AUCKLAND, THE CAPITAL OF NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 39, 13 December 1842, Page 2

AUCKLAND, THE CAPITAL OF NEW ZEALAND.

(From the Emigration Gazette). As a preface to our remarks on the advantages which this, the Government settlement of New Zealand, holds out to intending emigrants, more particularly to small capitalists, over the ill-conducted settlements of the New Zealand Land Company, it may be as well to observe, that we shall exerciser little more of that independent tone which is so very offensive to that august body, simply because it is by no means akin to the impertinence exercised by the men of the New Zealand

House, from the porter at the door upwards to “ the great pillar of the Edifice.” The high favor in which this Company’s settlements has been held in this country, until within the last few months, is altogether attributable to the influence of the names in its direction, aud not to any natural advantages the points at which they have formed their settlements, possess over the other parts of the country. If such were the case, the Government would have been compelled to unite with the Company, and established the capital at one or other of their settlements, regardless of its onerous duty, and the pledge it exacted from the Company in their Act of Incorporation, namely, to promote the colonisation of New Zealand generally. But all the facts of the case are directly adverse to this hypothesis. Port Nicholson is situate on the margin of a Bay, difficult of access both seaward and landward, the high mountains, at the foot of which stands the town, extend for many miles into the interior, varying only in their elevation above the level of the sea. Beyond this range of mountains we find the most fertile section of thecountry, called the Thames district, which stretches away from the base of these thickly-wooded mountains in the interior to Auckland, the seat of Government. And when we look still closer at the geographical position of Auckland, situated on the boldest part of the coast, and therefore accessible for shipping at all seasons, thus securing a safe and certain communication with Sydney—which is, and must be for an age, to New Zealand, ,\vhat Liverpool is to Ireland and Scotland; backed as the capital is by the extraordinary fertility of the arable district of the Thames, which takes its name from a river affording every facility for a water carriage for a distance of one hundred miles into the interior, — we cannot dismiss from our minds, not only the pro* foundness of wisdom displayed by Captain Hobson in the selection of this site for the seat of Government, but the baseness ot the imputations brought against Captain Hobson by the Company, who, in the choice of a site for their second settlement, suggested to the Governor the extreme propriety of forming a settlement which affoi ds greater facility of communication with Sydney than Port Nicholson possesses. Captain. Hobson took the hint of the Company, and established the capital still nearer to the commercial emporium of Australia leaving the New Plymouth settlement of the Company just midway between the back of “ God Speed” (Port Nicholson) and the capital. Now, it is not to be supposed that the Company could by any possibility tolerate such a piece of impunity as this on the part of a Government officer. But amidst the clamour raised against Captain Hobson, we have received the most disheartening accounts from the Company’s settlements. At Port Nicholson, things are as bad as they can possibly be, and so they are at New Plymouth. The people are abandoning those settlements for the capital—Auckland. The population of the seat of Government has risen from 200 to nearly 2,000, in less than twelve months. The town has been surveyed, and laid out in lots, as indicated in a plan we have before us. Many lots have been sold, and the proceeds, ,£12,000, are employed to send out emigrants to this prosperous location, chiefly from Scotland. The New Zealand Banking Company have removed their establishment from Port Nicholson to the capital. In fact, every thing seems to prosper at Auckland at this moment, while the following extract from the Morning Chronicle will convey a pretty correct account of the state of affairs at Port Nicholson, the Company’s settlement: —

‘ ‘ The annual general meeting of this Company takes place to-day, and it is desirable some of the proprietors should bring under the notice of the meeting the subject of complaint stated in the following extract of a letter from the Rev. John Macfarlane, formerly of Paisley, now of the Scotch Church at Port Nicholson. The letter is dated 6th December, 1841 ‘ This Colony is, on the whole, progressing steadily; but the small capitalists, who intended to have invested their all in the cultivation of country lands, are seriously injured, for many of them are yet without a single acre, whilst their little capital is all the time getting small by degrees, and beautifully less. Much of this is to be attributed to the apathetic indifference of Colonel Wakefield, but still more to the shameful inefficiency of the surveying staff; for while I give all credit to the ability and anxious industry of the present surveyors, I have no hesitation in saying that their numbers ought to be increased tenfold, in order to meet the wants of the Colony, and to promote its speedy prosperity. If economy be the plea advanced for such a limited staff, it is a false—a miserable economy. The curse of absenteeism is a heavy clog on our progress. Whilst many of those who have sacrificed home and its comforts are still without their lands, shifting, as they best can, wealthy speculators in London and other places, have received theirs, and through their agents, are selling or leasing on very advantageous, terms. This should not be; and the Company, for their own credit, ought immediately to provide a remedy. Our spring has been wet and boisterous, but, notwithstanding, the crops on such land as has been cultivated are looking exceedingly well.’ ” The Company held its annual general meeting on Tuesday last, and it has never been our lot to cast our eyes on a more beautifully arranged budget than the Campany exhibited on that occasion. The budget begins with “ a grand total” of the Company’s receipts, £367,036. 7s. 4d., which is immediately followed by a “ grand total of payments,” equal to the exact amount of its receipts; but on carefully conning over the payments, we find, after admitting many items which ought not to be admitted under the head of emigration expenditure, that the sum expended in emigration amounts to £101,106. 7s. 6d., which is about onethird only of the receipts. How the Company has kept faith with the public and the Government on this score, we are not prepared to say; but it is our belief that the Company is pledged to both to expend “ 75 per cent.” of its receipts in emigration, which would be more than double the sum so expended up to the present time. The next items form the statement of the Company’s assets and liabilities. The assets are stated to amount to £549,567. 12s. 9d., and the liabilities to £372,278. 2s. 7d., leaving a surplus in favor of the Company of £177,289. 10s. 2d. Thus we arrive at the most striking beauty of the budget. But we should very much like to know how it is that the Company proposes to establish the correctness of the following item, as set forth in their statement of assets :—“ Investments, including those transferred by the Plymouth Company, and also claims upon the Government!” We are by no means disposed to arrive at a hasty conclusion on this, extraordinai’y and important statement; but we think we shall be able to solve the problem in. our next. In the meantime, we beg to direct Mr. George Robins’sattention to the New Zealand Land Company’s system of puffing, which has cost the Company the best part of £23,180. 4s. 10d., or else there must be some mistake on the mind of the proprietor, who was pleased to observe, “ that tins Company formed a solitary exception to the general rule, in the fact, .that, its Directors rendered their services gratuitously.” This gentleman’s

error ilcies hot end with this sentence. It continues thus : “ In the prosperous position which the Company had now attained,’' [he doubtless here alludes to the Company’s having to compete with the Government, its machinery, and resources] “it was unlit that this practice should he continued, and he moved that ,£1,500 a-year he placed at the disposal of the Directors for themselves. ’* The proprietor mentioned others, but we think it almost useless ; they must look after “ themselves.” They know that £1,500 a-year is to be added to the sum of £23,150. 4s. 10d., thrown in this year for “ home and colonial establishments, advertising,” ike. They have no cause to complain. Really these are glorious times for pet newspapers and family compacts. We shall be able to supply Boz with a host of “ fat hoys” from the New Zealand House, when he returns from his transatlantic tour, if the money continue to “ drop in” as it does just now.

[We shall probably, in a future number, make some remarks on the above extract. — En. N. Z. C.]