The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 574, 15 October 1851, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

Be just ami fear not Let nil the ends thou aiins»'t at, be thy Country's, Thy God's, and TiutUS.

AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, OCT. 15, 1851.

The Oracle has once more spoken. After a pause so long that it might have been feared the Apollo of the Cross had deserted his shrine, the ears of those who, not yet disabused by the exposure of the past juggleries of their idol, still waited expectantly for its response, have at length been giatified. In other words, our contemporary, having brooded in gloomy silence over the subject of the Municipal Corporation Charter for several weeks, has at length returned to the attack upon the measure, not indeed with any augmentation either of its resources in fact and argument, or in its vigour in the use of such weapons as it possesses, but with no diminution of its hostility, no participation in that better feeling towards the Charter, which has been gradually acquiring influence over many other minds, as the real character and capabilities of the measure have been more fully understood. This our contemporary owns •, "we once more reiterate our objections," he says, — assigning, for this reduplicated repetition of the old cavils, a reason which it would be a pity to keep out of view : — " As for the Municipal Charter itself, from all we can learn, we think there can be little doubt that it will be dragged into operation in one way or another ;" — (dragged, good Cross/ by whom % only by the People surely, for they alone have power to do it) — " it is therefore only because we entertain the strongest apprehensions of the evils which, in its present shape, we deem it calculated to ehtail upon the community, by setting each one against his neighboui,and by engendering stnfe and mischief, that we once more, &c." That is, our contemporary, in his constitutional aversion to discord and ill-will amongst neighbours, sets himself to avert those evils by insisting with all his strength that the community should reject the Charter of Incorporation ; the immediate reason for his doing so being, that theie can be little doubt that the community (for whose concord he is so solicitous) will itself bring the Charter into operation, unless he can succeed in inducing a sufficient number of them to reject it. His only motive in this, (who could suspect any other 1) is his deep sense of the great e\il of "setting each one against his neighbour, and engendering strife and mischief." Amiable Cross ! Sweet dove of peace ! how often since the settlement was first blessed with thy presence, hast thou spread I thy halcyon vsings over the troubled waters, and soothed them into stillness! Gentle haibinger of love and meekness ! here again, as in other days,,.we recognise indeed thy presence ! But we must not grow poetical, attractive as is the theme. We have already entered so largely into the questions which our contemporaiy " once more reiterates," that it would be like slaying the slain over again were we now to take them up in detail, particularly as we have to do with a controversialist who, like Goldsmith's Village Schoolmaster, " even though vanquished, will argue still," and who, after the most complete refutation of his positions, re-assertsthem with as much cool nonchalance as if they were axiomatic truths which no one did or could successfully gainsay. Here we accordingly have the " cauld kail" cooked up again, and presented as a dish of the most unexceptionable flavour. We particularly observe the same evil sur-

raisings with icgard to all who may have to do with the working of the Chailety—the same assumption that everything bad which by any possibility might be done, will actually be done under its provisions. The Pensioners might in every instance choose their own officers, (by-lhe-by, however, fiom all we can hear, we do not think they will, and, even if they did, we cannot believe that the result would be altogether nunous), and those officercouncillois might be the unreasoning tools of the Government, " a new edition of the baleful nominee system," — ergo, this will be so. The members for the Pensioner Wards and those for the Ruial Wards might combine to oppress and wiong Auckland by appropriating a lion's share of the General Funds to works beneficial only to the country, not at all to the tow n ; to be sure, this pre-supposes that those members will be very selfish and unprincipled men ; but no matter, it might be so, and therefore it will be so. Sir George Grey, or Colonel Wynyard, or any other Governor or Lieutenant-Governor who may be in office for the time being, could exercise the right of veto in such a manner as to nullify the wisest steps the Council might devise for the good of the Borough ; no doubt this presupposes the existence of something very wrong in either their heads 01 their hearts, or both; but what of that? Its being within the range of possibility is quite enough for our contemporaiy's argument. His political philosophy is too sublimely stoical to be softened down by any of those weaknesses which lead inferior minds to hope that men will not always behave in the very worst way they possibly can. He has studied human nature. " Touching which lemark," says Charles Dickens, in developing the character of Mr. Pecksniff, " let it be written down to their confusion that the enemies of this worthy man unblushingly maintained that he always said of what was very had, that it was very natural ; and that he unconsciously betrayed his own nature in doing so." Of couise we are not rude enough to insinuate that the last clause of this sentence applies in the case before us ; but our contemporary 's judgment of what is natural, does seem to harmonize a good deal with that of Mr. Pecksniff. However, bad as the world may be, theie are counteracting virtuous influences in it ; and even were all these abuses of power attempted, the case would not be past remedy. We are told that the Corporation ought to be more largely endowed. The argumenlum ad crumenam is proverbially a powerful one, for few men like to pay money, especially in taxes, if they can avoid it ; and our contemporary has tact enough to see that here, if any where, he can effectively exercise his pacific object in relation to the Charter. Now, although we have deemed it right to dwell upon the fact that the Corporation is endowed to an impoitant extent, we have never said that it would not be desiiable, or even just, that the endowment should be greater. There is, within certain limits, more agreement between our views and those of our contemporary on this point than he perceives, or, at any rate, than he seems disposed to admit. Considering the large sums which the Government have realized by the sale of town and suburban lands, and the expectation which the purchaseis of those lands were warranted in entertaining that a sufficient portion of their money would be applied to the formation of good thoroughfares to the allotments for which they paid so dearly, we think that the wretched state in which several of our streets still are, and in which several more would have been if they had not been improved by private effoit, is a leal ground of complaint, implying a neglect on the. part of the Government for which no adequate defence can be offered. The inhabitants have, in our opinion, a clear right to ask, not fiom the mere generosity but from the justice of the Government, that teparation shall be made for past omission in this matter? by the endowment of the Corporation with means to accomplish what the Government itself ought to have accomplished long ago. We therefore unhesitatingly say that there is no point which the Common Council may urge more strongly, or on which its representations can have a firmer basis on which to rest, than this. But the Council must exist before it can urge this or anything else ; and the success of its representations will, we are persuaded, depend in no small measure, on its own constitution and conduct. If it be composed of men known as habitual opponents of the present and every other Government, — if its disposition should appear to be one of unqualified hostility to the Charter, and its acts tend rather to the factious frustration than the beneficial working of the measure — then its representations will have comparatively little weight either here or in England. But if its members manifest a spirit of fairness and moderation — if while they are seeking for further grants and privileges, they are, in the mean time, obviously making the most and the best of those already conferred upon them, then it may be anticipated that they will be heard with attention, and there will be every probability that their reasonable requests will be reasonably complied with. While, however, we more than concede all this, we always maintain that the amount of endowment with which the Corporation will " commence business" is very considerable in itself, and such as other Corporations might have vainly wished for at their formation. It is objected, indeed, that poitions of this Endowment are alieady appropriated to specific objects, from which the Corporation cannot

divert (hem. To a certain extent (his is undoubtedly true; they cannot, for instance, in their discretion or indiscietion,take the Hospital Endowment to make roads u ith it ; but could any sensible man expect, or any humane man desire, that this should be otherwise'? And having named roads, let us look for a moment at our contemporary's remarks with regard to that branch of the su hject. He copies from the Estimates the items of which the £7 J-0 IDs Bd. handed over to the Corporation is made up (such as Forage for Horses, Caiteis, Labomers, &c), and leaves the impressi m on- his readers that the Council will receive the Grant under some obligation to expend it, " as they choose" indeed, but according to this scale"; — an additional grievance being that the Estimates contain an item of £200 for a Superintendent's salary. The fact is that the Council need not keep a single horse or a single man statedly employed fiom their funds ; they may have all their woik done by contract, which we have little doubt they will choose as the most economical mode •, the sum appropriated for Roads will be in the most unrestricted manner at their own disposal for that general purpose ; they may spend it in making roads when and how they please. And as for the Superintendent, his salary is no more drawn from their endowment than is the salaiy of the SurveyorGeneral ; they will not ha\e to pay a farthing lonards it; if they derive any advantage ftom his superintendence it will be so much added to the endowment ; if they do not think his superintendence advantageous, they need not have it ; but can appoint a Surveyor of their own, or do without one if they think proper* In short they mayj if they will (as we understand the case), pioceed as if no such functionary as a Superintendent of Roads were in existence, — dealing, according to their own wisdom, with this sum of £740 19s. Bd. placed at their disposal in aid of their other means for making roads. The Estimates referred to were prepared without reference to the existence, of the Corporation ; and now that the Charter has been proclaimed, the Council Avill receive the money, unfettered by any such conditions as to the particular distribution of it. So, in other instances. The Corporation will have the management of various Public Institutions with grants for their support ; and they will have the third of the land fund, all provided without their being obliged, so far, to impose a penny of taxation. Such being the case, we anticipate that the taxation which they may find it necessary to levy will be light ; and, if it be judiciously appiopriated, in really requisite and valuable improvements, we do not believe that it will be found fault with by a community which will not be blind to its own interests, and will judge how far those interests are honestly kept in view by its representatives. ! We have explained our reasons for regarding: the apportionment of members to the town and country respectively as, on the whole, equitable ; and we shall not tto over them in detail at the end of an article already longer than we in- \ tended. Should it seem desirable, we shall j have ample opportunities before the election to j enter upon this and other topics adverted to by our contemporary. We can safely leave to the judgment even of those readers who do not take the trouble of entering closely into the subject, such tiansparently incorrect assertions as that *' the interests of the Town and Country in expending the taxes are obviously opposed to each other," and that the " interests of the three suburban wards are very much more identified with the country wards than with those of the town of Auckland," merely observing on the latter assertion, that, so far as probabilities go, the persons most likely to be chosen for the suburban wards will present in their own persons the completest refutation of it, — being gentlemen who, though they sleep in the suburbs, are by ties of property, or of business, or of financial associations, or of all these, intimately connected with the town"Rightly understood, however, the interests of the various divisions of the Borough are identical, and it rests with the Burgesses themselves to see that the seats in Council shall be occupied by men who will honourably and honestly deal with them as such. Then, the result cannot fail to be promorive of the welfare of the whole, without injustice to any.

We have received Nelson papers to the 13th of September. Their contents possess considerable political interest. A Public Meeting had been held on the 22nd ultimo, to consider the proposal lately made by the Governor-in-Chief to create the Nelson settlement into an independent Province. The question was brought formally under consideration by the following Resolution, moved by Mr. Tr avers:— • "That in the opinion of this Meeting, any further division of the Colony of New Zealand into Provinces by the erection of the settlement of Nelson into a separate Province, with a view to the establishment of Piovincial Councils therein, invested with such limited powers as are contained in the Provincial Councils Ordinance recently enacted by the Legislative Council of New Zealand, 13 inexpedient and undesirable." The terms of this Resolution sounded the key-note of the proceedings, and most of the Speakers dwelt upon the objections alleged against the Provincial Councils Ordinance, as reasons why the Governor's offer should be rejected. On the other hand, there seemed a strong opinion in favour of a Municipal Corporation such as that conferred upon Auckland. Thus, Mr. Stafford argued, " There was nothing which the Provincial Councils could really do without fear of being upset, which could not be done by a Municipal Corporation, including

the rural districts, and having the same powers as that just granted to Auckland, — while any rates levied by a municipality for purposes of public utility, could be appreciated by the authority of that municipality alone, which would requiie no highly paid officers." Dr. Munro took the same view; he said, "Taking everything into consideration, it seemed to him that a municipality was the principal thing to be sought after, which would give many, if not all, the poweis bestowed on Provincial Councils, and which might be much more inexpensively worked." Ultimately, Mr. Travers's motion was carried without opposition, — although the Examiner (which upholds the opinion that a " Council sitting in Nelsen would better legislate for Nelson than one sitting in Wellington) intimates that many who were not present were in favour of Provincial independence. On the Bth of September, a Public Meeting was held - Dr. Munro in the chair — to consider the expediency of an Address to the Governor-in-Chief praying for the establishment of Municipal Institutions in the settlement. The speakers generally expressed approbation of the proposition, but Mr. Grkenwood declared his pieference for Provincial Councils, "if they could arrange as to their contributions to the General Revenue." A Resolution was carried to the effect that " In the opinion of this Meeting, it is desirable that the Blind Bay district in the settlement of Nelson, be erected into a Municipality, with as full powers as can be gianted by the Go^ernor-in-Chief to any such Institution in this Colony." In additio n to powers, the Meeting also seemed very anxious to obtain endowments ; and Mr. Jollik moved an amendment declaring that the community of Nelson did not feel itself at liberty to pledge itself to acceptance of a Charter of Incorporation until it was ascertained what lands or other sources of revenue the Governor might be disposed to set apart for the maintenance of a Corporation. This was negatived, but a Deputation was appointed to wait on Sir George Grey to seek information on the matter, " and for the purpose of conferring generally on the provisions of the Charter of Incorporation. Yet another Public Meeting was held on the evening of the same day to consider the probable effect of the New Zealand Company's Land Claimants Ordinance. Mr. Saxton occupied the Chair, and Dr. Monro made a very long speech intended to exhibit the injustice and injurious bearing* 1 of the measure, especially of the clauses for [ extended compensation to absentee holders of land at Nelson, and for offering a second re-selection to persons who had already re-selected, their'lands. This was the topic especially dwelt on, and the majority of the Speakers agreed in condemning the favour~shown to^absentees, — although 11 a few took the opposite side, and the Meeting seems to have broken up without adopting any Resolution, — one in which Dr. Monro had embodied his views having been negatived. In the course of the discussion, Mr. Tkavers raised a point of considerable interest : — he contended Ordinance are restricted, in awarding compensation to absentees, to those cases only in which they either retain or exchange for scrip the whole allotment or quantify of land to which they may be entitled under the contracts entered into between them and the Company. He argued — and the Examiner supports his conclusion — that the Oidinance in no wise authorizes a pro rata compensation. We have received a few Wellington papers by this arrival, but they are of older dates than those which had previously reached us. The New Munster Gazette contained a notification that all claims under the Land Claimants Ordinance, made by persons resident in New Zealand, must be sent in to the Government on or before the Ist of January, 1 852. Persons claiming land under original or derivative title from the New Zealand Company, are accordingly requested to give notice immediately (according to Forms to be obtained at the offices of the Commissioners of Crown Lands) to the following officers : — at Wellington, the Colonial Secretary of New Munster . at Nelson, His Honor the Superintendent ; at New Plymouth, the Commissioner of Crown F ands ; and at Auckland, the Colonial Secretary of New Ulster. The following appointments and promotions in the Customs' Department of New Munster were Gazetted .—At Wellington, Mr. Edward Catchpool to be First Landing Waiter ; Mr. Charles Sharp to be Tide Surveyor; Mr. William Eades to be Acting Clerk and Warehouse Keeper ; Mr. David Johnstone to be Second Landing Waiter; and Mr. Robert Bannister to be Second Clerk.. .At Port Victoria, W. J. W. Hamilton, Esq., to be SubCollector, vice Mr. Gouland, transferred to Akaroa ; . . and at Akaroa, Henry Godfrey Gouland, Esq., to be Sub- Collector.

A Government Gazette was published on Thursday. It contains a Proclamation of a Land Sale, of Town allotments, at New Plymouth, to be held on Tuesday, the 25th of November; the Keturn of Immigration and -Migration at the Port of Auckland, for the Quarter ending 30th September, 1851, from which it appears that there were two hundred and four Immigrants, and ninety Emigrants ; and a return of the Sales of Crown Lands, exclusive of Sales by Public Auction, from the Ist of July to the 30th of September, the proceeds of which amounted to £976 4s. Bd. Another Gazette was issued yesterday. It contains a notification that the LiEUTKXAxNT-GoyERNOR has authorized the payment of £7 Us. to the Natives named Te Kawau and Kabipa for their laudable exertions to save the passengers of the Government Cutter, Maori, together with an ex-

invssinn of His Km'iji.i.bnpy's deep rot-ret at the loss of MessrK.'SM.u.u, Gkai.r, and Donnk, unibi\ hnmlelv drowned Avhon the Culler was up^el on the 7fh mstnnt. . Tenders for the erection of a Will or l:\nk in Oflioisil Bay, and for the supply of Hay ior thu servicu of'ilio flovornment are invited ; to be sent in by noon of Friday the 24(h instant. A Kolnrn of Uie'Exports Ihe produce of New Zealand, from tin; Tort of Auckland, from the Glli of July 1o the 10th of October, 18,31, shows :is (lie total value, XIO,2cS.J, of which, 1 4,470 wns ''»• copper ore ; .C2,;>77 for sawn timber ; and £1,45)0 for Ilumjjbiiek Oil. The value of the Imports into Auckland ot live slock and provisions for the same period is returned as il 10,965. Of this total we find no less than £ 3,3 14 for Flow.

La vn Su.r,.- The Lands advertised by proclamation in Ilic Guzt'flr of the I.sth uU., will be offered for Sale by the Colonial Treasurer tins (lay, at eleven o'clock, at. the Court, House. There are Town, Suburban, and Village lof% and a number of Country Farms, silualc in the Parishes of Mannrowa, rnkumngn, and Waiuku, on the list of allotments to be put up for Sale.

Wakt> Mkctkvyjs.— lt will bo seen by reference to "our advertising columns, that a Meeting of the IJiinrcs^cs ol' the \VW. Town Ward, is called for this^eninsr, at the White Hurt Hotel, Queenstreet; ami the Jsuvgpsscsof the Middle Ward arc likewise convened for 'Thursday evening at Thompson's Rooms, High-street, for the purpose of nominal in<f persons to represent these "Wards in the Town Council.