The New-Zealander. AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, JAN. 7, 1852.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 598, 7 January 1852, Page 3

The New-Zealander.

AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, JAN. 7, 1852.

Be just an<t fenr not : Let all tlio onds thou aims't at, be thy Country's, Thy God's, and Truth's..

We have already acknowledged, and made some use of, two or three intermediate Sydney papers received by the lliomama. "The arrivals of the Emma and the Maulcin since our last issue has placed us in possession of both prior and subsequent dates, completing our files from the Ist to the 23rd of December. The Legislative Council of New South Wales was prorogued on the 22nd ult. That we may duly honour a Session which the Herald magnifies by the designation of " The Gold feossion," and at the same time lay before our readers an official abstract of some of the principal measures adopted during its deliberation, we introduce here in eMenso the GovernorGeneral's address on the occasion :—: — Mk. Splarlh and Gentlemen or the Legislative Council • The business of the Session being now hrougbt to a close, I am happy to be able to release you from further attendance on jour arduous and important duties. J am sensible of the sacufice which many o( you have made in boing .ibient at the piesent season fiom the districts in which 3011 reside. I Irust that circumstances m.iy not again use to make it necessary for you to meet at to inconvenient a peiio'l of the jear. 2. It will he my duty to forwaiil without delay to Her Majesty's Government jour mid i ess to Her Most Giacious Majesty, fllatinjj your willingness to provide i'ol the whole cost ot the Government of the Colony, whether Civil or Military, (the salary of the GovernorGenotal only cicepted), and to £iant an adequate Civil List, upon the sunendei to the Colonial Legislatuie ot the entne management of all the Colonial Revenue, Tomloiwl tot well as, Geneulj and upon

t!io establishment of a Constiumoii similar m us outline to that of Canada. 3. Your Add i ess to me, ombod;yiiv.r the R 1 IIIIMOI-, jn-^ed by the Council against the continu vue of Ti msportation to any part of Her i\lnj(M\'« Au-t, \lun Possessions Ins been alieady, in compliance wvh 30m request, transmitted to the Ki"ht 1101101 ib!<- the Rc-cietaiy of State for the consideration ot llrf Mijp'ity'b Government. Since the presentation of that Ailtlii s-, J have had (he satisfaction to iee< j tw j and to 1 t I'ildic you the Order of IlerMnjosty in Council rescinding lint winch appointed this Colony one of the places Vj wind 1 ciiimnals might he tianspoited. 4. Ln consequence of the refusal of the Cour.o1 1 to vote any increase of expenditure tendered npce^saiy by the Gold Discovery, I have consideied it mv duty, m ouler to pi event the public inconvenience whiJi would have arisen fiom nny sudden reduction under pic-ent ciicumstances of the number or pay of the (Jon^aitulMy Force and of other persons holding suboidinafe situations undpr the Government, to assume the lrspoiisibility, pending tho leceipt of definite instructions on the subject fiom Her Majesty's Government, ot ovdeilng this expeudituie to be boine on the Temtoual Revenue. *>. I will lose no time in transmitting to the Right Honorable tho Secretaty of State a copy of your Addiess to me urging the continuance of immigration at tho public expense, and the raising of an additional loan for the put pose by the issue of Debentures secured on the Terntonal Revenue. In the full expectation that, under the peculiar circumstance in which this colony is now placed in respect to the supply of labour, Her Majesty's Government will see fit to sanction the mensuie, 1 have already, in compliance with the recommendation of the Council, raised upon favourable teims, the sum of sixty-nine thousand six bundled pounds, for tins object^ and it is my intention to raise a further sn n of about thirty (thousand pounds, or one hundred thousand in all. The intiocluction of immigiants winch will be obtained by this means, will, I trust, have the effect of leheving the employers of labour fiom the injurious consequences which might o*hei\\i>e be apprehended from the withdrawal from the ordinary industrial pursuits of the colony of the laige portion of labour employed at tbe Gold Fields. 6. I will not fail to forwaid by an early oppoituniry your petition toller Most Gracious i\ Taj esty pi a} ing that a branch of tbe Royal Mint may be established at Sydney. - 7. Your other addresses not specifically noticed herein shall receive every consideration which the subjects of them may appear to render necessary. 8. I have to thank you for the liberality with which you have voted the supplies for tbe public soivice. You may rely upon my uwng them with every legard to economy in the public expenditure. I have also to thank you for the Act of Indemnity in respect ot certain unauthorised expenses of the administration of Justice. 9. I now declare this Council to stand prorogued to Tuesday, the third day of February next. Tho most comprehensive proceeding, as affecting- the political interests of the Colony, referred to in this Address, was that noticed in the second paragraph. Mr. Went worth had, in a very 3<mg and eloquent speech, enlarged upon ' ; tlio general grievances of the colony," and succeeded in carrying-, by a majority of 20 to 8, a motion for petitions to Her Majesty and both Houses of Parliament praying for the redress of those grievances. The particular grievances petitioned against were, the imposition of a Civil List ; tho restriction by tho Crown of the control of tho Territorial Revenue; the reservation by the Home ,}, } Government of all the Patronage or* tho Colony; and the right to vote Bills passed by the Council. Most of this was merely a recital of the Declaration and "Remonstrance adopted by tho former Council: tho principal new feature was the offer alluded to by the Governor-General, the importance of which induces us to repeat it in the terms employed in the Petition itself : — 'that in order, however, that your Majesty's confulentinl advisers may have no excuse for the continuance o1o 1 ! these abuses, we unhesitatingly declare that we aio j prepared upon tbe surrender to the colonial T.egiMatme of the entire management of all our Revenues, Ten itonal as well as Geneial, in which we include Mines of every description, and upon the establishment of a constitution among us similar in its outline to that of Canada, to assume and provide for the whole cost of our internal Government, whether civil or mihtaiy ; and to enact an adequate Civil List dining the life ot your Majesty, and for five years after your Majesty's demise, instead of the sums appropriated in the Schedules to tbe Imperial Act 13 and 14 Vie. chap. 59. The revocation — completely and for ever — of the inclusion of New South Wales amongst those places to which convicts arc to be sent, may well be a matter of joy in the colony, and be hailed with pleasure throughout Australasia. Tho Order in Council to that effect bears date the 25th of June, and extends to New South Wales the same exemption from the Order of September 4, 1848, which had been already, shall we say granted ? to the Cape of Good Hope. Still, the emancipation of Van Diemen's Land remains to be achieved. J3ut what has been accomplished may well encourage the League and the other opponents of Transportation to renewed and yet more hopeful efforts. Of the matters brought before the Council during the last few days of the Session, to which the Address contained no allusion, one or two claim notice. The Colonial iSecretary had introduced the new Customs Bill in a long speech, the principal points of which we shall sum up, as they must have considerable interest for our commercial readers who trade so largely with Sydney. The general character of the Bill is framed in accordance with the free trade axiom to buy in the cheapest and sell in the dearest market," and consequently recognises no distin ctional duties on articles, wherever they come from, or however produced. As far as practicable, the principle of fixed duties is adopted ; ad valorem lates being imposed only where the nature of the article rendeis it difficult or impossible to lay an equitable fixed rate on it. As respects this principle, the Colonial Secretary said, — He believed that nothing could be more injuiious than the system of ad valorem duties which had hitheito prevailed in the colony. It was a system which he believed to be bad, not only as far as concerned (ho collection of revenue, and the interests of tbe consumeis but which must also tend to demoralise the trading part of the community. Jt was a system that held out many temptations to the importer to depieciate the nominal value of the articles or produce be imported, and thus the revenue was defrauded. Jt inteih j ral too with the interests of the honest trader, who paid duty for the full value of his goods, while the less scrupi'lous paid duty only on a nominal and insufficient value. The bill proposes to repeal all harbour dues, fees for customs' entries &c.,so as to render Sydney " a perfectly free port to the ships of all nations." The following atticles it js intended to exempt from duty altogether, viz., all articles of colonial produce, usually exchanged between the vaiious colonies, including live stock, Ceieal grains, bicad stuffy hay, potatoes, timber, kangaroo skins, and such like: — all articles l elating to literatine, such as books, maps, slaiioneiy, and piintmo materials : — all books of natural history and ait, — steam engines, machinery of cveiy Luid, agncuHinal implements, seeds and plants : -• coin and bullion : — products common to all tne colonies, such as wool, tallow, oil, hides &c , '* which it would be advantageous to have sent, home from New South Wales, us the gieat seal

j of cxpoit tioa of the->e aiticlcs : J '--nu um.il oies, pud Lo:a>: and talipelie winch aic loquned to ndme t'uve o>f-> ,-— .' !i ihi_>c it is piopcwl to a 'nut en nel\ 'u j e of duty.. . . jhe t,ixal.on on * lie cirU *. J** -. lion whim icvenuc was to 1< J L.ubt'd uould not exceed live per cent on the \v-iue of the a 1 tides, except in the case of tobacco and spmls. It in any instance it v.3", hi^hei, it would I? <n< m^ to want of infoi iiuUion 0,1 the pat tot the Gotcrnnient. Mi'cu.il alteutioiih \io"ld be nip.de 1 1 the Spmt Dntiet. . the p,t&eut duties aie 3s. Gd. per gallon tor vim, whiskey, and gin, the produce of Q.eut Batam or the ljulish Plantations, and 6s. for biandy and (foreign) gm ; it ispiopobed to oqnalne tho^e duties, by fi\iru a idte of 4s. Gd. per gallon on all Spirits im-potk-d or distilled m the colony. thi.s increasing the taxation on the loner class of !> pints, and leducmo it on the higher. . . .With ies~ pect to \Yine, the duty now chatged is 15 per cent upon the value •. it 11 pioposed to establish a lixed late of GJ. per gallon on wines in wood, and 9d per gallon on wines in bottle. No bounty or piotection would be given to the wines pioduced in the Colony. . . .On Tobacco, the present duty is 2s per pound for m-iuufac-tnied, and Is. G'J, for unmanufactured; it is proposed to reduce these duties to Is. Gd. and ]s. . . .On Tea, it is ptoposed to place a fixed duty of one half-penny pei pound, — which ot couise will operate most favourably with regard to the belter class of Teas. . . . Mi gar at present pays 5 per cent ad valorem ; it is intended that it shall pay a fixed duty of one per cent. This is admitted to be an increase, though a small one-, as the average value of the sugars imported into the Colony is £ 1 8 per ton, and the dilTeicnce is as between £18 and £'20 per ton, at which latter puce the duty would be 5 per cent... .The Colonial then pioceeded at consideiable length to compare the pioposed duties with those charged m other colonies, particulaily Canada, Nova Scotia, the Cope, Ceylon, New Zealand, .South Australia, and Van ])iem< n's Land, with a view of showing that the taxation in this measure is moderate. Altogether, however, the New Act would pioducc an inciease of levenue to the amount of ab^ut £! 0.000; but tins was absolutely necessaiy if they weie to give endow meats to the Sydney Cotpoiation, and also expend ia)ge sums on roads. The Colonial Si crltary concluded by stating that he by no means legaided the measure as perfect, and would be happy to icccive suggestions for its improvement. For this purpose, he uould allow it to stand over for consideration until next Session .... After a discussion, in which Mr. Lamb urged vauous objections to the deUils, and the Collector of Customs jeplied, the Bill was read a fiisfc time, with the understanding; tli.it those whose m- 1 teiests it affects will have time — until next Session— to expiess their opinion of it. It was known tluii intelligence of the Gold discovery had reached lino-land on the 28th of An oust, by a letter addressed from Madras to Messrs D unbar and Sons by Captain Blooi-JFIELD of the Mazeppa, winch left Sydney on the 30th of May. But we can readily suppose that the news (even if the pirtiis who obtained it permiited it to become public) would be received with some decree of incredulity, until it obtained confirmation by direct aycounts, and especially by the conclusive evidence of the arrival of a portion of the precious produce itself. It was believed, however, that sach confirnvition must have reached F.ng-land in the course of September, and that intelligence of its reception j mi^ht be expected iii Sydney before the j end of December by the Australian Steam Navigation Company's new Steamer, which it was anticipated would sail for Sydney about the fir.st o£ October.