New Zealand Spectator COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday, November 23, 1844.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 7, 23 November 1844, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday, November 23, 1844.

Ix our last number we stated, from private information, that the Governor had arranged with the Maori chiefs that the natives should quit the Hutt and that, if -necessary-,, a. fort should be built there in order to maintain the settlers in tranquil possession of their land. Whether this will be done, md when it will be done, we have no means of ascertaining or even of forming a conjecture about. It seems strange that ,with such a large body of officials, as exists in this place, no intimation of the intentions or proceedings of Government on such a vital arid pressing question as the possession of land, should be conveyed to the public. The settlers here have been taxed rather sharply to support a large Government establishment both here and at Aucklaud ; but the services rendered are hardly discernible. We do not get even copies of the Ordinances, and although every man is bound, no man can know, what the law is. A Superintendent, in return for his salary, might do something. The policy about the Maories is to do nothing ! and the white population do not take up the time of any one Government Official for half-an-hour in a week, and time might be found to give some information to the Government people at Auckland of our wants, and some information to us of wliat the Auckland people are about. We might as well, however, be at the Cape of Good Hope as concerns information from Auckland ; for all we get is from the Governor, when he pays a visit to Wellington, once in eight months. His last visit was so short that there was not time for obtaining much information of any kind interesting to the settlers here, and it might be answered that as to the general policy of the Government do intelligence could have been gleaned, as no such thing as a general policy exists. There is something in this. Capt. Titjroy seems to think that cruising about and making vapid speeches to his Council, includes the whole art of Government. 41 The distressed settlers in Cook's Straits " ,know..:b£tter. They understand Capt. Fitz-•Toy'a-rfsaracter, and can estimate his big words at their right value. Every body remembers the scene at Barrett's Hotel on the Governor's first arrival, th» blustering objurgaiioja or rather .Billingsgate scolding of the whole body of the settlers ; and the subsequent -declaration that Lord Stanley would rather abandon the colony than employ force to defend the colonists. Let our readers decide, after perusing a debate in the French Chambers about New Zealand, which we have extracted from the Times, of May 30, whether it is probable that Lord Stanley ever contemplated the abandonment of these islands. Lord Stanley is only tie servant of public opinion, ani never could have entertained such a project. Captain Fitzroy told the deputation that waited on him when he was last here, respecting the Land Question^ that he would not use force to maintain the settlers in possession, and yet he writes to Major Richmond announcing the building of a fort on the Hutt, a hw days afterwards. jOnly one conclusion can be drawn from such conduct, namely, that his -Excellency has not the power of looking forward for a month. Besides this failing, he has the unhappy vice of neither comn anding nor conciliating. Today, he makes large declarations of intended actions, and to-morrow there, are no performances. If be promise to stay, he, is sure i to gor;<-and i we have therefore, a right to conclude; that if he promised to go he would be '! cure td stay. What was said of Lord John Rum*ll some years, ago,, may be said of him, with more exactness, that he unsettles every thing .»pd settles nothing. We surmise -that this restlessness and caprice on ' the part of Cjpjara ? ?!tsir v oy, arj*e*'from t'c^njmpo error, the ibeHef that he can seize' all' the-Bearingrf ofi-eveVio complicated a raaj&ej byjihtuitlon,, anjef tlut as $idneyJsraith said, of the noble lord whom we have just mentioned, "that he would w<ieruk« to- builS °§t. &ftl'« or perform an A^tfafiea for- the «too.«, *tten minutes notice." T!»«.i#* gr**t ert«jfv ! lMat countriet, where

So^^tf^T'great dial of correct information atjdi times without seeking it, at breakfast, in the streets and after dinner ; but it if a far greater error in a new country, where information must be sedulously sought for, and when found must be carefully sifted. Let the Governor call around him intelligent men from all parties in the colony, and in the real spirit of Sincerity collect their opinions. He would find that his penny an acre proclamation is both illegal and {insane, that his abolition of the Customs' duties will injure the Maories and benefit nobody except the sellers of spirits and tobacco, and that his Property and Income Tax will not produce more than perhaps ten per cent, on his estimate. Captain Fitzroy may, perhaps, despise this advice as emanating from a set of ship-chand-lers, land jobbers, et id genus omne, not fit to come between the wind and his nobility. We care not how much he despises us, if he would but govern us ; nay, .we care not how mad his Government is, if there be but method in its madness.

A correspondent has informed us tbat several gentlemen from the Hutt waited upon the Superintendent on Thursday morning, in order to learn whether he was about to give notice to the natives to leave the valley of the Hutt, according to the arrangement made by the Governor with the chiefs at Waikanai, and that the Superintendent said, that he should go to the Hutt, and desire the natives to leave immediately. He also said that no doubt the natives would leave, on receiving compensation for their crops. The Superintendent did not name any day for the natives leaving, but the impression on the minds of the gentlemen who waited on him was, that they would be asked to leave immediately, and that if they refused, military force would be forthwith employed to make them. Let the Governmefit proceed according to this plan, and the settlers may yet be saved from impending ruin. It is the only business like proceeding that has been adopted since the natives repudiated their bargains with the white men.

There wa» a report in town, generally believed to be correct, yesterday evening, thnt Major Richmond had returned from the Hutt after having seen the natives, who had positively refused to leave the land. If this should prove true, what will be done? Will the soldiers here he employed ? Will the Fort written about by the Governor be built? Or will the matter pass away like many others, as a piece of pure unadulterated humbug ?

We understand that the Government are about to expend a certain sum of money in the repairs of the roads, &c, and therefore w« beg to suggest to the Superintendent the utility and propriety of making a Market Place for the Town of Wellington. There is a reserve of land for that purpose at the head of the Bay, but the spot is not central, and difficult of access in bad weather. There is also a reserve in Pipitea Pah, which will not be used till after the Maories are extinct, but there is a Government reserve on the beach, near the Scotch Church, which is perfectly well situated for a Market Place. A very small expenditure would create a very great convenience, by building a few stalls for a Market ; and by letting them at a moderate rate, a return for the money might be ensured.

- Horticultural Society. — In consequence of the Exchange being at present occupied as IT store, the Exhibition of this Society, which ought to take place next Tuesday, will be held on the 16th December next, at the Odd Fellows Hill, adjoining the Aurora Tavern, now in tbe course of building, the use of which h*s been kindly *nd gratuitously granted to the Society.

A meeting of landholders, and others interested, was held on Thursday at Barrett'* Hotel, for the purpose of considering 'what ought to be done in the matter of Governor I Fitzroy's proclamation, declaring that Crown i Grants of lanJ might be obtained at a penuy |an -acre. It seems that a day or two ago, i'some labourers purchased land of the Maories, in a reserve made for Te Rings Kuri} a long time ago, and, on application to the Superintendent, were told they might take possessioo. Heretip'ofi some gentlemen, amongst pothers Mr. St. Hill and* Dr. Etsos, waited ,'on the Superintendent, and represented the injustice and illegality of allowing land, of

which the pre-emption had been waived in favour of the New Zeadsmd Company, -and which an Act of Parliament prohibits from"; being sold at less than twenty shillings a'rf acre, to be bought at a penny ; and the Superintendent reversed his decision, and abrogated the bargain. • The subject of the penny an acre proclamation, seemed, however, so important, that a memorial to Lord Stanley was partially arranged, and a sub-committee appointed to finish it, and' submit it to a general public meeting of landowners, to be held on Friday next, at one o'clock, at the same place.