BAY OF ISLANDS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 13, 4 January 1845, Page 3

BAY OF ISLANDS.

Since the establishment of Free Trade we are happy to learn that business has considerably improved at the Bay of Islands. There are at the present time about six or seven large American whalers at the Bay, and it is expected that before the season is over, upwards of a hundred whalers will resort to it. With such prospects as these, the settlers at the Bay have every chance of prosperity. It is however, to be regretted that some of the natives still continue troublesome. Some of the out-settlers have recently sustained loss through the depredations of a small tribe in the vicinity of the Bay. Four horses have been taken by these natives from Captain Hingtone, a respectable settler at Russell. It is but fair, to .state in that case, that no cause of offence was given to the natives, who appeared to have acted through pure wantonness. The parties who committed the outrage are nearly all young men, unconnected with any of the old chiefs or powerful tribes. Indeed, the chiefs themselves are as anxious as the Europeans that they should be punished. In the attempt to carry out the law in that case, we do not apprehend there would be much difficulty, as there is no danger of any combination among the natives to resist the civil authorities. It would however, be advisable to have a sufficient military force to assist the civil authorities should the natives offer to resist ; and until the Government obtain additional military aid, we do not think it would be prudent to take any very active measures to check the natives. We would however, earnestly and urgently impress upon the Government the necessity of increasing the uumber of troops in the colony. Surely the Governors of Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales could afford to give us one or two hundred soldiers for a time at least. We shall take up this subject agaiu. — Ibid. We are glad to announce that the public confidence is in a great measure restored at^ the Bay, and that everything is now quite tranquil. We hear that the amount of property tax paid in by the loyal people of the Bay amounts thus far to £12 10s. — Ibid.