The New=Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 631, 1 May 1852, Page 2

The New=Zealander.

lit 1 just ,ii)(I Tcir not Let nil tlio umls thou ainis'L ,il, be Diy Coiuiliy's Thy Ciori's, .met Truth's,.

AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, MAY 1, iv.',«.

Wk have, within the last week or two, boon at tho pains to rc-pcruso Mr. Fox's " Six Colonies of New Zealand,"— not in detached portions, but consecutively, going through the whole of it from beg inning to end. It was no very agreeable or easy task ; for, although the book is a very small one, it is made up of so many closely comparted misrepresentations, and is pervaded by an atmosphere of .such bad feeling and evil surmising, as to render it both a laborious and a rcpulsivo undertaking to wade through its pages. If it were avowedly a romance, we should of course try it only by tho ordinary critical tests .applicable to works of fiction : if it proceeded from an imperfectly informed, but still sincere and honest writer, we should frankly accept whatever of truth it might contain, and appreciate the good intentions of tho author, however unsatisfactory we might deem his performance. But Mr. .Fox comes forward with pretensions which exclude every allowance of this sort, lie boastfully proclaims his having had "opportunities for observation, and inducements to observe, at least equal to those of any person who ever visiled the colony;"— he publishes his statements as the "results of his own experience," and avowedly with the object of instructing and correcting '< the ignorance of the many, who know nothing, and the misapprehensions of the few who know a little" about New Zealand. That he had large opportunities of acquiring information is undeniable ; and therefore, when we find him issuing a tissue of misrepresentations, in which there is just truth enough to make the falsehood plausible and dangerous, charity itself is feliut up to the conclusion that he is, not an unwitting, but an intentional pcrvcrtor of facts. Wo can scarcely put the case in so mild a form, as 'that he is afllictcd with the mental jaundice which tinctures all it looks on with its own yellow hue; for we soon discover that when he pleases — that is, when he turns attention to any person, place, or matter agreeable to his own taste or selfish intcicftt— ho ran array all he looks on in even prcternalurally bright and vivid colours. Jf, beyond that charmed circle nil ftpprars to him discoloured and dibloited, we fear the cause must be pronounced rather moral than intellectual; — lie cannot, because he will not, sec objects as they really are. Tho worse than caricature of the Auckland .Settlement and ydtkrs which Mr. Fox has presented to the JOnglish public as a picture taken from the Hie, being necessarily that which most concerns ourselves, we have already, as our readers know, subjected it lo a searching and somewhat minute criticism. If we were to express a confidence that we have successfully, not to say triumphnntjy, refuted many of its blunders, "wchhould scarcely feel that we rendered ourselves obnoxious lo any fair charge of ego.iism, inasmuchas we can lay claim to

nothing more than having collected and collated from official documents and generally known f.icts a porlion —and only :i porlion —of the evidences by which our Settlement and its people may be vindicated from the accusations which Mr. .Fox has, with a recklessness calculated to defeat its own object, launched against them. Various misrepresentations alfecting the general affairs of the colony, and especially the affairs of the Southern Province, liavo been dealt with by our Wellington contemporary, the Spectator, in much detail, and in a manner -which (of course, without pledging ourselves to concurrence in every opinion advanced in the articles) we deem amply 'adequate to the satisfaction of all impartial minds. We have already copied some of these replies, and, should more pressing claims on our space permit, may transfer others to our columns, Meanwhile we have learned with pleasure that a scries of papers designed to exhibit Auckland ana its neighbourhood in a more trustworthy light are in course of preparation by a gentleman who, from long residence in the Settlement and other qualifications, is eminently fitted to perform the ta.sk effectively. They are not designed to be any formal answer to Mr. Kox; indeed, they were in contemplation before the appearance of his brochure; —but they will, notwithstanding, be a refutation of much of what ho has asserted, because truth, in however simple and uncontrovcrsial a form it may be presented, is always, from its own nature, antagonistic and destructive to error. The papers are, we believe, intended for circulation, in some shape, at home; but we expect to be enabled in the first instance to publish them in the columns of the JSew Zealander. Having seen only two or three of the sections, we are not prepared to say that there may not be some opinions which, even to oimsclvcs, may seem to require qualification; but we can havo no hesitation in expressing a confident anticipation that the statements will, on the whole, be such as to present a portraiture the fidelity of which will command the assc;nt of new-comers to Auckland ; and, in .short, that their character will prove all that might be looked for from a writer of enlarged views and extended observation, and one who —without any feeling of jealousy towards the Southern Settlements, —or any disposition to exaggerate the merits of the Northern —is yet deeply convinced of the peculiar advantages which arc combined and concentrated in so remarkable and encouraging a degree in Auckland.

Public Mueiinus. —lt will be seen by our adve Us ng columns that two public meetings of a icligious chaiactcr are announced ioi Monday next: —one, having no little lnleicst for membeis of the Chinch of Knglaud, to be held in M. Matthew's School Room, at two o'rloclc in the afternoon, for the purpose of Uki»;> into e-nisidcialion the propositions iL'-pi'Umg n Chinch Constitution contained in the Pastoial Letter of the Bishop of New Zealand, (which we published in our last, and which em bo Jus a plan aheady discussed in meetings at Wellington, of which accounts have appejied m our columns): —the other, having huge claims on the attention, not merely of the members of any one section of of the Chinch, bul of all Chuslians who, lecciving the So i]) tines as the sole rule of faith, feel il a duty and a piivilege to slthe foi their universal circulation, —we mean the Annual Meeting of the Auckland Auxiliary to the liiitish and Foreign \hh\<i Society, which is to be held m the Piebbytci un Church, at half- past six in the evening.