NELSON.

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

NELSON.

Extract from a Letter from a London Firm to a Nelson Merchant. — "We do hope and believe that the time is now not far distant when New Zealand affairs will assume a very different aspect to that which they have borne for the last fwo years. The dreadful fctate of uncertainty and suspense to which all connected with jour colony have of late been subjected is now fast passing away. Afew weeks at most, and we shall know what the Government intend to do. | The Report of the Committee of the House of Commons on New Zealand affairs has not yet been brought up, and of course is not yet made public ; but enough has transpired to let us know that every thing has gone most favourably both for the Company and the settlers ; and never before was report presented to the house, conched in such strong and damnatory language of the actions of the Ministry and their tools, both here and in New Zealand, as the document in question. It wholly condemns Hobson's attempt to build up new towns, either at Auckland or elsewhere 5 and advises that future Governors should be taught that it is their duty to.dfix their abode in the most populous part of a colony, and to govern people where they find them, without attempting to build up places of their own at the expense of other towns already existing. The Committee also: ex-.

press their conviction that the chiefs now claiming lands in the Company's settlements have no title whatever to them — that they are really the murderers of the former inhabitants of the district they now claim — and that the New Zealand Company have a clear and undeniable right to all the land claimed by them under their agreement with Lord John Russell ; and the Committee think it a matter worthy of consideration whether the Company are not justly entitled to compensation for the serious losses they have already sustained. It is expected that the Report will be presented in about eight days hence, or probably less ; and the Ministry are not likely to lose much time in disposing of a question which must prove so very disagreeable to Lord Stanley. The Company are therefore now looking out for a fast-sailing vessel, to despatch with full particulars the moment the business is settled. The vessel will be advertised, we believe, for the Ist of August, and will, if necessary, be kept waiting the Company's time afterwards. . "London, luly 15, 1844." — Nelson Examiner.

The Crops. — We are gratified in being able to state that the appearance of the crops throughout the settlement is, with very few exceptions, highly satisfactory. In the Waimea,' fern land will mostly yield from 25 to 30 bushels of wheat per acre, and there are patches where the quantity will be greater. A few acres of swamp, cultivated by Mr. Smith, give such extraordinary promise, that we must decline mentioning the estimated crop lest we should be deemed guilty of a species of quackery for which this colony has, unfortunately, become somewhat notorious. At the Moutere, the cultivations of Messrs. Moss and Murray are looking well, and the wheat, though thin in places, will yield an average return. At Motuaka, which consists almost wholly of woodland, but little progress has been made in cultivation, from the great expense of clearing. The patches of grain here and there, however, bear ample testimony to the general fruitfulness of the soil. Mr. Moore has a field of barley looking remarkably fine, which is the third crop of grain grown in succession on the same ground without manure ; a couple of acres of wheat belonging to Mr. Fearon is probably the finest in the settlement ; and Dr. Greenwood has a small piece of barley on a reclaimed swamp whiGh might satisfy the most inveterate of grumblets. In the Rewaka the cultivators are principally of the labouring class. Their alllofcmeftts, consisting of from four- to eight acres cadi, are mostly under crop (excepting portions reserved for potatoes,) and promise a rich reward for their well-directed labours. We regret to add that two or three patches are very smutty. The quantity of land brought under cultivation by this gallant little community is about 160 acres, of which 70 may be grain. — Ibid. The return in Nelson for the Property and Income Rate, up to the 16th instant, amounts to £467. As there may be a few persons who have not yet made their returns, the sum which will be collected for the quarter will probably be about £125. The number of person who have compounded is fourteen. — - Ibid. The penny-an-acre proclamation is working exactly as might have been expected. Several diminutive New Zealand Companies are being formed, with capitals varying from £5 to &50, and new settlements are about to be formed in Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa, Manukau, and fifty other places. We do not exactly understand in what way this measure is calculated to carry out his Excellency's views of " concentration around Auckland and Wellington," but there " are many things on the political horizon which, being visible only to a few, cannot be shown to the many," and perhaps we are one of the multitude. His Excellency asserts that there are no " was te lands " in New Zealand ; but we suspect that if this dispersion system goes ■on, there will be a good deal of that description. We hear that at Taranaki the Governor told the labourers that, if he employed any it must be at a low rate of wages, " because i he was obliged to provide for" so many at Nelson and Wellington." This so many at Nelson has, we believe, not averaged more than six or eight ; the whole sum expended by Government here in employment being it is currently reported, considerably under £100 ; and at Wellington, we understand, the so many is about the same number as here. — Ibid,