NELSON.

New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator, Volume III, Issue 144, 25 May 1842, Page 3

NELSON.

By the Nimrod, which arrived last Saturday, we have received Nelson Examiners of the 7th and 14th May. A requision, signed by almost every landowner in this settlement, has been forwarded, per London, to the Directors of the New Zealand .Company; the object of which is to induce them, if possible, to put such a check upon the sale of the sections yet unsold, as shall tend to ensure their being purchased by actual settlers rather than by absentees, who look upon landbuying in these "new places" solely as a speculation which may, and they hope will, turn out well. The feeliug was so general, we may say universal, in favour of some such step, that the f address was no sooner suggested than it was drawn up, signed, and sent. Nelson is beginning to give evidence of the arrival of civilized men on the shores of New Zealand, for it has now a gaol or lock-up house, backed by the stocks. Alas for human nature that it should be so; but so it is — civilization and the gallows ! Our friends at Nelson have seen the Auckland estimates, amounting to the sum of £55,280, and have compared the portion which is awarded to their settlement, with the payment they have already made to the Government Exchequer. They had already paid more than £1400, and are liberally awarded £1,161, 11s. 3d. Their contributions within the year for which this sum is appropriated will very probably amount to ' £8000. Truly they get bin a very small instalment ; but, in the O'Connell fashion, they must take what they can -get, and hope for more. The Auckland Standard is a paper raised upon the ruins of the Herald. It is (we believe there is no doubt on the subject) the organ of the Government; and viirabile dictu, the strenuous advocate of the Wakefield system of emigration, and an urgent suppliant for the assistance of that "powerful engine" as a "colonizing instrument,'" the New Zealand Company. Here is quite another view of " the theories of a Wakefield," and " the specious bubble of the self-supporting system " begins to assume' a form, a substance, nay, a value, unaccountably j at variance with its airy character. Verily, I impartiality is one virtue of the Auckland | Printing Company. To all they give a chance, and each by turns makes use or their capital and their types. But seriously, this Auckland Standard is a curiosity, and to us a valuable one. Who has been fit work in Auckland proselytizing, what it is that has caused this change to come o'er the spirit of the dream of official slumberings, we are at a loss to guess. Can our readers find a clue to the mystery in the -following?— " Let this be fairly put in comparison with \ each man's probable gain, by allowing the New | Zealand Company a share in the colonization of ' the Auckland district. The public of Auckland ' may be informed that it was the wish of the ! Company that their second district, now planted at Nelson, should have been located at the ' Capital. Of the £300,000^ to be received by the ; Company for the sale of lands in the second ' settlement, one hundred and fifty thousand pounds are to be applied to the exclusive purpose of emigration in that particular settlement; ; fifty thousand pounds for rendering the set- ; tlcmeut commodious and attractive already; • and, in the course of a single month, five large ships have arrived at Nelson, bringing with them upwards of one thousand emigrants — the , cabin psssengers in one of these ships, we are informed, possessing an aggregate capital of fifty thousand pounds. I " Now, what is doing for Nelson, would'have ' been done for Auckland, had the Company ' been allowed to plant their second colony here ; ; and, should that liberty even yet be granted to j them, what has been done for- Nelson, their ! second colony, will yel be done for Auckland, their third colony. We therefore urgently urge upon the landowner, the merchant, the house- ! builder, the storekeeper, the publican, the i butcher, the baker, and other tradesmen, to consider the probable consequences to this settlement generally, and to himself in particular, of opening the Capital and its neighbourhood, as a field for the colonizing operations of the New Zealand Company; — the powerful engine which would, by that means, immediately be brought into active operation in making known the advantages of this settlement; the great accession of labour and cupital that would; conse-. " quently, be attracted hither, in addition to, and independently of, the. colonising operations of the Company. Of the £50,000 to be, applied for rendering the settlement at Nelson'' commodious and attractive,' the Company intend to^ devote £15,000 to religious uses and endow-" ments, £15,000 to the establishment of a college, and £20,000 to\vards v^e encouragement of steam navigation for the benefit of the settle- , ment. To this settlement, and to every individual member of our community, the advantages of the measure now suggested are too evident to require illustration. " But, what is uf much more importance, the interests of New Zealand generally, as a British colony ,>no less than that of the people of Auckland, would be promoted, if that powerful Company and the Local Government were acting in harmony for the common object of its rapid and successful colonization. In the work of legislation no advantage should be given to any one particular settlement. If the New Zealand Company were made use of as the colonizing instrument, the Government, instead of their powerful opposition, would receive their cordial co-operation. The success of their enterprise, and the prosperity of the colony, would go hand-in-hand;, their efforts, their exertions, their future prosperity, would be the means of benefiting the country at large."

What do you think of that 1 Beware of flattery ; do not get over confident or conceited upon the strength of it. There is one misstatement here, namely,- " that it was the wish of the Company that their second district, now planted at Nelson, should have been located at the capital." The Company did not wish anything of the sort, but the Government did, and for very good reasons^ but that matters not now. We fear that the wishes of our Auckland contemporary cart hardly be complied with. Almost all the valuable land is gone ; Mr. Clendon has same of it. Where, then, is the land, the sale of which is to supply the emigration fund? We should be very glad to find that no place in New Zealand had, by previous bad management, cut itself out of the advantages to be derived from the adoption of the Wakefield system, whether under the auspices of the New Zealand Company or not; but we fear that the only reply to the demand for an emigration fund will be that of the cherubim to St. Cecilia — "Mais nous n'avouspas de quoi The Government brig, Captain Richards, arrived here on Tuesday, liaving left Mr. Spain, the Land Claims' Commisioner, at Port Nicholson. -■>*- A Letter to the Editor. of the "Colonial Gazette," by E. G. Wakefield, on the means of National Emigration.