ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 8, 26 August 1842, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the New Zealand Colonist

Sir, —The enclosed is a literal translation of an old document, lately discovered (by a scientific Doctor, oh his way to view the carcase of a seal near Cape Terawiti) in an aperture of the rock, and is supposed to be a portion of the records of historical facts'which were carefully collected by the great old chief Mauwe, about the year 101. There are others in the course of translation, which will be handed to you when finished, and it is hoped they may prove amusing to your readers. I am, Sir, Yours, TRANSLATOR.

“Now it came to pass in the days of Wilhob the Satrap, who was the Kings Satrap in the land of Nezc, that the Satrap dwelt at Shurack, and had taken counsel with his councillors, and it seemed good in their sight that the King’s people who dwelt in the province of Thobriwel, which is by the sea side, should elect unto themselves Rulers, to whom they should pay tribute, and the Satrap sent forth a decree, sealed with his seal unto Micmur the Chief Ruler in the province, saying, tell the people of the King who dwelletli in the province of Thoybriw.el, to elect unto themselves rulers after thenown hearts, unto whom they may pay tribute, for it seems good in my sight, that the people of your province should pay tribute unto the rulers, and not that the rulers should receive gold and silver out of the Treasury of the King which the Satrap keepeth at Shurack. Nevertheless, the people shall not elect unto themselves rulers, until every, male in the land shall pay a tribute of one piece of gold, and Micmur proclaimed unto the people even' as the Satrap had commanded; and the people shouted with a great shout and said, ‘We will no longer be subject to the rule of the Satrap, but will elect unto ourselves rulers even as the Satrap hath commanded. ’ And it came to pass, that a great multitude of the hewers of wood, and drawers of water, assembled to take council together, whom they should elect to pay tribute to; and the hewers of wood and drawers of water found grace in the eyes of the people of the province, because of their wisdom in choosing rulers. Now there dwelt in the.land certain men, who had come from the land of our fatliers to dwell in the province because of the famine in the land of our fathers, which had pressedsorc upon them, and some of them had called their friends and their neigli-

hours together in the land of our fathers, and had got themselves made stewards of the household of such as did not come to dwell in the province; and the hearts of those who were made stewards did wax great, because they were no longer pressed sore with the famine in the land of our fathers, but did wax fat on the good things of the province. And behold, when they saw that the hewers* of wood and drawers of water had assembled together to elect unto themselves rulers, they were exceeding wrath, and said among themselves. What manner of people is this that even the hewers of wood and drawers of water in the province, do raise their voices to elect unto themselves rulers, to whom they shall pay tribute ? Are we not the stewards of the great men who dwell in the land of our fathers ; and ought not we to rule over this people and receive tribute at their hands ?’ And it came to pass that one Wigu, of the house of Ridguyear, the steward of the household of a certain rich man who dwelt in the land of our fathers, gave a great feast, and bade all the stewards who had raised their voices against the hewers of wood and drawers of water; and they consulted together how they might best themselves become rulers, to receive tribute at the hands of the people of the province. And after they had feasted and drank much wine, a steward, named Mountain, of the family of the giants, who had been a cunning workman in wood and stone in the land of our fathers, raised his voice and said, ‘ Oh, Wigu live for ever, we will make thee chief ruler of the province, to receive tribute of the people ; for thou hast found in the eyes of the Satrap, and he hath made thee a judge in the province, and thou hast bought unto thyself a horse whereon to ride ; verily thou oughtest to be chief ruler ; when, peradventure, as it has pleased the Satrap th;it there shall be made in the province a temple and prison house, it may please thee and the rulers to pay the tribute money unto thy servant, that he may make the temple and the prison-house, as the Satrap hath commanded.’ And the stewards shouted with a great shout and said, ‘ Verily Mountain hath well spoken, be it even as he hath said.’ And the heart of Wigu waxed great because of the words Mountain had spoken, and because of the horse ; and he said, be it unto me even as thou hast said—and after Wigu had spoken Thomitpar, who had been of the house of Wilfitz, said, ‘ how shall these things be ? seeing that the hewers of wood and drawers of water have found grace in the eyes of the people. And the people of the province have said, they will raise their voices for the rulers whom the hewers of wood and drawers of water think meet to receive tribute of them.’ And one of the children of Israel, whose name was Natliv, who dealt in the garments and apparel of the great men in the land of our fathers, after the garments had waxed old so that the great men could no longer wear them, spoke with a loud voice and said, ‘ Now that thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and is permitted to sit and eat meat and drink wine with the stewards, I would counsel thee, in order that the stewards may be made rulers to receive tribute at the hands of the people; that every man send his servants and all his household unto Micmur, each person taking with him one piece of gold to pay into the Treasury of the Satrap, that they may raise their voices in favour of the stewards ; and that the stewards go unto all the hewers of wood and drawers of water who cannot pay the tribute of one.piece of gold unto Micmur, for the Satrap’s Treasury, and pay unto Micmur the one piece of gold for each of them. And that they go to all the people who sell merchandise, and say unto them, we will not buy your merchandise unless you raise your voices that the stewards may be made rulers, to receive the tribute money.’ And the stewards, being filled with wine, shouted with one accord, and said, ‘ Verily Natliv hath spoken well;’ and they communed together and appointed Mountain, and Thomitpar, and Edchet the scribe, the son of Gesamev the scribe, and Natliv to go unto the servants and household of the stewards, and unto the hewers of wood and drawers of water, who had not wherewith to pay the tribute of one piece of gold, and to the people that sold merchandise, and they departed.”

To the Editor of the New Zealand Colonist. Sir, —Having given insertion in your columns to a letter signed R. Davis, containing a false, base, and unmanly attack upon me; 1 trust, that in vindication of my character, you will give publicity to the following. At a meeting, held at the South Sea Hotel, on the 12th of February, a committee was formed of twenty-one, with power to add to their number, and to divide themselves into sub-committees, and the following houses were appointed for them to meet at. Jenkins, Te Aro ; Young’s, on the beach; Couper’s, Thorndon Flat; and Lodge’s, for the Kai-warra district; it being particularly understood by the public, that the meeting, both of the general and sub-committees, were to be open to all. A list was made out to select from, which was to be discussed by the general committee, and then to be handed over to the sub-committees for the approval of the inhabitants of their different districts. Accordingly, at the first meeting which was held on the following Monday, at the Wellington Tavern, a list of thirty-eight names was made out, from which all lawyers were particularly excluded. Can R. Davis deny this ? Then why presume to say that they had no instructions for future guidance ! Their second meeting was held at Coupers, Thistle Tavern, not at Young’s, (as Davis asserts), when instead of arranging the sub-committee, and commencing the business in the public manner intended by the meeting, they began to discuss the private characters of the respective candidates with closed doors, and passed a resolution to exclude the reporter of the press. I defy any of the committee then present, to affirm that I pledged my word in their hearing to keep the nro.taflings secret. I assisted at the discussion on Mr. Wick-, steed, and voted against him for the same reason that I will against Mr. Hanson, namely, his being the editor of a newspaper, and agent for a considerable number of absentee land proprietors. It must show very forcibly the consistency of R. Davis, that the two points that seemed so veiy obnoxious in Mr. Wicksteed should beso attractive in Mr. Hanson. In a piece with the whole..of his assertions, he accuses mg of acquainting 'Mr.-. Wicksteed with his supposed enemies, which I deny, and dare him to produce his author. In fulfilling a. public trust, an independant mind will never shrink from-, the task imposed upon him, however disagreeable, and. never say anything in private that he would shrink from publicly acknowledging. I should think that R. Davis,, who is subservient to no man, would court no man’s, favours, nor fear their frowns ; but if any thing more is. wanting to show the baseness of this self-elected aiderman, this self-constituted leader of the working classes, this lover of truth, the assertion that he made at the public meeting, “ That the entire proceedings of the committee appeared nearly verbatim in the Gazette would be sufficient. This is Mr. Davis’s entire proceedings. “ The Corporation Committee met last night, and agreed to the following names out of the names of the eighteen to be chosen, Messrs. Hunter, Wade, Lyon, Molesworth, Revans, and Captain Hay. They will meet on Monday to select the remainder. They also passed a motion, after considerable opposition, to exclude the press from their future meetings.”— Gazette of the 19#/*

of February . This was the entire proceedings ! this was what struck terror to the clique, who wished “to hold with the hare and run with the hounds.” Far from acting a double part, I never hesitated a moment in acknowledging that I was the author of the paragraph, and at the next meeting of the committee, after being requested repeatedly to pledge my word to keep the proceedings secret, I told them that I would continue to publish the names as they were discussed. They then, (nine only being present out of twenty-one), struck my name off their roll. I remain, Sir, Respectfully yours, J. MUIR.

(To the Editor of the Neiv Zealand Colonist.) Mr. Editor, —Being but a short sojourner in the about-to-be Municipality of Wellington, it must afford to the mind of the observer, be he philanthropist, statesman, or Colonist, a rich mine for contemplation. Being in the third year of its colonial existence, now made a borough, the public spirit of its inhabitants is about to be developed, and all parties are on the gui vive, washed and unwashed, great and small, to see the interests of their peculiar party represented; committees, of all manners and descriptions, are formed. We have a oommittee for management of the Rangatiro Club; we have for the management of an empty Exchange —witness the exchange of civilities with my Lord the Bishop; we have an overwhelming committee for the Mechanics’ Institute and Museum, to blow up the school-

master for not sweeping cobwebs and dust from centipedes, skeletons of cormorants, fins, tails of cetacea, and various other things, too numerous to mention, as the auctioneer says ; we have committees who sit on phantasmagoria and optical delusions, besides many other manifold committees of smaller note and variety—such is the public spirit of the inhabitants of this Borough. Walk down the Beach, we meet with groups, consisting of three or four individuals, with countenances as solemn and as ominous as members of the inquisition, and the whole theme or topic so often reiterated is—He is not on our committee. Where is the meeting ? Who is on your list?—and party spirit shewing itself with all the by-gone rancor and animosity peculiar to electioneering. Electioneering squibs and placards flying—others running to qualify ; newspapers at work—one editor giving the other the lie by implication; such are the grand doings of our little community—the glories of self-govern-ment and self-taxation. Surely we live in stirring times ; and what will our friends in England think of our rapid strides of improvement in New Zealand, and gladdening to the hearts as to the purse-strings of the New Zealand Company, that the public spirit of the Town can take upon itself the onerous incubus of shouldering selftaxation, and attending to the local wants so peculiarly necessary at the present time to our colonial existence. I am, Mr. Editor, your obedient servant, LOOKER-ON.

To the Editor of the New Zealand Colonist. Sir, —In the Gazette of last Saturday, I observe a paragraph in which it is stated, that Dr. Selwyn (meaning, I presume, The Lord Bishop) declined visiting any of our “Literary Establishments.” Although not a very literary character myself, I feel curious to .ascertain where those establishments are situate, their nature, Ac., and any other information regarding them, it may be in your power to afford. By stating these particulars in your journal, you will confer an obligation upon the inhabitants of Port Nicholson generally, and individually upon your obedient servant OBSERVER. [We are sorry to be obliged to state our ignorance of the nature, locality, and even existance, of the literary establishments mentioned by our contemporary. Our correspondent had perhaps better apply for information to the fountain head, and whatever particulars he may obtain, shall be willingly inserted in our columns. It is indeed lamentable, that a place possessing so large a population as Port Nicholson, should not be able to boast of even a common Cirulating Library. It was we believe, sometime since in contemplation, to establish one, but the endeavour failed, through want of energy on the part of the jirojectors.]

To the Editor of the New Zealand Colonist. Sir, —Some time since I noticed in your paper, a matrimonial advertisement; although rather surprised at first sight, I could only laugh when I saw the signature, and looked upon it as a joke. It appears, however, that it is no joking matter, and that advertising for a wife is courting, for to my astonishment I saw another matrimonial advertisement, purporting to he from a seaman; if however he is a seaman, he is a very unworthy one. What seaman ever affronted a female, and what more gross insult can be offered to a female of even common understanding than this seaman has offered, what the nature of those attentions which are known to be characteristic of his profession may be I cannot tell, but from the present specimen I should not think them over delicate. I would advise our young men when they advertise for wives, in future to give their names and address, and then there may be some hope of curing them by ducking them in a horse pond or some other equally efficacious method. AN OLD SEAMAN.

m To the Editor of the New Zealand Colonist. • TO THE WORKING CLASSES OF WELLINGTON. “ Awake, arise, or be for ever fall’n.” Brother Settlers, —Are yon aware of the importance of the present moment ? If you clo not instantly register yourselves as burgesses, can yon expect your interests to be protected, when you abandon them yourselves ? Do you know, that a determined set is to be made against having any of your order at the Council Board ? This ought to rouse you if. any thing will. Show now the use of your numerous meetings, and committees, your double committees of twenty-five men power! and the mouthy speechifying on many occasions. To qualify now, is of more importance than attending meetings; of chattering, we have had quite enough. You represent the third grand element of our constitution here, Labour; will you be wanting to yourself, and allow land and capital to carry the day ?

If you neglect the present time, it will be ridiculous to bring forward complaints hereafter; vou will not, and ought not, to be listened to. There is a passage in one of the major prophets, which it will do you good to look out for yourselves, wherein we are informed, that the smiths and other handicrafts-men helped one another. With this hint I conclude, there being no time to talk. Your friend, WATCHMAN. Thursday, August 25th, 1842