MEETING OF BURGESSES.-SUBURBAN SOUTH WARD.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 580, 5 November 1851, Page 3

MEETING OF BURGESSES.-SUBURBAN SOUTH WARD.

Pursuant to advertisement a Meeting of Burgesses was held at the Windsor Castle Inn, at G o'clock on Monday evening. Major Mat&on- being called to the Chair, It was moved by Mr. Kioju'tuounk, seconded by Mr. Connjsll, and carried unanimously, lh.it Major Matson bcicqueslcd to allow himself to be put in nomination to represent the Ward. Major Mat&on expressed his regret that the choice of the meeting hud not fallen on ',ome one more capable than he deemed himself of the efficient discharge of the duties of a Member of Common Council, but staled liis willingness to comply with the request contained in the resolution, and, if elected, to forward, to the best of his power, the interests of the Ward and of the Borough. Mr.' Aurvham observed that, looking upon the duties of the Members of Common Conned in the light thrown upon the Charter by the official letter of Sir George Grey which accompanies it, he was much struck with the very great responsibilities that are devolved upon them by the Charter—responsibilities from which he for one would gladly shrink, and he felt that the Burgesses had much reason to feel obliged to Major I\l vtsom for his ready compliance with their request. Clause 25th of that letter, after summing up the powers and privileges conferred upon the Corporation by the Charter, goes on to say that " the Council of the Borough will for the future be in a great measure responsible for the progress and prosperity of the district, and for the due discharge of many of the important duties which have hitherto been performed, however imperfectly, by the Local government." And the succeedhg clause shews that in future it is to depend upon the good sense and public spirit of the people, as displayed in their corporate capacity, "how far the district of Auckland shall present the example of a peaceful, well-ordered, and prosperous community." These were grave responsibilities, upon which, if the Charter should be found in bjar out the commentary, Members of Council were entering, and he trusted that they would, as he doubted not Major Matson would, enter upon them in a spirit commensurate with their importance. After a desultory conversation, the Meeting, which was not numerous, separated.

Tam\ki Wjsst Waut).— A Meeting of the Bnrgcsscs of this Ward was held on Friday evening last, at Mr. John Scott's dwclling-honsc Mr. was called to the Chair, and Mr. Wn--livm Taylor, Mr. David White, and Mr. Willtam Atkins were severally nominated as fit and pi-opcr persons to represent the Ward in the Common Council.

Pitcairrfs Island and the Islanders, in 1850. By Waltek Broth u Third Edition. I2mo. pp. 260. London : Whitaker and Co. ; Auckland : sold by J. Williamson. In addition to such intrinsic claims on attention as this volume may possess, it dciives a measure of local interest here fiom its having originated in the circumstance of the Authoi's having been left (together with Mr. Cari.eton, Baron de Tiiihrry, Mr. H. Taylor, and Mr. S. Vaile) on Pitcaitn's Island by tV barque Noble, which sailed from this port for San Francisco in the beginning of last year. It is not our puipose to inquire whether that abandonment of a number of passetigeis was on ing to uncontrollable necessity, or, as Mr. Buoniu believes, to selfish and unfeeling negligence. We just now look at one of the results— viz., the communication to the world of an amount of information respecting the Island and its inhabitants which we should not otherwise have received, and which, in extending a knowledge of the deeply interesting little community whom it rlescribes, is calculated, we trust, to promote their welfare by bringing their character and requirements more fully before the public, eye. As a personal narrative of the Author's own adventures, the volume may take rank amongst the most romantic accounts of " moving accidents by flood and field." It would seem as if some malignant genius had presided over his course, hurrying him fiom one disappointment to another. First he is, sorely against his will, left behind at Pitcairns Island by the Noble. He is glad to obtain an opportunity to proceed to California by the Colonist, but in that vessel be finds himself crowded amongst disorderly passengers ; he significantly tells his readers, " the conduct and language of every one on board cannot be described, and as for the diet, the less I say upon this matter the better." He lay upon the leaf of a table, shivering with cold, not having sufficient clothing of his own, and " no one was inclined to lend" what he needed. Arrived in San Francisco, with only the price of one meal in his pocket, he was in new straits. Peiaons whom he had previously known, and who were under obligations to him, would not aid him to the value of a sixpence ; " But, my friends." lie exclaims, " this is California !" After some time, he earned as much as enabled him to renew his wardrobe, but ill-luck still followed him, and he lost his clothes overboard from a ship in which he was employed. He next made his Avay to San .Tose, where he was seized with cholera; while he was labouring under the disease, the boat in which he was lying was capsized, in the middle of the night) and he was obliged to turn out amidst cold rain, and wade, knee-deep in mud, to the shore. He recovered, however, and left San Francisco in the Antelope, steamer, for Panama ; here he got provisions bad in quality and insufficient in quantity, and five times during the voyage the steamer took fire "from sheer negligence alone." In his pedestrian journey across the Isthmus we find him in new troubles, from the roguery of the mule- drivers engaged to carry the baggage of the party, and still more from the discomforts and dangers of the " American Hotel,"—" a large long hut, without any flooring, — a horrid hole — kept by a tvnu-bred CaHfomian gold-digger, a good specimen oi the worst character." Matteis might have been worse however, as a mile i'uither on the load there was another hotel, the keeper of which burned opium to secure that his loilgeis should not awake while he robbed them of their golddust. At Cruces, near the heu.4 of the Chagrcs River, he was little better off, the chai actei of the ppople being such that Mr. Urodie and his friends deemed it necessary before they letned to rest to make such arrangements for the night as that, in case of their being attacked, they should " jump into one paiticular comoi of the room, so that they might not shoot each other in the daik." He reached Chag.e.*, .'in! ins estimate of his condition there may be gathered fiom his pithy declarations that " lot a

small place, it is a more hornd spot than San Francisco," and that the people, "judging from their appearance, were likely to murder any one for a few dollars." His stay theie was diversified by the administialion of Lynch Liw in the case of a thief who was punished by (logging and the diopping of boiling sealingwax upon his body evj-y two horns until he confessed. From Chagrts he sailed for !lavannah, in i'ie steamer Pacific, 1200 tons. Things are no better: a dreadful crowd; scanty provisions; no Older ; no knives and folks allowed at meals ; '* in shoit," says Mr. Brodik, u we weiotioatedmore like swine than human beings " llavannah proved an oasis in Ihe desert of his wandeuugs ; but his miseiies were not over, though he sailed for New York in " a floating palace," the Ohio steam -ship, of 2800 tons burthen. The machineiy broke ; a ticmendous stoim came on ; the vessel leaked, and the pumps were found out of order ; finall} , however, she reached Noifolk, in the Mate of Virginia. Thence our traveller proceeded in the Georgia steamer, but she caught Cue on her passage to Baltimore. Finally, he sailed from New Yoik for Liverpool, in the packet-ship Columbia, but dangers still chased him ; he was so neaily lost off Holyhead that, " another quarter of an hour," he says, " and no one, peihaps, would have ever heard anything more of us, had we continued the course we weic steering." We must lefer the reader to the hook ilvlf for the details of the disasters of which ue h;u- j hero given but a mere outline. Yi'VU nugK Mi. Brodie exclaim at the end, " Tlmik God ! i have now returned safely to England from California, I thoroughly lecommend no friend of mine to go th'M-e !" A year or two since such a warning voice might have been advantageously re-echoed here ; but now it is scarcely necessary, as the sad experience of Califovnian adventure — to say nothing of the newer attractions of Australia — has subdued the fever, in the delirium of which so iiiany were rushing to disappointment, suffering, and death, amid the scenes some of which Mr. Buodie has here depicted. What is personal in the volume, however, may be regarded as episodical, — the main interest centreing in the account of Pitcairns Island and its inhabitants, and especially in the documents which Mr. Broth e has been enabled to collect. We shaU, in another issue, devote more space than we can command today to extracts, including testimonies to the character and descupUons of the circumstances and prospects of this peculiarly situated com' munity, who rise in our estimation — we may almost say in our affectionate regard — in proportion as we become better acquainted with their virtues. In leturning to the subject we may also avail ourselves of information in our hands derived from even a more recent visit to the Island than that of Mr. Brodie. Meanwhile we commend the volume before us to the favourable attention of our readers. Without much chim to hteiary excellence either in anangement or style, it presents a mass of authentic information respecting the Island and the Islanders more complete than can be met with, in any other publication, and will not only repay a first perusal, but be found subsequently useful for purposes of reference. It is illustrated by a lithographic portrait of the Author ; a view of the Island at Bounty Bay, fiom a sketch taken by Captain Beeciiey, of the fidelity of which we are assured by one who has seen the locality ; a poi trait of John Adams (also from a sketch by Captain Biiuuijey), and a representation of curious hieioglyphics which must have been carved on fl-e rock by those (whoever they may have been) who inhabited the Island before it became the refuge of the Mutineers of the Bounty ', and which are in a spot so difficult of access that, (excepting three officers of H.M.S. Calypso,) Mr. Carleton and Mr. Brodie were the first strangers who had encountered the risk of visiting them. An additional reason for wishing the hook a wide circulation is, that the Author states his intention of appropriating a portion of such profits as may arise from its sale to the benefit of the Islanders.