The New=Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 6, Issue 464, 25 September 1850, Page 2

The New=Zealander.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25,1850.

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

The unexpected arrival of the Ellen from California, which reached our port on Saturday, excited anticipations of late intelligence from that centre of attraction and interest, which however were doomed to he disappointed, as she brought no San Francisco papers that we have been able to lay hold of, and only a few hastily written private letters, which add little to the information of which we were previously in possession. This, we believe, was owing to its not having been generally known that she would call here. The most valuable papers we have received by her are two or three numbers of the Polynesian, the latest of which is dated the 10th of August. Many-tongued rumour, however,- was busy during the day in spreading a report that intelligence had arrived of nothing less importaut than a war with France. The slender thread of truth around which this web of alarming fiction was woven proved to be only the following brief and vague sentence in a meagre summary of English and American news received via California — " The only other matter of great interest by this arrival was the apprehended rupture between the Great Powers of Europe." This obviously may mean anything, or, just as probably, may mean nothing at all. A few items of news, however, are worth gleaning from these papers. There was English intelligence to the Bth of May inclusive. (The dates from New York, not frbm England,'wexQ to the 15th of June.) On the Bth of May, the Queen's Medical Attendants had issued the following Bulletin •• — " The Queen and the infant JPmncjs

continue well. Her Majesty's recovery is so j far advanced, that no more Bulletins will be issued." ! A communication from Rome, in the New York Herald, states that Mr. Cass, the American Charge d' Affaires, had succeeded in ob- i taining the recognised establishment of Protes- I tant worship in that city. The wiiter says, " Yesterday I attended divine worship, conducted by the Rev. Mr. Hastings, of Boston, j whom Mr. Cass has attached to his legation as chaplain, at which were present all of our countrymen in Rome. For the first time in the history of the Eternal City has this privilege been accorded." The tide of emigration to California con- ! tinued to flow as freely as if there had not j been so many bitter warnings against the de- ' lusion. At the last date a thousand persons were at Panama, awaiting means of passage to San Francisco. It was leported at Acapulco that choleia was making dreadful ravages in the interior, and that 12,000 persons had died of it in the city of Mexico during the month of June. A serious collision had occurred at Chagres, between the Americans and the Natives. It was said to have arisen out of an accusation against one of the native canoe-men, of having stolen a coat from an American. A little matter (the playful throwing of an orange — to take a local example) often leads to blows and shots ; and so it was at Chagres. The affair had not been adjusted when the from which we condense was written. From Honolulu itseif, a portion of the news given by the Polynesian has considerable interest. The Seventh Anniversary of the Restoration of the Islands, on the 3 1st of July, 1843, by Vice- Admiral Richard Thomas, was celebrated with all ceremony and honour. The Kino, however, owing to the delicate state of his health, was, we regret to read, "too feverish to appear in public, or even to receive the corps diplomatique in private." The Queen received the congratulations, which the Foreign Consuls offered through their senior, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul. The following Address from the King — dictated front his bed of sickness — has, we think, a very affecting interest •.-— To you, Consul General of Great Britain, ljhave to say «i word on this occasion. England was the firs t nation of which my father sought the friendship and protection. The solemn act between him and Vancouver is known to you and to the world. My father was so earnest in that act that he renewed it by letter of Mnrch Gth, 1810, addressed to the King of England. The reply of the British Government, through the Earl of Liverpool, on the 30th of April, 1812, made known to my father that Great Britain did not desire, under the act referred to, to exercise any sovereignty over my Islands, but that His Royal Highness the Prince Regent took an interest in securing these Islands fiom any attack or molestation. Lord Palmerston, also, in March, 1840, in reply to Lord Ingestre, in the Parliament of England, made known that Her Majesty Queen Victoria, claimed no right of sovereignty over my Islands. Her Majesty proved this to the world, by her sovereign sanction to the Restoration, of which this day is the Anniversary. From all this, I have reason to believe that the hide* pendence of my Islands is desired by my great and good friend, the magnanimous Queen of England. Under the assurance of that well founded belief, I venture to hope that Her Majesty will never be indifferent to the preservation of an independence, for which Her M.ijesty's royal predecessors have uuiformly evinced so much respect. I have waited for this occasion to present to Her Majesty, in token of my respect and gratitude, a Boudoir Table, made here, and manufactured out of some of ihe most valuable woods which my Islands pi oducc. For several months it has been ready in the hands of my Chambeilain, who has my oiders to place it in your possession, that you may send it in my name to your Queen. Looking to the futuie destiny of my kingdom and people, under my recent sickness, the assurance of support to my independence from the Governments of Great Britain and the United States, without any in* terested considerations, have comforted and upheld my spirit. I speak with difficulty from weakness, and because my feelings overpower me, but I cannot conclude without thanking yovi personally, Consul General, for your j voluntary offer of the guaranty of England, on a late occasion of much trouble;; and I take this opportunity j to thank all the Consuls of other nations, for the sympathy that they showed me on that occasion. Signed. Kamehameha. The reply of the Bnmsn Consul was not merely an effusion of diplomatic courtesy ; but an expression of feelings which would be cordially responded to at home. He said, It will afford me much satisfaction to forward to En gland the Boudoir Table, intended by the King for the acceptance of my sovereign, Queen Victoria, and I may safely assure your Highness that Her Majesty will duly appreciate so admirable a specimen of the valuable woods of thii country, coming from the illustrious son and successor of the great Kamehameha, whose friendship for Vancouver no Englishman can forget. With respect to the future fate of these Islands to which the King has alluded, I think that the repeated assurances and proofs given by the British Government are the best guarantee of the lively interest which Great Britain takes in the welfare and independence of the Hawaiian nation. The Agricultural Meeting, which we have on former occasions noticed, was to be held on the 12th of August, and already numbers of planters from the adjacent islands were flocking into Honolulu to attend it. The principal difficulty in agricultural progress seemetf to be the want of labourers, — arising partly from the increased number of settlers, and the 100 certainly rapid decrease of the native race. Extensive importation of labourers from China seemed to be the prevailing scheme*for meeting the necessity. An Eclipse on the 7th of August, had excited a sensation amongst the Sandwich Islanders which may be best described in the Polynesian's narrative copied into another column,

We have looked carefully through the Irish intelligence in our recently received files, without being able to glean much of novelty or interest. Through the country generally the incresed activity in farming operations, to which we adverted in a former number, continued to be manifested, although a considerable check had been given to vegetation by the prevalence of unnaturally severe weather in the latter part of March and the beginning of April. The attachment of the peasantry to the potato crop seemed as strong as if that root had not so frequently and so calamitously dis- ■ appointed their hopes. A " gentleman of the ' highest commercial standing in Cork" assured the Times " that no mere newspaper report could convey even a remote idea of the potato mania which had seized all classes in that extensive district. Grass-lands, parks, demesnes, every available nook, had been cut up for the reception of the seed. The whole country promised to be one monster potato-< 4 field." From other parts of the country, however, we learn that, while the potato was still the favorite, the value of peas as a substitute for it was appreciated by many, and (in Galway especially) a large quantity of land was being cropped with them. The cultivation of wheat was little attended to, the low price of that crop discouraging the farmers; and the only cereals sown to any extent were barley and oats. It seems certain, therefore, that the question of food or famine for Ireland is suspended this year, even more than in former years, on the quality of the potato. The still diminishing number of applications for Poor Law relief was a pleasing fact. For instance, in the far West, the Tyrawly Herald says, " It will be gratifying to our readers to hear that there are but three paupers receiving out-door relief in this union, at the weekly cost of Is. 6d. This presents a very favorable contrast with the corresponding period of last year, when several thousands were on the relief lists, and the weekly expenditure * amounted to £587." ' The tenant-right agitation was going forAvard with unabated earnestness, the clerical orators, (Presbyterian in the North, and "Roman Catholic in the South) abating no jot of theiv zeal in the cause, and setting no curb to their indignant eloquence. Several additional sales under the Encumbered Estates Commission had been effected, on, generally speaking, satisfactory terms, and the working of the measure, promised to be, on the whole, permanently beneficial even to the land owners, on whom, at first view, it might seem to press hardly. The abolition of the Vice Royalty still engaged the attention of the journalists, but it excited little feeling in the public mind, except amongst the tradesmen of Dublin, who apprehend personal loss from the withdrawal of the Court. A deputation from the Chamber of Commerce had an interview with Lord Clarendon on the subject, the results of which are thus stated: — '• His Excellency said, that even ifthe immediate operation of the proposed abolition should be to inflict some temporary injury on Dublin, lie trusted that the apprehensions of its extent and duration would prove to be exaggerated. It did not appear to him that any speculation as to the result of an arrangement of a national and imperial character, which, moreover, had been for many years the subject of consideration, would be likely judging from established precedent, to be admitted and recognised by pailiament as a well-founded claim for compensation ; but lie assured the deputation that he would have much pleasure in considering and discussing with them any practical measure which the Council of the Chamber could suggest, such as parliament Would probably entertain, for promoting the industrial progress ' and the commercial prosperity ofDubliu. 11 In the course of the discussion," allusion having been made to the possible removal of our courts of law, and equity, the Lord Lieutenant most distinctly assured the deputation that nothing of the kind had, ever been contemplated, and he Added, that he considered the existence of our courts here essentially necessary.', The Dublin Sanitary Association had re» ceived an explicit promise from Sir William Somerville that a Health of Towns Bill for Ireland should be brought in, and, if possible, earned without delay through Parliament. If judiciously framed, such a measure would be beneficial in a degree that perhaps only those who personally know some of the districts in the south and west of Ireland can appreciate. "An Irish California" is the facinating heading with which some of the papers introduce accounts of extensive mines of silver, copper, and lead, which have heen discovered in the vicinity of the small town of Gfort, in the county Galway. The silver ore is stated to be of the richest character, and to be found at a very little depth from the surface. The best description we have met with of the mines and the operations in progress for working them, is in the following interesting paragraph from the Advocate, which we quote in full : — On entering one of the galleries, which are reached by flights of steps cut in the rock, the visitor will, after proceeding 3 few yards through a narrow passage dimly lighted with candles, arrive at a larger chamber, the walls of which resemble a solid mass of crystallised lead, or silver. He will find several miners at work, opening new galleries, and tracing the direction of the ore. The large lumps of ore are carried out in wheelbarrows, and the portions of limestone or talc attached to them are separated with a heavy hammer, after which the oie is broken on a stone slab, by women, with large hammers resembling a common smoothing iron fastened to a short stick. This gravel is sifted in a copper sieve, and all the larger portions broken again, until the whole * is reduced to the consistency of coarse sand. This sand is afterwards placed in a copper sieve, which is immersed in a cistern of water, and by a curious rotatory motion given by the miner to the sieve, the heaviest

portions, containing all the valuable metal, fall to the bottom, and the lighter portions aie skimmed oil" with an iron scoop from the top and thrown away. The finer portion is again subjected to several washings, alter which it is packed in casks for exportation to England. Specimens of the ore of this mine have obtained £55. 2s. 6(1. per ton when brought to this state, and the ton of ore sometimes contains two hundred and forty ounces of silver- We saw nearly i,600. worth of ore ready, oi almost ready for exportation. There are at preient 150 men employed at the mines, but as soon as the works are opened a little further a large number of persons will be employed. Mr. Collet, with a wise liberality, instead of engaging workmen at the ordin.uy wages of the country ((id. to Sd a day), pays the common labourers at the rate of one shilling, and the boys eight pence per day. He is consequently very populai, and has every reason to ap prove of the conduct of the men under his charge. He h/i<? engaged some Cornish workmen, who shew a good example of industiy to their Irish fellow-labourers, and the best feelings exist between them. Since the attention of the public has been called to the existence of mineral wealth in the neighbourhood sevcial new mines have been discovered in the locality, amongst otheis a copper mine upon the Gortnecainane mountains, the pioperty of Lord Gort: a lpad mine of singular richness at Cool, the es- j tate of Win. 11. Gregory, Esq., late M. P. for this city from which several tons of ore have been raised, but the lead works are at present discontinued : a lpad mine at Adrahan, the estate of Mr. Limbcrt of Crcg Clare ; and two other lead mines, one upon the estate of Archdeacon Buston and the other on the estate of Col. Shaw Taylor, of Castle Taylor, all in the neighbourhood of Gort. Dr. Achilli had visited Dublin, and was, according to the correspondent of the Times, " the lion of the metropolis." The great room of the Rotunda, though crowded to suffocation, could hold only a portion of the multitudes who thronged to see and hear him. The Royal Dublin Society's Annual Cattle Show, in April, was considered one of the best seen for many years. At the evening meeting of the Society, the Lord Lieutenant delivered an Address, which excited much attention. His Excellency spolce hopefully of the prospects of the country, observing that " he could not forego the reflection that, notwithstanding her past disasters, and her present depression, Ireland was bearing up bravely against difficulty and mis r ortune, with a determination and energy which, under the blessing of Providence, would be productive of the best results." He urged, with with especial earnestness, increased attention to the cultivation of flriXj which he believed might be grown even more successfully in the south and west than in the north of Ireland, where it had proved so remunerative, and which offered a more certain prospect of a return than almost any other crop. Lord Clarendon added the important intimation, — " From various circumstances there was reason to expect that the sources from which they had hitherto obtained their supplies of the raw material of the staple of their English manufactures, namely, cotton, would be greatly ciutailed ; and if such should be the case, it would have the effect of bringing linen fabrics into the market for our home consumption, to a much larger extent than heretofore." Even the passing facts alluded to in this rapid summary afford an additional view of the rich resources of Ireland, and force upon reflective minds the inquiry, Why is it that a country gifted by Providence with capabilities of progress and prosperity above those conferred on most other lands, seems doomed to almost unbroken wretchedness and suffering ? The social and political disease has long been hut too plainly manifested by its effects. State Empirics have tried one nostrum after another with little permanently beneficial effect. When will the true remedial measures for Ireland be discovered, acknowledged, and practically applied %

Mechanics' Institute — Notwithstanding the general interest with which the Rev. J. H. Fli-ttciieu's Lecture on Education was anticipated last night, the great severity of the weather so entirely prevented an attendance of the public, that the delivery of the Lecture was postponed to another evening, of which the Committee will give due notice.