The New-Zealander. AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, OCT. 11, 1854.

New Zealander, Volume 10, Issue 887, 14 October 1854, Page 3

The New-Zealander.

AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, OCT. 11, 1854.

Be just and fear not : Let all the ends thou aim’st at, he thy Country’s, Thy God’s, and Truth’s,

By the overland Mail, we have received Wellington papers to the 16lh ult. They contain very little intelligence with which our readers are not already acquainted; but the absence of news is made up for by contentions on various topics of local controversy. Of these one of ihe most prominent has relation to Di. Dorset’s highhanded mandate, foi bidding the visits of clergymen to patients in the Colonial Hospital, unless with his “ express sanction.” In a previous number (New Zealander, Sept. 20), we published, in extenso, both the prohibitory circular itself, and the Remonsttance addressed to the Superintendent by the Ministers of Religion of all denominations. These documents contained the entire of what is material to an understanding of the point at issue, and we can have nothing important to add to the facts of the case, until we shall be informed of the course adopted by his Honor (Dr. Featherston), on his arrival. Meanwhile we must observe that the attempts to vindicate Dr. Dorset’s manifesto, are such as, in our opinion, can obtain the sympathy only of those who esteem religious instruction and consolation as a very light matter, and who, moreover, form most inadequate conceptions of the true nature of religious libei ty as it is embodied in the British Constitution, and generally enjoyed throughout the British Empire. We know of uo right more sacred than that of a patient in a Public Institution, in the hour of sickness, and, it may be, at the point of death, to receive the visit of the clergyman whose spiritual teachings he desires. Undoubtedly there are circumstances under which it may be the duty of the Medical Attendant to recommend prudence and caution in the length of such visits, and in the mode of communication ; and we do not believe that any clergyman would be regardless of such a suggestion. But Dr. Dorset has gone far beyond this; and it will augur ill for the character of Dr. Featherston’s Superiutendeney, if one of his first acts, on his return, should not be to take steps for the revocation of an order which, even apart from its objectionable import, was offensively dictatorial in its tone, and has certainly not been rendered less repulsive to any enlightened friend eitheP of religion or of freedom, by the reasoning or the style of its supporters in the columns of the Independent. The Spectator comments severely on the dangerous s'ate of the Ferries, —the more so, because the gentlemen now in Provincial authority were accustomed as “ Constitutional Associationists” to make the subject an occasion of continued attack on Sir George Grey’s government. Our contemporary also animadverts sharply on the neglect of the Provincial Executive to give due publicity to the laws passed by the Provincial Council. Mr. Fox had been lecturing at the Mechanics’ Institute on “ Education, especially with reference to New Zealand.” The Independent promises a report of the lecture, and eulogises it in a leading article, the tone of which tempts us to suspect that both lecture and article were prepared in anticipation of the approaching Meeting of the Provincial Council, and with a view to the promotion of the cause of merely secular Education, which has, we believe, obtained more favour in some parts of the South than has been,—or than, we trust, will be —accorded to it in this Province. At an Auction of Land recently held by Mr. Smith, town sections realised a high price, 40s. to.'6os. per foot frontage. At the Criminal Session of the Supreme Court, last month, William Ludwell was convicted of an atrocious assault on a female child, and sentenced to hard labour for three years, W. N. Luxford was found guilty of horsewhipping Mr. C. H, Townsend, ; but by an arrangement with the prosecutor, the matter was settled by a payment of 10Z, as a fine.— At the Civil Sittings a Grim. Con. case (happily rarely met with in the records of the New Zealand Court), was tried. The parties were Carey v. Wilson ; and the Jury awarded the plaint ff2oo/. damages. A private of the 65th regiment, named Boyd, had committed suicide by shooting himself in Thorndor Barracks. He had been placed under arrest the previous day for drunkenness. Accounts from Ahuriri represent that district as in a very prosperous slate. Measles had, however prevailed to a fatal extent amongst the Natives along the coast. One of the victims was Karanema, eldest sou of the principal chief Te Hapuhu. Owing to the general sickness, the whalers about Hawkes Bay, had been unable fully to man their boats this season, and a considerable.decrease in the quantity of black oil was apprehended. The proceedings of Mr. Dome.l, as Resident Magistrate, was spoken of in terms of high commendation; and both the Wellington papers publish a judicious address which be read at a late silling of the Court, to the Chiefs and some hundreds of the Natives of the districts.