the Port Cooper plains. He had not succeeded in this object, as the advanced season of the year rendered such an expedition highly dangerous; but he had ascertained the existence of a very extensive plain of the finest grass land, accessible for stock from the Wairau district .... The Otago settlers were rejoicing in the sunny weather, which they say was equal to that of " the merry month of May," alluded to by the poets of their "am countrie." A sum of £80 had been subscribed to induce Mr. Graham, the proprietor of the Otago News to remain in the settlement for another year, after which it was hoped that the Paper would be sufficiently supported to get forward without such aid.

Captain Fitzßoy, R. N. — We learn with regret that this gallant officer had been obliged by ill-health to resign the command of the steam Frigate Arrogant, and was on his wayhome from Lisbon. We derive this information from the two following brief but authentic announcements which we find in the " Naval Intelligence" of the Times of the 16th of February :—": — " Captain Fitzßoy, of the Arrogant, had resigned the command of that ship, which had been given to Captain G. T. Gordon, of the Encounter, — Captain Fitzßoy coming home." And. again, in the list of Appointments we read — " Captain R. S. Robinson (1840) to the Arrogant steam frigate at Lisbon, vice Fitzßoy, superseded, owing to ill-health."

Recent Deaths of Notable Persons. — Since our last summary under this head, we have observed in the obituaries of the English Papers several deaths worthy of mention, as possessing more or less public interest, besides those of eminent persons which were noticed in our general digests of Home News. The veteran heroes of our military and naval services — although many of them, like the illustrious "Duke" himself, have, notwithstanding the various " accidents of flood and field," lived beyond the allotted " three score years and ten " of man, — are rapidly passing away. Amongst the names which are now recorded in the " death-roll" are the following : — the venerable nobleman and gallant naval officer, Lord Colville (of Culross) who died in London, aged 82 :— At Bognor, Sussex, Admiral of the Blue Alexander Wilmot Schomberg, aged 76:-— "the truly gallant old war officer," Commander Patriarche ; he and Captain Outram, F.R.S., were the two last surviving wardroom officers of the Superb, in the memorable, action of the 12th July, 1801, against the Franco-Spanish squadron, under Linois ;— - Major« General the Hon. Sir Hercules R. Pakenham, X.C.8., brother to General Pakenham, who fell at New Orleans, and brother-in-law to the Duke of Wellington, died suddenly on the 7th March, at the family residence, Langford Lodge, in the County of Antrim ; where, since his retirement from the active service in which he had eminently distinguished himself (particularly in the Peninsular campaigns), he had led a peaceable life in hisdomestic circle : he was about 70 yearsof age: at Clifton, Lieutenant-General Ni col, C.8.; his commissions in the army as ensign, lieutenant, and captain were all dated in 1795 ; in 1813, he commanded the 66th Regiment at the battles of Vittoria, the Pyrenees, Neville, and Nive, and for his services received both the gold and silver medals; in 18.46, having attained the rank of Lieutenant- Grtneral, he was

appointed to the colonelcy of the 68th Regi-ment:—Lieut-Colonel Irvine, C. 8., Director of the engineering and architectural works of the Admiialty ; up to within the last three years, his life was spent in the service of the East India Company's engineers, and he was equally valued as a military engineer, and a brave man ; he was engaged in many seiges | and storms, and personally led one or two forlorn hopes ; it is to be lamented that he left a large family in very limited circumstances, owing to the bankruptcy of concerns in India, in which he had made large investments : — in Dumfriesshire, at an advanced age, LieutenantColonel Sir James Malcolm, K. C. B. ; he entered the Royal Marines at the age of 1 3 years, and was actively engaged in that service for nearly half a century ; he commanded the 2nd battalion of Marines in Spain, and subsequently in the United States and in Canada ; while in America, he particularly distinguished himself at the storming of Fort Oswego, on Lake Ontario, in connexion with which his name was honourably mentioned in the Gazette of the sth of July, 1815 ; in 1827, after forty-eight years' hard service, he retired universally respected by the officers and men -. —Commander George Thomas, aged 68; he entered the navy in 1792 ; was taken prisoner in the Berwick in 1795, by the French Mediterranean fleet ; on his restoration to liberty joined the Diadem 5 and subsequently served on board the Europa, in the Channel, on the coast of Ireland, in the North Sea, and again in the Mediterranean, where he was wounded in 1801, at the landing of the French in Egypt:— at Bombay, Major-General J. P. Dunbar, Colonel of the 2nd Light Cavalry. . . We have to add the names of Sir David J. H. Dickson. late Inspector of Hospitals and Fleets, who died at Stonehouse, aged 70 ; and Capt. J. Couch, R.N., inventor of " chop chonnels" as applicable to ships of the Royal Navy, who died suddenly while paying a morning visit to a friend. Sir Felix Booth, the eminent distiller, died suddenly at Brighton of disease of the heart ; he was a munificent supporter of the efforts to prosecute Arctic discovery, havfng presented Sir James Ross with £20,000 towards the fitting out of his expedition to the Polar Regions : — the enterprising traveller John Duncan died on the 3rd of November, in the Bight of Benin, on board H.M.S. KingJislier. The following orief notice of the life of this remarkable man will be lead with interest : — " Mr. Duncan was the son of a small farmer in Wigtonshire, North Britain. At an early age he enlisted in the Ist Life Guards, in which he served with credit for eighteen years, and discharged himself with a high credit for good conduct about the year 184). In the voyage to the Niger, in 1842, Mr. Duncan was appointed armourer, and during the progress of that 111— fated expedition he held a conspicuous place in all the treaties made by the commissioners with the native chiefs. He returned to England, one of the remnant of the expedition, with a frightful wound in his leg and a shattered body, from which he long suffered. With a return to health however, came a renewed desire to explore Africa, and in this adventure he started in the summer of 1844. He penetrated as far as Dahomey, from which place he again returned to the coast, having traversed a portion of the country hitherto untrodden by Europeans, but broken down in health, and in extreme suffering from the o'd wound in his leg. Fearful that mortification had commenced, he at once made preparations for cutting off his own limb — a fact which displays the great resolution of the man. A 1 these journeys were undertaken on a very slenderly furnished purse, which on his arrival at Whydah was totally exhausted, but his friends of the Geographical Society soon raised a sufficient fund for him, with which he proposed to make a journey from Cape Coast toTimbuctoo; the state of his health however, compelled him to return to England. He was lately appointed Vice-Consul to Dahomey, for whicn place he was on his way when he died. Mr. Duncan leaves a wife, who ii, we believe, but pooily provided for" The death of Lord Jeffrey had been immediately followed by another loss to the Whig party in Scotland in the death of Sir James Gibson Craig, who, though much inferior in talent, was in his own way scarcely a less effective ally in their political movements ; he enjoyed the intimate acquaintance of Fox and most of the leaders of the old Whig school, and it was in acknowledgment of his services to that party that he was created a Baronet in 1831 by Earl Grey's Government ; Sir James died almost suddenly, but had attained the age of upwards of eighty-five years : — the Irish journals record the death of Mr. J. F. La lor, late editor of the Felon newspaper, which was designed to fill the vacancy occasioned by the suppiession of the United Irishman ; the Dublin Nation (though it disclaims any " sympathy with Mr. L's recent labours") yet avers, — " Democracy in Ireland never possessed a teacher so gifted. * * His letters in the Nation in '46, his articles in the Felon in '48, and his private correspondence with the confederate leaders would make a volume of more plain pith than Cobbett, and of scarcely less originality than Godwin ;" other journalists, — while they admit him to have been an able, — point out how he was on that account only a more dangerous man. In the obituaries we also notice the deaths of Mrs. Grace Cjulmers, the widow of the celebrated Rev. Dr. Chalmers, whom she survived only two years -.—the Hon. Mrs. Otway Cave, eldest daughter of the late Sir Francis 1 Burdett: — and Mrs. Bartley, formerly well-known to the frequenters of the theatre as one of the most esteemed tragic actresses, and also as having been repeatedly summoned to Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace to gratify the car of royalty by her admirable ctocutiop,

We may introduce here the following recapitulation of the names of Peers, who died in the year 184-9 :— George, Ear] of Auckland, G. C. J5 , Charles, Earl Talbot ; George Robert, Earl of Buckinghamshire ; John, Lord Carteret (title extinct); Archibald, Earl of Gosford; Charles Joseph, Viscount Monck; John, Bail of Mayo; William Aubrey de Vere, Duke of St. Albans; Joseph Henry, Loid Wallscourt; Henry, Earl of Thanet (title extinct); Thomas Oliver, Lord Louih ; David, Earl of Airlie ; Paul, Lord Methven ; Mason Gerard, Earl of Aldborough ; Hichard Wogan, Lord Talbot de Malahide; William Charles, Earl of Albemarle ; "William Lord Alv-mley ; Henry John George, Earl of Carnarvon; John, Lord Colville, of Culross.