The New Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 682, 27 October 1852, Page 2

The New Zealander.

Be just and fear nut : Let nil the ends tliou aiui'st at, be thy Country 1 !), Thy God's, and Truth's.

AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, OCT. 27, 1852. .

In a Supplement to our Saturday's number, ' issued on the evening of that day, our town readers were immediately apprised of the return of the Undine with the Native Secretary and the members of the Gold Reward Committee who had visited Coromandel, and of the nature of the information brought by those gentlemen. The announcement circulated by the Committee, as agreed to at a special meei. ; ng held to receive the report of the Deputation on Saturday afternoon, gave a cautious but faithful view of the state of the case as it came before them, being in substance, — that the fact of the existence of Gold, the native product of the district, was satisfactorily ascertained, but that further investigation was necessary before deciding absolutely on the question of its being so abundant as to secure profit in the working of il. We have little to add to day on this part of the subject, except that such information as has since reached us tends.. to the confirmation of the remarks with which we followed up the notification thus made by the Committee. Additional specimens of gold have been brought to town, some of them which we have seen being of great richness ; and although the quantity held by each iudividrial is small, were the whole, collected it would make no inconsiderable show. It is to be remembered that hitherto no really efficient exploration has been made; on digging a few feet below the surface, masses of quartz rock have frequently obstructed the work, and there were no means at hand to blast or otherwise remove these obstacles so as to get at the deposits which not improbably lay under or around them. Besides, even the surface diggings were not made to yield in many instances anything like the quantity of gold which they actually contained, owing to want of skill in washing, or want of proper implements for that purpose. Under such circumstances it is., much to have il placed beyond all doubt the fact that gold docs exist in some, at least, of the mountain ranges of the Norther-n Province of New Zealand, and, moreover, that it exists through a considerable extent of the country, — specimens having already beqn collected from localities several miles apart.

Tlic further explorations which will now continue to be made, with the advantage of increased experience and better tools and 1 general appliances, will most probably very soon enable the public to judge of the value of the Field as a sphere of labour and enter- i prise; and it is far from unlikely that the ' neighbourhood of Coromandel will not long retain its soli *<iy d : slinelion as the gold pro- ' ducing district, but that in this Island, as in California and Australia, the discovery having been made in one place, it will be rapidly followed up by discoveries of other, and it may be more abundantly, auriferous tracts. At the same time, enough of uncertainty sill invests the issue to check, as ras>h and unwarranted, the confidence that would dogmatically predict what a few months may bring forth. The position of the subject being evidently such as to call for careful consideration on the part of the Government, we believe it has engaged the anxious attention of the Lieut.-Governor and the Executive Council. Desirous of obtaining the opinions of the elected members of the Provincial Council resident in this neighbourhood, His Excellency invited those gentlemen to an interview, in which— although of course it was not any formal or technically official meet- ' ing of the Council, — yet the sentiments of the chosen representatives of large numbers of the people might be expressed, and receive the weight to which they were entitled. This interview took place at the Council Chamber on Monday ; but as it was not open to the public or to the representatives of the Press, we can only give a very general statement of what occurred, as we have heard it ,in private conversation. We understand that the members of the Provincial Council were met by the Lieutenant-Goveruor, the Attor-ney-General, the Colonial Treasurer, and Colonel Bolton, and that His Excellency, in an address characterised by his usual frank and friendly lone in his intercourse with the public, brought" before the members of Council the propositions which the Executive judged it expedient to have adopted, under the novel and important circumstances which had arisen, — expressing his desire to know their opinion on the several points, and to be made acquainted with any suggestions which they could offer for the improvement of the plan. His Excellency and the members of the Executive Council afterwards left the Chamber, in order that the members of the Provincial Council might freely discuss the propositions ; and on resuming the conference, it appeared that there was, on nearly every particular, an entire agreement, and that the popular representatives were impressed with a satisfactory conviction of the wisdom and liberality under which the regulations had been "framed. The interview terminated, we are informed, in the best spirit and with the best understanding on all hands. There is, so far as we are aware, no second opinion on the necessity that the regulations to meet this emergency should proceed from the Government. It is universally seen that the only mode by which peace, and the real interests of both Europeans and Natives, can be safely secured and maintained, will be the submission of all to the control of the Government,— a control which it is evident will be exercised not with any high handed disregard of popular feeling, but, as far as practicable, in entire accordance with it. The great question, however, is how to obtain from the Natives that willing submission to the necessary arrangement and that cooperation with the Government, without which a prosperous or safe working of a gold field in New Ulster could not be calculated on with any confidence. Three courses might possibly have been suggested under the circumstances ; 1 . to issue a Proclamation asserting the Crown's right of property in the precious metals here as elsewhere, and thereupon to treat the Natives as having no rightful claim on the gold ; 2. to leave open to private bargain between the Natives and the diggers the terms on which the field might be worked by individuals or parlies; or 3, to establish, if possible, such a compact between the Natives and the Government as that, by mutual consent, the Government should alone issue licenses to dig, while the Natives should receive such a portion of the Fees derived from these Licenses as would fairly compensate them for the valuable right they conceded. For reasons so obvious that we need not now enlarge upon them, the first and second of these schemes would be open to very grave objections ; and the third is that to which justice and common sense so clearly point, that, until its establishment had been tried and had failed, neither of the others should be seriously contemplated. As to the parti cular mode in which the Natives are to be paid, circumstances must direct. It would undoubtedly be most desirable that the Government should purchase these lands ; but this we apprehend is almost or altother out of the question. The effort should be made, but from all we have heard there is not the remotest probability that the Natives will now sell any land which they know or suppose to contain gold. There is little doubt that the course of the Government must be to make such terriis with them as will convince their shrewd and intelligent Chiefs that they are dealt with in a spirit of fairness, and that their own interest lies in acquiescence with the proposal. We trust that equity and liberality towards the aboriginal proprietors of the soil will be found to characterise the very first offer made ito them. We trust that the Government will 1 have no sympathy with those (if such there : be) who, — while, to serve the ends of polilic.l | party, they declaim about "Native rights," — i would on such an occasion as this screw the | Nalhes down to the minimum at which they could be coaxed or bullied into a contract. • We have always and consistently maintained ' that the Natives have " rights" in this conn1 try,, and -we desire, in thisand all; fitting in-., stances, to eec those rights practically re- , spected, in the manner that,-becomes an- enlightened and paternal Government which esteems it a duty and privilege to guard with especial care, the rights of those of its , subjects who, through ignorance or feeble- '

I ness, are least able to guard themselves. It , is true that much expense would probably 1 be incurred by the Government in the mainI lenance of a force to protect the Gold Field and its diggers, and in the various details which the administration of its affairs would involve ; but if the field prove worth working at all, surely its revenne may be expected to cover this and more, after the deduction which may be required to satisfy the Natives' just claims. We refrain, however, from entering more largely into a consideration of this point at present. His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor purposes to sail this day in the Border Maid, for C.'romandel, that he may personally inspect ibe Gold Field, and take such steps as the occasion calls for. His Excellency will, we believe, be accompanied by His Lordship the Bishop of New Zealand, Major Nugent (Native Secretary), Mr. Johnson (Chief Clerk and Interpreter in the Native Secretary's Department) Mr. R. Wood (Deputy Surveyor-General), and Mr. C. Heaphy, of the Survey Department. Their return may be looked for about the end of the week, when we shall np doubt have fuller information on all the points on which additional information is now so greatly to be desired.