The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 522, 16 April 1851, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

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

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 1851.

Since our last issue we have received copies of the (Wellington) Government Gazette of the 31st of March, and the Spectator and Independent of the 2nd of this month. The Gazette contains the official announcement of the intended assembling of the General Council at Wellington on the day stated in our last,— Monday the 19th of May. It also contains the abstract of an Ordinance to enable the Local Government to complete and give a final sanction by law to the contracts entered into by the New Zealand Company. The importance of this document to the general interests of New Munster induces us to transfer it in extenso to our columns, A. BILL to enable the Local Government to determine conflicting claim* to conveyances arisin* from land orders, or other contracts, with the New Zeaiimd Company ; to inue grants of land in fulfilment of contracts with the New Zealand Company ; to issue cciip in exchange for land ; to exchange sections with the owneri thereof by meant of scrip ; to determine dii> putes relating to boundaries of land, and to perform and conclude all contracts, made between the New Zealand Company and their purchasers respecting land io these Islands. 1. Enacts that, in cases of doubtful or disputed title, a grant by the Governor of the lands, tenements, and hereditaments, for the estate or interest, to which any purchaser, whether Oiiginal or derivative, from the New Zealand Company, may, in the opinion of a Commissioner appointed for the purpose, be entitled at the time of the issue of the grant, ahall be deemed both ■t law and in equity a full and complete performance by the Crown on behalf of the New Zealand Company of the contract to convey the said lauds, &c. 2. All grants shall be in the form of the schedule hereto annexed) and rutty be issued for a section or for a part or parts thereof, without reference to the original survey. 3. The Colonial Secretary may, at the request of a grantee or his agent, endorse on the grant the date at which the legal estate rested in the grantee, which legal estate shall be deemed and taken to have been in the grantee from the dat« so endorsed thereon. 4. In all cases where the New Zealand Company may have cootrucied to deliver a particular section of land, and it is not in the power of the Government to deliver such section, an appraiiement of its value may be made jointly by the person entitled to the same and the Government, and the Governor may issue scrip to the amount of the value so ascertained, which scrip shall be received as cash in the put chase of all lands offered for sale by the Government in the Province of New Munster ; Provided that the amount of scrip shall, in no caie, be leas than the amount originally paid to the New Zealand Company for the land. 5. Any person bavin); acquired a section of land from the New Zealand Company, and wishing to resign it before the issue of a Grant, under the proviso ions of this bill, may, on giving notice within eighteen months from the passing oi the Bill, do so, and receive an amount of scrip equal io amount to the sum paid to the New Zealand Company, which scrip shall be available as cash in the purchase of any Government land within the Province. 6. In all cases where the New Zealand Company has issued scrip, expressing that the holder is entitled to so many acres of land, or to land of the value of so many pounds, the holder thereof will be required to select this land within six months from the passing of this bill, and the Governor may at any time issue scrip of the kind befoie mentioned, in exchange for the scrip of the New Zealand Company, at the rate of one pound sterling for every acre of land tbe holder may be entitled to select, or for one pound sterling for every pound payable iv land, to which the bolder of such scrip may be entitled. 7. In all cases where the boundaries of lands, the title to which was acquired from or through the New Zealand Company, are disputed, the Governor may appoint a Commissioner to determine the boundaries iv dispute, and may issue a Grant according to the boundaries of tbe land determined by such Commissioner. 8. From and after the date of the passing of tbe Bill, the 13th chapter of tbe Royal Instructions, relating io the settlement of the waste lands of the Crown, bearing date 23rd day of December, 1846, shall be revived and be in force in all the settlements containing lands affected by contracts between the New Zealand Company and their purchasers, in so far at such Initructions may not be repugnant to this Bill.

reign, intituled " An Act to promote Colonization to New Zealand, and to authorize a Loan to the New Zraland Company," the said Company have under the provisions of the said Act given notice that they were sunenderthe Charter! of the said Company to Us whereby all the Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments of the said Company, in the Colony of New Zealand, liare become retted in Us as part of the Demesne Lands of the Crown, subject nevertheless lo any Contracts subsisting in regard to any of the suid Lands And whereas, It hath been made manifest to Us, that of under and by virtue of a Contract some time lince entered inio by the said Company, \% entitled to a grant of the Land hereinafter described : Now know y, that in part performance and fulfilment of the several subsisting Contract* entered into by the said Company, for the sale and conreyance of Land in our said territory, »• prorided for in the said recited Act, We, for Us, Our Heir* and Succeisors, do hereby grant unto the taid his Heirs, and Auifins, all that allotment or Parcel of Land in our said Territory, situated and which smd Land it more particularly delineated and described in the Plan drawn in the Margin hereof, with all the Rights and Appurtenances whatsoever thereto belonging : To hold unto the said his Heirs and Asutgns for ever. In testimony whereof, We have caused this Our Grant to be Sealed with the Seal of Our said Territory. Witness, our trusty and well-beloved Sir George Grky, Knight, Comminder of the most Honourable Order of tht Bath, Governorin-Chief, and Oornmander-in-Chief of our said Territory and its Dependencies, and Governor of our Province of New Mumter, at in New ZedUnd aforesaid, this dny of in the Year of Our Reign, «nd in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fifty-one. The fulness, distinctness, and liberality of | this Bill must be at once apparent. It is worthy to take its place beside the Quieting Titles Ordinance of New Ulster; and, when it becomes law, Sir George Grey will have the proud satisfaction in his own mind, and the public honour which his most bitter opponents cannot take from him, of having by these wise and comprehensive measures unravelled two most intricately tangled cases of difficulty, and placed the tenure of land in both Provinces on a basis of firm and permanent solidity. While we cannot forget the fact that, in the one case and the other, the original proprietors of the soil have in too many instances been grievously deceived and wronged by those with whom they had immediately to do in the so-called u sale" of their lands, > et, as the case stood, this evil could not be remedied, any more than the past could be recalled ; and it only remained within the scope of statesmanship to "take up this mangled matter," and — on a deliberate balancing of its complicated facts and necessities — to do what on the whole was best for the welfare of the Colony at large. This Sir George Grey has effectually accomplished in the Northern Province, and, most probably, before many weeks, will have, at least, laid a secure foundation for the equally effectual accomplishment of in the Southern. Much of the actual working of the measure will also take place under His Excellency's own eye ; as the altered circumstances in which the cessation of the New Zealand Company has placed the Southern Province, and the additional embarrassment caused by Mr. Fox's mean and culpable conduct towards both the settlers and the Government as regards the records, &c, of the Company — render it almost indispensable that His Excellency should himself be present for a time in the South ;—; — a necessity, we may observe, which sufficiently explains the probability of his being absent for some months, without our giving credence to any of the reports by which many-tongued rumour would account for it. The Spectator intimates an expectation that among the measures to be introduced at the Council will be the imposition of a tax on the lands held by absentee proprietors. We earnestly hope that this may be so. We have lately taken repeated occasion to advert to the evil and wrong done by the selfishness of speculators who keep large tracts of country, — obtained finally from the Natives, and settled in their possession by Crown Grants, — locked up in a state of barrenness and uselessness ; and we should rejoice in an arrangement which would compel them either to permit these lands i to come under cultivation by the enterprise of bonafide settlers, or at least to contribute in some measure to the improvement and advancement of the colony. We learn from the Wellington papers that His Excellency has promised to introduce a Bill for the incorporation of the New Eanking Company, whose scheme of operations was quoted in our last. It is added that Sir George suggested to the Deputation the expediency of applying for powers to increase their capital, with a view to the extension of their business to the other settlements in New Zealand. The possession of such a power would no doubt be very convenient in itself ; but we question wht ther, in this settlement at least, there would be much inducement for its exercise. The transactions of the Union Bank are conducted on the whole so much to the satisfaction of the community, that there seems little opening for a new and therefore untried Banking Establishment. The Gazette referred to, announces the following appointments : — Godfrey J. Thomas, Esq., to the commission of the Peace for New Munster ; — Edward Wright, Esq., to be Sheriff, William Donald, Esq., to be Coroner, and Wh-uam Howard, Esq., (from Nelson) to

be Deputy Post- Master at Lyttelton ; — and Benjaaiin Walmsley, Esq., to be Deputy PostMaster at Nelson in place of Mr. Howard.

The arrival of the Emma has placed us in possession of a large number of journals from the surrounding colonies. Our Sydney files are to the 27th of last month ; and through them we have English intelligence to the 27th of November, being eleven days later than that which we had previously received direct by the Cresswell. The Queen, and the Royal Family were still at Windsor, and in good health. The Papal question had lost none of its engrossing interest. "We never," says the Sydney Herald, " opened a month's papers which were so entirely devoted to one subject. They are literally filled with articles, letters, and reports on the Papal Aggression." A considerable portion of the statements which then for the first time came before our New South Wales contemporaries, was already in our hands here ; but the few additional days which intervened brought had their full quota of tributaries to swell the mighty flood of indignant reprobation that was rolling through the length and breadth of the land Town and country, ministers and laymen, churchmen and dissenters, the press, the pulpit, the bar, the medical profession, all, in short, of every grade, seemed to have little other contention, than which should resound in the loudest and most unequivocal voice the national declaration — " the Bishop of Romr hath no jurisdiction in this realm of England." Meetings of the most enthusiastic character were in progress everywhere, One convened by the Lord Mayor of London, on the 25th of November, and one at York on the 22nd of that month, convened by the High Sheriff of that county, in compliance with a requisition signed by thirteen noblemen, and several hundred gentlemen of distinction, are described as having been especially impressive and influential. On the other hand, the Pope's adherents were active and energetic, straining every nerve in the effort to maintain their Church's newly assumed position, against the mighty and united phalanx arrayed for the conservation of the Protestant rights and liberties of England. Cardinal Wiseman had published a very lengthened and elaborate " Appeal to the Reason and Good Feeling of the English People," respecting which the Spectator observes, " If one does not feel that he exhibits the missionary unction and a converting meekness of spirit, there is no doubt at all of his contro^ versial powers." Dr Ullathorne, c: Bishop of Birmingham," had issued a Pastoral Letter, of which the Times says, " We are sorryjto observe that the author has allowed many drops of the vinegar of controversy to mingle with the oil which he lately sought, through the medium of our columns, to pour upon the troubled waters." At Dublin, the Roman Catholic clergy, to the number of about two hundred, had met, and adopted an Address, to be presented to the Pope through Cardinal Wiseman, expressing their delight and gratitude at " the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in England." Another and a different mode of dealing with the subject had been taken by a number of Irish labourers employed in the docks at Birkenhead, who got up a serious riot at a meeting to address the Queen against the Papal Aggression, in which several policemen were wounded, and the proceedings were forced to be adjourned. We shall in future numbers devote more space to the progress of the movement than we can spare for the purpose to-day; but we are unwilling to postpone a letter which appears to us as important as any declaration of individual opinion which has been published since that of Lord John Russell. It is addressed by Lord Beaumont, a distinguished Roman Catholic Peer, to the Earl of Zetland, on the occasion of the county meeting at York rfferred to above. It has a two -fold importance ; — as putting at least one essential aspect of the question in a very clear and practical! ight ; and still more, as exhibiting the view likely to be taken of the Papal Intrusion by many of the most thoughtful and influential of the Romanist laity themselves. The letter came too late to be read at the meeting ; but Lord Zetland, having the noble writer's permission to •' make any use" of it, sent it to the Times, as " far too valuable an opinion not to be laid before the public.*' "Dublin, November 20, 1850. 11 My dear Lord Zetland,— l perceive that the newspapers hvre announced the intention of the High Sheriff to call a public meeting to comiderlhe propriety of addressing the Crown on the subject of the late insult offered to this country by the Court of Rome ; and I learn from the same sources of information that the step on the part of the High Sheriff has been taken in consequence of a requisition signed by nearly all the resident peers in Yorkshire. It is a matter not only of no surprise, but of no regret to me, that such a proceeding should be adopted by the country, for the nets in question arc of quite as much political and social importance as of religious and sectarian character. The Pope, by his ill-advised measures, has placed the Roman Catholics in this country in a position where they must either break with Rome, or Ttolate their allegiance to the constitution of these realms : they mu»t either consider the Papal bull as null and void, or assert the right of a foreign Prince to create by his hoveieign authority English titles and to erect English bishoprics. To send a bishop to Beverley for the spiritual direction of the Roman Catholic clergy in Yorkshire, and to create a see of Beverley, are two very diffeient things— the one is allowed by the tolerant laws of the country ; the othe r requires territorial dominion nnd sovereign power with_

in the country. If you deny that this cou try is a fief Of Rome, and tlmt the Pontiff has any dominion ov«r it, you deny bis power to create a territoiial see, and you condemn tlie late bull as '• sound and fury Mgnifyinfj nothing." If, on the contrary, you admit his power to raise Westminster ino an archbishopric and Beverley into a bislopric, you make over to the Pope a puwer which, according to the constitution, rest" folcly with the Queen and her Parliament, and thereby infringe the prerogative of the one «nd interfere with the authority of the other. It is impossible to act up to the spirit of the British constitution, and at the same time to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the Pope in local matters. Such is the dilemma in which the lately published Bull places the English Koman Catholic. lam not, however, sufficiently acquainted with their views on the subject, or their intentions resj ectnig it, to give any opinion as to the effect this newly assumed authority of Rome will have upon their conduct ; but I am inclined to believe that the Tablet and L'Univers newspapers speak the sentin ents of the zealous portions of the Roman Catholic community, and that they are the real, if not the avowed, organs of the priesthood. The Church r-f Rome admits of no moderate party imong the laity; moderation in respect to her ordinances ii lukewarmness, and the lukewarm the invariably spues out of her month. You must be with her against aM opponents, or you are not of her; and, therefore, when Rome adopts a measure •uch as the present, it places the laity in the awkward dilemma I have alludad to. Believing theiefore, that the late bold nnd clearly expressed edict of the Court of Rome cannot be received or accepted by English Roman Catholics without a violation of their duties as citizens, I need not add that 1 consider the line of conduct now adopted by Lord John Russell as that of a true friend of the British Constitution. " Believe me, my dear Lord Holland yours Tery truly, " Beaumont. " To the Right Hon. tbe Earl of Zetland " Two new appointments of interest were an nounced ; Sir J. Herschfll to be Master of the Mint, in place of Mr Sheil ; and Mr. Alfred Tennyson to be Poet Laureate in place of the late William Wordsworth. The subject of steam communication with Australasia had not been permitted to drop ; and it seemed probable that, if not taken up with real and practical earnestness by the Government before the re-assembling of Parliament, it would then be made prominent. An extract from the Times giving the latest information regarding it, will be found in another column. It was intended by the Authorities to reduce the stoppage exacted for his ration of meat and bread, from the soldier serving in the colonies, from sd. to 3^d., so as to leave him B£d. per day, to ptovfde himself with other articles conducive to his health and comfort. This step was resolved upon in consequence of evidence taken before the Committee on Army and Ordnance Expenditure. The Great Exhibition Building was progressing rapidly. Upwards of one hundred and twenty thousand feet of glass had been already placed ; workmen were beginning upon the transept; and some few of the paiticoloured central avenue girders already spanned the great passage. The desire on the part of the working classes in the country to visit the Exhibition continued to be manifested in the formation of societies for the purpose , and about thirty railway companies had agreed to bring them to London at reduced fares. Amongst the flying reports were, that Lord TCormanby was to leave the French Embassy, and to be appointed Governor- General of India, and that Sir Emerson Tennent was to succeed Sir Charles Fitzroy in New South Wales. A fearful gale had swept through the Channel, in which, we reget to learn, the brig Gazelle, from Sydney to London, was lost off Bamsgate. As her long-boat was found bottom upwards, there was reason to fear that all on board had perished.

There had been a dreadful storm on the coast of Ireland, which issued in numetous disastrous results. But minor casualties were comparatively forgotten in the calamitous loss of the emigrant barque Edmond, which was wrecked at Kilkee Bay, between Loop Head and Galway. Out of two hundred and seventeen persons on board, only one hundred and nineteen were saved. It appears that scarcely any could have escaped but for the noble exertions of some of the coast guard. An inquest was held on fifty of the bodies ; the verdict of the jury fully exonerated the Master and crew from blame ; indeed the Limerick papers state that " all that skill and intrepidity could accomplish, when the fatality became inevitable, the Captain achieved." The Right Rev. Dr. Kennedy, Roman Catholic Bishop of Killaloe, was dead. The Roman Catholic Prelates in Ireland were using active exertions, and were themselves contributing liberally, on behalf of their projected University. Dissensions had, however, already appeared amongst the supporters of the scheme, especially with regard to the construction of the s ub»rommittee entrusted with the arrangement of the details. The Dublin Trades Union was about to be re-organized. Amongst the proposed objects of the revived body were a re-commencement of the repeal agitation, and the employment, according to the views of the Unionists, of such influence over the parliamentary repiesentation of the city as they hoped to attain by means of the great increase of the constituency which the new Franchise Act will effect.

The peril of a general war in Germany, which seemed so imminent at the dates of our last accounts, appears, from the intelligence now received, to have been, for the time at least, in

s ome measure averted. Negotiations were taking the place of military operations ; although it was still doubtful whether the passions which had been evoked, especially in Prussia, could so easily be calmed, and whether such armies as had been brought into close proximity could be ppaceably withdrawn to their homes. The Berlin Parliament had been opened on the 24th of November, when the King delivered his anxiously expected Speech as follows :—: — My intention to create a constitution which shall answer to the wants of the German nation has hitherto failed. In my hopes of the future I have clung to the idea which pei varies my endeavours. But I cannot resume its lealization on a new foundation until after the decision respecting the new formation of the German Confederation. I hope that the negotiations on this subject will soon come to a prosperous end. I hope that our armament will suffice to protect our rights. If this point can he gained, that armament has no danger for the tranquillity of Furope. For my people are not only strong, but also considerate. We seek not war. We seek not to infringe the rights of anybody, but our endeavours tend to eftect an arrangement of the common fatherland, which shall be suitable to the condition of Piussia." Many regarded this as favourable to the war party. The Daily News, however, contends that, " The Prussian Monarch's speech is no doubt warlike, but we mistake much if it be not the contrary of war-causing. Defiant as it is to Austria, and contemptuous to the soi-disant Bund of Frankfort, it carefully avoids whatever might give offence to Kussia." "France," says the Spectator, "preserves her attitude of guarded neutrality ; simply adding some thousands to her army on the Rhine frontier." The Sardinian Parliament was opened on the 23rd of November, by the Kino in person. The most interesting passage in the Koyal Speech was that in which, referring to his " difficulties with the Court of Home," his Majesty said, " The rule of our conduct has constantly been the respect we all possess for the Holy See, in conjunction with a firm resolution to vphold the independence of our legislation." It is stated that a telegraphic despatch from Vienna reached Paris on the 24th of November, announcing that the Sultan Audul Medjid had been poisoned.

We have a variety of items of news from the colonies, but must content ourselves for the present with gleaning a few of the leading particulars. The Legislative Council of New South Wales was to meet on the 27th nit.; — its onlybusiness probably being to make the necessary arrangements for the initiation of the new Constitution under which its own existence terminates. i In compliance with a numerously signed requisition, the Mayor had convened a Public Meeting to consider the best mode of providing for the increasing demand for labour in the colony. It was to be held on the 27th ult. We shall look with interest for the report of its proceedings, the question being one which comes " home to our business and bosoms" here. The Legislative Council of South Australia assembled on the sth of February. The Electoral Bill under the new Constitution was introduced by the Advocate General, and after due discussion, passed into law. The Council then finally broke up, the Governor having first delivered a complimentary address to its Members, and received a corresponding reply. Preparations for the new Elections were going forward with great activity. In Van Diemen's Land, the LieutenantGovernor had appointed the Hon. S. G. Fraser (the Colonial Treasurer) to be Colonial Secretary in the room of the late Mr. Bicheno; and Adam Turnwell, Esq., to be Colonial Treasurer. The report of the escape of McManus was fully confirmed. The Government has offered a reward for his apprehension. The Launceston Examiner contains an official reply to a petition for the discontinuance of transportation to Van Diemen's Land, in which it is distinctly announced, on the part of Lord Grey, that Her Majesty " cannot be advised 1 ' to put an end to it ; but it will be accompanied by measures which his Lordship trusts, &c. &c. We trust, the public voice of Australasia will induce his Lordship to change his mind. From the Cape of Good Hope, the tidings are far from satisfactory. Sir H. Smith had not succeeded in bringing the Kaffir Chiefs into subjection, and was making further and extensive military arrangements. "In the meantime the settlers on the frontier were completely paralyzed-" From New Brunswick there are accounts of a dreadful fire at Fredericton by which upwards of one half of the city was destroyed, and great numbers of the inhabitants cast houseless on the world in the beginning of the winter. The Spectator of November 23, thus sums up distressing news from the West Indies, — Fiom the est India Colonies the cry is one of affliction under the dispensation of Piovidence. Jamaica is scourged ly tholeia of the most malignant foirn ; the deaths amounting already, in the southern ' paits of the island, to some hundieds a day. The Legislature had mtt. but in no humour for political discussion ; it had passed some sanatory measures, and [ piudently sepauted.

fellow-colonisls here have generally learned to take correct views on the subject, yet some may possibly even yet think of " trying their fortune" in the I'll Dorado, and it is chiefly for the benefit of such, if such there be, that we make these quotations. Considerable interest seems to have been excited by a Lecture on California, given at the Sydney School of Arts, on the 25th of March, by Mr. E. W. RunnKß, who had resided for nine months in the gold country. The Herald thus notices the leading points in it : — While he depicted, in giapluc ternn, the imgnificence of the country, and the splendour of Us climat", during the brief vernal season, he, on the other hind, in language of eloquent warning, desciibed the reverse of the picture dining the greuer piit of each year. The unhealthy clnracter of the country, the consequence of its peculiar geological formation; the dangers and risks of the mining operations, and the disappointment and disease which in so great a proportion pievail among the gold-seekeis. Mr. Rudder atrited, lint careful calculations estimated the amount of emigration since the discovery oi the gold, at 350,000 souls, of whom it could not be doubled that at least one thiitl had perished. He candidly admitted, th.it, in many instances, fortunes had been m \de, and even health preserved ; but in the vast majority of cases the result was ruin, disease, and death ; and very earnestly did he implore those who by p iti"iit industry, were pursuing their course in healthy climes, to pause before they ex* changed comfort for ceit.iin misery. Our contemporary directs attention yet more strongly to the " Warning Voice" raised by Mr. C. H. Chambers, who, having learned by personal trial what California really is, now endeavours to communicate to his fellowcitizens the benefit of his experience. The following is the principal part of his striking letter: Perceiving (hat emigration hen^c to California has again set m with unabated v'uulence I would solemnly warn those who remain ngainst departure. Every letter lieie published (ami tbcie have been m«ny) upeak* unfavourably for adventurers thither. Why then shonld a fi-w isolated individuals who UHve returned thence, saying' they have mude £203 or d£3oO, weiEfb against the absolute and total failures ? Having visited t hat country myself, I hesitate not to declare my decided conviction that one third at least of those now emigrating will perish within a year from absolute prnury (poverty), from famine, haul living, harder woik, wain of shelter, and other hardships the certain forerunners of sickness, of death, and of th.3 grave. Let each man ask himself how 400,003 men settling at once (as you may say) in a new end hitln-rto unit) habited country can prosper ? How indeed can aft avoid statvationi Does the Gold dug up support thik mass of humanity ? Oh, no ; I know it does not, nor the eighth part of them. Immigrant speculating capitalists (to their own ruin) have supported them. But they are now ceasing tro do io, and the conte. quences are perfectly// ighlful to contemplate. The horrors of mining are of the greatest conceivpable description, and go deep is the distress of soul and body which miners suffer, that in pure " vexation of spirit" they oftimes yield to tbo first approach of illnes3 and sink for ever lor want of mental energy. Where every article for use or consumption is imported, there i\, there can be, but little employ for tradesmen. The labourer in San Francisco looks miserable, and frequently in his second or third week enters the hospital. There ia nothing for the imuii- ' grant at (California but labour and for one labourer there doing well, there ate fifty here. 'Tis grievous to see our fellow-colonists rushing to destruction. Dcv stiting and flagitious murders (I learn) have become rife during the last wintet, the lesults of pinching and dire necessity. He that leaves his wife or children commits a grievous wrong upou them, km ag.tinst He.rsn, and will ever lqient it; the curse of the Omnipotent is upon *uch tepardfious and this <.in of the father is visited with fury upon the deserted mother and offspring. But yes'erday a subscription list opened for the widow and six children of a man who (eight mouths eince) emigrated to arid perished in California. This is one o( many similar instances within my own knowledge. In a subsequent number, the Herald comments on this letter in some judicious observations, of which the following is the conclusion. But the misfortune is, that most people go to California on the piinciple of what is \ulgarly called "chancing it." Tney are not altogether i>>noi,iut of the haidsbips and perils that have befallen multitudes of their predecessor in the scramble for gold, and that may possibly befal themselves ; but, as " all men think all men mortal but themselves," they cling to the desperate hope that where oihers have lost they may win, and that irom the disasters beneath which others have perished they may have the good luck to escape. They venture to California as they would buy a ticket in a lotteiy: theie may be a hundred blanks to one piize, but who can s%y the prize may not be theirs ? Their motto is, "Never venture, never win;" and so they venture their worldly all, their domestic happiness, their health, and their veiy lives, on the baie chance of winning. Men thus besotted with the spnit of gam* bling are past hope. They will neither be convinced, nor persuaded, nor warned They must be lelt to their own course, and to their own fate. But amongst the uumbeis who are just beginning to think about betaking themselves to the gold-couimy, theieare surely some who have not yet gone to this extiemity, and who«e minds aie yet open to conviction. It is for thehc that Mr. Chambers has lifted up the voice of warning, and it is for their sakes that we bespeak attention to what he says. Let them calmly reflect on the feaiful risks they will run m exchanging a country where theie is employment and comfort for all, for a countiy wh- le there are a hundred dunces to one against their finding either one or the uthei— a country where, moreover, the finger of scorn tvill be pointed at them as lun.iway convicts, or as felons who have completed the period of then ignominious servitude. We would meiely remind our readets of a fact to which we before called their attention — that the " finger of scorn" here spoken of, is pointed in California just as much against emigrants from New Zealand as against those from the really convict colonies. The. " free and enlightened" Aniencans do not know, or care to remember, any distinction; and all arriving from Australasia are equally exposed to the leproachful tieatment from them.

A disturbance, which at one time threatened to become a rather serious liot, took place in our usually quiet town ou Monday evening, A Native had been taken into custody for stealing a shirt at the shop of Mr. W. Osuorne

in Shoitland Crescent ; a number of the Ngatipoa tiibe, — amongst whom he had been working some time, although lie did not belong to their tube— came up, accoiding to thenown statement, to inquire from himself respecting the facts ; but the police, thinking that their object was to rescue the piisom-r, endeavoured to keep them off. A scuffle ensued, in which several of the European inhabitants took part in support of the police. A principal chief of the Ngatipoas was knocked down and beaten, and afterwards lodged in the lock-up } but at a later hour was liberated by the Police Magistrate. Before this however, some of his people had gone off in their canoes with the avowed purpose of bringing his tribe to obtain satisfaction. It was apprehended that they would return yesterday evening ; but they did not, and there was not the slightest further interruption to the accustomed tranquillity. Yesterday morning, Ngawikt, the Native who had stolen the shirt, was brought up at the Resident Magistrate's Court, and, his guilt having been clearly proved, was sentenced to be imprisoned for three months and kept to hard labour.

The Band of the 58rn Regiment.— The frequenters of the Government Grounds during the musical peiformances on Thursdays — (we wish, for the credit of our good towns-folk's taste, they were more numerous)— will observe by the announcement prefixed to the programme for to-morrow that, henceforward, the Band will play from three to five o'clock, instead of from four to six in the afternoon. The approach of winter will probably soon bring these performances to a close for the season, and we once again remind our readers that those who neglect to avail themselves of them lose a delightful promenade, and admirable music excellently executed.