NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 15, 20 September 1842, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND.

(From the Birmingham Journal , April 16, 1842->

Some important statements were made by Lord Stanley, respecting the contemplated settlement at Nelson. In moving the second reading of the New Zealand and Australia bill, his Lordship said —

With regard to the question of the settlement of Middle Island, he would explain to the house how it stood. The crown of England claimed the sovereignty of the whole island of New Zealand, and did not admit a claim to settlement on the part of any foreign power. The house were aware that the settlement of'New Zealand took place in the most irregular manner. A virtual settlement occurred, which drove the Government (he believed most reluctantly) to take the sovereignty of the island, in order to protect those of the subjects of the crown who had then settled there. A first step consequent upon their so taking possession of the island was to inquire into the justice of previous claims to the ownership of lands. A commissioner of claims had been sent out, who was assiduously prosecuting his examination into those claims. He had come to the conclusion, that it was most unwise to encourage that which had been over and over again complained of—the dispersion of settlers over two or three extensive islands, when you had an enormous quantity of fertile land more conveniently situated, to which there were no claimants. The Governor, acting upon these views, had thought it better, for the present, to confine the settlements to the Northern, and not to extend them to the Middle Island —rather to concentrate than to disperse the elements of population and settlement in New Zealand. The Company had settled in Middle Island, upon land to which they had a claim; but it was in a limited district, and they were open to the risk of litigation; hut they had not been allowed to make any further settlement in Middle Island, except where they had a previous claim. He thought the Governor, in these arrangements, had exercised a sound discretion. The financial affairs of the colony were under the consideration of the Treasury, and he should shortly bring in a bill to regulate the civil government of the colony.

The following piece of news is amusing:— “ In virtue of an order of the Sultan, the Porte has caused a sabre to be mounted in the richest style, and set with diamonds of the highest value, for the purpose of being presented to the Prince of Wales, in the name of his highness. Akif Effendi was to be the bearer of. the present.”—Rather early! An English lady, who went to make purchases at a shop in Jamaica, accompanied by her black maid, was repeatedly addressed the negro shopman as “ massa,” whereupon her sable follower exclaimed, with a look of infinite contempt, “ Why for you speak sosh had English ?—no grammar, sabby. Why for you call my missus * massa ?’ Stupid fellah!—him’s a she.” A soldier, on trial for habitual drunkenness, was addressed by the president—“ Prisoner, you have heard the prosecution for habitual drunkenness —what have you to say in your defence ?” “ Nothing, please your honour, but habitual thirst .” “ I can cure you,” as the smoky house said to the ham. “ Come and take pot-luck,” as the cook said to the live lobster. Hint to Wives. —A woman in a town not far from Portsmouth, who had been ill-used by her husband, on finding him enjoying the comforts of a sound sleep, quietly sewed him up in the bed-clothes ; and while he was in this defenceless situation, gave him a sound thrashing. — Lincoln Gazette. Wretched must that legislature be, whose acts you cannot trace to the first unchangeable principles of rational prerogative, of civil liberty, of equal justice.— Curran.