ENGLISH NEWS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 28, 19 April 1845, Page 3

ENGLISH NEWS.

Governor Fitzrot. — New Zealand journals to the end of May have been received. They contain abundant evidence of the unwise policy adopted by Governor Fitzroy, and the effect it is producing on the minds of the settlers. A

masterly expose ol tne governor s programme of performances for the ensuing legislative session, from the Southern Cross (Auckland newspaper), will he found in another column. But the most successful illustrator of the impolicy of Governor is himself. He has issued a notice in which the qualifications required in applicants foi office or advancement are intimated : only two are specificd — knowledge of the Maori language, and " a general good feeling towards the aborigines." In certain situations, a knowledge of the gibberish called Maori (which is neither the English nor New Zealand language, but a confused patchwork of misunderstood terms from the one, and vulgarisms from the other), as a medium of communication with the aborigines, is required ; in these cases it was an understood qualification, and needed not to be intimated. The insinuation couched in the intimation, that " a general good feeling towards the aborigines" is required, is a wanton and most unmerited insult to the settlers, and is resented accordingly. It has been thought that a knowledge of the English language might be useful to a clerk in the secretary's office ; a knowledge of the practice and theory of surveying, to v candidate for employment in the survey department ; a knowledge of accounts in a candidate for employment in the treasury ; and, when it was worth while to promulgate an official notice of requirements as to general character, the requirements as to general fitness might have been announced at the same time. But, unmeaning and uncalled-for though the notice now commented upon may be, it has a meaning : it declares, beyond the possibility of of doubt, that the Governorship of Governor Fitzroy is performed in the spirit which has animated the Colonial-office towards New Zealand from the beginning : — in a spirit of hostility to the settlers, and in a spirit of unwise cockering and dandling of the natives, dictated less by love for them than by hatred of the importunate Englishmen who have forced upon the office the trouble of a new colony. — Colonial Gazette, Oct, 26, 1844.

State op the British Navy in the Pact pic. — The following is the amount of our naval force in the Pacific : — Basilisk, 6, Lieut. H. S. Hunt (acting), at Tahiti; Carysfort, 26, Lord George Paulet, now or late at Sandwich Islands ; Collingwood, 80, Rear-Admiral Sir George Seymour, G.C.H., on her way ; Cormorant, 6 (steamer), Commander G. P. Gordon; Daphne, 18, Capt. J. J. Onslow ; Dublin, 50, Rear- Admiral R. Thomas ; Fisgard, 42, Capt. J. A. Duntze ; Modeste, 18, Commander P. Baillie; Hazard, 18, Commander C. Bell; North Star, 26, Capt. Sir E. J. Home, Bart., at New Zealand ; Salamander, 4 (steamer), Commander A. S. Hamond ; Talbot, 26, Capt. Sir T.Thompson ; Thalia, 42, Capt. C. Hope. Ib. " The Gazette of Ghent states that information of an authentic character has been received at the office of that paper, relative to an attempt that is to be made to introduce into Belgium, in considerable quantity, a very superior discription of New Zealand Flax recently imported into London, and so packed as to imitate the Continental article. It is not in our power testate at present whether this story be correct or not, but we deem it as well, in any case, to call attention to it." — Globe. The Duke of Wellington and the Warders of the Tower. — The office of warder to the Tower has been bestowed by his Grace the Duke of Wellington, since his acceptance of the constableship of the Tower in 1826, on thirty-two old soldiers, who are, for the mostpart, meritorious non-commissioned officers. The predecessors of his Grace have invariably received £300 for each warder's appointment, but the Duke of Wellington basin none of these cases mentioned accepted any fee — thus presenting to the veteran men selected, and his old peninsular companions, the sum of £9,600. The distinguished regiment of the Coldstream Guards, which formerly wore the honorable badge of the Waterloo medal on their breasts, now never appear with it in public. The musters of the garrison troops, however, and wardens in the Tower, present a different aspect ; the latter, especially, display a number of Waterloo and other medals of distinction adorning their fronts. Before his Grace took the command of the Tower, not ouly places, but houses, were also sold by the constables. Some of those noble | mansions, formerly state prisons, containing from eight to sixteen rooms each, were either presented to favourites, or sold to the highest bidder ; so that a warder of ten or twenty years' standing, if without money or interest, had not the slightest hope of obtaining shelter within the garrison, unless he paid heavy rents to his warder, the lucky owner, for part of his little palace. The moment, however, his Grace became acquainted, .with this traffic, he issued orders that a regular division should be made amongst the whole body, giving each warder a proportionate share, with directions that they should all reside within the gates of the fortress. The cost of re-building the Royal Exchange, together with the improvements in the immediate vicinity, is stated to be upwards of £400,000. The rental of the Royal Exchange is estimated at about £14,000 per annum. The Royal Exchange Assurance Company is rented at £2,400 ; Lloyd's at £2,000 ; and the London Assurance at £1,400, so that on the whole it is not a bad investment.

axThrcT of Dr. Wolff.' — The Indian mai has brought accounts from Constantinople which state, on the best authoiity, that advices have been received of the arrival of Dr. Wolft at Meru, on his way to Teheran. Having thus crossed the frontier of Bokhara, his personal safety has been insured, and his return to the civilized world will be hailed with general satisfaction. — Illustrated London News.