The New Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 658, 4 August 1852, Page 2

The New Zealander.

Be just and fear not • Let nil the ends tliou aim'st at, lie thy Country's, Thy GoD'b, and Truth's.

AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, AUG. 4, 1852.

We regret to have to record the occurrence of a disastrous fire which took place vt Kororareka (Bay of Islands) on the night of Sunday week the 25th ultimo, and destroyed a considerable amount of property. The circumstances as reported to us were as follows : — Between 10 and 11 o'clock at night, most of the inhabitants being in bed, the fire broke out in the kitchen of Mr. Evans Hotel, whence (though the room was partially detached) it quickly communicated with the main building, and the whole was soon in ruins. The flames spread to the general store and dwelling house of Mr. Cook, situated at about a distance of twenty-five feet, in the direction in which the wind was blowing. The roof first caught fire, and in less than an hour the whole of the building and all the property contained in it (with the small exception of three bales of blankets) were destroyed. Mr. and Mrs. Cook themselves only escaped in their night clothes. Simultaneously the fire extended to the house of Mr. Hickton, baker, on the other side of Mr. Evans's, which, as well as the other two houses, was consumed, but the flour contained in it was for the most part saved, chiefly by the praiseworthy exertionsof natives. The origin of the fire is not as yet ascertained. The buildings were on Mrs. Stewarts (a widow) property, which was leased by the sufferers ; and by the casualty she has lost a rental of £60perannum. Mr. Cook's loss, we understand, amounted to nearly £1000, the house being his own property, and the store containing two large consignments of goods lately received from London. We are informed, and can easily conceive, that owing to the panic produced by the sudden out-burst of the fire, and the absence of means for checking its progress, little could be done to preserve the houses or their contents. A party of the military stationed at Wahupu were despatched, in two boats, by Captain Russell without delay, and on their arrival manifested every anxiety to render their best assistance ; but having to come about two miles by water, they reached the beach too late to be of much service. Indeed had it not been that the wind was in a direction from the other houses, there can be little doubt that the ravages of the conflagration would have been only stopped by the destruction of all in the neighbourhood. Such an illustration as this melancholy occurrence affords of the dangers of fire and the necessity of adopting all practicable precautions against its origination and spread, was not necessary to exhibit in deep colours the character of the course pursued by the Auckland Common Council in relation to this matter; but the coincidence of the occurrence with the recent proceedings, in which Mr. Alderman O'Neill and Mr. Councillor Abraham — not merely succeeded in frustrating an attempt to establish precautionary mea-sui-esagainst fire, but — treated with flippant insult the Government of the Colony and the Head of their own Municipality, because they ventured to set before them an opportunity of remedying past neglect in this important department of the duty of a Corporation, — is too striking to fail of suggesting itself to the public mind. Heaven forbid that we should have the lesson taught us by sad experience in our own town ! But what security have we against the calamity which has befallen so many others \ And if a fire were to break out this very night in any of our streets of wooden houses, what short of an almost miraculous interposition could, in our utterly unprepared state, check its progress % Earnestly do we hope and pray that there may be no such dreadful retribution awaiting the men who have hindered the adoption of measures which it specially devolved on the Common Council to take, as their own feelings and the judgment of the community would inflict, if some morning's sun should arise upon a desolated town, ruined families, crowds thrown out of employment, and the countless calamities re • suiting from a conflagration, which might have been stopped in its career of destruction by means which they could and should have brought into operation, but which they obstinately refused to adopt, or even to consider ! We do not believe that we exaggerate the amount or kind of responsibility that these gentlemen have incurred. The .Common Council of this year were the first Body formed amongst our citizens with authority to take the necessary steps. It may be said that the Government should long before have taken those steps, as well as attended to other affairs for neglect of which the Corporation are now censured ; but whatever amount of truth there may be in this, does not materially affect the question ; for, to prove that another party was culpable at another time surely is no evidence that the Common Council were blameless in their omission of duty. It was always the cry that if the people had the power of governing themselves, their interests would be better attended to. Private efforts, however strenuous or liberal, must have been comparatively inefficient; for no private association could have compelled the thoughtless or reckless portion of the community to comply with any regulations for the public benefit which did not square with their own ignorant or heedless views and caprices. But the Common Council were armed with ample powers for this specific object; the Military Authorities, beyond all doubt, would most willingly have co-operated with them in arrangements by which such aid as the Barracks could aflord would be rendered available, on a system of organized and previously understood action, if an emergency should unfortunately arise; the people generally,

whose interests are so vitally involved, would have rallied round them with every needful support ; and then, if a catastrophe did take place, there would have been at least the consolation of knowing- that what human means could do had been done to avert or mitigate it. The term " traitor" is one the use of which, in connexion with the Common Council, we should have been extremely reluctant ourselves to initiate, but Mr. Alderman O'Neill having thought fit to employ it, — and employ it with an obviously intended application, which was equally indecorous and unjust— there is some temptation to ask, is not the conduct of the Common Conncil in this matter, and in other matters too, of a character to which the term " traitorous" —if Alderman O'Neill must have the term — may be not altogether inapplicable A traitor, according to Dr. Johnson's definition, is, — " one who being trusted, betrays." Now, our Common Councillors were trusted by the Burgesses with the working of the Municipal Charter for the benefit of the Borough : most of them took office under a distinct pledge to work it, and would not have been elected if they had avowed a contrary determination : some of them have since waxed indignant at even the implied imputation that their object was to frustrate it. But Iwuve they worked the Charter ? Have they —we will not say worked it as a whole — but have they worked it in any single particular'? They have indeed met under its sanctions, and called themselves and each other by the titles which it confers, and appointed a Town Clerk and Treasurer, and in short done various unequivocally corporate acts. But have they exercised, or practically attempted to exercise, — in even one solitary case, the privileges and powers which the Charter confided to them "for the good order, health, and convenience of the inhabitants of the Borough V The facts are before the community, and we leave it to every intelligent and observant Burgess to form his own conclusion. Would the Councillors themselves, as men of uprightness and integrity, conceive that theyhad fulfilled a private contract fairly and fully, if they had acted in relation to it as they have done in their official capacity with regard to their engagement to "work the Charter?'' We are far from insinuating that themembess of the Common Council would intentionally " betray" a trust ; some of them we know enough of to be sure that they are incapable of doing so ; but can any man say they have fulfilled their corporate trust ? To follow out the idea of trust a little farther, are they immaculate as respects the subject of Self-Government and Free Institutions ? It is not an over-strained view of their position to say that in their hands was placed, in no small degree, no less important a deposit that the decision of the question whether or not it was a libel to assert that the people were not competent to govern themselves by representatives chosen under an almost unrestricted franchise. The suffrage under which they were elected was tantamount to universal. There was no infusion of the nominee element in their Body. It might have been their high privilege to showto friends and foes that a Council wholly chosen from and by the people could show patriotism, discretion, impartiality between the Government and the governed, and a wise and active zeal for the promotion of the real objects of their incorporation. How have they guarded this trust? Can we point proudly to their public spirit and public services as a triumphant answer to those who doubted the fitness of our colony for full and free representative institutions? Those who, -like ourselves, have earnestly contended for that fitness may be excused for feeling some sensitiveness on this point. If on the present occasion we have been led from the particular matter with which we have commenced to more general strictures, it is from the apprehension that the character of our community will be judged of at a distance, partly at least from tne public conduct of its chosen representatives. At the same time, in fairness we must not lose sight of the fact that the unwillingness of more eligible candidates to come forward, or the paucity of persons from whom to choose may in some instances have diminished the responsibility of the Burgesses, by shutting them up to a kind of necessity to return members, whom they would have left in the quiet of private life, had a wider range of selection been open to them ; and we trust that this consideration will not be overlooked by observers in other places who maybe disposed to judge of the Borough by the sayings and doings of some of its Common Councillors.

Geological and Topographical Sketches of the' Province of JS'ew Ulster. By Frederick J. Peppercorne." Royal Bvo. 5 p.p. 30. — Sold at the Southern Chvss office. We have received a pamphlet under this title, which appears to be a re-issue, in a collected and convenient form, of a series of papers originally published for the most part in the Southern Cross, and which we have pleasure in commending to the favourable attention of our readers. The Geology and Topography of New Ulster present a rich field of investigation, which, notwitstanding its attractiveness both scientifically and commercially, has hitherto been but little cultivated ; and the efforts of an industrious and competent pioneer like Mr. Peppcrcorne deserve every encouragement. He treats of the general Geological structure of the Province, its volcanoes, its rock formations, and its minerals, and metals, pointing out particularly its wealth in Coal, Copper, Lead, Manganese, Limestone, Clays, Slate. Sulphur, and Building Stones, and adding a section on the prospects of gold-finding in New Zealand, with hints to gold-seekers. We quote the concluding passage of this section, from which it will be seen "that the well-informed writer judges the discovery of the precious metal in this country as by no means a visionary anticipation :—: — " As we have in New Zealand many of the conditions under whicli gold is found in other coxmtries, as well as most of the gold-bearing rocks, — such as crystalline rocks composed of quartz and felspar, with a grey base, sometimes approaching to the character of porphyry ; together with dykes of quartz in talc and mica-slate schist, &c. ;'als

sienitic and'granitic rocks, frequently schorlaceous the schorl in the granite being often seen in black strings, in crystals, or in rhomboidal particles ; with chlorite slate, hornblende rock, porphyry, protogine, basalt, greenstone, ancient sand stones, shales and conglomerates ; all of these rocks being more or less favourable to the development of the metals, it seems by no means improbable that gold may, at some future day, be added to the list of metals already known to exist in the Province of New Ulster." That it not only may but will, is an expectation which we have always entertained with a measure of confidence which was not shaken by the disappointments which, from time to time, have chilled the hopes of those who thought that a gold-field had actually been discovered. We saw the defectivoness of the evidence on which some of our more sanguine neighbours jumped to a conclusion in these particular cases ; and we warned our readers against what we apprehended would turn out — as they really did— delusive expectations. But we never said — for we never thought — that the hope of finding gold in New Ulster was altogether baseless ; although we did — and still do— urge the superior wisdom of at present working those capabilities 'of the country the value of which admits of no doubt, without permitting the mind to be unsettled by dreams of auriferous products, which, even if they were realized, might prove of far less permanent benefit to the country than the steady results of less dazzling but more secure industry than that of the gold-digger. • The scientific exploration and survey of the Province, for which Mr. Peppercorne earnestly pleads, would undoubtedly throw much light on the probabilities in this matter ; but, whatever might be its issue as to gold, sure we are that it would disclose and place on a firm foundation the abundance of other means of wealth, in the development of which capital might be vested with a certainty of an ample reward, and which, sooner or later, will urge "onward (as Lord John Russell once expressed it) "the glorious destiny to which New Zealand is called/ The " Topographical Sketches" are succinct outlines of the general aspect and configuration of the coast of New Ulster, the Gculph of Houraki, the Port of Auckland, and Manakau Harbour. Here also Mr. Peppercorne has condensed a considerable amount of information. He has produced a pamphlet which, taken as a whole, is creditable to his abilities and diligence, and which we trust will have a circulation proportioned to its merits.

Lists of Electoral Claims. — These Lists have now been prepared. They include in carefully arranged order all the Claims sent to the Police Office up to the latest day permitted by law, Saturday last the 31st ult., on which day by the considerate attention of- Mr. Beckham the office was kept open two hours later than usual, — an indulgence which it appears was not superfluous, as we have heard that upwards of one hundred claims were delivered within those two hours. The numbers of claims to vote are, City of Auckland, 759 : — Suburbs of Auckland, 150 : — Pensioner Settlements, 488 :— Southern Division, 355 ; — Northern Division, 261. The lists are now posted for inspection at the following places :— City of Auckland at the Post Office ;— Suburbs at the Windsor Castle, [Parnell ; — the Pensioner Settlements and the Southern Division-at the Pamxrare Inn, Pannvure ; — and the Northern Division at the Half-way-House, Epsom Road. The Meeting of Justices of the Peace for the hearing of objections and the formation of the corrected Roll will be held on Wednesday the 18th instant. Although we do not anticipate that many, if any, objections will be urged, it may be well to state the law on the subject. Any person whose name is on the lists may object to any other person, as not entitled to have his name retained on the Roll : but it is indispensable that the person so objecting shall, at least ten days before the 18th inst., give notice in writing of such objection and of the ground thereof, both to the Resident Magistrate and to the person objected to ; and also that he shall appear in person at the Meeting of Justices to support his objection, and shall prove that the required notices have been duly served.