MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 83, 16 May 1843, Page 3

MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE

Monday, May 8, 1843. The proceedings of the first anniversary of the Mechanics’ Institution on the above evening were commenced according to announcement by a soiree, and although the tempestuous state of the weather kept many, especially of the fair sex, from jmrticipating in and increasing the pleasure of the evening, yet the company, though small, was respectable and happy, and a few select pieces of school music, admirably performed by friends whose services were kindly volunteered for the occasion, contributed greatly to the enjoyment of all who were present. After tea, Col. Wakefield was conducted to the chair, and the public meeting commenced. The chairman congratulated the lustitution, that in spite of the extremely unfavourable weather, such a numerous and respectable company were present, and expressed a hope that next year would witness a large increase in the number of the members v>f the Institution. Some then present had on the previous day been lectured by their minister in the church, for the apathy they had eviuced, and which was shown by the fact that neither they nor any other religious body possessed a place exclusively set apart for public worship. They had been enjoined to use their health and strength for this object, and if short of funds to go out into the forests and cut wood, so that a building might be erected and this reproach to the settlement removed. He (Col. Wakefield) would say the same to the members of the Institution, and as by the operation of the “ Raupo house” ordinance they would lose their present building on the Ist October, they must exert their energies to avail themselves of the grant of land made them by the Government, and erect a house for themselves, and he would add that he had just received an intimation from his Excellency the officer administering the government, by which their worships the Mayor and the chief Police Magistrate, with himself, were directed immediately to apportion the public reserves, so that no difficulty would now be felt for sites for public purposes. He would take the opportunity to say a few words respecting the general prospects of the settlement. Many and different statements were made by various parties, but he would declare most distinctly that the New Zealand Company

! were more determined than ever, to sustain by all the means in their power their first and principal settlement, and he as their agent was equally determined to carry out to the utmost, the spirit of their instructions, nor would he relax a single effort till by the completion of the road up the valley of the Hutt to Wyderop, it was satisfactorily demonstrated, as it then would be, that this place was selected, not simply as being the best and safest harbour, hut as opening to the largest extent of the finest and most available land in the island. The minister he before alluded to had told them that the most serious commercial difficulties existed, that ruin stared them in the face, and that almost their existence depended on the returns of the next whaling season, but of these things he (C01.W.) would respectfully say that the minister was not the best judge; he would tell that minister that their prosperity did not depend on oil or any such shipping tenure, not even on flax, though that was better than oil, hut upon the land, which will return a good living to every man engaged upon it. He was sorry to see so many still depending upon precarious wages in the town, but still he was pleased that so many others were going upon the land, and while he would be glad to assist every man with seeds, he felt assured that the land would maintain every man, and enable them to support all their institutions.

The Secretary having read the report, his worship the Mayor of Wellington moved the Ist resolution :

That the Report now read be received and adopted. He observed that the report needed no argument to induce them to adopt it, it sufficiently recommended itself, but he must express his regret for a fact which it was useless to disguise —that so little interest was felt for the Institution by the working classes. “If,” said Mr. H., ”If the advancement of civilization ; if the moral progress of society; if the cultivation of intellect and the improvement of industry ; cannot interest a people so recently divided from all they held dear in their native land ; if an institution such as that in which they were now assembled, and which especially contemplated these objects, was to flag, then God pity us! It was every working man’s duty, and every working man belonging to the Institution must do it, to urge upon his fellow workmen the claims of the Institution, for if the improvement of our minds is to he disregarded; if the education of our children is to be neglected—then indeed we have emigrated in vain.” He was glad that the room was used as a place of worship, and on week days was open for the reading of those very books about which so much clamour was formerly made, and which were given up immediately the working men had a place to receive them, but still they were not used. The, building in which they were was suitable and comfortable, and they were not likely to be disturbed for some time, yet he would not advocate delay. Regarding the finances they had heard that there had been 27 subscribers only, perhaps the amount of subscription had been too large, and if so it was prudent to reduce it, but he did not think the present plan would a( complisli all they desirsd. Working men must put their shoulders to the wheel, or all the efforts of officers and committee would be comparatively useless. He (Mr. II.) had a plan to suggest by which he was sure a sufficient sum might be raised, and the data on which he went were, that 350 persons had paid 11. each for what some esteemed the empty honour of a vote. Now if 18 working men would form a committee, and divide themselves into 6 sections of 3 each, these could visit 500 persons and collect from them 3d. per week, affixing the riames of defaulters in the Institution. They might get beforehand all the ss. subscriptions they could, and let such subscribers pay 2d. per. week, and they would find that though therp was difficulty in getting 10s., there would be none in getting 3d. Mr. Sheriff St. Hill seconded the resolution, which was put and carried unanimously. His Honor the local Judge had great pleasure in submitting the second resolution, as it contained names well known to them, and well adapted to carry on the business of the institution :

That the following gentlemen be appointed officebearers for the ensuing half-year : — President, Col. W. Wakefield. Vice do., Geo. Hunter, Esq., Mayor, J.P., W. Swainson, Esq., F.R.S., W. Lyon, Esq., Alderman. Treasurer, John Howard Wallaces, Esq. Secretary, Mr. John Knowles. Committee, J. Featherstone, Esq., M.D., F. J. Knox, Esq., M.D., Mr. Alderman Scott, Rev. J. Woodward, W. B. Mantell, Esq., F.G.S., Mr. Forster, Mr. Vincent, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Fellingham, Mr. S. Levy, Mr. Stafford, Mr. Reading, Mr. MTCenzie, Mr. Jno. Duncan, Mr. Chapman.

He begged to say that any assistance in his power should always be most cheerfully afforded to the institution. His office gave him some opportunity of knowing the state of public morals, and he had great pleasure in stating that nearly all who have voluntarily immigrated have been of a very superior class as to moral character, so much so, that of all that had been done wrong in the settlement, nearly every thing had been by strangers who had surreptitiously introduced themselves into the community. Mr. Alderman Dorsett seconded the resolution, which was put from the chair, and carried unanimously.

The Rev. Butile felt much diffidence in proposing the next resolution, which he should he obliged to use as a text:— That in order to promote the utility of this Institution, and to place its benefits within the reach of those for whom it is especially designed, this meeting deems it advisable that the subscription should be reduced to ss. per annum, payable in advance.

First, it spoke of benefits. The idea was now happily gaining ground that there were benefits connected with the diffusion of knowledge* but some supposed that the Wesleyan body was not friendly to its spread. This notion was shewn to be erroneous, by the fact that the Wesleyan body included many men of high eminence in science and literature, some of whom had risen to. their present station from the humbler walks of life. As a minister of that body, he was bound to be the advocate of knowledge* hut still he felt that care must be taken to make the power which knowledge gave, good and not evil. The greatest attainments had not always been used for good. They would remember a man who after reading a certain work, destroyed himself, hence they would see the importance of spreading true knowledge. Secondly, persons are spoken of as receiving especial benefits from this Institution, and these are the humbler classes of society. It is matter of great encouragement that such institutions exist, from which so many have derived the greatest advantages, and while it is remembered that the justly cele-> brated Professor Lee had to support himself in his earlier years upon 6s. per week, and that even Sir I. Newton was of humble origin, they must see that nothing was too great for the humblest to attain; and institutions like this, which so eminently assisted in the attainment, were therefore connected with all the great things that could be achieved by man’s noblest part, his mind. They had heard that evening some excellent suggestions from the worthy Mayor. He (Mr. B.) hoped they would reduce them to practice. It could not be said there was no money in the Colony. As he came to the meeting, he saw many spending money for that which was doing them harm. If they Were but determined, they would improve, and that they might have the opportunity, he with pleasure propose that the subscription be reduced. Mr. Alderman Scott seconded the resolution, which was carried. (To be continued.)

Extensive Seizure. —Another of these extensive seizures, which show the wholesale manner in which smuggling is carried on ia Sydney, was made on Saturday afternoon. Mr. Neville was in Sussex-street, when seeing a dray closely covered up with a tarpaulin, it excited his suspicion, and following it to a store at the rear of the Hunter River Steam Company s Wharf, let to a Mr. Sheldon, he saw two tierces of tobacco unloaded from it; he then seized the dray, when the driver told him that there was plenty on the Albion Wharf, and on Mr. Jeffreys proceeding there, he found upwards of forty tierces, besides smaller packages, the whole of course seized. The tobacco arrived in the colony packed in hodgsheads of sugar* and the Customs consider they have evidence to prove that it came in the Duchess of Kent, they have seized that ship, which will be forfeited if a guilty knowledge can he brought home to the commander or owner. As all the casks of sugar have net been examined, the precise quantity of tobacco seized is not known ; but there can be no doubt that upwards of fifty thousand pounds weight is actually in custody. The tobacco tierces are very carefully placed in the centre of the casks with sugar carefully packed round them, so that when the casks were spilled, sugar ran out, and no suspicion could be excited though the casks were tapped. A quantity of tierces that had been unpacked were cut in halves, and sewed up in gunny bags, so as to resemble coils of Manilla rope. —Colonial Observer. (From the Weekly Chronicle.) New Zealand.—Colonial Office Colonisation. —Captain Hobson.

We preferred, last week, a bill of Indictment, against the Colonial-office in general, and Captain Hobson —its present representative in New Zealand, in particular, which was reduced to the following heads : —First, that Captain Hobson had no one qualification for the office which he holds. 2dly—That he had been dropped, as if from the clouds, upon a part of New Zealand, where it was not possible for him to be of the slightest use to those, whose interests it was desirable that he should promote. 3dly—That he had shewn a mean jealousy of the only important body of European colonists in the Island, of which he is governor, and a thorough ignorance of the principles upon which their settlement is founded. 4thly—That he had already made the Government of New Zealand the dearest, as well as the worst Government in the whole civilized world. And sthly, that Lord Stanley had supported him, and was supporting him, in spite of proofs of incapacity, which ought to have insured his recall, upon the principle that Governors must be supported, since it would be an imputation upon the Colonial office to admit that they could be in the wrong. Now, we admit that these are charges, which ought to be substantiated by the most incontrovertible facts, and we ask nobody to take our

opinions for more than they are worth. We shall begin therefore at the beginning; and the beginning of Captain Hobson’s governorship was, that, upon his appointment to New Zealand, the only settlement, in which any considerable amount of British interests was embarked —with the exception of the Bay of Islands —was that just formed by the New Zealand Company at Port Nicholson, in the vicinity of Cook’s Straits. What was Captain Hobson’s first act ? To fix the seat of his Government at Auckland, 300 miles oft', where there was not, at the time of his arrival, a population of 300 souls. His next step was to detach no less a functionary than Mr. Shortland, his “ Colonial Secretary,” to Port Nicholson, to nip in the bud any spirit of enterprise, which the settlers might have brought out with them, by informing them “ that he was in daily expectation of receiving instructions from Auckland, to order them oft the land, in order to give place to a Government Township.”—(Vide Heaphy’s Narrative, p. 10, and Mr. Petre’s interesting Work.) Now, at this moment, there were twelve British ships lying at anchor in the Harbour of Port Nicholson; houses and tents were erected along the shore ; the place was assuming a look of civilisation, and comfort, which the large capital known to be ready for investment, there was certain to sustain; there were, literally, no other British interests of any sort, or kind, in New Zealand, to look after; yet the first thought of the enlightened functionary, to whom the Crown had delegated its powers, was to throw a blight over this land of promise—to destroy confidence—to paralyse exertion—and deliberately to leave the settlements, in which three-fourths of the white population were concentrated, without any machinery for the administration of justice, by allowing only one resident Magistrate, after neutralising their own provisions for Self-Government by the proclamation of British Law, and destroying all confidence in proprietary rights, by questioning every man’s title to his land.

We have no desire to magnify petty annoyances into crimes; but if anybody wish for a lesson in colonial mismanagement —if anybody wish to satisfy himself how much better it would be to protect a body of emigrants, but not to meddle with them —to give them Municipal rights, and to leave them to govern themselves, instead of governing them through the medium of a wrong-headed Post Captain, under the patronage of a Colonial office at the antipodes — let him look at the fruits of Captain Hobson’s Governorship, as exemplified in the intended removal of the largest body of British settlers, that ever yet left England in search of a new home, to Chile, where they hoped to find—we will not say, that encouragement, but that justice —which they almost despaired of, under the safeguard of the British crown.

This resolution was within an ace of being carried out. Nothing stopped it but the hope, that the New Zealand Company would have sufficient influence in England to expose, and check, such wanton abuse. Captain Hobson’s ignorance of the first principles of the system of colonization, the working of which unfortunately committed to his care, cannot be better illustrated than by the fact, that, in his eagerness to promote the prosperity of his own pet residence at Auckland, at the expense of rival settlements in the south, Government agents were actually sent to the Zealand Company’s Immigration Depots at Wellington, in order to persuade the newly-arrived immigrants to proceed to Auckland —these immigrants having been conveyed to the colony by the funds of the settlers, who had bought land in London, upon the faith of a Government charter, which they regarded as a guarantee that they would receive back in labour two-thirds of the price.

Have we made good our assertion, that Captain Hobson has been actuated throughout by a paltry jealousy of those, whose interests he ought to have promoted —and is thoroughly ignorant of the principles upon which their prosperity depends ? We have still to show that he has made New Zealand the dearest government in the world; but this branch of the subject is sufficiently important to merit discussion by itself; and we*pledge ourselves to show, that of all the marvellous specimens of blundering, and incapacity —of all the combinations of false principles, and ruinous’practice, that we ever yet happened to fall in with, the New Zealand budget is the most offensive and striking.

We recollect the sneer, in which Lord Stanley indulged last session, whenever the Selfsupporting system of Emigration was alluded to, though nothing could be clearer than the fact, that the embarrassments of South Australia arose not from the principle itself, but from things which the Colonial office had engrafted upon it, and from the absence of proper checks, upon the authority of the Governor in financial affairs. New Zealand, at all eveuts, is the child Downing-street! There are no commissioners there to share the discredit of failure ; yet we are much mistaken, if Bankrurtcy be not as inevitably the end of Captain Hobson’s financial career, as of Lord Huntingtower’s—the Lord, and the Governor, having shown an equal aptitude for raising the wind, by the old, and approved plan, of killing the goose with the golden eggs.

Extraordinary Mfxhanical 'lnvention. —Although at the late meeting of the British Association in Manchester, there were many very interesting specimens of mechanism exhibited, there was, nevertheless, one in particular, which threw all others completely into the shade, when considered either as to the novelty of the invention, or its evident practical applicability to the every day concerns of life—and may with truth be said to have been “ the lion of the exhibition,” viz. : a machine for the working or forging of iron, steel, &c. This truly surprising machine is quite portable, occupying only a space of 3ft. by 4ft., and cannot be deemed other, even by the most critical judges, than one purely original in principle, as well as practical in its application, as much so perhaps as was the splendid invention of the fluted roller of Arkwright, by which the art and perfection of drawing the fibrous substances became known, or that other still more splendid discovery of Watt, the condensing of steam in a separate vessel; by which the power of the steam engine of that day may be said to have been doubled. But now for some explanation of the machine, and its probable general application. It is then, as has before been said, very portable, not requiring more space than from 3 to 4 feet, and may be worked by steam or water power, and when moved by the former as was the case at the exhibition, it makes 650 blows, or impressions per minute; but from their very quick succession, and the work being effected by an eccentric pressing' down, not striking the hammer or swage, not the least noise was heard. There are five or six sets of what may be called anvils and swages in the machine, each varying in size. The speed and Correctness with which the machine completes its work is perfectly astonishing, and must he seen in order that its capabilities in this respect may be duly appreciated ; for instance, when it is put in motion for the purpose of producing what is known as a roller with a coupling square upon it (and which had to be afterwards turned aud fluted), the thing was accomplished in fifty seconds ! of course at one beat, to the astonishment of the bystanders. But what appeared the most extraordinary part of the affair was, that the coupling square was produced direct from the machine, so mathematically correct, that no labour can make it more so! ! The machine will perform the labour of three men and their assistants or strikers; and not only so, but complete its work in a vastly superior manner to that executed by manual labour. For engineers, machine makers, smiths in general, file makers, bolt and screw makers, or for any description of work parallel or taper, it is most specially adapted ; and for what is technically known as reducing, it cannot possibly have a successful competitor —in proof of which it may be stated, that a piece of round iron, If inches in diameter, was reduced to a square of f in., 2 ft. 5 in. long, at one heat. The merit of this invention belongs, it is said, to a gentleman at Bolton, of the name of Ryder.— Manchester Courier.

Eminent Shoemakers. The New York State Mechanic publishes a brief catalogue of men of this class. —Linnaeus, the founder of the science of botany, was apprenticed to a shoemaker in Sweden; but afterwards taken notice of, and in consequence of his ability was sent to college. David Pareus, the elder, who was afterwards a celebrated professor of theology at Heidelberg, Germany, was at one time apprenticed to a shoemaker. Joseph Prendell, who died some time since, at Gray’s Buildings, London, and who was a profound and scientific scholar, leaving an excellent library, was bred to, and pursued through life, the trade of a shoemaker. Hans Sachs, one of the most famous of the early poets, was the son of a tailor, served an apprenticeship to a shoemaker, and afterwards became a weaver, in which he continued. Benedict Baddouin, one of the most learned men of the sixteenth century, was a shoemaker, as likewise was his father. This man wrote a treatise on the shoemaking of the ancients, which he traced up to the time of Adam himself. To these may be added those ornaments of literature, Holcroft, the author of the Critic and other works ; Gifford, the founder, and for so mkny years the editor, of the London Quarterly Review, one of the most profound scholars and elegant writers of the age; and Bloomfield, the author of the Farmer's Boy, and other works ; all of whom were shoemakers, and the pride and admiration of the literary world. John Brand, Secretary to the London Antiquarian Society, and author of several learned works, was originally a shoemaker, but fortunately found means to complete his studies at Oxford. Wincleman, the learned German antiquary, was the son of a shoemaker, and was for some time engaged in the same employment, but finally burst from his obscurity, and became a professor of belles lettres. He was the friend and correspondent of the most learned men of his time. Fox, the founder of the sect called Quakers, was the son of a weaver, and apprenticed to a shoemaker and grazier. Roger Shermen, the American statesman, was apprenticed to a shoemaker, and found ample time during his minority to acquire a stock of knowledge that assisted him in the acquisition of fame and fortune. An Ever-burning Flame.—A paper was lately read at the Royal Irish Academy, by Mr.

ti. J. Knox, “On a principle for producing an Ever-burning flame.” —“ A. belief,” he'observed “ in the discovery of an ever-burning lamp appears to have been prevalent in all ages; and tradition informs us that lamps have been found in tombs, where they have continued burning for upwards of 1,000 years, of which mention •has been made in the works of St. Austin, Plutaich, Pliny, Ludovicus Vives,. Baptista Porta, and Licetus. The Rosicrucians, who laid claim to the knowledge of everything mysterious, pretended to have rediscovered the secret of their construction, which was supposed to have been buried in the tomb of their founder. Dr. Plott, in a treatise which he has written upon this subject, alludes to a lamp mentioned by St. Austin in his book De dvitate Bei, which was hung up in the temple of Venus; and to another found in the tomb of Pallas the Arcadian, who was slain by Turnus in the Trojan war, which continued to burn after its removal from the tomb and exposure to the air—proving that these lamps were not supplied from any bituminous source, or volcanic fire. He considers the requisites for an ever-burning lamp to be—a perpetual wick, which might be made of gold wire, or asbestus; and a perpetual supply of fuel, which he imagines the bituminous springs of Pitchford, in Shropshire, or the inflammable gases issuing from fissures in coal mines, would afford. That such could supply fuel for a flame, so long as the bituminous spring existed, or the gas continued to exhale from the mines, is but it no more deserves the appellation of an ever-burn-ing lamp, than does a Are arising from any volcanic source. The desideratum for such a lamp is that it should contain, within itself, a renovating principle, such as, probably, does the luminous atmosphere encompassing the body of the sun, supposed by Sir William Herschel to be electrical. That electricity was the principle upon which such a lamp could be constructed having occurred to me some years ago, I reflected upon the different means by which a constant light could be produced from this source, and concluded that, if by an arrangement of metals a thermo-electric current could be produced of sufficient intensity to decompose water, the heat produced by the burning of the two gases, arising from the decomposition would be sufficient, when applied to the alternate metallic junctions, to continue the electrical current of the thermo-electric pile; while the gases, which in burning become aqueous vapour, might be condensed by passing through a long tube, through which being conveyed to the closed vessel in which the water had been originally placed, they would again undergo decomposition, recombination, and condensation. Such a thermo-electric arrangement has been discovered by Professor Botto, of Turin, who has obtained decomposition of water from a series composed of a great number of wires of platinum and iron. To prevent the apparatus from acquiring in time the same temperature, the alternate junctions of the metals, to which the heat is not applied, might be connected with the pedestal upon which the lamp is placed; and the pedestal be either allowed to rest in a cold situation, or else be connected by wires with some extensive cooling surface.” An Affghan Execution. —The following description of an Affghan execution will serve to illustrate the character of the people from whose power so many of our countrymen, and some of our countrywomen, have recently been liberated : —“ At a little before sunset Three of the horse artillery guns were brought out, and presently the three criminals were brought to the ground, led by an old man, wearing a long conical red cap, garnished with four perpendicular rows of black horns, pointing out horizontally. The three men were then tied with ropes to the guns, their backs against the muzzle. The rope fastened to one of the spokes of the wheel, passed with a knot round the arms, over the muzzle of the gun, round the other arm, and then to the spoke of the opposite wheel, which kept the body fixed. The prisoners, with their wrists tied together, kept crying incessantly, ‘ There is no god but God, and Mahomet is the prophet of God !’ Just as every thing was ready, the prisoner in the middle was let loose, having been pardoned by the Scliah, and the noise made the other two turn their heads. At that instant the priming was fired, and the explosion took place, I could only see the body nearest to me for the thick clouds of smoke. One arm and shoulder blade were driven perpendicularly upwards, at least one hundred feet; the other arm and part of the body were found right forward, thirty yards off, with the hand torn away. The explosion produced a shower of blood and small particles of flesh. On going to the gun, I found the head separate, as if it had been purposely severed from the body, and lying between the wheels; close to it were the lower limbs, trunkless, upturned on the ground, with part of the intestines twisted round one leg. The criminal was a man of muscular form, and about twenty-five years of age. The other, with “ felon” marked on his countenance, could not have been more than nineteen. His head and legs also fell under the gun. Neither of the miserable wretches betrayed any emotion, or spoke a word, more than declaring that they were innocent, till they were blown to atoms.”