The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 581, 8 November 1851, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

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

AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, NOV. 8, 1851.

The Government Gazette, issued yesterday, contains a series of Regulations relating to the occupation of Waste Lands of the Crown outside Hundreds in this Province for the Depasturing of Stock, to which we invite the attention of our readers. From such an examination of them as we have been enabled to make since they came into our hands, we cannot but regard them as — though not extending to such an " opening up of the country" as is essential to the full development or its vast agricultural and pastoral capabilities — yet calculated to improve materially the prospects of the stockholder, and constituting one of those instalments of good which, as on more than one occasion lately we have contended, should be cordially accepted and employed until larger and better measures can be obtained. The feature in this plan which at first view strikes us as most advantageous, is the power which it gives the licensee to secure a right of possession in his Run for a term of years sufficiently long to afford encouragement to his efforts in the way of improvement, coupled as this is with the privilege of acquiring a homestead on the Bun, wliich may eventually become permanently his own property on his paying the upset price of the portion of land on which it is fixed, or for his outlay on which he will be equitably reimbursed, in the event of his being unable or unwilling to make that purchase. A scale for estimating the sufficiency of Stock for any Run is given in the sixth Regulation of the series, in which a certain allowance is made for natural increase, with apparently the twofold object of affording the stock-farmer room to the extent for which he is likely to have actual necessity, and preventing tracts of available pasture from being locked up in unproductiveness by holders not really requiriuffthem for use. With this limitation, a llun can be procured capable of containing any number of Sheep up to twenty-five thousand, or of an equivalent number of Great Cattle, one head of such Cattle being rated as six Sheep. So soon as the occupant of Run has stocked it

to an amount which the Commissioner shall pronounce " sufficient" according- to the proscribed scale, he shall be entitled to a License to depasture stock upon it for foir'tccn years, subject only to the contingencies of a portion of it being included within the boundaries of a Hundred, or sold on behalf of the Crown, — contingencies which no doubt involve some restrictions as to the absolute certainty of his tenure of the privilege, but which it would probably be impossible, consistently with general interests, to do away with. The contingency of his failing to pay his Annual lees and Assessment need scarcely enter into this view of the subject. A sppfial provision is made to meet the case of a stock-farmer who desires to become a settler in the locality he has thus chosen. He is assured that every proper facility will be afforded him for the acquisition of from iifty to eighty acres of land for a homestead: and in making improvements on tliis homestead he is secure against any risk of losing the capital he may so invest ; for, in the event of its becoming necessary to sell the homestead, his improvements will be valued by arbitrators, one chosen by himself and the other by the Government, and the alternative will be at his option, either to purchase the whole right of proprietorship by paying the upset price of the land, or to receive from the party purchasing it the value of his improvements thus estimated. So far as these arrangements go, it is obvious, we think, that they hold out promibing inducements to industry and frugality ; and we do not observe anythingin the Regulations calculated materially to hinder their beneficial operation. Wo, however, transfer the entire series to our columns, and the reader practically acquainted with the subject can form his own judgment of the whole. The season at which the plan is published is favourable for taking advantage of any benefit which it is capable of conferring, as being suitable for the importation of i^tock from the neighbouring pastoral colonies, — a source from which we anticipate an increased ar» tivity in our shipping interest; and we cannot but look with gratification at any movement — however short it may come of ail that we could desire or ask — which tends to bring us nearer to that independence of other countries, for which, in this respect las well as in others, nature has richly qualified this fertile land. While, however, we thus readily express our appreciation of these Regulations, we must with equal candour avow our regret that more effective and vigorous steps in the same direction have not yet been deemed practicable or expedient. The general pledge given on the subject by the Governor-in-Chief to the Legislative Council in August 1849, (not to advert now to other grounds for expectation), had certainly led us to anticipate that long ere this there would have been a more decided advance towards the end for which our agricultural settlers have pleaded and striven. It may be remembered that at that time a Sub- Committee of the Council, in reporting upon the representations made by Stock-holders of the inadequacy of the supply of food for their herds and flocks, stated as their opinion " that relief would be most effectually afforded by permitting the Stock-holders of the Northern Province to depasture Cattle on the Lands of the Natives, on such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon between the Native land-owners and European Stock-ho'ders, subject to such restrictions as may be required by the interests of both races." His Excellency, in the course of his written Reply, stated, " It has always been my own opinion that the permanent interests of both races, and the prosperity of the country would be most effectually promoted by the Government purchasing large tracts of land from the Natives, (on the plan which has, by my directions, been pursued in the South of New Zealand),— spreading the payment of these lands over a period of seven years, — and making ample reserves for the Natives, which they would be at liberty to lease to Europeans, and by then throwing open these districts to the European Stock-holder in the ordinary manner. Having further vindicated this policy, and intimated that the surveyor-General had been authorised to make purchases with a view to carrying it out, His Excellency continued,—" If, however, the Surveyor- General and the other officers whom 1 will appoint for that purpose, should not, within the next few montJis, succeed in securing large and fertile tracts of country in every way available for depasturing purposes, I will, under certain restrictions, permit the European Stock-holders to depasture Cattle on land, the property of the Natives ; although it may be necessary to gain considerable experience on this most difficult subject before it will be practicable to issue a complete Code of Regulations in relation to it." A period of not only the " few months'" but of more than two yeara has reyolvect since this assurance was given, and still the hope which it excited has not been realized, although the previous great hindrance of the unsettled state of the Land Claims haft been effectually removed. This has probably been, to a considerable degree, on account of the difficulty experienced in purchasing " large tracts" of land from the Native owners. But surely the case was sufficiently pressing to have warranted the temporary laying aside of this part of the policy, in order to render available those smaller sections which we believe might have been obtained, and the purchase of which would have facilitated, not prevented, the acquisition of large blocks* The Natives have not been unwilling to dispose of their lands ; although their advancing civilization has enabled them better to understand its fair commercial value, this has rather quickened than damped their inclination to sell or themselves improve it. An evidence o,f their desire to turn it to advantageous account was afforded in an agreement between the Hishop of New Zealand and some of the Natives at Oraki for the joint cultivation of land, both parties sharing in the products. This arrangement has indeed been broken up ;— mainly, we believe, in consequence of the aspect m .which our worthy contemporary recently urged it on public-

attention as a breach of the Native Land Purchase Ordinance; for the Bishop,— however conscious he ma ir bs of the excellence of the motives w .ich led him to enter into it, and coffni^r.nt of the j>-ood resulting from it, especially to the Natives, —would, with natura 1 and honourable seni it'venoss shrink from beino- held up as, even Icj'inically, a violator of Lie law, and has, we are informed, abandoned the undertaking 1, —this result forming an additional illustration of the practical effects produced by the peculiar patriotism of the self-com-placent regenerators of the countiy who ply their vocation through the columns of the Southern Cross. With respect to the Ordinance itself, we have always been friendly to its principle, —that, namely, of the Government standing as umpire between the comparatively ignorant Native and the European speculator; but the growing intelligence of the Natives renders ! ite restrictions daily less necessary; and iiqjged in practice its provisions are, in : wMhr instances, a mere dead letter, the breach of them being matter of universal notoriety. While therefore we would still maintain, in accordance with the opinion of the Sub Committee quoted above, that every measure on the subject should be framed with " such restrictions as may be reouircd by the interests of both races,'' we would also unre that a time lias arrived in which steps for cpaning the country to European occupation—not by connivance at the violation of an Ordinance, but by a definite system of well considered and liberal legislation—are loudly called for, and may be both safely and beneficially taken. If such a system were in operation just now, the flocks which are almost deserted in the Australian colonies through the attractions of the Gold Fields, would in great numbers be transfeired to New Zealand, and a powerful antagonism against the influence wLi^h is tempting not a few to re-emigrate from this country to those fields would be raised. Viewed in this broader light, the Regulations which we this day publish dwind'e into a comparatively small instalment of what the occasion demands;—as they fall altogether short of the promise contained in tne Governor's Rep Ay to the Sub-Com-mittee. But, we repeat, so far as they reach, they are a movement in the right direction, and should be received as such, while a more comprehensive scheme is sought for with all the earnestness which a consideration of its special and urgent importance under existing circumstances, not only justifies, but demands from all intelligent wellwishers to New Zealand.

The following are the piincipal contents of the Gazette published yesterday, in addition to the '•' Regulations" which form the topic of the preceding article, and the notifications of times and places for holding the Municipal Elections, which appear in our advertising columns The Returns of Revenue and Expenditure on account of the Province of New Ulster for the Quarter ending September 30th, 1851, as compared with the corresponding Quarter of last year, show as the general results: Re▼enue in 1850, Auckland, £7962 15s. 2d.; Russell, £U 4 3s. 3d. j New Plymouth, £394 2s. Bd. ; Total, £8771 Is. Id. :—in 1851, Auckland, £7644 17s. 2d. ; Russell, £357 os. Id.; New Plymouth, £366 Bs. 3d.; Total, £8368 ss. 6d. Exitnditur.e, in September Quarter, 1850, Auckland, £6255 7s. sd; I Russell, £518 7s. Bd.; New Plymouth, £607 17s. Bd.; Total, £7381 12s. 9d :—in 1851, Auckland, £6732 7s. 4-d.; Russell, £516 Bs. 7d.; New Plymouth, £356 ss. 6d.; Toial, £7605 Is. sd. Brigade-Major Grfenwood publishes an extract from the Brigade orders, notifying His Excellency the Lieutfnant-Colonel's entire satisfaction at the result of his late Inspection of the Enrolled Pensioners. Tenders are invited for the repair of the j " White Bridge" on the road between Panmure and Howick. j Occupants of Land under Crown Grants, or J by permission of the Crown, within Proclaimed Hundreds, who may desire to depasture Stock on the Crown Lands during the year 1552, are warned that they must take out Licences on or before the first of January next. It is notified that the Criminal Session of ■the Supreme Court will be holden on Monday, the first of December next, and the Civil Session on Monday, the eighth of December. The Meeting of Magistrates for the Transfer of Publican's Licences in the Auckland District, will be held on Tuesday, the 2nd of December.

We understand that Mr. J. W. Bain having, as Consul in New Zealand for the Sandwich Islands, represented to the Hawaiian Government the circumstances connected with the trial of Heke, a Sandwich Islander, charged with murder at the Criminal Session of the Supreme Court in March last, and particularly the efforts made by the Rev. Thomas Buddle and Augustus B. Abuaham, Esq., to facilitate Ghe object of securing for the unhappy stranger that impartial administration of British justice which, as our readers may remember, His Honor Chief Justice Martin was so anxious that he should obtain — Mr. Wyllie, Foreign "Minister, has written on the part of King Kamehameha's Government to both those gentlemen, thanking the former for his Christian philanthropy, and the latter for his disinterested and able exertions in the case. This tribute of grateful acknowledgment has been equally well merited and gracefully rendered.