The New-Zealander. AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 1853.

New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 721, 12 March 1853, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 1853.

Be just and fear not: ■ , Let nil the ends thou aim’st at, lie thy Country s, Thy God’s, and Truth’s.

Wf have been favoured with ibe loan of the Taranaki Herald of the 23rd ultimo and the 2nd iuslanl, brought by the cutter Maori , which reached Mamikau ou Wednesday evening, after a cjuick passage from New Plymouth. The Land Question continued to be the prominent topic, ihe Committee appointed at the Public Meeting (of which we gave some account in our last) had prepared a Memorial to the Govern jr-in Chief, which-after dwelling upon the difficulties in which the Settlement is placed through the deficient supply of available land—concluded with a prayer for “ the immediate appointmentofa person duly authorized and with sufficient funds to conclude the purchase of lands from Native proprietors.” The proceedings at the Meeting on this subject had been pnngently commented on by Major Lloyd in a letter to the Herald , which contains much plain speaking. He declares, —“A system of bullying and insulting the higher authorities, and of exciting in men’s breasts angry and discontented feelings towards superiors, obtains to an extent that must prove injurious to the settlement.” After quoting a few of the more violent expressions used at the.Meeting, be urges, “Surely this is not the way to deal in a matter of such import. What is worth having is worth asking for in at least a respectful manner.” The Major’s plain speaking, however, does not seem to have been palatable to the gentlemen who stood connected with the Meeting, as the next Herald contains no less than four letters in reply, signed respectively “J. T. Wicksleed,” “V. K. Hulkc,” “Scrutator,” and “A. IL Gaine.”

A subscription had been opened to provide increased Church accommodation in the Settlement. The first object was to enlarge St. Mary’s Church by lengthening it, so as to afford 120 additional sittings, the estimated cost of which was GoO/.

The price of fine flour at New Plymouth on the 2nd hist., was 23/. per ton ; seconds, 20/. ; bread 3d. the 2 lbs. loaf : potatoes i2 10s. per ton; wheat Gs. per bushel. The report of the harvest was very favourable, but a want of labour was much felt, partly owing to “ the all but universal prevalence of Influenza amongst both Settlers and Natives.”

The schooner Matilda from Wellington, had brought papers to the 9th ult.—only one issue later than those already received here bv the Overland Mail.

The Independent was urging the propriety of expediting the introduction of the New Constitution, so as that the General Assembly might meet in three months from that date.

The* Minerva from London, had arrived at Canterbury, on the slh hist., having onboard Mr. K. G. Wakefield. The Herald gives currency to a report that this gentleman intends to visit the several settlements previous to the elections lor the purpose of lecturing on the New Constitution, and on Representative Institutions generally!

The Bon Accord arrived in our liarbour on Thursday evening from Coromandel. His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor returned by her. Amongst the passengers were also a few of the diggers who have been for some lime actively engaged in the Gold Field. AH we can learn upon the subject of the state and prospects of the auriferous district docs not materially add to, or modify, the information which had already from lime to lime reached us. Wc have still accumulating evidence that gold is to be found in small quantities through a wide range of country, wherever the prospectors are at liberty to pursue their researches. But the desideratum of a more extended field for investigation than the existing arrangements with the Natives afford, remains as deeply fell, and, so far as we can learn, as little likely to be immediately supplied as before. The character of the country also has been found to interpose considerable obstacles, particularly the deiisc bush with which much of it is covered, and which would require for its removal over any large space a greater number of labourers than have hitherto been engaged in the work, or than perhaps can be expected to engage at least in this department of the toil, unless indeed it should be done by a party whose wages would bo guaranteed from some public source, or unless some brighter prospects of a speedily remunerative discovery than have hitherto been made should present themselves. In addition to other hindrances, the wet weather —which has prevailed this summer in a degree to which the memory of the oldest residents of the colony does not furnish a precedent—has necessarily interfered with the efforts of the diggers. liavingalways been, (as our readers know,) of the number of those who were more than doubtful whether a gold field, rivalling in richness the most favoured localities in California or Australia, would ultimately prove promotive of the highest and best interests of a country-on which Providence has conferred the elements of agricultural and commercial pi osperily in such special abundance as they are bestowed upon New Zealand, particularly in its Northern division; we have entertained neither wishes nOr expectations with regard to dazzling results of gold digging here, the disappointment of which would cause us to feel much chagrin, or produce a single desponding apprehension a’i respects the future of our Province. The statistics of which we have lately published summaries, and facts which it is so frequently oar pleasing duly to record, show a growth ot agricultural enterprise,—an amount of requital for that enterprise in the richness o£ the crops and in the prices which the demands o :‘ the Australian markets secure for so much 0:' our produce as is not required for home consumption—a steady advance in our coasting trade and onr shipping and mercantile, interests generally, in view of which wc may well be preserved from all temptation to envy those >yho ? instead of such quid, ? peacc-

ful, and safe sources of competence* have the glitter, but the uncertainty and moral a»4 social dangers, which have been found U le unvarying attendants of a gold-field. We would not, however, be understood as intimating that the Auckland Gold Field has proved a failure. Far from it. Although it is quite true that, from a variety of causes, the anticipations which the steps agreed id by the Executive Government and the.electcd members of the Provincial Councils (based upon the evidence then before them) were calculated to excite, have not been hitherto fully realized, still, the testimony on all hands leaves no doubt of the reality of the discovery, and, we believe, it is ihe unhesitating Judgment of those who are best qualified to form a correct opinion, that gold will yet be procured in quantities far beyond anything that the most successful of the Coromandel diggers have hitherto obtained. Mr. Cadman, who came up in the Bon Accord, has brought as much auriferous sand, etc., as will yield about ten ounces of pure gold; and former reports in our columns have satisfactorily shown that the diggers have noi been labouring without recompense. Mr. Cadman assures us that, throughout his prospecting (and he has been one of the earliest and most constant in the field) he scarcely in a single instance dug a hole without finding more or less gold. But we have still to fail back upon our repeatedly made statement—that the field hitherto has not been tested sufficiently to warrant even a conjectural estimate of the value which a wide and persevering exploration by an adequalcnuraber of practical diggers might devclope. *