TAHITI. [From a Correspondent, March 16.]

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 534, 28 May 1851, Page 4

TAHITI. [From a Co rrespondent, March 16.]

Tun monotony of this quite and remote little island ha* been broken in upon lately by investigations into two tragical occurrences ; one, which took place here, a barbarous and cold-blooded murder; the otber, a homicide at sea, under, to say the least, raoit unjustifiable and criminal circumstances. Both of them are connected with former residents of New South Wales, and may therefore possesi some interest for your readers. An Englishman named Hootnn, about sixty years of age, formerly an inhabitant of New South Wales, had resided here some years. He possessed some property, and was generally in the habit of keeping stveral hundred dollar! in his house, a three.roomed dwelling, on the beach, in the most populous part of the town, HU wife had been separated from him several jeara, and a native woman had lived with him hs housekeeper, but lelt him in consequence ot tome slight dispute, so that he was left alone in the house. On the morning of the 23rd February, Ilooton was found dead in the back room, his tiiroat cut by a lazor, which wis lyinjt beside him, and ii was at first supposed that he had destroyed himself, but on further examination it was found that he had received severe injuries on the head from blows with a hammer, leaving no doubt that he bad been murdered. His money could nowhere be found, so that the object of the as«ai«mation was also evident. At first no bus. picion attached to any particular individual, but on inquiry it proved that the razor belonged to a person of the name of Jackbon, formerly a stonemason at Parramatla, to whom Hooton had sbowu great kind, nesi. After some prevurication Jackson admitted the razor to be his, and that he had lent it to Mr. Hooton some days previously, whi«?h appeared very unlikely, as the murdered man was found to possess two raizois in excellent order, and wai moreover known to be morbidly averse to incurring any obligation of the kind. The fellow razor of the instrument of slaughter was found concealed in Jackson's bed-tick. On being asked if he had any money, he said that Mr. Hooton had given him one huud'red and fifty dollars lor the purpose of buying a small schooner to trade to California. When requested to produce it, he refuted, saying, it was concealed with some political documents which he wished to keep secret. The authorities promised him thnt the documents should not be examined in any way, but no pet suasion could induce him to divulge the place where he had lodged the money. On examining the yard of his house, a bag containing upwards of three hundred dollars was found beneath a heap of rubbish near the cooking place; this he admitted to be Hooton'* repeating the btory of the schooner. On being asked whether he wm not at the murdered man's house late on the even* ing of the murder, he answered, it mii;ht be about eight o'clock: a Fieiich gentleman, living next door but one, said, " I saw you there at eleven," to which Jackson replied, he did not think it wm so late. Another suspicious circumstance, of which he gives no satisfactory explanation, is, that early the next morning he was ueen carrying a basket with a bantu and plate upon it up one ot the valley*, beside a t>mall stream, and his washerwoman, on his linen bi ing examined, asserts that a shirt and pair or' trouners, which she was in the habit of washing, are wunin^r. There is, therefore, a mass of circumitanlial evidence against Jackson; but it appears to be the general opinion that it will not be considered sufficient to condemn him. The day of his triui is not yet fixed. He ieeiiis in good spirits, and speaks confidently of being acquitted Tne other event alluded to above took plnce on board the Cachalot, French ship, which sailed from Newcastle some months since, bound for SanFianeuo. At the former place the Captain touk on board three English, seamen. One of them, whose name is unknown, appeari to have been a turbulent bad chaiacter, and wns very troubleuome on board. The man was not on the ship's articles, but did seaman's duty —" working his passage," as it is commonly termed. Some dispute having aiisen about the quality of a piece of beef, the man wus very insolent, and threw the beef on the deck. The Captain went before the windlass, and either struck or grappled with him ; the latter at first offered some resistance, bnt afterwaids yielded ; after which the Captain retreated to tome little distance, drew a pistol, and ibot him dead on the spot, fie came into this port

for an inveitigation, thinking, peihtips, he would have a better chunce here than m San Francisco. The authorities appear to have been greatly embarrassed how t» procred in the case, but after long deliberation allowed the Captain to proceed on his voyage, taking security on the thip «nd cargo that he shall surrender himself for trial in France. Tahiti is no longer the gay place thct it wns under th« Monarchy. Retrenchment of expenditure and reduction of mtabii.shmenti and salaries are tlie order of the day. Tlio ladies who remain declare it a triste sejour. Trade ii veiy low, and the market in deluged with gcods from all quartern. — Syd?icy Herald, April 26.

Nkver Takk Abovb Fivb Pkr Crnt. — There are in this state of society so many advantages in being rich, and so many disadvantages in being poor, (lut h general solicitude about gain is nor to be wondered at If there it ever to be any better state of iociety, this solicitude may abate; but while we are all left to have our fates shaped by our respective exertions and our particular successes, certainly men will pursue wealth, boweycr precarious may be the blessing. Etci) money, after all, might become a comparatively respectable pursuit, if men would be governed in it by the rules of integrity and piudcucf. Were it only sought for the »ake of moderate pleasures, or for the discharge of rational family odligations, no moralist could visit it with reprobation* It must be admitted, however, that the pursuit is Tery generally in England carried to the extent of a vice, if not an impiety, and that its results are seldom of a satisfactory nature. The formation of the railwuys of this empire hits been in its mechanical procedure and its effects in public convemency, most creditHble,to the country ; but how discreditable the whole financial meant and ari augments .' A notion arises that 10 per cent. may be cleared by railways. Railways are, accordingly, projected for learly the whole countiy at once, though they only could be executed with tolerable economy in the course of years. Lawyers, surveyois, engineers, are feed at ridiculously high rates to get the plans prepared and sanctioned. Proprietors of ground are bribed with monstrously high prices for their land, or in a more direct manner, to buy up their opposition in parliament. The whole business is carried through in a turor of avaricious madness. Mercantile men speculate in the itocks of the companies., in order to i sell again at an advance ; ladies possessed of tmall provisions buy in with the hope ol high per-ccntsges : no class is exempt tiom the mania. As an adjuvant syttem, requited still fuither to extend the means of adventure, exchange banks are instituted— a kn,d of pawnbrokiug, with railway stock lor the security. Here, lor a time, we hear of 7 and 8 per cent being obtained for loans to the railway speculators. At length, when a considerable number of railways have been made and set in operation, it become* evident that the laige returns expected will never be realised ; stocks fall ; the exchange banks sink in the common ruin ; and thousands of people and their fortunes is it a new thing in the world, or could any thing else changed. It is a dire remit, and the suffering- it great ; but tevolutioniied, and their social position lamentably have been reasonably expected ? In a proper view of the whole lubject, theloss of the money it a less dunithment than the disgrace ; for it surely reflects little lustre ou the sagacity of onr mercantile commu. nitythut they should bave looked for such large gains, since all experience proves that, in a state of affairs such at we have arrived at, anything but small returns muit needs be a rare case, and seldom safe when the case occurs. At for the management ol railway finances and the traffic in their stocks, it it an indelible stigma on England to which future ages must point with shame mingled with contempt. It is a /act that would be scarcely reconcilable with some of the other features of our age, did we not Kuow how men may come tv entertain self-complacent views of their own moral state, or their opinion* mid aspirations, while they are all the time taking license in every description of selfishness and even profligacy. To the credit of the country, the sulfeiers are not vociferous in their complaints. Consciousness of the real characerof their misfortunes keeps them silent. Uuhappy England, that put'st thy faith in money ! canst thou not make up a proper catechism for the votariet? Let us suggest one leading commandment for it— 'Never, oh never takt above 5 per cent.' Be a-sured thi» is as much as can truly be made by money unattended by your own industry and care. When ye hear, then, any offer of more, listen as if ye heard not ; turn from the specious protferer whoever or whatever he be, arid keep your money till you can get an opportunity of investment sufficiently moderate in its pretensions. We would have ladies, above all, to lay this commandment to heart. In the gentle sequestration from the cares of life in which they are kept by their protectors of the other sex, they b»ve very ob.scure notions of business. They are little prepared to distinguish amongst contending plans of investment. Very often the favourable word of one gentleman friend will determine them, and lead to their ruin. For them there is a precious simplicity in the rule— if they would only put faiih in it, and follow it unswervingly — ' Never oh never take above 5 per cent. V We huve used the phrase ' impiety' in reference to the inordinate pursuit of wealth. It is not here merely meant that lhe \vor»hij> of Mammon precludes a true religion, but the anxiety shown about money exhibits, to our apprehension, a practical want of Jaith in the divine government of the world. We see men struggling to be wealthy, under a soit of terror of moderate circumstances. At the best, they are struggling to place tbeir children, as they bay, in independen c, or above want, as if their children must necessarily be in wretchedness il left without fortunes. This we think a practical impeachment of the arrangements which God has made for the sustentation of his creatures. It as much as to say — Unless I provide fur the wants which certain human beings will be experiencing thirty years hence, nothing else will, and these creatures will accordingly be in muery Now we know the fact to be, that God gives a haivet>t every year, and that on an average a sufficiency is produced lor all his creatures. We ulno know that the faculties of the creatures about whom we are so anxious are so formed, empowered, and commissioned by the Almighty, in relation to the physical circumstances around us, that they cannot fail to woik out a livelihood, if allowed tolerably fair play. Why, tbeu, tnii excessive solicitude about the welfare of posterity ? Is it not what we have called it — an im» piety ? An extreme anxiety about our own future is a fault of the same kind, only somewhat moie selfish. God is actually no good as to give us more day by day than we need und we repay him by fearing; that a time will come when he will give us nothing. Is it not a shameful imputation on His providence ? How I on earth < an any such monstrous passion be defended ? 1 That riches sought in such a spirit should make unto themselves wings and fly away — that the best laid schemes of piovision for the distant lu'.uie should to : often fail — that the Croesuses ol to-day should so often become the beggars of to-morrow — is surely not to be wondered at when we consider the real character of all such things. It would of couise be most unreasonable to expect that God should bless our blasphemies against himself. It is among the middle or mercantile

classes in this country that the worship of Mammon ii moit predominant. These clasics are not deficient in religtou* profession, whatever be the state of their inner nature. The very insecurity of their affaits seems to assist in driving them into a peculiar zeal. Can we suppose such peisons to have the faintest perception of the divine (ruth breathed in the words which they must often read and hear read — 'Take no thought for your life, what ye shall em ; neither for the body, what ye shull put on. Consider the ravem ; for they neither *ow nor reap, and God feed eih them: bow much better are, ye than the fowls ! Comider the lillies how thpy grow : they toil not, they spin not ; yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If God then so clothe the grass, which to-day is in the field and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, Oye of little faith ?' For the sake of foice, a hyperbolic lorm of language is here used ; but it is the expression, nevertheless, of the ordinance of God, that there is a natural provision for the wants of the human family. Strange that sentences so recommended to our profoundest veneration, should day after day pass over the m : nd< of multitudes, as if they bad no meaning whatever ! Vet such must be the ease, judging from the facts shown on the turface of middle class society. The result of their neglect hai been well described: 'The rich mm shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered : lie openeth his eyes, and he is not. Terrors take hold on liim as waters ; a tempest stealeth him away in the night. God shall cast upon him and not spare ; he would fain flee out of his hand. Men shall cUp their hands at him, and shad hist him out of his place.*