NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR, AND COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday, April 19, 1845.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 28, 19 April 1845, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR, AND COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday, April 19, 1845.

When we accuse Captain Fitzroy of vacillation, imbecility, and general unfitness for his office, though our accusation is supported by facts and arguments not to be gainsayed, to some few out of the colony who have not traced his Excellency's eccentric career step by step, and who would fain offer a locus penitentia, it may possibly appear a hard saying ; and as the object of this paper is to afford information, not only to our fellow colonists, but to our friends in England, without travelling over old ground or reDeatins? former arguments, we will place side

by side a few of- Captain Fitzroy's latest sayings and doings, and leave odr readers to judge if the charge be not fully sustaiued. One of the. strongest proofs of vacillation in the Governor is the constant change among the officers of his government ; he shuffles them like a pack of cards, and very few, whose appointments are not made or confirmed by the Home Government, . are sure of their situations for three months together. Tne. Southern Cross, alluding to this subject, complains, " that all appointments seem to have their origin in chance, mistake, or favour, and so have remained a standing reflection on the Xocal Government." Take the most recent instances, the situations of Police Magistrate at Auckland and Wellington, two of the most important offices in Captain Fitzroy's appointment. On Mr. F, Matthew's leaving the Colony, this office was filled by TVlr. Symonds, whose incoinpetency was so glaring, that it was absolutely necessary to replace him by a successor ; and this man of many professions, finding New Zealand will no longer stick to him, prepares to join his regiment at Sydney : — then rumours of concentrating offices are rifei the Sheriff, Commissioner of the Court of Requests, and Police-Magistrate, are to be rolled into one, — and at length Mr. Berry the Sheriff is appointed to the office. At Wellington, Mr. M'Donough, who has filled the office for two years, is suddenly informed his services are no longer required ; then the same rumours are repeated about a concentration of offices that were current at Auckland, and Mr. Hanson is stated to be his probable successor ; then Mr. St. Hill the Sheriff is requested to fill the vacant office ; then we are told some person " learned in the law" will receive the appointment ; and, lastly, we hear from good authority, it is not unlikely Mr. Beckham, whose occupation's gone at the Bay of Islands, may be inflicted upon us. Again, in the debates of the Legislative Council, which -appear in today's paper, the Governor, after having stoutly resisted any reductions in -the .departments of the Colonial Treasury, the Survey Department, Public Works, and Harbour -Establishment, and carried his point, proposes, " that after going through the Estimates, the votes on these departments should be re- considered with a view to reduction." Captain Fitzroy's imbecillity appears most glaring, in the general line of his conduct towards the natives, and in the absence of protection to the settlers ; and as from recent events this has become a point of the utmost importance, let us hear his Excellency on this subject : — " It had always been his course, through many years of service, to consider first well the means he had at command to accomplish certain objects, and any suggestions of measures he had always put aside, unless perfectly practicable udth -the means at his disposal, as idle and visionary." — " He was persuaded that the best course to pursue, considering the small means of defence or of protection the Executive Government of the Colony had at its command, was, to avoid every act that should evince our comparative weakness to the natives, and also not to attempt even any measures towards them which we could not fully and practically carry into execution. This had been his view and principle, and they were still the same." And yet Captain Fitzroy, after well considering the inadequate means at his disposal, .and. applying to Sir George Gipps in the most urgent manner for assistance, instead of avoiding every-act that should .evince his weakness to the natives, and not attempting any measures he could not fully carry into execution, before the expected 'reinforcements can arrive, has /bar times erected the. Flag-staff, to be as often cut down by Honi Heki, and on the last occasion, has involved a loss of life and property to an amount that must render his present position, if%e'has any sense- of his responsibility, most unenviable, and has caused the entire destruction of one of the oldest settlements in New Zealand. -But as the Southern Settlements are deeply interested at the present crisis, in his views with regard to them, they may learn with surprise, that in his opinion, people are so unreasonable as to imagine, that because they are. taxed for the support of the Government, they ought to receive protection, and to suppose that " they had a right to go where they pleased, and likewise to call for pro-

tection to follow them. To Wanganui no vessel can go with safety, and to march 200 to 300 miles through a country where every ravine and bush would be a point of defence to harass and destroy advancing columns, would almost annihilate a force." — But in another debate on the Estimates, after stating " that "Wanganui was on the high road between Wellington and Taranaki, and had become the resort of the bad characters driven out from those places," he consents to allow £180 for a magistrate and one constable. We hope the settlers there will duly appreciate his Excellency's consideration ; but we think that if he would not protect them, " he might at least forbear adding insult to injury, by attempting to give them a bad name. But Taranaki fares no better with his Excellency ; — in the debate on the third reading of the Militia Bill (March 25), he says, " With respect to distributing the troops, at Taranaki they could not be kept. -It is a settlement •without a harbour, and inaccessible by land as well as by sea." And yet when -it is a tjuestion of crimping settlers, or abstracting the property of the New Zealand Company from that district (as in the case of the cranes), his Excellency finds Taranaki perfectly accessible. But we ask, in the name of all that is right and just, is the Local Government to be permitted to set the natives in array against the settlers by means of the land question, and after trying to break up these settlements, coolly to tell the settlers to shift for themselves ? We think we have adduced proof enough from recent occurrences, to sustain our charge, and where we find so much pretension based on such slender qualifications, we may exclaim — " Thou wear a lion's hide ! doff it for shame, And hang a calf's skin on those recreant limbs." Were we to stop here, our case would be complete, but worse remains behind. His Excellency's propensity to insult those with whom he is placed in contact-in his official capacity, has been animadverted on by the Colonial and English press. On bis first visit to Wellington and Nelson, he insulted the settlors in the grossest .manner. - la -the same way he insulted* Dr. Martin in the last Legislative Session, and enlightened the settlers on the delicate and intuitive sense of honour possessed by a Government official. In like manner, in the present session, he insults Mr. Heale. We refer our readersto the debate on the grant for the Protectorate Department, in another part of this paper, where, at the bare thought of losing the services of that -exemplary character, tlie Chief Protector, his Excellency furiously attacks Mr. Heale, and celebrates the praises of the Missionary Blacksmith. Though by some moral alchymy, he could transmute the lead and dross of which thcfive most efficient officers of his Government are composed into metal more attractive, theirnsoncentrated value would not equal the Chief Protector's — " though all in one Condensed their scatter* d rays, they would not form a sun" of such moral brightness, — in whose person are united all the qualities that dignify and adorn human nature ; — whose faithful breast is the depositary of his Excellency's secret griefs, in those hours of anxiety when impelled by a community of feeling, he seeks refuge from the cares of State in the society of the Chief Protector, and takes sweet counsel together with this guide, philosopher, and friend. Sooner than lose such valuable counsel and assistance his Excellency would resign. But we were told by his Excellency on his first arrival, that if harsh or coercive measures were to be authorized by our Government against the intelligent and daring chiefs of New Zealand, he should respecfully tender his resignation. He informs Sir George Gipps that, though no alarmist, it was absolutely necessary he should inflict a sanguinary lesson on the natives at the north and the south ; but he does not resign. Again, he informs us, if his financial measures and penny-an-acre proclamation are not sanctioned by the .Home Government, he will resign. Our readers have seen Lord Stanley's opinion on the debentures, and we may shortly expect to receive his opinion on the Penny-an-acre Proclamation ; but we may be assm-ed that come what may, Captain Fitzroy will not learn the virtue of resignation : like ancient Pistol,

he will eat his leek. The attack on Mr. Heale was most unwarrantable, and in accusing him " of making statements so much at variance with truth," Captain Fitzroy condemns himself while thus judging another, seeing he himself lies open to the same imputation. We all remember his solemn pledges to the settlers of this district which still remain unfulfilled. He has not settled the Land Claims ; he did not return from Taranaki to Port Nicholson : and we learn from Lord Stanley's despatch he hadno authority to issue debentures for the current ■expenses of his Government. He has called spirits from the vasty deep, which a mightier exorcist than he must quell \. he has raised a devil in the north, that has played the very devil with him. We wish his Excellency would learn to shame the devil by a more rigid adherence to truth, so that thesettlers might attach more importance to his public professions. " O, while you live, tell truth, and shame the devil."

The Sale of Land advertized by Mr. S. Mocatta for Thursday next, will take place at theExchange, previously to the sale of Messrs. Bethune and Hunter on the same day.

We have made several inquiries of Settlers in. the Hutt district as to the probability of the Natives going away, and many whom we have consulted, are of opinion that they have not the slightest intention of leaving, and state that they are building new houses and shew other unequivocal symptoms of staying where they are. Others incline to think that they are hesitating, and that a little decision and prudence on the part of his Honor the Superintendent may determine them to go away. They think that if, on the arrival of the expected reinforcements, Major Richmond prepares to redeem the pledge given to the settlers by the Local Government, of forcibly removing these Native s; and explains to them beforehand, that if they go away quietly, he will give them as a matter of favor,. not of right, the sum formerly offered as a compensation for their crops, the whole business may be satisfactorily arranged. We are not the advocates of a compromise of principle, but when we have to weigh a few pieces of gold against the shedding of human blood, with all theconsequences certain to follow, we would say, in God's name, give' them the money — but not until after they have quitted the district.

We have received the Nelson Examiner of April . 5 th, which is filled with reports of the dinners given to Mr. M'Donald on his leaving Nelson, and of the dinner of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society. We were rather amused that Mr. Fox, even after dinner, could supposethe settlers of Port Nicholson would confound goats with cows, merely hecause they have horns. Such post-prandial effusions are not open to severe criticism, and we only allude tothem, in consequence of a charge he makes against the settlers of Port Nicholson of entertaining " a little bit of jealousy of Nelson, for which there was no sort of foundation." We can assure him no jealousy exists here of Nelson,, or any other settlement in New Zealand, and quite agree with him that there is no foundation for it. To all we wish God-specd — particularly to the settlements in Cook's Straits, which are united with us in bonds of common interests, and common wrongs inflicted by the Local Government. If a jealousy of Wellington does indeed exist at Nelson, as may be inferred by his observations, the sooner the settlers there clear their heads of such nonsense, the better.

We have received several letters from Wanganui complaining of the conduct of the Police Magistrate th^ere, who, among other arbitrary measures, threatens the settlers with the terrors of the Cattle Ordinance, if their sheep, or cattle are found in the streets of the town-. One of our correspondents asks, where are the poor people to place their cattle, as they cannot get their land ? and observes, if it were not for the cattle, their streets would be overgrown with fern instead of grass. He concludes by remarking, it is very strange, " that directly any man here gets a Government situation, he instantly thinks it his duty to bully his fellow countrymen, and throw every obstacle he can in their way."

Wb are happy to announce the arrival of Mr. M 'Donald as the Manager of the Union Bank of Australia in this place. Mr. M'Donald, by his straightforward "conduct and estimable private character, has gained the respect and esteem of all classes at Nelson : all united to pay him honor, and to testify their sense of his worth, - and regret at his departure. Mr. M 'Donald is personally known to many of our merchants in their commercial transactions with Nelson, and we are sure that our fellow colonists will rejoice in so valuable an addition to -their society, and that so important an office will be filled by one who is likely to be so generally acceptable.