The New-Zealander. AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 31, 1851. MR. FOX'S MISREPRESENTATIONS OF AUCKLAND.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 596, 31 December 1851, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 31, 1851. MR. FOX'S MISREPRESENTATIONS OF AUCKLAND.

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

Having in a former article pointed out reasons why Mr. Fox was not likely to prove a witness of such unimpeachable credibility that his English readers might confidingly receive his statements as trustworthily supplying the admitted want of satisfactory information with regard to this district, and added a few testimonies from high authorities giving a general contradiction to the substance of his assertions, we now proceed to a more particular examination of some of those assertions, so as to place the reader at a distance in a position to judge for himself whether Mr. Fox is a veracious chronicler, or a caricaturist and libeller of the Auckland Settlement. We first notice his description of the agricultural condition of the district,— a part of the subject on which many intending emigrants would especially desire to be correctly informed. Speaking with the boldness of an eye-witness, Mr. Fox says, " The amount of cultivation was very small, and consisted almost entirely of a few fields of grass, within four or five miles of the town, where newly-imported stock were kept alive till the butcher was ready to wait upon them for the benefit of the troops and townsmen." , Now mark the light in which a plain exhibition of £acts will put this representation. A " very small amount of cultivation, consisting almost entirely of & jew fields of grass" says Mr. Fox. Seven thousand five hundred acres, within the boundaries of the Auckland Borough, well- fenced, and, for the most part, heavily slocked with cattle, officially declares Governor Grey in the Despatch from which we quoted last week. Which should be believed, could scarcely be a question, even if it were a matter to be determined by testimony, instead of one which every man in the country may decide by the evidence of his own senses. If it be objected that these reports refer to different periods —Governor Grey's to the present

year (185J), and Mr. Fox's to 1849, the year in which we last weie 'favoured with a visit from that gentleman — we reply, first, that Mr. Fox could not be ignorant of the true state of the case. As an agent of the New Zealand Company, — as a newspaper reader and wiiter, — as having acquaintances in this neighbouihood, — (fiom one of whom, who, until lately, was officially located here, and who, though his unfriendliness to the Settlement was notorious, yet was fully cognizant of its actual condition' and it is to be hoped would not slander it, Mr. Fox, if rumour may be credited, derived many of his views and impressions legarding it) — he \ occupied a favourable stand for observation. Moreover, before he published a book avowed- ] ly intended to give the English people an account of the existing state of the " Six Colonies," on which they might rely, the commonest principles of literary honesty would have lequired that, if he did not possess the most recent information, he should take pains to obtain it. But, secondly and chiefly, we remark that, as respects thai very year, Mr. Fox's statement can be proved palpably and grossly incorrect, by reference to returns carefully prepared under the directions of the Commissioner of Police. It is true that those returns embraced a district extending fourteen miles from the town ; still, we prefer quoting from them as being au • thentic and official, rather than from reports which may be more open to cavil ; and it need scarcely be observed that the immediate suburbs of the toivn are everywhere the localities in which the highest degree of cultivation is to be found. Within the Auckland district then, at the precise time when Mr. Fox could see at and around its centre only •' a very small amount of cultivation," there was no less an amount of cultivated land than six thousand one hundred and ninety-three acres. The pasture-land — which, seen by him through the wrong end of his distorting telescope, was minified to '• a few fields of grass" — really extended to four thousands and fifty-four acres. There were five hundred and eighty-eight acres of oats, seven hundred and seventy -five acres of potatoes, and two hundred and fourteen acres of wheat. This wheat tillage was less than in former years, partly because the cost of grinding at that time proved a hindrance, but mainly because the market which was then expected in California for potatoes led the agriculturists to turn special attention to that crop. But the farming which was deemed most remunerative was still carried forward progressively. Similarly authenticated Returns for 1850 showed eight thousand and eighty-three acres in cultivation, of which five thousand and ninetyseven acres were in pasture, (the stock in the district being reported as 725 horses, and 6803 horned cattle, besides sheep and goats.) There were two hundred a'nd forty three acres of wheat, seven hundred and ninety-five acres of oats, one hundred and thirty -four acres of barley, one thousand and sixty-six acres of potatoes, one hundred and three acres of maize, and three hundred and seventy-six acres of hay. To complete the enumeration, we have to add two hundred and sixty -seven acres returned as " Garden," — a very interesting item, as indicating an advance beyond the absolutely ne cessary to the more luxurious and ornamental. The Agricultuial and Horticultural Society for Auckland and New Ulster in their last Report say, with reference to this point, " Hitherto the people of Auckland have had too many urgent claims on their time to bestow much attention on horticulture ; but now, when the first routings of the early settlers are past, a taste for gardening, the most natural and one of the most refined, begins to appear, and several gardens have been laid out in a tasteful manner in the neighbourhood of Auckland and Epsom." The ease with which fruits and flowers are produced, and the rapidity with which our rich soil and genial climate bring them to perfection, afford inducements for useful and decorative gardening, which a glance at our suburbs, and still more an inspection of the annual Flower and Fruit Shows would prove are not now neglected by the settlers. But while this is going forward, the more strictly useful and necessary processes of cropping are making more than equal progress. We have not authenticated figures to exhibit the actual quantity of land under crops at present, but it is certain that it greatly exceeds that of any preceding season, particularly in the all -important article of wheat, for the production of which, in the opinion of competent judges, the generality of the soil is excellently suited. The scarcity and consequent high price of wheat in the Australian colonies during the past year, and the probability that the case will be the same, if not aggravated, next year (in consequence of the numerous desertions from the farm for the gold fields in New South Wales and Victoria, and the increased demand to be anticipated from the great influx of population which the gold discovery there is sure to attract,) have turned the thoughts of our prudent agriculturists to the importance of this crop. The natives are equally alive to it with the European settlers, and have acquired a skill which may be partly judged of from the interesting fact that, at the Agricultural Society's Show in 1850, the prize for the best wheat was awarded to an aboriginal native (" Maka," of Oraki, near Auckland). The facilities for grinding corn have greatly increased, there being in addition to two watermills, a second and large windmill, and a complete steam flour mill; besides several mills which the Maories in the interior have, by a course of self-denial, industry, and economy which speaks volumes for their improved and improvable character, purchased for themselves. From these and other causes, there is an unprecedented extent of land under wheat this season, and there is every probability that the produce will be abundantly sufficient for home demands, if indeed there should not be a surplus for exportation to those colonies on which we have been hitherto dependent for a portion of our supply. But we shall not enlarge on the progress of the settlement during the current year, as Mr. Fox cannot be held responsible for any contradiction to his statements which may have arisen since his departure from the colony. But he must be held strictly and sternly responsible for Contradictions between those statements and the palpable facts at the time he visited Auckland, and, we cannot hesitate to add, up to the time he left Wellington. Unless ho was blind, deaf, or mentally imbecile — (and ignorance, stupidity, want of natural acuteness are not amongst the flaws generally believed to mar the crystal of Mr. Fox's character) —he must have been aware that he was misrepresenting this Settlement. But if, in an excess of charity, we assume that he was not aware of it, the con-

elusion that his book is not trustworthy remains equally inevitable. It is rinht, however, before leaving this part of the subject, to call attention to the openings still presented within a reasonable distance of Auckland for further agricultural enterprise It is tt ne that in the immediate vicinity of the town tiiere is little land remaining at the disposal of the Government, (a further collateral evidence, by the by, of the incorrectness of Mr. Fox's representation) ; but the Returns already quoted show that, in 1850, within the radius of fourteen miles comprehended in their statistics, there were upwards of thiity thousand acres of land still uncultivated which had been actually purchased and placed in the possession of the purchasers. In addition to this there was an extent of land, probably at least equal, which had been granted in exchange for lands claimed in more distant parts of the colony ; making a total of from sixty to seventy thousand a< res. Experience has abundantly proved that most of this tract of country would well repay cultivation. So long ago as 1843 a Report, carefully drawn up by the late Dr. Johnson, Colonial Surgeon, and published by the Agricultural Society ,contained the following conclusion from a detailed description of the various characters of the soil in different parts of the district :— " It is thus seen what a variety of soils are offered to the agriculturist, each adapted to some particular production, and '♦favorable, to some peculiar mode of agriculture." Numerous trials have verified this judgment. It has been found that some localities which, in their unreclaimed state, presented the most unpromising pspect to the eye of the uninformed spectator, have by moderate skill and industry been rapidly transformed from barrenness into rich vegetation. It would be easy to point out spots in the suburbs which, only a very few years since, looked all but hopelessly barren, but which are now verdant, beautiful, and remunerative. The entire appearance of the district more than justifies the language of the Committee of the Agricultural Society in their last Report : —

"The Committee now resign their duties to the successors whom the Society may appoint, satisfied that the aspect of the country mound Auckland warrants the praises which hare been bestowed on New Zealand as an eligible colony for our countrymen at home to select as a productive field for their energy and enterprise. The pasture lands in every direction- have this, year produced heavy crops of hay; and the appearance of the grain and potato crop is very promising. The quantity of stock a pasture field, in proportion to its average, will maintain throughout the year, is equal, if not greater than in England. A large extent of land is now under grass, and more under preparation to be laid down during the ensuing autumn. The rapid increase of stock, the disadvantage of bush feeding, and the greater profit realized from cattle kept on pasture, have induced the farmers to lay down every acre they could, and their attention has been chiefly devoted to this object."

Mr. Fox's evident desire to depreciate Auckland in order to extol the Settlements with which he has himself been intimately connected, and in which he held (and probably still holds) property, constrains us to ask, where in the vicinity of any of the towns in the South of the colony can attractions such as we have shown to exist here be truly claimed % How far must an observer go from any one of them (unless Nelson be regarded as an exception,) before he can see such evidences of improvement as cluster around Auckland ? And, again, how far must a farmer go before he can obtain a piece of land the extent arid fertility of which are such as to hold out a probable requital for toil and outlay 1 ? We believe we should incur no risk of successful contradiction if we were to affirm that there is more good land, not only available for cultivation, but actually cultivated, within five miles of Auckland, than within that distance of Wellington, Dunedin, and Lyttelton, all taken together. Here the necessities of our space, and our unwillingness to trespass too largely at once on the reader's attention, require that we should stop for the present. A summary view of the commerce of Auckland, and the general condition and character of its inhabitants, with a few remarks on some other matters incidentally introduced and misrepresented by Mr. Fox, will afford ample material for another article.

By the schooner Julia we have received via Lyttelton a few English papers, bringing the dates of our' usual files down to the 9th of August ; also the Lyttelton Times to the 1 3ih instant. The English papers add little to the intelligence which had previously reached us respecting the concluding days of the session. We have vainly searched in the Times for any further information respecting the New Zealand Company's Bill, or that of the Canterbury Association. Our great London Contemporary does not (as far as we have observed) name the latter at all, and merely huddles its account of the last stages of the former amidst a heap of second and third readings which it does not deem worth more than a line. We find in its antipodean namesake, however, a fuller account, which we subjoin. The Lyttelton limes gives us the following :—: —

Canterbury Association. — An Act had been passed to amend the Canterbury Association's Act. The principal features, are, that it gives power to the Association to constitute a managing Committee in the settle* merit, .with delegated authority to act. It empowers them to grant licenses for cutting timber, to appropriate land for public purposes, to prepare for occupation the unappropriate land of the settlement, and to determine disputes respecting the enjoyment of pasturage and other licences. ' Any further grants of land will be made Bubject to prior provisions respecting the settlement. The bill was read a third time and passed in the Commons on the 4th August, passing the Lords on the 6tb. We shall print the whole bill at the earliest opportunity. New Zealand Settlement. — An Act of Parliament bad also been passed to regulate the affairs of the settlements established by the New Zealand Company. The first clause of the bill proposed to place absolute power in the Governor-in-Chief to dispose of the waste lands at Wellington, Nelson, and New Plymouth, in any manner «nd at any price he pleased. This clause was altered, and upon Mr. Gladstone's motion, the price of the waste lands ia to remain unchanged. The second clause, placing similar powers in the crown with respect to Otago, was omitted. Clauses 3—lo,3 — 10, which now stands first in the act, regulate the management of tbe Nelson Trust Fund, vesting it in the Commissionera of the Treasury and appointing seven trustees for its management at Nelson. • <

This bill originally contained the obnoxious nnd unfair proposition to which we have already called the attention of the New Zealand settlers, viz., the settlement of 200,000/. of the New Zealand Company's debt upon the general revenue of the colony. Notice of opposition to this hating been given by Mr. Gladstone' in the House of Commons, and by the Duke of Newcastle in the House of Loida, that part of the measure was withdrawn, Loid Grey feeling it impossible to pass it if opposed.

On the motion for the third reading Nr. Gladstone was absent, but Mr. Y. Smith objected to the haste with which the bill had been passed through its previous stages. In Committee of the Loids, the Duke of Newcastle inquired of Earl Orey whether the contributions for special purposes, which in some settlements were included ia the payments per acre, would equally with

the .actual price of tlu« land be secured irom alteration at the discretion of the Secretary of State. Earl Giey replied that the power of dealing with these contributions was effectually ie--tricted. We have been kimlly permitted to publish the following extract horn a letter from the Duke of Newcastle to Mr. Godley, in which these two measures relative to ; New Zealand are commented upon. " You will no doubt receive by the vessel which sails to-morrow o full report of all that baa passed in the Houses of Pailiainent and in Downing Street sinceyour last advices, iv relation to the ' New Zealand Settlements Bill,' and the ' Canterbury Association Bill.' '< The latter, though shorn of its money clauses, willy I hope, bo found a useful measure. " Tho former is, 1 hope and believe, now unobjectionable, though how far it will confer any benefit upon the colony I am perhaps hardly qualified to form an opinion. The great object with me and others who take an interest in the prosperity of New Zealand was to prevent the Bill as otigmally proposed becoming law, — and I think you will concur witu us iv the opinion, that to have transferred the debt of the New Zealand Company from the land Fund to the General Taxation of the Colony would have involved a principle which strikes at the root of those maxims of Government for which nil our colomea are now contending. To deal thus summarily at the close of a setsion with the revenues of a colony, when the great question of its constitution miibt come under consideration aa toon as Parliament meets again, appeared to Mr. Gladstone and myself to justify the most determined opposition, but fortunately opposition would, from want of time,' have been fatal to the uliole bill, aud the clauses were thrown over, " On the second reading of the Bill in the House of Lords 1 urged upon Lord Grey to endeavou^ut the commencement of nest sessions, to nettle — not one by one, but at the same time — the three great questions of the Constitution, the Sale of Lands, and the claims of the now extinct New Zealand Company. He made no answer to this appeal to him, — so that I can form no opinion whether he will make the attempt,— but I added, that if the Government did not lay bills on the table at the beginning of the session, I should feel it my duty to call the attention of the bouse to the state of New Zealand — especially in reference to the Constitution. I had at one time intended to do so in the session which has jlist closed, and if the clauses in the bill to which L have adverted had been pressed I must have done so. Looking, howerer, to the position of the Government here, and their utter inability to command a majority or. any questien, and the consequent paralysis of «U parties, and indeed of all politics, I think I have consulted the permanent interests of the colony best by postponing as long as possible the agitation of this embarrassed and anxious tubject." We glean a few items of news trom the English papers. The Lord Mayor of London had arrived at the M ansion House on the morning of the oth of August, after his visit to Paris, during which he and the other guests were treated with a brilliant and uninterrupted succession of fetes. The parting scene at the Railway Station was thoroughly French: M, Carlier exchanged walking sticks, and M. Merger pocket handkerchiefs with Sir John Musgroye (the Lord Mayor), and then the Prefect kissed Sir John on each cheek ! The Queen had contributed £100 to the funds of the British Ladies 1 Female Emigration Society. Intelligence had been received of a serious riot at Toronto on the 24th of July, between the respective adherents of the Canada Anti-Clergy-Reserve Association and the High Church party. The mob was not dispersed until after the Riot Act had been read, and the military called out. Lieutenant-Colonel Reid, C.B. was te succeed Mr. More O'Ferrall as Governor of Malta.' Lord Colville, of Culross, had been elected a Representative Peer in the room of the late Strathallen - --■ - j "~ In Ireland, the passing of the Ecclesiastical Titles' Bill was made the occasion of and vehement agitation. The Spectator (Aug. 9) says, "The faint dawn of industrial enterprise has been overcast by clouds of faction, of the deepest theological hue."

The arrival of an Overland Mail hns placed us in possession of several intermediate numbers of the Wellington papers, filling the vacancy up to the dates brought by the Lucy James and the Government Brig. A few particulars' of their contents call for some notice. We observe that, whatever truth there may be in Mr! Fox's boast that during the rush to California, "not half-a-dozen persons in Cook's Straits weie moved by the bait," the attractions of the Australian gold field are too powerful for many of those who, according to that veracious chronicler, had " taken root in the soil" of New Munster. The Spectator of the 18th inst. says, " The William Alfred sailed on Saturday for Sydney, filled with passengers, the greater part of whom, we believe, intend going to the diggings, and several others, we are informed, contemplate following their example." We learn with regret that the Hon. H. W. P&tre, the Colonial Treasurer, had met with a severe accident. While he was returning in his gig from the Hutt, the horse took fright, and dashed the vehicle against Mr. Hay ward's van which happened to be on the road at the time. The wheel of the gig was broken, and Mr. Petre was thrown out with tuch force that his arm was broken in two places. A passenger in the van, Mrs. Daniell, jumped out, and^hcr dress having been caught in the gig, she was dragged a considerable distance ; but, though painfully bruised, she was not seriously injured. Both the Spectator and the Independent throw discredit on the rumour (as they then regarded it) of Mr. Justice Chapman's appointment to the Colonial Secretaryship of Van Diemen's Land. The latter journal is especially confident, assuring its readers in a tone which we might suppose to be authorised, that " no" vacancy in the Bench of Wellington will ever be created by Mr. Chapman's acceptance of such an office." But we find in the Times of July 30th, the official announcement, .copied from the Gazette of the preceding day,— "The Queen has been pleased to appoint Henry Samuel Chapman, Esq., to be Colopial Secretary for the Island of Van Diemen's Land." It is strange if such a transfer of a high public officer's services, not merely from one station, to another, but from one class of duties to another, and one widely different, was made without his own consent, or, at all events, without his knowledge. We shall look with some curiosity for the explanation which time will, we suppose, bring. The New Zealand Company's rapacious attempt to saddle its enormous and iniquitous claim of £268,000 on the colony had called forth universal indignation. The journalists of all the settlements have now, as with the voice of one man, protested against it ; and any movement towards enforoing payment would undoubtedly be met by a resistance which would be thoroughly united, and resolute. The Independent has ingeniously taken up the question of the Company's expenditure on Emigration, adducing from their own reports, facts and figures in support of these cpnclu-

sions,— "that the funds so expended vveie provided by the colonists themselves ; that the Company simply acted as Trustees ; and that they have betrayed the trust, and jobbed away the trust monies amongsttheir 'Shipping Directors' in such a baiefaced manner that the colonists are fairly entitled to call upon them to repay to their emigration fund a sum of certainly not less than £57,000." As the Company's outlay on immigration is a chief ground on which their claim is said to rest, it is well to sweep the pretext from under their feet. That argument,however, applies only to the Southern Province. As respects New Ulster, there is not even this pretext — not the shadow of a plea of any kind— for the infliction of the minutest portion of the meditated spoliation. It may be inferred from the preceding extract from the Lylldton Times that Lord Giiir? is disposed to press, next, session, some measure to please the Company. The interval should be one of vigilance and action in the Colony. Whatever is to be done should be done speedily.