The New=Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 634, 12 May 1852, Page 2

The New=Zealander.

AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1832.

was so drawing* rapidly to a close. . .But, once more, when the solemn farce of waiting- on the Lieutenant-Governor to ask for things which everybody knew he had no power to give had been gone through, they might then, though it was almost at the last hour, i have addressed themselves to some object of utility. They learned from his Excellency that a sum of £1,600 was immediately at their disposal, and that a further sum (calculated by Alderman Mason at £1000) would most probably accrue as their share of the proceeds of the Land Sales. Without incurring the slightest responsibility in relation to any other object of the Charter, and without binding themselves to impose now or at any future period one penny of taxation, they might have endeavoured to do some service" to their constituents and to show their own fitness to be entrusted with municipal functions, by a judicious choice of the most pressing works, and an economical expenditure upon them of the amount thus tendered, so far as it would go. This was the point to be determined on Saturday : some decision upon it could no longer be avoided ; and the decision was a most vigorous resolution that they would do — nothing ! and that to secure the carrying out of this resolution they would abandon their post and cease to meet. We vainly seek for any reason which could justify this whole line of proceeding, or especially the concluding part of it. Mr. Newman indeed said, and said truly, that the sum available would fall far short of what would be required by the wants of the Borough ; but, is inability to do everything a sufficient justification of doingnothing? Mr. Abraham was delighted that the Common Council had escaped " the disgrace of degenerating into road makers and road contractors;" but as" we do not suppose this aristocratic contempt of one of the principal duties of the Corporation was shared in by many of the members, we may dismiss it with the simple remark that, if the functions of a Common Councillor were not sufficiently gentlemanly for Mr. Abraham, he should have stood out of the way, and occupied himself in the formation of the drains on his own property (about which lie recently informed the Council), while some representative not above his business might have sat for his Ward. But it would be loss of time to dwell upon the mere pretences which were put forward as reasons. The real object of some of the principal movers in this matter, both in and out of the Council, was to achieve what they supposed would be a victory over Sir George Grey's Government. We say out of the Council as well as in, for we have not only made our own observations on the patronage and promptings which were from time to time telegraphed from without the bar to the interior, but we have heard of some — rather significant than respectful — allusions to the dancing of the puppets within, made by those who were in the secret as to how " the strings were pulled," It is humiliating in itself, and an evil omen for our settlement that there should be tnose who would frustrate a measure of great public importance, because they dislike the man from whom it officially proceeded ; but we fear th,e fact is undeniable, and that the present step is one of its developments. If so, however, it may well be asked wherein does the alleged triumph consist? If Sir GeQrge Grey were really actuated by the sinister motives imputed to him, it would not be possible to conceive any mode by which the Council could have played his game, and secured the attainment of his object more completely than by that they have pursued. His Excellency's despatch accompanying the Charter has before now doubtless made its impression at home; it would only need that he should follow it up by a review of the sayings and non-doings of the Common Council, from its inauguration to its selfdestruction, to prove to the satisfaction of thousands in England that any representations he may have made of the unpreparedness of the people for self-Government were not without foundation. If we are not able to manage our own comparatively petty local affairs, how can we be deemed competent to legislate for the weightier matters affecting the whole colony ) We by no means join in the opinion that the Gov-ernor-in-Chief had any desire or wish to withhold representative institutions ; on a calm comparison of his expressions and his actions throughout, we think candour would lead to a contrary conclusion ; but, — taking on their own ground those who rejoice in the frustration of the Charter for this year which Messrs. Newman and Abraham have succeeded in effecting— we hold it to be quite clear that the Common Council have given His Excellency's imputed wishes a support which they could scarcely have derived from any other source. The ungenerous way in which the Com* mon Council have met Lieutenant Governor Wynyard's frank and kindly reply to their Deputation, is a feature of the case which should not bbande — and which, we are satisfied, is not — overlooked by the public. That His Excellency has uniformly manifested a solicitude to improve the town, and to promote the welfare and convenience of the Community, is a fact which none will venture to deny ; and not only was his reception of the Deputation urbane and conciliatory, as is all his intercourse with the citizens, but his answers manifested a disposition to meet the views of the Corporation which merited a better appreciation than it found on Saturday. Mere lip compliments were of little worth coming from men who virtually [passed |a vote of censure on his Excellency's xteply as " vague and uncertain," and who founded upon this alleged " vagueness and uncertainty" a resolution that the public works could not be proceeded with. But som© members did not even give Up compliments ; and the Mayor's just and warm tribute to the kindly spirit shown by the Lieutenant Governor was opposed by Alderman O'Neill's declaration that lie would not " lavish adulation" on a reply which consisted of '' half-promises, half-denials,'* and a " glossing of words" with " taxation oozing out ;" — hj Alderman Powditch's condemnation of the Heply as evasive and unsatisfactory because it did not enter into all the details of an impracticable scheme ; — and above all

by the Resolution itself adopted by the Council. But His Exclelency's wellfounded popularity will be little anected by such sarcasms as these. Several points at which we have merely glanced might be expanded and illustrated ; and several not adverted to here might be brought forward; but this article is already long, and we confess it has been to ourselves anything rather than an agreeable task to write thus of a Body some of whose members we have valued in private more and more as we became better acquainted with them. But men may be very worthy neighbours and yet very incapable Municipal rulers ; and such has been the case in the Council which has now come to its end " unwept, unhonoured and unsung."

We publish tliis day the second of the chapters on " Auckland and its Neighbourhood" to which we formerly invited attention, as likely to embody trustworthy views of the Town and Settlement, taken by a competent and, we are convinced, an honest and unprejudiced observer of men and things. One of these articles will, we expect, appear on each successive Wednesday (should no press of news interfere) until they are completed. We respectfully commend them to the notice of such of our contemporaries at home and in the colonies as may be ■willing to circulate information respecting the capital of New Zealand and the adjacent district.

The Bridge at Otahuiiu. — Various inaccurate and exaggerated leports respecting the state of the Bridge, or rather Causeway, on the Tamaki at Otahuhu, having got into circulation, we lay before our readers the following, which we are informed on what we deem adequate authority, are the true facts of the case. The Causeway was completed at the end of December 1851, after which date it was no longer under the charge of the Government Superintendent, but was left (like most of the other public works duting the period in which the Common Council were neither attending, nor declaring they would not attend, to the tuist confided to them) without care or supervision of any kind. A consequence was that the platform over the widest opening was used as a landing place for boats of all descriptions to discharge cargo upon. From this practice considerable injury was done by the boats to the quoins on which the platform lests. This extended so far that it attracted public attention, and came to the knowledge of the Lieutenant- Governor. His Excellency immediately sent the "Uipeiintendent to examine it ; and Mr. Wood lepoited that repairs should be commenced without delay, as the injury done to the quoins by boats loading and unloading alongside had rendered them insecuie; and lecommended that this practice be stopped, as the struc'uie was not adapted for such a puipose. Only three days after, a cargo boat which wasdischargingsnuck and threw down one of these quoins in the presence of a pensioner named Sullivan. Mr. Wood having since gone out to give instructions for the necessary repairs, took the oppoitumty of examining the foundations in company with a peison competent to judge. It Was found that they were in no way injured by the action of the water, nor has the tide had anything to do with the accident. With refeience to the complaint of the original inadequacy of the structure, we are informed that the causeway was formed not by skilful labourers, but almost entirely by the Pensioneis, for whom the Government were bound to provide employment at Is 6d. per day, until their cottages were ready The work, as is geneially known, is all dry scoria, unwrought, and, though well enough adapted for the purpose for which it was constructed, was never intended to claim notice as a scientific structure, or to be used as a whiif for cargo boats to bump against. It appears there has been considerable exaggeration as to the extent of the damage, as we are assured that the cost of repairs will not exceed £16 or £17, and that the traffic on the road-way has not been stopped. Quern Street. — We are always glad to record the progress of local improvements, and have therefore pleasure in noticing the completion of a house in Queen-street — this day to be opened by Mr. T. S. Forsaith for his legular business, — which in all respects ranks with the best — if not itself the very best — building of the kind in Auckland. It has been constructed fiom a plan sketched by Mr. Mason after a classical model, and is intended to form one wing of a range of three houses, which, when erected, will be an ornament to our town, and we tiust an incentive to others to emulate so good an example. Brick and stone buildings will always obviously be by far the best for security, as well as for permanency, even if we should at some future day have a Common Couucil that will deem it worth while to attend to anything so duely practical as precautions against lire. Mr. Hay as the builder, and Mr. Bruce as the woiker of the decorative portion of the edifice, have carried out Mr. Mason's plan in a manner which leflects high credit on them and all concerned. We hear that on Thursday even.ing last, Mr. Forsaith gave a supper to the men employed in the work (al out twenty in number) which passed off in the most cheerful and satisfactory manner.

Be just and fe<ir not Let ill' tue ends (.'ion ann'bt at, lie Ihy Country's, Tliy Gou'i, and Tiuth's.