The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 523, 19 April 1851, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

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

SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 1851.

Ouk English files are to the 4th of December. With the exception of the movement on the Papal Aggression question, they do not contain much that may not be deferred until Wednesday, particularly as therearemany otherclaims upon our attention. That question had lostnone of the excitement and universality of its interest at home ; but a glance over our other columns will probably satisfy our readers that in our present issue we have devoted a very sufficient proportion of space to it — for one number. It was believed that in consequence of the augmentation of the French army on the Rhine frontier, the intention of the British Government to reduce the army by 5000 men had been abandoned. As accounts came in from various parts of the coast, it had been ascertained that numerous other disasters had taken place during the storms referred to in our last. The Cornwall coast was very fatal, but the Atlantic coast of Ireland was stxll more so. The place of Deputy Ranger of Windsor Park, vacant by the death of kir T. Frkmantle, had been conferred on Captain F. 11. Slymour, one of the Equerries in Waiting to Prince Albert,. . . .Mr, Joseph Humphry had

been appointed a Master in Chancery.... Lord Torrington had reached home from the seat of his former mis-government in Ceylon. It was reported that Lord Beaumont was to be appointed Governor of Malta. The Daily News withholds belief from this, but itself gives currency to a rumour that his Lordship had been excommunicated on account of his letter, copied in our last. The Dublin municipal elections, which had been looked forward to with much interest, had taken place. In the late Corporation, there had been forty-six Roman Catholics, all Repealers ; fourteen Protestants, all Conservatives and no Whigs. In the new, there are thirty-two Protestants, twenty -four of whom are Conservatives, and eight Whigs ; and twenty-eight Roman Catholics, twenty-two of whom are Repealers, and six Whigs. Alderman Guinness had been unanimously elected Lord Mayor, a choice which, the 'I'imes says, " all parties hail as the advent of the reign of decency in the conduct of municipal government." The latest accounts from Germany were, on the whole, of a pacific character. Still, doubts were entertained whether diplomacy would effect even a present peace ; and still graver doubts whether, if effected now, it would be of any considerable duration. We shall in our next return to these files.

We have been obliged with the loan of California papers to the date of the 21st of February, being more than a month later than the news via Sydney which we noticed in our last. The commercial reports were by no means encouraging. The sales at San Francisco bore but a small proportion to the imports ; the market was consequently inactive, and the prices of merchandize generally low. Flour sold but slowly at about #9. to #9.25 per sack of 200 lbs. It continued to arrive from Chili in quantities exceeding the demand. Lumber did not improve. Bricks from Atlantic ports did not bring more than two thirds of the cost, freight, and charges ; they can now be made in various parts of the State at an expense not exceeding #15 per 1000. Groceries were low, there being especially a glut of Tea. Barley was held at some advance. Prime Butter was a good deal inquired after. But, on the whole, there was no excitement in any article. Some few persons who have cheap facilities for storage were buying goods to hold until spring, but not in large quantities. Potatoes (Irish) were selling at lOc. per lb and by private advices we learn that a remunerative price might be expected by the time those shipped from this port were likely to arrive ; and that the Barley and Oats exported this j season would probably pay well. Hay was ; likely to maintain its price until the summer crop should be in the Market— Van Diemen's Land Hay that arrived in February sold at sc; per lb. At Sacramento, trade was rather brisker. Many kinds of Provisions were in demand, and some of them steadily advancing. At the last weekly auction sales the prices realized were, best Chili flour #6. ; good Pilot bread in bbls. 12^ to #15. ; Hay, native growth, 3£c. ; do. States do. 4c. ; good Potatoes, A\ to 5c. ; Onions, a fair article, 18 to 20c. Simultaneously, however, with the commercial depression at San Francisco, the lightermen have resolved to rjaise their charges. At a meeting they agreed that the rates should in future be, Merchandize, per 40 cubic feet to the ton, from ship to shore, #3 50 •, do. from ship or shore to steamboat, #3. ; Lumber, per M. from ship to shore, #5. i American Bricks per M. from ship to shoie #5. ; Sydney do. #9.50 An additional discouragement to shippers to San Francisco continues to be found in the injustice done to ship-masters. In the words of the Alia California The course which has been pursued by the officer* of our Stale, from our State legislature down to the jus 1 ices of the peace, in the restrictions tbey hare placed upon shipping entering our harbor, and the continued and petty annoyances to which shipmasters have been subjected, nave rendered San Francisco a port to which those interested in ve«»eU dread to come* There are in this city a certain class of lawyers, wbo make a business of inducing sailors, when they arrive in thit pott in a foreign or home revel. to find some flaw in their shipping article!, or bring some frivolous charge against their captains, by which they may obtaio a discharge from the vessel in violation of the sanctity of the contracts they have made and to the great damage of the interests of the owners or masters. In addition to this it is » remarkable fact that in almost every case where seamen have deserted, or some suit has been brought which would allow of what might be called a legal desertion, when brought before a justice of tbe peace, it has been decided upon the tide of Hie seamen, often most manifestly unjust to the master. Our contemporary gives some instances of the hardships and wrongs thus inflicted, adding that " there has seemed to be a sort of determination to annoy and vex in every possible way our ship-masters." The general administration — or mal-admin-istration—of th>* law, the impunity enjoyed by the worst criminals, and the local condition of this vaunted city are so strikingly exhibited by one of its own journalists, that we need offer no comment on his words. We quote from the Alta California of February 21. The recent and frequently occurring crimes among us of late, are shocking to contemplate. No place seems safe from outrage, no person secure, even in hit own dwelling. Private parties are disturbed by

ruffians, men are knocked down in their own places of buMiißi-g, and tlieir desks broken open and robbed within sound of hundreds of passing footsteps. All this is done with impunity. Most of the Villainies* cape even the police; are hid hy their friends, hut little or no effort is made to detect them, or if they accidentally are arrested, it merely puts the city or State to ati expense for nothing, for they almost invariably escape all punishment. Our trials generally are a mere mockery of justice, as well as a mockery of I law. How many murders have been committed in this city within a year! And who has been hung or pun. Wietl for the ciime? Nobody. How many men shot, and stabbfd, knocked down find bruised, and who has been punished foi it ? How many thffts, and arsons robbrries, and crimes of a less note And where are the perpetrators ? Gentlemen at 'arge, citizen*, free to re enact their outranes, and again laugh at the fee'de efforts of our authorities to mete out to them stripes or a prison residence, or a halter. And still the game is playrd on, mid still the tame legal farce is enacted, and while the poor victims trroan with their wounds. o lie silent in the r graves, the lawyer eets his fee and the villain is let upon the community ngain. A highwayman or housebreaker commits a robbery, perhaps kills or maims ht« victim. He is arrested The booty or a portion t.f it is transferred from his own pocket to that of some pettifogger of easy cunsiience and large acqui-itivenefs, and ihe wounded and outraged citizen hag the mortificatiou of seeing his robber not only cleared, but the robber's lawyer fees paid with the cash stolen from the victim's pockrt or till. Our own plain opinion of all such transactions is thit such lawyer is father to the thief and robber, aye to the murderer even. The impunity with whirh lax c ides and lax?r adminiitraiion iind practice still laier in conscientious scruples eivei to criminals arc not <-nly the protection of crime but its encouragement We" cannot see how any honest man, knowing or having reason to believe another guilty of any of these high crimes, can compound with conscience and decency, and ransack heaven and earth for arguments and figures and reasons for shielding him from all punishmeut. We woulil as soon trust character, pmse or life to the mercy of the robber as to such. A contract had been nearly concluded with the Secretary of the Treasury for a floating dry dock at ban Francisco, to be finished within eighteen months, to cost one million six hundred thousand dollars, and the contractors to be under an obligation to procure all ihe material and labour in California, in every case where transportation from the Atlantic would amount to more than one-third of the whole cost.. .Accounts from Washington stated that a scheme was under the favourable consideration of Congress for the construction of several lighthouses, buoys, and beacons, and otherwise improving the navigation of California. The weather had been very dry ; in the vicinity of San Francisco there had been no rain for the season, with the exception of two or three trifling showers scarcely sufficient to lay the dust. The health of the city was good, only seventeen deaths having occurred during a fortnight, according to the report of the City b'exton. But the following paragraph sufficiently tells its own sad tale •.

Delirium Tjiemens. —By the last report of the city physician it appears that there were five deaths in the city hospital of the horrible diseaie above mentioned. In addition to thi«, there tre doubtle§s many others whe hare died in all the misery md agony winch the delirium tremens produce. Why is it that many persons when they come to San Francisco, men who in their homes on the At lantic never indulged in more than a glass of wine daily, throw away their health and life here, by drinking an excess of liquor, often of the roost execrable quality. In a country like California, in a town like San Franciico of all others, men should especially regard their health, and protect their lives. The Indians in the mining districts continued to be very troublesome, quarrelling amongst themselves, and dangerous to the white men. We have by these papers news from the Saridwich Islands to the 28th of January- A terrible gale had swept the islands on the 25th, and several vessels had been more or less injured •, we do not perceive in the list, however, the name of any known'to us here.. .Business was exceedingly dull in Honolulu, with no prospect of immediate improvement. The Polynesian attributes this to the effect of the de- | pression of trade in California, with which the commercial relations of those islands is now so J intimately connected...H. M. S. Enterprise, Captain Collinson, had sailed for Hong Kong from Hanaleion the 31st December. J There is intelligence from China which had not before reached us. The American ship Hannah Eddy and the Dutch ship d eolc had both been lost in the Straits of Gaspar...Mr. j Fast, a Sweedish Missionary, had been mur- ; dered by pirates in the River Mm, about the 15th of November...The Rev. Jamps Bhidgeman, of the American Board of Missions, had cut his throat. He bore "an inestimable character," but had never recovered from a blow on his head received a short time before... China adds testimony to the disappointing nature of hopes connected with California. A J letter from Hong Kong, dated December 7, states, " The colonists are getting pretty well disgusted with your part of the world; and such extracts as can be gleaned from San Francisco papers bring to mind, on perusal, too many leminiscences of losses and misfortunes to afford any pleasure."

It will be in the recollection of those who take an interest in the establishment of a Lunatic Asylum at Auckland, (amongst whom we believe we may class the most of our readers both here and in other parts of the colony), that at the Public Meeting held in the Hall of the Mechanics' Institute on the 14th of January, it was resolved that an application should be made to the Goveiinor-in-Chief for that aid towards the accomplishment of the object, without which, as was generally seen, private effort must be

wholly inadequate. Pending this application, the only step that could be taken was inviting additional contributions, which, we are happy to state, were so freely and liberally promised that the Subscription List now amounts to nearly three hundred pounds, with a satisfactory prospect of further augmentation. Immediately on Sir George Grry's return, an interview with him was sought, and promptly granted by His Excellency, who, on Thursday last, received at Government House a Deputatiun including as many of the Committee as were able to attend. It affords us much pleasure to state that the result of this interview was very gratifying. The Governor evidently entered \vith cordiality into the project, and was willing to forward it, so far as he considered it practicable to do so. The plan w hich seemed to him most feasible will be fully brought before the Subscribers at the Meeting which is advertised for Monday next; but, in the meantime, we ma\ mention as its principal feature, that the proposed Asylum should be erected (of course as a detached building) on the Hospital grounds, His Excellency granting for the purpose a sum equal to that which may be raised By private effort ; — its support to.be from the large endowment already conferred on the Hospital, sh6uld that be f.tund sufficient; but should it not, an additional endowment to be granted for the purpose. The direction under which the Asylum should be placed was a point which the Committee had been instructed to bring before his Excellency, with a request that Trustees appointed by the contributors should have a share in the management. Here at first there seemed some difficulty ; but this was in a great measure removed by a development which his Excellency made of a general plan under which he has granted Government aid to other public institutions, and in accordance with which he desired that this also should be arranged. The substance of this plan is, that, so soon as a Corporation shall be formed here, those Institutions, with the property for their support, shall be handed over to such Corporation, tobe by it managed for the public benefit. The endowments are for the present vested in members of the Executive, not for the purpose of withholding them from popular control, but, on the contrary, for the purpose of securing that they shall be finally subjected to it; the Trusteeship being, properly speaking, not in the hands of any private individuals, but of the persons holding certain offices, who will be bound to transfer it to the representatives of the people whenever they shall be chosen ; — and his Excellency was understood to say that the people might have a Corporation whenever they pleased. The Corporation would thus enter upon office, not as had sometimes been the case in other colonies, without anything to do; — but invested with the supervision of several Institutions of great interest and importance, and with the management of property already worth thousands of pounds, and sure to increase largely in value. The Hospital endowment is one of those referred to ; the endowment for a College and Grammar School, another; the Wharves, the Market- house,. &c, would come under the same regulation ; and in this arrangement, the Lunatic Asylum also would be comprehended. So far as we have considered this plan, it seems to us not only comprehensive and liberal in itself, but amply sufficient to meet every reasonable requirement in the present case. Indeed we cannot but regard it as a better arrangement for securing the exclusion of everything objectionable that might be apprehended from merely personal control, and for guaranteeing to the public a right of control over the Institution, than that which the Committee were directed to ask for, might, under various easily conceivable circumstances, have turned out to be. Our only regret is, that the plan which his Exccliency unfolded on Thursday was not publicly known long ago. It might in other matters as well as this prevented misconception if not misrepresentation. We refrain, however, from enlarging on the subject for the present. The Subscribers will on Monday have an opportunity of healing from the Deputation the foimal report of their interview with his Excellency, and of determining for themselves the line of procedure which should now be adopted. We shall only add that Sir George Grey expressed a readiness to engage in the undertaking without delay, and volunteered an offer to. consult with a Committee of the Contributors respecting the mode in which it may be most advantageously carried forward. Indeed, we believe the impression left on the minds of the Deputation to be that his Excfxlency — not only deemed it an official duty to promote the object, — but felt a benevolent personal interest ia its advancement.

The offence taken by the Ngatipoa natives in consequence of the affair between them and the Police, (which was detailed in the New Zealander of Wednesday) excited apprehensions in many minds which, we are happy to say, have not been justified by the event. The natives, however, di 1 make some demonstration in the case. On Thursday morning they, to the number of two hundred and fifty, landed at Mechanics Bay, wheie the chief in whose person they thought they had been insulted, met them. All came supplied with arms and ammunition. There are various reports res-

peering the particular kind of "satisfaction" , which they had intended to demand; but the I fact of their ha\ing assumed so hostile an attitude obviously prevented any such concession as a friendly korero for the settlement of the matter, and the GovFRNOR-iN-CninF judiciously resolved that they should be commanded either to give up their arms, or to leave the town. Immediate and efficient measures were adopted to he prepaied for any contingency that might arise ; the 58th Regiment, the Sappers and Miners, the Artilleiy, the pensioners stationed at Onehunga (whom Major Kenny in a remaikahly bhort time had marched into Auckland,) and the guns of H.M.S. Fly, were all in readiness for action, if unfortunately there ihould be occasion for it. Captain Beckham, Commissioner of Police, communicated 10 the natives, through Mr. Johnson, Interpreter to the Native Secretary's Office, the decision that only two hours would be allowed them to go away, unless they surrendered their arms. They endeavoured to obtain a qualification of this order, wishing to be permitted to send their arms away by some of their own number, or at least to be allowed to remain until the evening tide. But the mandate was peremptory ; and — although evidently much against their will— they dragged their large canoes down the beach all the way rendered necessary by the circumstance of the water being more than usually low, and before three o'clock they had entirely removed from Mechanics' Bay. After this they proceeded to Okahou Bay, the settlement of the Ohief Kawau, where they remained during the night. Yesterday morning they were re-inforced by about one hundred men from the direction of the Thames, who not knowing what had taken place on Thursday, were on their way to join them at suckland. In the course of the day, a Native Teacher, named John White, from the Wesleyan Native Institution, visited them ; and, it being Good Friday, invited them to engage in religious worship, which, on their concurrence, he conducted amongst them. He took occasion to address them on the evil and danger of insubordination towards the Quekn and her Representative uere, and mged them to return peaceaUy to their own settlements. After the service, they held a consultation, the result of which was that they made up their minds to go home and resume their usual occupations. One of them said they should do so immediately, as if they did not get away before the arrival of old Taria (a Native chief at the Thames), he would be, vevy urgent with them to continue the quarrel. At the time when our informant left Okahou, (about four o'clock in the afternoon) they were preparing to leave, and only waited for the full tide. The judgment, decision, and knowledge of the native chaiacier evinced by the Authorities on this occasion, cannot be too highly appreciated. Even a little mismanagement might have swollen the affair into a serious disturbance, which it might not have been easy to repress ; but, as it is, the Natives have no doubt been imp»essed with a sense of the uselessness of attempting to resist the Government, — while in many other instances they have had ample reason to know Sir Glokge Grey's determination to maintain their just rights, and his paternal regard for their real welfare.

Coroner's Inquest. — An inquest was held yesterday, at Howick, before Captain Mact)ONALd, on the body of a pensioner named James Moran, who was accidentally killed at "Waiheke, on Wednesday morning last, by the sudden falling of a tree that he was cutting down. — Verdict accordingly. Enrollfd Pensionfrs. — We have been requested to state, for the information of Pensioners belonging to the Howick battalion who may be residing at a distance from the village, that the Periodical Drill will commence on Thursday next, the 24th inst.