The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 559, 23 August 1851, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

Be just and fear nut ■ Let all the end* thou anm't at, bo thy Countn'Ttoy God's, and Truth's. '

AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, AUGUStTs'," 1851.

By the arrival of the Helen S. Page, which reached our harbour yesterday evening, -\ve have San Francisco papers to the first of July. The most striking intelligence is that yet another extensive iire h.id ravaged San Francisco. It broke out in the forenoon of the 22nd June, and swept along until it had destroyed property to the estimated value of three millions of

dollars, "which, added to the loss by the still more disastrous conflagration of the 3rd of May, makes, a total of about thirteen million dollars' worth of property consumed in that apparently doomed city with in the short space of seven weeks. That the loss was less in this latter instance, may be attributed partly to the circumstance that the fire was discovered at an hour when immediate efforts could be made to check its progress, or to remove valuables from the proximity of the flames, and partly to the fire having expended its strength on a section of the city where the dwellings were not costly, and the amount of goods stored not very large. It is only comparatively speaking, however, that this can be viewed as anything less than a terrible calamity. It had been ascertained that two or three, if not more, human lives had been lost. The published statements of Mr. Eugene Delepest, in whose buildings on Pacific Street the fire originated, leave no doubt that it must have been the work of an incendiary. We refer for further particulars to the detailed account of the melancholy occurrence which will be found in another column. The social condition of California does not seem to have undergone any amelioration. Still crime stalks abroad, either unpunished, or punished with a lawlessness that is in itself a crime against all order and propriety. A " Committee of Vigilance" has been organized at San Francisco, with the object, it would appear o* reducing the practice of Lynching to a system, to be habitually brought into operation. One of the exploits of this Court was to put to death a man named Jenkins (said, of course, to be from Sydney), for stealing an iron safe j from a shipping office. Within six hours | after the theft he was executed in the Public Piazza, at |-past 2 o'clock in the morning. "An ineffectual attempt having been made to hang him to the Liberty pole," he was dragged to another locality, where "he was drawn up in the struggles of death, by the dim moonlight, and amidst the mingled shouts of the vast concourse assembled on the Piazza." There are some other instances of the "summary justice" administered by this precious Committee, recorded in the papers before us ; but this may suffice for the present as an illustration of what the state of society in San Francisco itself continues to be ; — and the accounts from other parts of the country are worse rather than better. Terence Bel lew McManus, the valiant run-away prisoner from Van Diemen's Land, had reached San Francisco, where he was greeted with an euthusiastic welcome by numbers who were evidently prepared to seize with avidity the opportunity of manifesting hatred to England, which his arrival was made to afford. Amongst the complimentary demonstrations to the fugitive Irish patriot, he was entertained at a public dinner on the 13th of June, at which Mr. Brenham, the Mayor of the City, presided, and Judges, Senators, and other influential persons, attended. The style and spirit of the proceedings may be inferred from the phraseology in which the " toast of the evening " was proposed :—": — " Our Guest, Terence Bellew McManus,— lreland gave him birth, England a dungeon, America a home, with a hundred thousand welcomes." Mr. McManus, in reply, "swore allegiance to the star-spangled banner" and, " amidst tremendous cheering, kissed the flag" A dreadful loss of life had occurred from the bursting of a boiler of the steamer New World, on her passage from San Francisco to Sacramento. j We do not observe any intelligence of i novel interest from the Gold Miues. But the late hour at which these papers came into our hands prevents our examining them as closely as we shall afterwards do. We have through this channel English news to the 30th of April. It is, however, limited to a few subjects, and contains no reference whatever to the proceedings of Parliament, or the Ministerial Crisis. The leading topic is the Great Exhibition. The Crystal Palace was to be opened with great ceremony on the Ist of May, by the Queen in person. An official programme of the arrangements had been issued, from which it appears that on Her Majesty's arrival, a choir would sing " God save the Queen," — on her taking her seat on the platform, Prince Albert, at the head of the .Royal Commissioners, would reacl a short report of the proceedings of the Commission, to which the Queen would return a gracious answer ; — the Archbishop of Canterbury would pray for God's blessing to rest on the undertaking, and an anthem would be sung by the choir ; — a royal procession would then be formed, and pass through tho building in such a manner as to " enable all present to see Her Majesty and the procession ;" — the organs playing marches through the time of this progress ; —the Queen, on her return to the platform, would declare "the Exhibition opened," which would be announced to Uic public by a flourish of trumpets and the firing of a royal salute.

The Sale of season tickets for the Exhibition had been stopped, upwards of fifteen thousand having been disposed of. Up to the 20th April, the number of packages of foreign goods received was 9,437 ; and of colonial, 1,172. We arc gratified, to observe in the list the receipt of fortytwo packages from New Zealand. A National Chartist Convention " had been held, made up of delegates from the great manufacturing districts ; and a programme as to the means and objects of the reforms sought by them had been issued. It is said to include much more sweeping demands than the old five points." Lord Langdale, late Master of the Rolls, and Admiral Sir Edward Codrington were dead. A military insurrection, headed by the Duke of Saldanha, had taken place in Portugal ; but though at first formidable, it was likely to be crushed. The rebels were in full retreat before the royal forces. As usual, we are told that a " great political crisis" is imminent in France. The other European news (as it is compressed in these papers) does not call for special notice.

According to the promise in our paper of Wednesday, we return to the subject of •' Benefil Building Societies," which is one that, rightly understood, must command the attention and good wishes of every friend of the operative classes, especially in a colony like New Zealand, where all the arguments used in support and furthetance of such associations at home: apply with greatly augmented and yet moie obvious cogency. In a new country like this, every man should be desirous of securing a spot of ground or a dwelling he can call his own, and the quantity of land still to be occupied presents facilities for his doing so which do not exist to anything like the same extent in England, or even in the older colonies where the number of the population is so much larger iii proportion to the extent of the soil. The Speech in which Mr. Bell moved the second reading of the Bill for giving legal sanction and protection to such Societies, (which is now we have no doubt one of the Ordinances of the Colony), has already brought before our readers an excellent outline of their theory and results in other places. We deem the matter of sufficient importance, however, to call for some further illustration and enforcement. The principle upon which Benefit, Building, or Freehold Societies is founded is that of cooperation, — a number of persons combining their contributions in such a manner as to secuie by this union advantages, which it would not be possible for them to realise in their individual and detached capacity by the same expenditure or effort. Insuiance Companies and Friendly Societies of various kinds have been established on this principle, and have extended their ramifications far and wide, with results of incalculable value in making provision against fire, sickness, death, and other vicissitudes or contingencies. The specified object of the Societies now before us, however, is to bring this all-important mutual-assistance system into operation for the purpose of enabling men of limited incomes — incomes dependent upon their daily toil — to become proprietors instead of tenants of the bouses or lands which they occupy. It is evident that a man who hues the house in which he resides, will* generally speaking, after some ten or fifteen years, have paid to his landlord for the mere privilege of residing in it, a sum amounting nearly or fully to its whole value, — and yet he has acquired no right of property in it, — It is no more his own at the expiration of such a term than it was at the beginning. There is no feeling more natural — more congenial to a spirit of honourable independence— than the desire to be possessor of a homestead, however small, for one's self. But how is this object ( to be attained by a working man, who has no capital wherewith to purchase a freehold ? It was with a view of meeting this difficulty that Building Societies were set on foot. The following is an account of their origin and progress, as given in " A Treatise on Benefit Building Societies, &c, by Arthur Scratchley, M.A." published in London in 1849, and regarded as a standard work on the subject : — - The first Building Society which eta be traced was founded in 1815, under the auspices of the Earl of Selkirk.. It was a village club at Kirkcudbright in Scotland. Other institutions of a similar kind vreie afterwards established in the same Kingdom, under the title of " Menages," and the system was soon adopted in England by Societies formed in the neighbourhood of Manchester and Liverpool, and other parts of the north. After the year 1830, they increased so rapidly, that on the 14th of July 1836 a special Act (6 and 7 William IV. Cap. 32) was passed for their encouragement and protection, in the provisions of which were embodied certain clauses applicable to their conduct, which were included in the statutes relating to Friendly Societies passed in the reigns of George 111. and George IV. As a proof of their numbers it may be stated that, up to the 31st of December 1848, there had been registered in the United Kingdom upwards of 2000 Societies, of which in England alone 160 were added during the past year-— a similar increase having taken place in Scotland and Ireland. Of thpse Societies there is evidence to show that from 800 to 900 are yet in existence, the total income of which is calculated at not Ipss than ,£"2,300,000 a year. In f.iot theie are two or ihipe of these whose annual incomes aro, between £50,000, and £60,000 each. The general working of these Societies may be briefly stated. The funds are raised by the periodical payments of the Subsctibers, who contribute ceitain small sums weeUy or monthly in pioportion to the number of shares they take; the total number of shares being fixed, say 1000 at £50 each, or 500 at £100 each, — Mr. Bell suggests for this colony 500 at £100 each. The members have the option

of becoming either Investors or Borrowers. In the former case, their subscriptions are de- ! posited dining the nu.uber of years— say ten —determined for the continuance of ihe Society, and then are paid back with the compound interests accumulated 'upon them in that period, — thus proving to themselves a safe and profitable investment of capital, (the return being much greater than they could acquire by lending their money at ordinary inteiest) at the same time that their deposits aid the purposes of the Society by being available for loans to members desiring advances. In the latter case (which is, we think, the more leg'timate operation of the plan) the member either borrows money to enable him to become a proprietor of property, (giving satisfactory security), or, as fast as the stock of the Society permits, obtaind the estimated value of his share, a sufficient guarantee being given to the Society that he will continue to pay his periodical subscriptions and interest to the end of the term for which it is agreed that the Society shall exist He thus procures means to make an immediate purchase, which he could scarcely acquire in any other way ; for few piivate capitalists would be likely to lend the requisite amount to one in the circumstances of most woiking men ; or, if they did, they would not be willing to take it back by small weekly or monthly instalments ; and moreover the borrower from them could never have the certainty which the constitution of the Society affords that the principal money will not be called in so long as he continues to pay his periodical subscriptions. He gets his house or freehold then on easy terms ; he is his own landlord, and so far independent, and elevated in his status in the social circle ; he. has an inleiest in every improvement his skill or labour may effect in the property which now belongs to himself, and which he can bequeath to his chldren ; and he has additional incentives to industry and frugality, and to the self-respect which is so efficient a motive in producing general prospriety of conduct. The plan as we have thus indicated it — very generally and only in its elementary character indeed, without entering into the details by which it may be illustrated, or the ways in which it is, in some instances, modified — has met with cordial acceptance, and is working beneficially not only at home but in the ! adjacent colonies, as we learn even from the i papers which have reached us within the last few days. The Sydney Herald of the 31st ultimo, contains an account of the Annual Meeting of the " Australian Benefit Investment and Building Society," in which it is stated that "the affairs of the Society exhibited a degiee of prosperity not only surpiising as the result of an experiment of a character so novel as the institution of Building Societies in this t colony, but in the annual progressive strides of the Society towards the realisation of its objects;" and, as evidences of this, we are infotmed that in three years the small monthly ! contributions had amounted to upwards of ten j thousand pounds, and that "the result of the Society's operations in the first year cancellation of 73| shares, and in the second year of no less than 61^ shares; by the combined results of these two years, the relative value of the shares to the total sum to be dispensed from the Society to each of its members, on each share, had progressed from £16 to £32 per share." Again, ihe Hobart Town Guardian of the 1 6th ultimo, has a report of a meeting of the " Tasmanian Building and Investment Association" which is very favourable ; the finances were "in a happy state, nearly £70 remaining after every expense had been met j" two shares were disposed of at £9 15s. each, " reaching within three shillings of the present value with all the accumulations," In our own co'ony, the Southern Province has led the way in this judicious movement, which is to say the least as well adapted to the circumstances of J the thiiving industrious classes of New Zealand as it can be to the operatives of any portion of Her Majesty's dominions. i At Wellington, as Mr. Bell stated, a Society has already been formed, which was ready to proceed to work so soon as the Ordinance I came into operation, the greater number of the shares having been actually subscribed. At Otago, the " Dunedin Property Investment Company" has been for some time in existence, and with beneficial effects which were thus stated by the Witness in May last — " Considering the small community, the Society appears to have been eminently successful, the sum advanced to the shareholders being no less then £302 10s., the arrears only amounting to 245. The shareholders who have taken advantage of the advances have made purchase of sections of land, on which some have built comfortable houses, and made improvements on their lands* which in all probability, would never have been but for the instrumentality of the Society. Those again who have not taken advances have reaped a corresponding benefit, inasmuch as the profits on each share amount to 7s. 2d. on the 275. paid up by fortnightly pay m nets of Is. At Nelson, a Society on similar princip!es has been formed. From numbers of the Lyttelton Times which have come into our hands since we commenced this article, we learn that the Canterbury colonists also aie alive to the value of the plan, and the " Ileathcote Building Society" was m course of formation, the proprietors being engaged " deliberately and cautiously" (as they should be) in preparing the constitution, rules, &c. Although in this locality we have not been so early iv the field, as our fellow-colonists in the other settlements, we have here abundant material

fur l he formation and profitable working of a similar society ; the attention of many of our operatives is now turned to it ; and we look for speedy and satisfactory results. Wht-n we say " speedy," however, we are far from meaning or wishing ihat it should be hasty. There is scarcely any undertaking to which the old proverbial counsel Festina lente — make haste slowly — is more entirely applicable. In some publications to which we hare referred for the purpoies of this article, we find that strong oljections have been urged against Building Societies at home, on account of their alleged insecurity ; and it seems certain that there have been instances in which the hardly earned savings of the industrious have been lost by investment in them. But in these instances it will be found that the ruin of the Societies can be traced either to the rash aud ill- formed principles on which they were organized, or to the dishonesty of those who were entrusted with their management. In some cases, Building Societies (like various other Benefit Societies) weie through ignorance or the love of speculation, or the stimulus of competition, ushered into existence with glowing promises of advantages to the shareholders, which any man acquainted with the subject could, after a very few minutes calculation, unhesitatingly pronounce unsound and delusive, — such indeed, that the realization of them was not within the compass of possibility. And in other cases the societies were got up by designing and unscrupulous parties who took advantage of the prevalent feeling in favour of the scheme to further their own selfish and fraudulent ends. The latter risk is less likely to occur in a small community like ours, where the parties generally know each other sufficiently to prevent the reposing of confidence where it would be abused ; and both sources of disappointment are to a great extent guarded against by the provisions of the Ordinance, such as that the rules shall be subject to the assent of the Government, — that all trustees or persons receiving the society's money shall give security, — that full financial statements shall be periodically published, — and that prompt and efficient legal redress shall he obtainable if occasion for it should arise. Altogether then, we rejoice to see that so excellent a plan, and one so admirably suited to our colonial circumstances, is likely tocome into operation under such satisfactory and encouraging prospects, and we shall be most happy to aid its progress to the best of our ability.

By the kindness of Dr. Macdonald, a passenger by the unfortunate Eudora, we have a file of recent Canterbury papers, coming down to the 1 9th of last month. The intelligence presents several particulars not devoid of interest. The Lyttelton Times of the last date reports a " temporary lull" in local matters; affairs, however, bore, " with the weather, a serene and cheerful aspect," with a fair portion of activity in the commercial movements. The recent disasters on the coast had led to a Public Meeting, held to consider the best means of preventing a recurrence of the mischief occasioned by the heavy gales. It was resolved that an officer combining the duties of Harbour Master and Pilot ought to be appointed ; that l he laying down of heavy moorings, sufficient to hold six vessels of 100 tons, is absolutely necessary ; that the expense of these measures ought if possible to be defrayed out of the present surplus revenues of the settlement ; and finally that the Governor-in- Chief should be memorialized to sanction the necessary expenditure. Another Public Meeting had been held to consider the best means of guarding against the ravages of fire in the town of Lyttelton, at which a committee was appointed, which subsequently divided, itself into sub-committees charged to inquire into the degree of danger existing in different classes of the houses, and the amount of co-operation which might be expected from the inhabitants, in the purchase of apparatus, the formation of a Fire Brigade,, and other precautionary steps. The Land Purchasers Society was in a state of discord amounting almost to disorganization, Mr. Dampier, the law agent of the society, (who appears to be a gentleman not only learned but sharp in the law,) had gone in some matters — the details of which we are only partially informed of — against Mr. Godley, who in all things evidently wishes to be autocrat in the new settlement, and whom Mr. Dampiee accuses of having caused the legal documents and conveyances by the Association to be prepared by unauthorised, unqualified, and irresponsible persons. Mr. Dampier declares that at the General Meeting of the Society, he was slandered ; and he has brought an action against Mr. Brittan and Mr. Fitzgerald for libel, — the libel being the minutes of the Council, He also refused to resign his seat in the Council, whereupon his colleagues, with one exception, declined to act with him any longer. A Meeting for the election of a new President and Council had been called for the 28th ultimo, and very excited feelings seemed to prevail on the subject. Another source of some local excitement was the appearance in the Melbourne papers of a letter from Mr. Mark Stodart, — a Port Phillip squatter, lately arrived in the settlement, — in which, amongst numerous striking representations of the character and capabilities of the country, he broadly states that " the pockets of the much vaunted pilgrims are not too well lined," and predicts that " a year or two must smash them all." We copy in another column both the letter and the remarks of the Lyttelton Times, observing, as we pass, that all honour is due to our contemporary for the outspoken

frankness with which he asks,—" Why not confess at once the plain and manly truth, that we are all poor, that we came to this colony because we were poor, and because we could not afford to live in the station of life to which we belong, and therefore came to a new land where we might engage in pursuits in themselves honourable, but in which we could not have engaged without loss of caste in our own country." A Building Society was in contemplation, (as we more particularly notice in another article.) A Reading-room containing about 500 volumes had been opened, and mustered about forty subscribers. But the pilgrims must either be at a great loss for recreation, or have a peculiar taste in theii pleasures, when, as the Times tells us, the sale of the damaged goods from the wreck of the Torrington supplied a fund of amuiement for them during a week. It was intended to laise some monument to the memory of the Messrs, Ward, whose death by drowning we lately recorded. The most suitable one, it was judged, would be a Memorial window in the church. Every thing among the Pilgrims seems to be ehurchified in some shape or another. Their very tavern is called " The Mitre." Our latest papers do not contain any market note, but we subjoin that of the preceding week. It will be seen that prices were generally high. As respects Flour, we observe that at the auction of the surplus stoics from the Bronte and Steadfast, it sold at 80s. and 82s. 6d. for the c ask of 200 lbs. First flour, 40s. per 100 lbs. ; Bread, per 21b. loaf 9d.; Beef, 7d. to Sd. per Ib. ; Mutton 7d to Bd. per lb. ; Poik, 7d. per lb. ; Fowls, per pair, 7s. 6d. ; Ducks, nose; Fresh butter, 2s. Od. ; Salt butter, 2s. Od. per lb. ; Potatoes, £4 10s. per ton ; Eggs, 3s. per dozen, Cbeese, New Zealand, Is. 3d. per lb. ; Maize, ss. 6d. per bushel. ; Ale, 6s. per two gallons ; Ham and Bacon, none; Firewood, per cord, 225. to 305.; Sawn timber, 163. to 18s. per 100 feet. We extract from our Lyttelton contemporary an article in which several of the points in connection with Canterbury politics are treated. — we suppose, as usual, in accordance with Mr. Godley's opinions " anent" them. We looked with some interest for the mode in which the Pilgrims would receive Sir George Grey's strictures on the system on which their settlement has been organized ; but the Times postpones the subject to its next number, which has not yet reached us, merely sounding a note of preparation for the onslaught bycharacterizing his Excellency's remarks as a " monstrous and uncalled for attack on the Canterbury settlement."

An Address, of which the following is a copy, was presented by the Clergymen in this district whose names are appended to it, to the Bishop of Newcastle, on the occasion of his visiting the diocese recently to join the Bishop of New Zealand on the missionary tour on which their Lordships have both since sailed in the Border Maid : — My Lord,— The undersigned, Clergy in the Archdeaconry of Waitemata, beg respectfully to address your Lordship on the occasion of your visit to this diocese. Under any circumstances we should have felt much satisfaction in welcoming you here ; but the particular object of your visit gives it a peculiar interest; coming a 9 your Lordship docs to join our own Bishop in what seems to us so hopeful a field of Missionary exertion, and that too, in a vessel lately devoted to this great cause by the Christian Hberalitieß of the Australinn metropolis. Our first and most natural desire is to express our humble thanks to Almighty God that He has putitinto the heaits of His servants the Bishops of this province with one accord to acknowledge and carry into execution the duty and piivilege of sending the glad tidings of salvation to the heathen isles of the Pacific. That this work should first have been specially recommended by the Archbishops and Bishops of the Mother Church in England, and then that it should have been recognised and commenced by the consent and authority of the Bishops of this province, is a subject of hearty rpjoicing 1 to us. And vre cannot but hope and trust that a work begun on such sound principles of Christian love, unity, and order, will be blessed by the Divine Head of the Church to the glory of God, the salvation of perishing souls, and the increase of charity and godly concord among all the members of our Church. Further, my Lord, it is a subject of great gratification to us that your Lordship has been selected by your brethren to join our beloved and honoured Bishop in the actual work of this missionary enterprise. We sincerely rejoice that his former exertions have met with this well-deserved encouragpment, and that the fiiend of his college and earlier life is now his appointed and willing fellow-labourer, and joint ambassador for Christ to the multitude of the Isles. We feel that there is a peculiar appropriateness in our welcoming you on this day's festival to a work that requires the zeal and the spirit of a Barnabas and a Paul. We need hardly assure your Lordship that this holy cause and all who may be engaged in it, will have the heartfelt prayers of many Christian brethren, as well as of ourselves. We would humbly, yet confidently, commend you to the blessing of Almighty God, praying that the manifold gifts and graces of His Holy Spirit may be abundantly shed abroad upon you, and that you and our own Bishop, and all that journey with you, may be brought back in safety, with the living proofs and witnesses of your labours, and a hopeful earnest of future success. (Signed) G. A. Kissrixo, S. Barnabas, Auckland. J. F. LtnYD, S. John's College. C. J. Abiiaham, Bishops' Auckland. Y. Lush, Ilowick. A. G. Purcims, Onehunga. F. Thatcher, S. Matthew's, Auckland. F.of S. Barnabas, June 11, 1851.