NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 41, 20 December 1842, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND.

Wcgive the following from the Hobart Town Advertiser, of the 10th October.

By the Patriot brig we have received files of The Neiv Zealand Colonist, a paper newly started in Wellington, and which is a decided improvement on the previous journal published in that Colony, inasmuch as it gives some account of the proceedings both of the settlers and natives, information in which the older ones were lamentably deficient. These last were generally taken up, the one in praising the situation of Auckland and decrying that of Port Nicholson, —the odier in asserting the superiority of the last-mentioned port, and its peculiarly felicitous geographical situation, with respect to both islands, and its misfortune in the injustice done it by not having been made the seat of Government, while it contributed the greater portion of the revenue.

The New Zealand Gazette is entirely in the interest of the Company, and of course lauds its proceedings in the most unqualified terms, while it carefully excluded anything which could derogate from its consequence, or injure its prosperity. Now, however, we find that evCn in the favoured port of Wellington there are disadvantages of no common kind, and that its situation is merely valuable as a central port; and that even in this there are considerable drawbacks.

Situated in a strait separating two extensive islands, lying nearly north and south while the prevailing winds are west and east, it is subject to storms of great intensity, to currents which make the navigation difficult, and to other disadvantages in its entrance, which have already caused the loss of several vessels coasting and others.

The available country is likewise separated from the port by tiers and valleys, while there is no great navigable river which may serve as a natural highway in a country deficient in roads, and unable to undertake any of great extent. Of the inconveniences resulting from this last want, we have an instance in a paragraph in the paper before us, where four acres of potatoes, averaging 5 or 6 tons an acre, were sold for 6/., in the valley of. the Hutt, the district of which they particularly rely for agricultural purposes. The reason given was —the difficulty of getting the produce to market. Taranaki, or New Plymouth, a dependency of Port Nicholson, and part of the property of the New Zealand Company, is described as a splendid agricultural territory, but it labours under the disadvantage of having no harbour, while it is situated on a tempestuous coast, which renders the roadstead frequently unsafe. The Company have, however, laid down heavy moorings, which will, in some degree, remedy the inconvenience.

Port Nelson, on the Southern Island, is as far as we can learn, a pretty good port, but, much as is said in its favour, there are indisputably many dangers in its entrance, as we can collect from facts which are narrated from time to time.

The natives, too. are dissatisfied with the conduct of the Company, respecting their purchases, which have not in all instances been made with the care necessary to secure quiet and undisturbed possession. Their object seems to have been in many instances, to obtain a claim to the land and rely upon circumstances

to make that good ; but this has already brought the settlers into collision with the natives on more than one occasion, and is likely to be fruitful in future dissentions. In the paper, in the Company’s interest, -we have had accounts of sifbh quarrels from time to time, bnt they were always treated lightly, and the blame universally attributed to the natives. Now, however, we are able to infer that they are neither trivial in their nature, nor unprovoked by the proceedings of the Company. In the first place, all the claimants to the land have not been satisfied, nor was there care sufficient taken to ascertain who they actually were, and in the site of- the reserves which have been made for the natives, sufficient care bus not been taken to include their own cultivated grounds which they, of course, are not willing to resign after the trouble expended on them to undertake the labour of new clearings in the bush.

That this last is true, we have a remarkable proof in the Company’s Journal, which, in answer to these accusations, states, that in one instance such a reserve was made, but does not attempt to adduce more than one, while it states that the laying out the native reserves is. delegated to its own Surveyor, who is of course best qualified to judge where they should be, which, he no doubt is, but whether he would consult the interests of the natives or his employers is another matter. The consequence is, that now the Company think that a body of soldiers, sufficient to overawe the natives, should be sent down, a wish that we sincerely trust they will never see realised. The New Zealanders are people with high ideas of justice, but it must not be all on one side, and any thing which would protect the Company in its monopoly or its injustice must be unfair to the natives.

In fact we have always considered the plan of colonizing New Zealand as has been done, chimerical. The Government cannot sell the lands without reference to the natives, as in New Holland, because they have recognised them as owners in the first place, and in the second they might organize such a spirit of resistance as would not be quelled without much bloodshed.

They can only purchase to sell again, and the monstrous prices charged for land will, after a time, when the realities of the case are discovered, prevent any capitalist from emigrating. Besides, the natives have now found the value, or rather the assumed value, of land, and are unwilling to alienate any quantity in perpetuity, although perfectly willing to lease it at a nominal rental. They will be paid, too, in gold, and that at the rate of a pound an acre, judging very properly, that it is worth as much to them as to the Government. But here again the Government step in and sav —You shall not buy of the natives., hut must bay from us. In fact, the whole system of settlement is beset with anomalies and difficulties, which, iff present, seem insurmountable.

The new journal is partly edited by Mr. Sutton, son of Mr. Sutton of this town, and who will be remembered by many of our readers. He has travelled extensively through the country, and copious extracts from the journal appear in the paper.

From them we can collect that volcanic action is apparent in many parts of the southern end of the island, and that is still going on in a modified degree, as shewn by the hot springs, some of them constantly boiling, and which are very numerous in the region of Mount Egmont, the highest mountain in the Austral-asiatic group. The interior of the country is rich and fertile, abounding in fine alluvial valleys, and, in many instances, available, from having rivers running through them which are navigable for boats. They all, however, affect a course to the northward, and disembogue into the harbours of Monakou, Kawhia, and others on the western coast. Manalcau is separated from the Thames, on which Auckland,.the capital, is situated, by a low slip, not six miles across, and the rivers which fall from the Mount Egmont district, run, at their junction, within one mile of the principal river falling in Manakau, all of which, in our opinion, fully justifies the placing of the capital where it is. Rivers must, for years, in a country like New Zealand, be the only highways, and that place is likely to succeed best which can command the greatest number.

We shall return to this subject again, and merely add, that the journal which we have taken as a. text, is quite as much in favor of Port Nicholson, and against Auckland, as the former one.

We are happy to find that our fellow-colonist; Mr. John Wade, has been very successful in his whaling speculations.

We have understood, from pretty good authority, that a treaty is on the tapis to liquidate part of the debt from Spain to England,, by the cession of Luzon, one of the most valuable islands of the Phillippine group. This island, from its maritime situation, its rich products, and great capabilities, would be a most important acquisition. If the treaty terminates as is at present in contemplation, the next step will be the immediate formation of a colony.— Hobart Toivn Advertiser.

Purlio Petitions. —The Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Petitions, which Ims just been published, includes nil those presented from the first day of the meeting of Parliament to tue 27th day of May. The following’ are the more remarkable : —For the Repeal of the Union with Ireland, 137 petitions, with 215,086 signatures ; for Universal Suffrage 24 petitions, with 3,424,824 signatures; for the better observance of the Lord’s day 67 petitions, with 8,034 signatures; against Maynooth College, 20,348. . The number of ’petitioners against the Income Tax was 9,218 ; whilst those against the Corn and Provision Laws were 1,598,413. The number of petitions against Church Patronage in Scotland was 11, with 1,345 signatures. — Hobart Town Advertiser.

The Cheat and Good. —Whatever is gieat and good is seated on a steep ascent: the base and selfish is placed on an inclined plane below. If in this disadvantage of the ground on which the cause of improvement and emancipation rests, we can keep it suspended half-way down, or from being precipitated with scorn and loud imprecations into the abyss, it is doing something.—llazlitt.