The New=Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 630, 28 April 1852, Page 2

The New=Zealander.

lie just ami fear not: Let all the ends thou aims't at, be thy Country's, Thy God's, <iiid TiuthV

AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1852. By the brig Nina, which reached our port yesterday, we have Sydney papers to the 3rd instant, — only two days later than had previously reached us by the Moa. There had been no arrivals from England within that interval; but amongst tho items of late English news which we had not seen before, we observe a report that the Queen was about to visit Ireland ; another report that tho .Rev. Mr. M'Dougall, senior missionary at Sarawak, was, at Sir James Brookes recommendation, to be appointed tho first bishop of tho new diocese of Borneo ; and a statement, which we fear was too true, that the Admiralty had ordered two vessels to bo fitted out to visit the South Sea Islands, in order to determine upon the site of a new penal settlement. There will here be additional work for the Australasian League, and matter of watchful solicitude to the missionary and other friends of the South Sea Islanders. The New South Wales Government had issued a consolidated and amended code of Regulations for tho management of the gold field. The license fee was as heretofore to bo £1 10s. per month, and stringent provisions to enforce the tax were finnounced. One of the rules connected with the issuo of licenses, may, if strictly acted on, prove a vexatious obstacle to goldseeking emigrants from this and other countries. It is as follows : — 4. No person will be eligible to obtain a license, or the removal of a license, unless be shall produce a certificate of discharge from his last service, or shew to the satisfaction of the Commissioner, or Assistant Commissioner, that he is not a person improperly abocnt from hired service. Referring to this, the Herald asks, " What reply can the Commissioner make to a man who says he has just arrived in the colony from South Australia or New Zealand % He surely cannot refuse him a license because he has no discharge from his last employer at Adelaide or Auckland."...lt is further provided that traders erecting huts or tents on the gold fields, are to pay a monthly fee of 305.... 0ne omission, pointed out as a great defect, is that there is no provision for a tribunal to determine any disputes that may arise between the Commissioners and the gold-diggers. The JJeralcVs conclusion on a review of the whole is, that it will be impossible for the Executive to retain the matter in their hands as at present, and that it would bo better for the Government "to place tho whole subject before tho Legislature of their own accord,, than to wait until they are compelled to do so." Detailed accounts from the Turon exhibit yet more strikingly'the.disastrous results of the late floods in some localities. In the dry diggings, however, the proceeds were still remunerative A report had reached Sydney that a monster block of gold — weighing 4 cwt. ! — had been excavated from the quartz ridge of the Louisa ; tho tale seemed to have some foundation in the fact that the Company now operating by machinery on the quartz there, had broken out some large lumps, very richly impregnated with tho precious metal... The price of gold at Sydney had rather improved ; and the practice of remitting to England in dust was increasing. As the ecclesiastical mooting called by tho Bishop of Sydney for the 14th instant approached, the discussion of the proposed Church Constitution waxed warmer both in parochial meetings and in letters to the journals. The question of the Royal Supremacy as affecting tho colonies engaged special attention, although several of the speakers and writers were candid enough to admit their partial, if not total, ignorance of the points involved in it. Tho Commercial Intelligence as given in the Herald of the 3rd inst., will be found in another column. The Envpire of that date reports, — " Orders from all the outports, including New Zealand, are coming in, and although our stocks of various articles arc heavy, prices have been in many instances fully maintained, more particularly in all articles of consumption. ' A great demand existed for flour, principally for shipment, which had caused an advance in price to £14 or even £15 per ton for fine, and £12 to £13 for seconds. Wheat sold at improved prices, — ss. to ss. lOd. per bushel, according to quality.

The dates from the Sandwich Islands are to the 7th of February. The most exciting topic of discussion was the new Constitution, especially one of its Articles which excludes Ministers of Religion from seats in the Legislate. Mr. Wyllie, the Minister of Foreign Rela'ions, — who seems rather more afflicted with the cucoethes scnhendi than altogether comports with his station — was actively engaged in defending the exclusion, although he had not yet concluded a controversy on the subject of his proposed relaxation of fhe restrictions on the distillation and sale of spirits, which he had for months been almost voluminously supporting in the Polynesian against numerous objectors. A new journal— the Weekly Argus — had been started in Honolulu, avowedly with the object of counteracting the political influence said to be exercised by the Missionaries over the King and the Legislature. King Kamehameha had been gratified by a letter from Mr. Miller, the British Consul, stating Queen Victoria's cordial acceptance of a table made of different woods grown on the islands, and her Majesty's intention, so soon as the great Exhibition was over, to place the table in one of the Royal Palaces. Business was still dull in Honolulu, the market being glutted by imports far exceeding the demand. Stteuuous efforts were contemplated to proem e flora the American Government an exemption from the 30 per cent, dutycharged on Hawaiian sugnis in Call for-

nia, it being proposed, as some equivalent, to allow the free intioduclion into the Islands of American lumber, (lour, and salmon. We are indebted to the Sydney Herald for the following summary of a series of official returns, setting foith the Commercial statistics of the Sandwich Islands for the year 1851, which were prepared by Charles R. Bishop, Esq., the Collector of Customs, and published in the Polynesian of February 7. :— - The total value of imports at Honolulu during the year, was 1,751,651 dollars 93 cents. At other ports, 62,119 dollars 75 cents— total, 1,823,821 dollars 68 cents. The total value of foreign goods 10-ex ported during the same penod was 381/102 dollars 55 cents. The custom bouse receipts wcic, at Honolulu, 151,088 dollai a 97 cents; at Lalmina, 5,788 dollars 85 cents ; other ports, 7M dollars 37 cents; total, 160,602 dollars 12 cents. The number of whalers touching at tho islands during the year is thus stated: at Honolulu, 90, of which number 74 were Americans ; at Lahainn, 103, of which 97 were Ameiicans; at other ports, '27, of which 25 were Americans. Total, 220 vessels, 196 of this number being Americans. The quantity of oil and bone transhipped free of duty (in exchange or payment for supplies), was, of whale (black) oil, 909,379 gallons ; sperm oil, 1 04,362 gallons ; bone, 90 1 ,60 1 lbs. The total value of domestic produce exported from the islands for other markets, was 197,888 dollars 9'l cents., the quantity exported for supplies to be used on slii, board wag 111,940 dollars. Total export of island produce during the year, 309,828 dollars 91 cents. The total number of merchant vessels calling at the various ports of tho islands, for tho purposes of traffic, repair, or refreshment, was 446, of which number 252 were Amcncnns. The total number of vessels under tho Hawaiian flagon the Ist of January, 1852, was 57, with an aggregate tonnage of 3888 tons. Most of them are stated to be engaged in the coasting trade.

The dates from New York are to the 20th of December. The papers were almost engrossed with accounts of the enthusiastic reception with which the Hungarian patriot Kossuth was greeted — the military, civilians, and, we are told, especially " the clergy and the ladies," vicing in effoits to do him honour. A Bihle, a magnificent sword, numberless addresses and — most unequivocal of all tests of American sincerity ! — a large amount of dollars (at least 25,000) had been presented to him. Kossuth had been "visibly affected" by the intelligence of the French Revolution, and it was supposed that he would very speedily proceed to Europe, — evidently a probable supposition, as in the tossings and heavings of the Continental nations which seemed inevitable, some opportunity of striking an impiessive blow for Hungarian freedom might arise in a day, and might be lost if it were not instantly turned to practical purpose. A Bill was before the United States Senate to aid in the construction of a line of telegraph from the Mississippi River to the Pacific. Intelligence from Jamaica described the cholera as making great ravages amongst the population.

Now that the affairs of the Church of England in the Australasian Co'onies are engaging an amount of attention on the part of both the Clergy and the Laity, which,— as daily occurring signs of the times foreshadow* —is likely to become r <pidly more anxious in its character, and more operative in its manifestations, the opinions formed by thoughtful Churchmen in England respecting these movements in general, and the Sydney Episcopal Conference (from which they have received so powerful an impetus) in particular, must be regarded with no small interest by thoughtful Churchmen here. We extract from the December number of the Christian Observer the following pointed comments on this Conference, and on analogous Conferences and Synods generally. As all our readers may not be acquainted with the character of the periodical from which we quote, we may mention that it is a longestablished monthly magazine, "conducted" (as the title-page recotds) " by Members of the Established I hurch," and possessing considerable weight and influence as an expositor of the views of the Evangelical Clergy. We have often called the attention of our readers to the political state of our Aubiralmn Colonies, and to their now comhined resistance to the admission of convicts from the Mother State. — Another combination of very different elements is now occupying the public mind. A synod of bishops was held in the course of last year; and amongst others, and without any, or with very little, previous consultation with their Clergy or with any members of the laity, they proceeded to promulgate certain declarations of faith, and regulations, as though of infallible accuracy and authority. Amongst other decisions was one upon the subject of Baptism, which went the length of condemning the decision ol the Privy Council in this country, and had for its object the adoption of the sentiments of the Bishop of Exeter upon that long-litigated but all-im-portant question. — Ihe Bishop of Melbourne, at the time (in a series of propositions, which we consider aa not so clear as might be expected from so able a man,) protested against the article upon Baptism j and this protest has, happily for his reputation, been largely circulated in this country. On the return of the Bishops to their several dioceses, it was thought right to obtain the opinion of their Clergy upon the course which had been ndopted ; and the replies of the Clergy are so honourable to them, and prove them, as wo think to be so much wiser than their Episcopal lenders that wo think it right to put two of them in our own pages as specimens of the whole : — tl We beg respectfully to express our opinion, that the holding by your Lordships of a Synod for tho authoritative decision of the questions mooted in the Minutes would have been inconsistent, not only with the Queen's supremacy, but with the general constitution of our Church. *• We are of opinion that no advantage can be gained by the formation of any provincial assemblies whatever ho long as the present close connection of our Church in the Australian colonies with the Church in England continues ; and it appears to us that such assemblies would have a direct tendency to weaken th.it connection and, by the assumption of authority which belongs only to the Queen in Council, to interfere with the independence of tho individual Bishops and their dioceses. " We are of opinion that it would bo advisable for each diocese in the separate Colonies of Australia to be subject to that of Canterbury only. " We are of opinion that no judgment be passed upon any presbyter or deacon by any Colonial court or authority j but that a statement of the case should be drawn up and transmitted for adjudication to the highest Ecclesiastical Court in England. " Holy Baptism. — With reference to this important subject, we strongly deprecate the putting forth of any authoritative decision upon the doctrine of our Church concerning it, beyond that contained in the l Articles agreed upon in 15(52 for the avoiding of diversities of opinions, and the establishing of consent touching true religion.' " The clergy of the diocese of Adelaide express ft similar, and even a stronger judgment ; which is the more observable, as the Bishop or Melbourne wqb the only dissentient from the Minute: — " That tho introduction by the Australasian Bishops of the question of holy Baptism into their Minutes waa uncalled for and injudicious; that the construction put by Ihem on the Creed, Articles, and Liturgy would, if imposed, bo tantamount to a new article of faith ; and that the dogmatical deteimin.ition of a question which has ever bi>en practically considered an open one, virtually narrows tho terms of communion with our Church." The Clergy of Tasmania, by a majority of twenty to eight, agree to a similar statement :■— " That the introduction of the question of holy Baptism is deeply to be regretted ; while thpy observe fur« ther that, tho plan suggested, of putting the younger Clergy entirely at the dispos.il of the Bi&hops for a tcim of years, would, under present circumstances, bo injuiioiis to the maintenance of mental independence, doctun.il punfy, am) p.istoi«il fidelity , nrrso'ig- tho junior Ck<r»j."

Tho language of the Clergy of the other settlements is not less decisive. So that here we have the fir^t fruits of Episcopal Synods — intemperate decisions, and dissatisfied clergy — and the several communities broken into parties, which march, some under the Episcopal banner, and some, and by far the greater part, under that of their paiochial pastors — Can we desiie a fairer tentative experiment on the subject of snch assemblages? The conflict in this case did not commence till after the synod. But can we doubt that if tho clergy or laity had been admitted into the council chamber the conflict would havu taken place tbere, and have raided such a storm as nothing could have laid to rest. If this event does not serve as a warning to our strugglers for synods, they must read the page of events with very different eyes from our own.

One sometimes hears a sentence which, however unpremeditatedly it may bo dropped, is so pregnant in its moaning, so felicitous in its expression, and so self-evident-ly truthful, that it irresistibly grapples attention, and commands unhesitating asseni . Of this character was Mr. Councillor Newman's pithy saying in the Common Council on Saturday, — " We are in a complete maze : We do not know where we are!" Other observations made in the course of the sitting partook of this pointed character; for instance, Mr. Councillor Abraham's complaint of changes passing so rapidly over the spirit of members that one could not know whore to find supporters, or how to reconcile the inconsistencies of •successive steps, — and Mr. Councillor Haultain's more candid than complimentary hint that the Council had " done nothing to command the confidence of either the Government or the community." But these and all similar statements, which might admit of some qualification or explanation, fall immeasurably short of the axiomatic force of Mr. Newman's terse and multum in <parw sentence, "Wo are in a complete maze ; We do not know where we arc ! " We were carried back in memory to the bewilderment we experienced in the famous Maze at Hampton Court, where we found ingress so easy, but egress so difficult. The parallelism seemed perfect, and we inwardly owned how much may be conveyed in a few fitting words. We lived, however, to get out of the Hampton Court Maze, and to find ourselves amongst the free, independent, and listening Burgesses of Auckland, in the compartment of the Council Chamber, appropriated to the reception — we can scarcely say the accommodation— of " strangers." We wish our worthy representatives as complete a deliverance from the intricacies in which they are involved. But wo much fear their Saturday's proceedings, however apparently a forward movement, yet did not Tbring them much nearer extrication, for any purposes of practical utility. We may state in a very few words what was done, — leaving the substance of what was only said to appear in our regular report. In Committee of the whole Council on the Report of the Sub-Committee appointed to suggest instructions for the contemplated Deputation to the Government, it was agreed to ask for £18,000 for Roads, maugre the renewed protest of Councillor Haultain, that the Reports on which this demand was based contained exaggerated figures, and recommended works which arc wholly unnecessary ; and notwithstanding the admitted fact that a considerably smaller sum would, in the estimation of the framcrs of the Reports themselves, prove sufficient when managed as the Common Council believe^ they could manage the Public Funds. The mode in which this money could be procured, — obviously a vital point— might be easily settled for future years, if either of two schemes could be carried into effect, — that of Mr. Councillor Newman, which would, by a wholesale cutting down of official salaries, save the requisite amount,— or that of Mr. Alderman Powditch (brought forward with the judicious object of showing that there were other means besides that suggested by Mr. Newman for raising the sum), — which would make up the deficiency from such sources as a doubling of the present grant for roads ; the appropriation to the Corporate funds of the proceeds of Licence Fees, fines for disorderly conduct &c, and an endowment of £2000 per annum for ten years,— or until an endowment of land to the extent of 5000 acres, which he proposes to ask for, shall yield an equivalent revenue. We should have something to say on each of these plans if they seemed to us to have any immediate practical bearing. As it is, they are, if not altogether speculative, yet entirely future in their application ; both of them involve demands which it is utterly out of the power of the Government to grant without the concurrence of the Legislative Council while some of them (for instance, Alderman Powditch's demand of £2000 a-ycar, for ten years) the Legislative Council itself could not grant, the votes being annual, and one Legislative Council incompetent to bind its successors to repeat its acts. Passing on from this point for the present, however, we next notice the adoption by the Council of the recommendation that the Borough should be reduced to the comparatively narrow limits specified in the Report which we published on Saturday. Hero again is a matter on which it is an utter waste of time and words to address the Government, inasmuch as the Royal Instructions of 18-16 declare, with the utmost distinctness, that, after the Governor-in-Chief has once defined by Proclamation the metes and bounds of a Borough, he shall not have authority by a subsequent Proclamation, or in any other way, to alter them ; a change can be effected " only by an Ordinance to bo enacted for that purpose by the Legislature of the Province within which the Borough may be situate." What is, or what can be, the object or use of presenting requests to the Governor which it is notorious he has no power whatever to grant ? But the Deputation, (consisting of the Mayor, Aldermen Dignan, Mason, and Powditch, and Councillor Newman) are to go to His Excellency, notwithstanding ; and to go it appears, without any written statement to be presented as the memorial or appeal of the Council, but with an ad libitum freedom of speech, each man for himself. We had certainly expected that a hint dropped by the Mayor early on Saturday, as to its being a matter to bo determined whether there was or was not to bo a written statement laid before the Government, would subsequently be tnken into consideration, with the attention due to its

weight. But such was not the case, and the Deputation seem to be invested with plenipotentiary functions, not merely collectively but individually. How this will work in the interview looks problematical enough, considering that the members do not concur in their own views on some essential points. The responsibility of speaking for the Council and the Borough on the occasion will be not small; and we cannot but think that — (as the recommendation of the Sub-Committee— that the Deputation should not go into any detail respecting the source from which funds were to be derived, — was thrown overboard) — it would have been more satisfactory to the Burgesses, and, we should think, far more agreeablo to the gentlemen of the Depntation themselves, if some document had been adopted by the Council as an enunciation of its views, which it would be their duty merely to supplement by such explanations or arguments as may appear necessary it during the anticipated interview. But, after all, what can this interview come to ? If some of the time expended in "oratory" had been devoted to progress even in the Council's own line of progression, the Deputation might have seen the Lieutenant-Grovernor last week, and any representations which it would be necessary to lay before the Governor-in-Chief might have been forwarded by the Government Brig. Now that opportunity lias passed away ; and an idefinite loss of time is certain, — that is, if the Common Council persevere in their course of doing nothing practical in or for the Borough until they obtain satisfaction on points which it is utterly impossible they can bo satisfied upon until the meeting of a Legislative Council, — if then. Exi-xuTioN. — Yesterday morning William Bowdcn, (formerly a Prisoner of the Crown in Van Diemen's Land), who was convicted, at the March Criminal Session of our Supreme Court, of the Wilful Murder of John Dixon, underwent the last awful penalty of the law at the Gaol, in Queen-street. The wretched man had maintained almost to the end a dogged and apparently unfeeling obstinacy, and during the night before his execution refused to receive the spiritual counsel which the Rev. Mr. Ciiurton anxiously and indefaliga'ily waited to affoid ; but, yesterday morning, we are informed, he made some observations expressive of contrition, and referred especially to the 51st Psalm, as suited to his circumstances and feelings. The genuineness of professions of repentance made only in the immediate prospect of death is always open to doubt; still, there is something giatifying in the fact that the ciiminal did not actually die with the tokens of a hardened spiiit which he had previously manifested. The justice of the fatal sentence was univeisally admitted ; for, however some may maintain a theoretical opposition to all capital punishments, we have not heard an individual express any other opinion thau that whatever should be the extreme penalty of the law ought to be inflicted in this case.

Lectures on the Bible. — It will be seen by our advertising columns, that the seventh and last of the series of lectures on the Bible, by Ministers of the Auckland Bianch of the Evangelical Alliance, will be delivered by the Rev. Alexander Reid, this evening, in the Weslej/an Chapel, instead of in the Primitive Methodist Chapel as originally announced, the change having been made on account of the larger accommodation in the place of worship now appointed.

The Band of the -50th Regiment, by permission of His Excellency Lien tenant-Colonel Wynyard, C.8., will perform the following selection of mu&ic, in the Grounds of the Old Government House, to-moiTow (Thursday), between the hoi rs of 3 and 5 r.ai. PROGRAMME. Overture — Op. " Fra Diavolo" . . . Auber. Melange — Op. " Maritana" . . . Wallace. Fantasia — Oj>. " The Marble Maiden" . Adam. Seranata — •* The Sleeper Awakened" . McFarren. Ballad — "There is a Flower that bloometh" Wallace. Wallz — ll Rose D'Amour" . . . Kaanig. Quadrille—" L 1L 1 Enfant Prodigue" . . Julhen. Grand Pas Redouble — " La Juive" . . Julhen.