AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 17, 1851.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 592, 17 December 1851, Page 2

AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 17, 1851.

Me just nii'l loin not: T.ct all the cuds thou .iiins't at, be thy Country's, Tliy God's, and Tiuth'b.

Since our last, we have met with some further Reports of the Affairs of the New Zealand Company, which, however, are older in date than the proceedings which we published on Saturday, and do not convey much actual information in addition. But as they afford some matter explanatory and confirmatory of the statement which was then presented, we" shall condense their substanco here. The subject has a paramount importance which may well induce us to collect all the authentic intelligence respecting it that may come within our reach. The Annual Meeting of the Shareholders of the Company was held in London on the 18th of July, having been postponed from the 20th of J une, on which day it should have taken place, in order to anord time for those ncgociations between the Directors and the Government which issued in the concoction of the Bill, the defeat of the principal provisions in which it was our agreeable duty to mention in our last. TVe now find that tins paragraph (respecting the proposed charge on the General Revenue,) given without authentication in the Sydney Herald, to which we formerly called attention, was an extract from the Report presented to the Shareholders on that occasion. It appears that this " readjustment of the Company's claim" had been brought before Parliament after an investigation of the case by Mr. Lefevre, " by whose aid an arrangement was effected with a former Government in the year 1845," and after protracted correspondence- with the Colonial Department, and several interviews between the Directors and Lord Grey. The main feature in the agreement was that of which our readers arc informed, viz., that the Company was to receive debentures fixed by Parliament as a first charge after the civil list, upon the General as well as the Land Revenue of the Colony, for £200,000, bearing tlio annual interest of 3 per eont. for the first seven years, 4 per cent, for the following fourteen years, and, after twenty-one years, 5 per cent, until the principal should be paid off. Much importance was evidently attached by the Company to securing that their claim should take precedence of every other, Ihe civil list excepted ; for at an adjouvned meeting, held on the 25th of July, the j joint was mooted a good deal, especi-

ally by Mr. BrtfiNANi), who declared his opinion that "tho Government of the Colony was perfectly unable to pay that interest, which would amount, to £6,000 yearly ;" but the Chairman (Mr. AglioxJ3y) quieted his apprehensions by assuring him that the Revenue of the Colony would undoubtedly produce enough to leave — after paying, say £12,000 for the civil list — a surplus more than sufficient to discharge tho Company's annual claim of £G,000 : and Mr. (i. I<\ Young completed the demonstration, and at the same time shewed his tender sympathy for the colony, by observing that, supposing there was a deficit in the .Revenue, " the Shareholders would have nothing whatever to do with it, as long as the proceeds did not fall helow £18,000 — the amount of the civil list and the interest on the £200,000." If any further evidence were needed of the intense selfishness which has been from first to last the animating spirit of this sordid Company, we might infer it from such remarks as these. No matter how depressed the condition of the colony migjt^ be, what cared the Company ? " Ncvei mind ! so long as by any li fe-or-dcath struggle the colonists can raise £18,000 of revenue, we are safe!" chuckle the hcaitless SiiYLOCKSof Jiroad-strcet. And yet in this very Report to which we are referring, these Directors coolly say to the Shareholders and the public, with regard to the entire result of their huckstering with Lord Grey. "The terms proposed arc by no means so favourable as we conceive that we had reason to expect, or as, considering the very groat benefits which your enterprise has conferred upon the British nation, we still feel you were entitled to look for." Of a truth, these gentlemen (upon some 'of whom as individuals one of our worthy Town Councillors pronounced so highflown an eulogy last Saturday), have at least one quality in which they excel most of the sons of men, — that, namely, which in Scotland is significantly called " power of face," and is elsewhere known as effrontery, or sheer' impudence. The next clause of the Report, however, is richly expository: — " But we believe them (tho terms) to bo the most favourable that under present circumstances there is any hope of obtaining, and more advantageous than a literal adherence, under those circumstances, to tho arrangements laid down in 1847." Just so. If you could have got more, Messieurs, you undoubtedly would, reckless of what ruin it might bringon the Colony. As it was, you had, as you imagined, made a bettor arrangement for yourselves than that of 1847, by getting your talons fixed in the General Revenue and the Land Fund loth. But you 'havo been frustrated in that ingenious device. And if right and truth prevail, and if the combined energies of men of all parties in the Colony can effect the end, you shall net get (at least from New Ulster) a fraction even of the gains which the less advantageous arrangement of 1847 appears to secure to you. In the course of the Annual Meeting, Mr. WoolcoMbE spoke for onee > like a. s :ge. "He would venture to predict, and ho hoped his words might be remembered, that the Colony, would never allow itself to to be saddled with the payment of that sum, (the £200,000). " It was a safe predictions : it never will, without making every resistance that it can constitutionally offer. Mr. Aglionby's reply was very characteristic : lie spoke of the " act of sacrifice on the part of the Company ?" in agreeing to reduce its claim to £200,000 on condition of getting its interest secured in the way specified; and argued, "it was not to be expected that when the pressure upon the colony was alleviated under such circumstances, they would repudiate the remaining debt." The colonists, at all events those of New Ulster, indignantly deny that in protesting against this' claim they are repudiating a just debt, as Mr. Aglionby insultingly insinuates. They never incurred this or any other debt to the New Zealand Company, and therefore cannot repudiate it. Will Mr. Aglionby point out the " value received V It is true that the Imperial Act of 1847 does expose them to the possibility of the infliction ; but 'they are warranted in striving to the utmost to awaken the attention of the Home Government and Legislature to tho absolute and unmitigated unrighteousness of carrying that act into effect; and whenever the real state of the case is known, the charge of dishone.t dealing which Mr. Aglionby's remark would suggest, will be seen to apply, not to the protesting colonists, but to the unprincipled Conpany which would take oat of their pockets money for which this Province never got even the shadow of an equivalent. It would be seen by the speeches of Mr. Aglionby and others at the later Meeting reported in our last, that thojfc was a new scheme in process of incubati(ff^ which was not very clearly defined, and on which the honourable Chairman gave only the piece-meal information forced from Mm by Mr. J. A. Smith, who "thought that every thing ought to be mentioned." It does not seem, however, to affect this settlement immediately. Its object was if possible to get the Government to sanction the raising by the Canterbury Association of a loan which would enable the Association to pay its debt to tho Company, and thus obviate the necessity for a new call on the shareholders of the Company, from which the shareholders shrunk with amusing, though not unnatural trepidation. There had been a Bill for giving this and other powers to tho Canterbury Association brought into tho House of Commons, but we havo no account of its particular enactments, and even no distinct statement in the Report as to its fate, although tho incidental references to it in the speeches of the Company's orators, lead us to believe that it was either rejected or withdrawn. We still need further information to make us fully acquainted with the schemes of the Company and the Association during the last few weeks before the prorogation of Parliament. It was abundantly clear, however, that the Company was floundering amidst great difficulties, part of which arose from the inability of tht Canterbury Association to pay either the money advanced to it by the Company, or the sixth of the price of the lands which it professed to have sold,— its debt to the

Company being about £31,000 or £32,000, and its own stale one of great and apparently growing embarrassment. In the Company's .Report the case is thus stated : — •' With regnrd to the second matter which remained for ndji 3traent in July 1850, the liquidation of the engagements enteied into on behalf ot the Canterbury Association, the case at present stands thus: — Tho account between the Association, and the company consists of two piuicipal heads or divisions, namely, advances made by the Company, and ptocueds of Land sold. Under the first head, ' Advances mado' the vdiole sum payable to the company exclusive of interest is £29,012 Ik lid.; out of which has been actually paid a sum of £J,J3.j 10s. 4d : leaving a balance exclusive of mturebt o £T>,676 15s. 7d. Under the second head, ' Pioreeds of Land Sold' (calculated at Ws. an acic), tho sum payable to tLo Compiny i* understood to »>n in round numbtus, about £10,000.; out of which Im been actually paid ,£4,32.5 ; leaving a balance ot about £\67j; and making, with the balance of advances abovementioncd, a total, in lound numbers, of about £31,000 or ,£32,000, exclusive of interest and of any further sums which may become payable to the company upon sales to be pfFected. prior to the .'3 Ut of next Dec. To liquidate the whole of these sums, it has been agreed, subject to the sanctum of Her Majesty's Goveinment anil of Parliament, that the association shall forthwith raise the necessaiy funds by means of a loan secured upon the Canteihury lands; to which lands, as above mentioned, the ptoposed leuussion orders will in consequence bo not applicable." This arrangement having failed to meet the exigency, the new scheme was contemplated.' But we apprehend the Canterbury Association project will at no distant day stand disclosed as a great failure, and it will be well if. in consequence of its peculiar origination, patronage, and constitution, it do not prove to many, even a more distressing failure than that of the New Zealand Company. It would lead us from our present purpose, however, to enlarge upon the affairs of the Association, although we shall look with some anxiety for intelligence of the way in which its right honourable and right reverend promotces will struggle with the embarrassments into which it is plunged, and which will especially bo felt by those of them who, we are imformed, have given their personal guarantees for not less than £10,000, to be forthcoming on tho Ist of Jan. ensuing. Hoping that they may learn from their difficulties some of those lessons in colonization of which they seem profoundly ignorant, wo leave the subject for the present, having laid before our readers all the intelligence which an industrious search through our English files has enabled us to collect respecting the claim of the New Zealand Company, — intelligence which, we cannot doubt, will stimulate their watchful attention to the plots which the Company may yet lay to extort money from the colony, and nerve their determination to leave no fitting and lawful step untried to frustrate every such attempt. Before concluding, however, we may, — for the completion of our record of the very meager reports of the proceedings in Parliament on the Bill — copy tho following conversation which took place previously to the date of its actual introduction, as stated in our last. No doubt Mr. GLADSTONE said much more than is here given, but we-can only wish -in vain that we had a full report of his speech: — • New Zealand Company. I—Jur.Y1 — Jur.Y 24. Mr. llawes moved for leave to bring in a bill for the arrangement of the claims of the New Zealand Company on the Crown, and tor regulating the affairs of certain settlements established, by the said company in New Zealand. The main object of the bill was to lighten the burden of a tax of 3£ per cent, paid by the colonist on £826,000, deducted out of tLe proceeds of the land sales, and to throw it on the revenue of the Colony. Mr Gladstone opposed the bill on the question of principle and precedent. The Bill was not only opposed to the spirit of the constitution but to the forms of ilie House and being a money one, should have been introduced in a preliminary committee of the whole House. But a much more grave question was involved in this bill. By it Parliament was going to take into his own hands the saddling of the' colony witli a charge upon the gensral revenue when New Zealand was no longer a Crown Colony. After a fewwoids fiom Mr llawes, The Speaker decided that the bill could not be introduced without a preliminary committee, The Chancellor of the Exchequer then withdrew it

Our Sydney dates by the Moa are to the Ist of this month. The Legislative Council had been engaged in the consideration of the Estimates. .Public Education was the subject of a longdiscussion, in the course of which a pamphlet just published by the Bishop of Newcastle in opposition to the National School system was copiously commented on. The Council, by a majority of twentynine against fourteen, adopted a motion by Mr. Holroyd that the Grant for Denominational Schools should be divided amongst the different denominations in proportion to the population according to the last Census. The effect of this vote is to take away about £1,100 from the Presbyterians, and about £10 1 from the Wcsleyans, and to add these amounts to the Church of England and Roman Catholic School Grants. A motion by Mr. Cowper for an addition of £1,600 to make the Denominational School Grant £10,000, had it been carried, would have prevented the necessity of actually diminishing the aid to any of the Schools ; but it was negatived by a majority of twenty-four to nineteen. A Postage Bill was in progress through the House, a principal point in which was to render the pre-payment of letters compulsory in all cases Dr. Douglass had raised a debate on the subject of immigration from China, which, although it issued in no formal result, led to statements of opinion in which the preponderating weight was decidedly against the importation of Chinese labourers. The Herald argues strongly on this side, more than insinuating that the supporters of this immigration are actuated only by selfish motives. " When the interests of society, its civilization, its morals, its Christianity, the purity of its British blood, come in contact with the interests of the squatters, society must give way." Our contemporary declares that the colonists at large look upon the importation of China men (for only males arc brought from China) ' with abhorrence and disgust,' comforting himself, however, by the conviction that the evil will be put down by " the bare fact that immigration from China turns out to be actually more expensive than immigration from England. Dr. Tierney's friends were using vigorous exertions to secure his election to the Mayoralty of Sydney. Three Aldermen were to bo chossn on the 4th instant, and there was considerable competition for the office.

It is our painful duty io copy an account of the murder of Mr. JJENJAMIN BOYl\ of the yacht Wanderer. Jmspicions had boon hinted that his death was not occasioned precisely as the statement which wo extract represents; and an investigation of the matter had been undertaken by the police authorities in Sydney, and no doubt would be prosecuted to the utmost. It will be observed that the Wanderer was subsequently wrecked at Port Macquarie. The Germans, resident in Sydney, had held a mooting to consider the propriety of constituting themselves into a church. The Rev. Mr. Goethe took the principal part in the proceedings. It was agreed to organise '■ The German Evangelical Church of Sydney,'' and a committee was appointed to regulate its secular affairs. Business at Sydney had become rather more brisk, partly no doubt on account of the approach of Christmas. Flour continued steady at the last quotations, — £] 2 for fine, and £10 for seconds. There was no novelty in the intelligence from the gold field. The HcralfVs "gold circular" will be found in another column.

VICTORIA. Intelligence from this colony to Ihe ISth of November had been received at Sydney. As we have aheady appiised our lPndeis, the First Meeting of the Fust Legislative Council of the Colony of Victoria took place at Melbourne, on the 12th of last month, when Dr. Palmer was elected Speaker. On the following day, the Lirutenant-Govjrrnor foimally opened the session with an Address which appeared in exlenso in a foimer issue of the New Zealander, but the leading points in which we may briefly recapitulate. After some remarks, in a congratulatory tone, on the independent position which the Colony had attained, and a few comments on the chaiacterislic features of the Act of the Impeiial Legislature under which that position had been guaranteed, His Excellency pioceeded to notice the finaucial circumstances of Victoria, which aie of the most satisfactory description, there being actually in the Treasury money sufficient (with the ordinary revenue) not only to meet the expenditure for the six months ending on the 31st of December, but to leave a considerable balance in hand ; and the prospects for the future being equally gratifying. He then intimated some of the measuies which he purposed to lay , before the Council, especially a Postage Act, which was to embrace the wise and just step of repealing the charge upon newspapers ; — a revised Tariff; an appropriation of £16,000 towards internal impiovemenis, irrespective of the sums to be expended on public buildings ; — a system of public education " based upon somewhat modified principles to those now in force ; "-—and certain bills designed to place the administration of justice on a more salisfactoiy footing. He went on to comment on the hopes, difficulties, and duties arising out of the gold discovery, and concluled by impressing on the Council the responsibility of the task before ihem. The Speech was,on the whole, able and judicious j embodying large and liberal sentiments, and expressed in a frank spirit and. a conciliatory tone well calculated (so far as a Governor's Opening Speech can effect the object) to secure a harmonious cooperation between the Executive Government and the Legislative Body. One blot was to be found, however, on even this initial day's proceedings. Mr. Dunlop having given notice of a motion for the appointment of a Select Committee to draw up a form of prayer to be used at the daily sitting of Council, Mr. O'Shanassy, member for Melbourne, gave notice that should the Council adopt the proposition, he would move an address to the Lieutenant- Governor "praying him to place on the Estimates a sum of £1 ,100 to enable this prayerful Committee to offer a piemium for the best prayer to be so drawn as not to interfere with the civil rights and privi • leges and the religious feelings of members ; and that it be a special instruction to the Committee that every member should, on making his report, show the letters patent oj his inspiration, and the date of its origin." The Attor-ney-General immediately rose, and, in terms of becoming indignation, reprobated this language as not only unparliamentary but blasphemous ; he moved that the notice be expunged from the records of the House, observing that, but for his unwillingness to resort to so extreme a step at their first meeting, he would move not only that the motion be struck off the paper, but that it be torn up by the Clpik. After a debate described as " long and angry," Mr. O'Shanassy admitted that he had written the notice under very excited feelings, and withdrew it. So far the Council manifested a proper spirit in dealing with an outbreak of impiety which obviously was not only most repugnant to good taste and the recognised decorum of society, but also most revolting to even the simplest and commonest feelings of respect for religion. They did not, however, act out such sentiments to their due extent, for when the proposal to open the Meetings with prayer came under consideration, it was negatived by a majority of fourteen to thirteen. A seiies of strong Resolutions against Tiansportation were carried unanimously. Lord Grey, will, we anticipate, at last be forced, however reluctantly, to the conclusion that the Australasian colonists are firmly and irrevocably united in a determination to banish the abomination of convictism from their shores. We glean a few particulars respecting the constitution of the Council. The nominee members are the Hon. vV. F. Stawell ; the Hon. W. Lonsdale ; Redmond Barry, Esq. ; C. H. Ebden, Esq. ; R. W. Pohlrian, Esq. ; A. C; W. Dunlop, Esq. ; C. J. Griffiths, Esq. ; W. C. Haines, Esq. ; J, H. Ross, Esq.; and A. Hunter, Esq. . . .The Legislators, according to their countries, are thus classed ; English, 10; Scotch, 9; Irish, 8; Colonialborn, 2 ; and Cape of Good Hope, 1 ... .Ca.pt. Conran was to be Sergeant-at-Arms, and Mr. De Boos, Government Repoiter. Mr. G. W. Rusden, lately Inspector of National Schools, was appointed Chief Clerk in the Office of the Colonial Secretary. The Rev. Dr. Macartney was appointed Dean of Melbourne, with charge of the Cathedial ; and the Rev. T. H. Davis, late of Nottingham, Aichdeacon of Melbourne, with chargn of St. Peter's Church. Mr. John Thomas Smith had been elected Mayor of Melbourne for the ensuing year, and Messrs. Hodgson and J. Stephen, Aldermen. Mr. Austin had beeu chosen Mayor of Geelong,

The Gold Fields in Vicfoiia continued (icnclally pioducfi\c. although there ueie sonic bitter instances of disappointment, and many conflicting statements. With lespect to Mount Alexander, of which some of the late accounts speak most fcivoiuably, the Geelong Advertise* says — Mount Alexander should bo re«christened and haptised Mount Deception. The buhblf-bluwn ifjuitation of this Mount, which would Live made it lUllf-at the second, has buist without answering the pug o>p intended. Wlieie me tlic monstrous yields so much vaunted by tbe Melbourne pie-s, that weie to eclipse tho Guelonsj gold fields . 7 molted away like the Cuts of the lainbow, Mount Alexnnilcr i^» a sham, a s^old rnir.iEfP that fades on appioach — n '' sjlrmour " raided by Melbouino conjuroia, a Will-o'-tho-wif-p, started fjom tho swamp oj Melbouinu despair, (o mislead thp journevers fiom l>a'laiar, and turn tiafhc from the Geelong e-olilen roac', id flclbnumc liigh-w^js and teyvva_jd and Sloughd of Despond. No less than 0,300 ounces of gold had boon brought into Melbourne by the escoit on the 19lh ultimo. Thirty needlewomen, sent out by Mi*. Sidney Herbert's committee, had auived in Melbourne, and were well spoken of. It had been notified in the Government Gazelle that no clcik will in fuluie be placed permanently m any of the Offices iv VicLoiii, until he has undeigone examination, and been ceitifipd by a Boaid as qualified ior the employment. The cricketers of Van Diemen's Laud aie expected in Melbourne to play a match m January next. A steam flour-mill was in progress of election at the village of Kyneton, near Melbourne.

Cricket. — We arc informed that the match between the Auckland Cricket Club and the 58th llcgimont, which was postponed from Friday last, on account of the uncertain state of the weather, will bo played this day at eleven o'clock in Barrack Square.