New Zealand Colonist. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1842.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 16, 23 September 1842, Page 2

New Zealand Colonist. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1842.

The Meeting held at Barrett’s Hotel on Wednesday evening fully justifies all the eulogies which our contemporary, the Gazette, has passed upon those methods of ascertaining and expressing public opinion. It may, however, be doubted whether he will himself, in all respects, abide by his former sentiments. It will, we suspect, make some little difference in the aspect under which he regards these meetings, whether the violence, of which they are occasionally the scene, is exerted in favor of. or against the party which he supports. We shall wait therefore with some curiosity to see whether the opinion of the Gazette is modified by the occurrences of Wednesday, or whether he is still consistent in his admiration of these manifestations of popular sentiment. The chief feature of the meeting was the persevering, and at length partially successful, attempt of Dr. Evans to obtain a hearing. The learned Doctor fully justified the praise we have always been willing to bestow upon him, of being a most accomplished mob orator. With great strength of lungs ; imperturbable self-possession ; unequalled fluency of vituperation ; a great readiness in selecting and enforcing such topics as are likely to suit the taste and temper of his auditors; he lacks nothing but steadiness of purpose, and that weight which consistency gives, to carry with him almost any public meeting. For his sake, and for the sake of the colony, we regret that his valuable qualities are clouded, we might say utterly neutralized—by the lightness with which he adopts and abandons opinions—by his, at least, seeming willingness to sacrifice consistency and principle in order to carry his point—and by the absence of any intelligible motive of public policy or general interest as the rule of his conduct. With every respect for the learned Doctor in his private capacity, with the highest opinion of his talents, and with great admiration for his social qualities, we must say, that as a public man, we are unable to place confidence in him; and we imagine we are not quite solitary in the sentiment we thus avow.

For the first time since the establishment of this colony, the words of the learned Doctor have been reported with something like accu-

racy, and we are able to make him responsible for what he said. We pass over most of his. speech, and select some one or two points —- as those in which this community is most in-

terested. Of his general abuse of the government we take no notice. It has formed the st£|)le of his speeches so long, that even his fertile invention appears to have failed in the attempt to discover some topic either striking or novel. But the grounds which he gave for requiring the meeting hot to vote for some of the gentlemen whose names were mentioned as contrasted with the claims which he urged on his own behalf, certainly merit some examination. We shall not enquire into the relative merits of Dr. Evans, and the gentlemen to whom he referred, on two grounds; firstly, because no one, not even the Doctor himself, has named him as a candidate; and secondly, because, not being a burgess, he. could not be eligible. We say, not being a burgess—because it is undeniable that his name is not upon the present list, and because we are well assured that he will never take any measures to have it placed there, or to punish the returning officer for the omission. In truth, we are inclined to believe that the whole matter was contrived by Dr. Evans for the purpose which it appears to have answered —that of giving him an opportunity of abusing Mr. Murphy, and of representing his exclusion from the council as the result, not of his unpopularity, but of what he would fain characterize as the partial conduct of the Police Magistrate. The character and claims of Dr. Evans, except so far as they are forced upon us, are consequently beyond the scope of our present purpose.

The learned Doctor selected two persons whom he warned the electors not to choose — Mr. St. Hill, and Mr. Hanson —the former, because he represented several absentee proprietors ; and the latter, because, in addition to this disqualification, he was connected with the government. With regard to Mr. St. Hill, though differing from him as to the policy of his conduct on this occasion, we are happy to bear our testimony to his zeal, ability,, and integrity, and to the earnestness with which he Has at all times advocated what he believed to be the true interests of this colony. To his personal character. Dr. Evans, however, raised no objection. It was because Mr. St. Hill represented persons whose contributions to the emigration fund by means of purchases of land, at a time when the prospects of profit were uncertain and remote, had rendered the establishment of this settlement practicable, that he was to be excluded. Certainly, we have seldom heard a more unreasonable or a more unjust objection. Here is an individual, whose personal fitness is admitted by Dr. Evans, who is to be excluded because he represents gentlemen resident in England, but owning property here ; without whose aid the colony could not have been established. It is true that these persons have not, by their own capital, brought any of their land into cultivation; but there may be large landed proprietors resident in the colony, against whom a similar charge, if it is a charge, might be made. These absentees have a deep interest in the prosperity of the colony—and even if their interests, and those of the colony were not absolutely identical, which they are, Mr. St. Hill, who has invested largely in this settlement, can ’ have no other interest than that of the community of which he forms a part, and in whose advance or decline his own prosperity or loss is involved. The colony owes a debt to the absentees, without whose aid it could not have been established; and it would be a somewhat equivocal mode of acknowledging this obligation, to exclude a person from all share in the administration of our local affairs because he is connected with these persons. Whether or not Mr. St. Hill be a fit person as a Member of Council, let the voters decide; but, at least, let every lover of justice repudiate the ground of objection urged against him by Dr. Evans.

With regard to the other gentleman to whom Dr. Evans alluded, it happens, singularly enough, that he may at least divide with the learned Doctor the peculiar claims to consideration which that individual urged upon the meeting in his own behalf. His labours in reference to this measui e, from the time when it was first pressed upon Sir George Gipps in Sydney, to the time when the memorial of the settlers was presented to Captain Hobson, have been —we say fearlessly—not surpassed, perhaps even not equalled, by those of Dr. Evans. With regard to the relative services which either have rendered to this cause or to the colony, we shall make no remarks. Nor shall we now advert to many other . topics suggested by the speech of the learned Doctor, which we must, from want of space,-postpone to our next number.

The difference between Dr. Evans and our-

selves is, that the learned Doctor would exclude every bbdy who has any, connexion with the Government, the' Company, or the Absentees ; we, on the contrary, would have in the Council representatives of every class, assured that thus alone can the interest of the community, which is also the interest of every individual, be promoted and secured.