"The more Haste the worse Speed."

New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 731, 16 April 1853, Page 2

"The more Haste the worse Speed."

So savs Ilio old saw, and no bad “ modern ins! a nee” of its Irulli is presented by Mr. Homy Sewell, the gentleman of “earnest diligence, prudence, and rare familiarity with constitutional law” (snirli is Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield’s description of him) —who lias come out to New Zealand to “wind up” the affairs of the Canterbury Association, and who threatens to do all that his acquaintance with legal subtleties can suggest to invalidate the Proclamation by which tin* great boon of Cheap Land has at length been conferred on the country. Judging from (he only three exhibitions which Mr. Sewell, so far as we yet know, has made of himself since his arrival in the colony, lie seems to be ahvays in a hurry haste,’ post-hasteand certainly his speed in some particulars is not eminently successful. Let us glance for a moment at the three printed productions of his rapid pen now lying before ns,—which will, moreover, afford ns, incidentally, some instructive glimpses of the condition of things at Canterbury. Number One is a letter addressed to Mr. Urillan, as “a medium of communication” with the Society of Land Purchasers at Canterbury, which appeared in the LyUellon Times of February i2(>. The settlers had various misgivings as to the conduct and intentions of the Association, a particular source of uneasiness being the rumour that the compact appropriating for public purposes certain reserved lands was about to be violated, in order to pay the debts of the Association. In a letter published on the 19th of February, Mr. Gibbon Wakefield I had alluded to “ a number of totally | erroneous impressions prevailing with regard to the policy and conduct ol the Asso- i nation,” adding* with mysterious significance, “I wish to say deliberately and publicly that there is a truth to he told, i which, if Ihe colonists ran extract it from Mr. Sc nr (I, must at once correct the false impressions to which I have alluded.” In the leading article of the Lyttelton 'Times on that day, it is observed, “ We alluded last week to the rumours current with respect to the reserred lands , which we were in hopes would have been cleared up by some explanation from those who arc supposed to j represent the Committee of Management.” | The Editor then refers to Mr. Wakefield’s : intimation of Mr. Sewell’s power to explain 1 everything, and adds, “ We are rejoiced to | hear tins, and look to having all unnecessary i mystery soon cleared up.” A week elapses, and Mr. Sewell himself appears in print, but he is in a great hurry. “ 1 am obliged to go to Wellington without delay,” he says, but, “lam anxious to leave behind me a few words of explanation, which, though hasty and brief, may have the effect of removing some prevalent misapprehensions.” The “few words” occupy more than two columns of the paper, but tiic question of the “reserved lands” is never touched upon throughout. He enters upon two other points, it had been apprehended that the Association would nut fulfil its engagements with the clergy and the schoolmasters: Mr. Sewell says that Captain Simeon and he have arlangcd to meet these demands for the pro- j sent year, although, as he admits, they did I so by deranging Mr. Godley’s plan for the maintenance of the Land Olllcc and Survey Establishment: this, however, he intimates, is of little importance, inasmuch as “It is obvious that Land Sales having been stepped in England, and no land being in course of sale in the colony, the fund available for miscellaneous expenses, such as surveys, •Vc., must lie inadequate.” The other matter on which he “explains” is, the dissension between Mr. God ley and the Association on the question of submitting the accounts of the Committee of Management for the examination of the Land Purchasers, and “on other points of a cognate kind.” Mr. Godley thought that the accounts should be published : the Committee thought that doing so “would load to groat difficulty and embarrassment;” and Mr. Sewell thinks that the Committee were in the right. But there is not a word of the reserved lands, the topic which, as the Lyttelton Times remarks in introducing the letter, “ is so anxiously engaging the attention of the community.” Having dealt with the two questions we have mentioned, Mr. Sewell adds. “ I must avoid touching upon other topics for the present.” He was in haste,— perhaps, however, some of the Land Purchasers may have thought it, more haste than* was consistent with good speed on a subject on which they fell so deep and urgent an interest. Number 1 wo of Mr. Sewell’s productions is his now famous letter to the Governor, protesting against the Cheap Land Proclamation. Here again he is in a hurry. The Governor was about to leave Wellington, winch, says Mr. Sewell, “induces me to address your Excellency in the present hasty form. I he want of good speed resulting from haste in this instance we have already pointed out, as evidenced, first, in Mr. Sewell’s referring only to a section of the Constitution Act which, taken alone, might have sustained his objection to the legality of the Proclamation, while he omitted all reference to the subsequent section which puts the ease in a widely different aspect; and, secondly, in his virtually charging His Excellency with having formally declared in a J Proclamation of the utmost importance that I

lie had received an authority from the Queen which in reality he had not received. | Number Three, is a letter on the same subject) addressed by Mr. Sewell to Mr. Britlan. Once more he is in a hurry. “ There is a vessel on the point of sailing for Port Lyttelton. I cannot allow it to , leave without writing you a few hasty lines upon matters of importance.” As this letter has been republished here, some of our readers may know that the “few hasty lines” (ill nearly two and a-half of our contemporary’s columns. We shall not now examine in detail the evidences of “haste” which it furnishes, but one—near the commencement —is 100 obvious to pass unnoticed. Mr. Sewell says, “On my arrival at Wellington, I found, to my extreme surprise, that Sir George Grey was preparing to issue a Proclamation, since Gazetted, lowering the price of land, &c.” Compare this with his words in the letter to the Governor,— “On my arrival at Wellington, I learned that a Government Proclamation has been issued, the effect of which purports to reduce the price of land, <Sc.” The contradiction in terms here need only be pointed to. We sincerely disclaim all intention of imputing to Mr. Sewell anything worse than the “haste” which he avows, although, considering the length of his letters, we may be led to exclaim, Powers of Patience! if this be his haste, what volumes may we not expect from his leisure! We cannot be wholly indifferent to his movements, remembering the flourish of drums and trumpets with which his entrance on our colonial stage is accompanied, and the fact, moreover, that almost his first performance is an attempt to thwart and defeat a measure of the utmost importance and benefit, —especially to the Northern Provinces. Perhaps, however, we may be belter able to estimate his merits, when he “pulls bridle,” draws breath, gets over his “ haste” and flurry, and says or does something which he and his admirers will admit to be deliberate .