SYDNEY.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 29, 26 April 1845, Page 3

SYDNEY.

By the Bee we have received files of the Australian, Morning Chronicle, and Register : it is now nearly three months since we have been favoured with any copies of the Sydney Herald : to Mr. Eagar we are indebted for the perusal of a file to the Bth April. The news from the Bay of Islands had caused considerable excitement in Sydney. A public meeting was called on the sth April, to urge Sir George Gipps to forward additional troops to Auckland and Wellington, for the protection of the British population there. ' F. Fisher, Esq., late Attorney- General of New Zealand, was called to the chair. Mr. Charles Abercrombie moved, and Mr. John Smith, late of Wellington, seconded the resolution : — " That it is the opinion of this meeting, that a large number of troops and two steamers should be immediately forwarded to New Zealand, for the protection of the white inhabitants, and that one of the steamers should be dispatched direct to Cook's Straits, and the other to the Thames." After the resolution had been submitted to the meeting, several of the gentlemen present called on the Reverend Dr. Lang to support it, when he expressed himself to the following effect : Dr. Lang observed that he had come to the meeting simply at the call of humanity, and without the slightest expectation or intention of taking any part in its proceedings ; but as it was evidently the desire of a considerable number present that he should offer a few observations on the lamentable catastrophe that had led to their meeting, he would avail himself of the opportunity afforded him of doing so. The event that had called them together was one of a distressing character, and one for which, in so far as his memory served him, there was no precedent in the history of British colonization for a long time past. A British settlement had been virtually annihilated by the half-savage tribes among whom it had been formed ; a number of valuable lives had been lost, and a vast amount of British property destroyed. But lamentable as was an event attended with such results, it was not merely the loss of life or the destruction of property that was to be deplored in this case ; it was the loss of the prestige that attended our presence and our power, as the first of the colonizing nations of Europe, in the midst of savage or semi-savage tribes, and the probable consequences that might ensue in the indiscriminate massacre by detail of numbers of our defenceless countrymen, from the North to the South Cape of New Zealand, by the excited aborigines. For the natives would draw inferences from the destruction of the British settlement at the Bay of Islands in the highest degree flattering to their own strength and power, as opposed to Europeans, and proportionately dangerous to the peace and safety of Europeans in all parts of the islands. The danger to be apprehended from the natives in such circumstances would only, he conceived, be the greater, the greater the distance of the other settlements from the Bay of Islands. He had himself visited the Bay of Islands, on his way to England, in the year 1 839, and so strongly impressed had he then been with the state of things in the New Zealand Islands, as one that ought not to be permitted to continue by the British Government, that on his arrival in England he had published four letters on the subject to the late Earl Durham, who was then Governor of the New Zealand Company, strongly recommending that the islands should be taken possession of at once as a British colony. And he had no hesitation in acknowledging, notwithstanding the viiy different opinion that had been given on

the subject by the mover of the resolution h& had risen to support, that one of the suggestions he had taken the liberty to make in these letters, for the consideration and adoption of the Government, in the event of the colonisation of New Zealand, was, that the right of pre-emption should be vested exclusively in the Crown, and that all direct purchases of land from the natives by individuals should cease and determine. This, he conceived, was a measure of indispensible necessity for the protection of the natives themselves, who ought to be viewed by the Government as minors, and incapable of acting with justice to themselves in direct bargainmaking with individual Europeans, as well as of justice betwaen njan and man in regard to Europeans. In short, this was the course universally pursued by the Government of the United States towards the Indian nations witHin their nominal boundaries, whose intellectual character and whose position in the social scale were much the fcame as those of the natives of New Zealand. And he had no doubt whatever that if this course had been adopted, as it might have been done with perfect facility from the first by the British Government, and carried out with vigour and decision towards the natives, and with equity and justice both toward them and the Europeans, the result they had now to deplore would never have occurred. But it was no part of the course he had taken the liberty to recommend for the adoption of the Government on the occasion he referred to, to pursue the dilatory, vacillating, and wavering policy that had characterised the government of New Zealand all along. The course that had been so long pursued by the Government towards that unfortunate colony, reminded him indeed of a clock that was always going, but always wrong ; and the late lamentable events at the Bay of Islands, were the melancholy result. The settlement of Kororarika, in the Bay of Islands, which had been destroyed by the natives, consisted of a small extent of level ground, bounded by the bay to seaward, but almost surrounded towards the land by a semicircular range of hills, the occupation of any one of which by an. invading force would be fatal to those below. Now, it was one of the facts in this most unfortunate case, that would of course receive future investigation in the proper quarter, that a blockhouse erected on one of those heights for the defence of the settlement, had been gained possession of by the natives, from the British force appointed to defend it, without a shot. It wasanother of the unfortunate facts in this case, that the detachment actually sent down by the authorities here, on the requisition of the authorities in New Zealand, the arrival of which in proper time would have entirely prevented the catastrophe, might have been sent down to the Bay of Islands a whole month before it sailed, but for some contemptible higgling on the part of the Executive here, about a few pounds, shillings, and pence. The sailing of the troopshad been delayed for a month, and in the meantime, in consequence of this delay, an important British settlement, the oldest in New Zealand, had been annihilated, the lives of a number of our unfortunate fellow-subjects, as well as of many of the natives, had been sacrificed, and a large amount of British property destroyed. He could not envy either the position or the feelings of those who were responsible for all this calamity. But they were met there, not to pass censure either on the Government, or on any private parties in this matter. They were assembled to recommend to the Government some vigorous and efficient measures for the safety and protection of their unfortunate fellowsubjects who were still left alive in New Zealand, and he perfectly concurred with the mover of the resolution that had been proposed, that the particular measure recommended was a right and proper one under the circumstances. It was indispensably necessary, for the safety of the British inhabitants of New Zealand, that there should be an immediate and strong demonstration of British force, to prevent that course of murder and massacre which they had reason to fear would otherwise be exhibited by the excited natives all over the islands. He also concurred with the mover of the resolution in thinking that the settlements in Cook's Straits were in still greater danger than Auckland* Auckland was the seat of Government, and as such would, in all likelihood, have a stronger available force of all kinds in its neighbourhood than the southern settlements. The country around it was comparatively open, and therefore less favourable for aggression on the part of barbarians, than the densely- wooded country on both sides of the Straits. And, as he had stated already, the prestige of the native victory at the Bay of Islands would be much stronger at a distance than in the vicinity. For these reasons he would most cordially support the resolution, and although others might have been found much fitter to do it justice than himself, from their better acquaintance with the present circumstances and condition of the different settlements in New Zealand, he was sure they would find none who sympathized more deeply with their unfortunate fellow-subjects in that important colony, or who more earnestly desired its welfare and advancement. Mr. Buckland then moved the following resolution, which was seconded by Captain G. T. Clavton : —

" That a Committee, consisting of Francis Fisher, Esq., Chairman of the meeting ; Charles Abercrombie, Esq., John Smith, Esq., of Wellington, New Zealand ; William Wright, Esq., John Taylor, Esq., Edward Chalmer, Esq., and George Thomas Clayton, Esq., late of Kororarika, New Zealand ; "and Captain Robert Mylne, be requested to convey the first resolution to his Excellency Sir George Gipps, the Governor of New South Wales, and to urge upon his Excellency the immediate despatch of the troops and steamers for New Zealand." After the resolution had been adopted by the meeting, the usual vote of thanks to the Chairman was carried by acclamation, after which the meeting dispersed. Notwithstanding the shortness of the notice, about three hundred jpersons were present, all of whom seemed to >4a£e a deep interest in the proceedings.

; Opficial Despatches. — Rumour was very husy yesterday. The Governor, it is said, had received most " triumphant despatches" on the squatting question ; which means, we presume, = that the regulations of April last have been approved by Lord Stanley ; this we do not believe. It is reported, also, that the lien on Wool Act, ' and Solvent Debtors' Act had been disallowed, which is not the case. Lord Stanley considers the Lien Act directly opposed to the law of England, which does not recognize the pawning of rnoveable property, unless it is given into the possession of the person advancing the money ; but, under the circumstances of the colony, he will not advise her Majesty to disallow it at present; the Act was received in Downingstreet in July, 1844, and her Majesty is entitled to disallow any Act within two years of the time of its being received by the Secretary of State, and unless the act is previously repealed, her Majesty will be advised to disallow it in July, 1846. The Solvent Debtors' Bill is also objected to — the principle of allowing a debtor to keep possession of his property in defiance of his creditors, if a certain number of his creditors will consent, being calculated to endanger 1 public faith ; as however, this Act was only passed for two years, it will be allowed to run out ; but the Governor is desired to withhold his consent from any similar measure in future. Everything appears to be going on very quietly at the Sandwich Islands, and commerce is rapidly increasing. During the year 1844, four hundred and ninety-seven vessels put into the different ports of the kingdom, of which four hundred and ten were American, and five English. The celebrated John Adams, Governor of Hawai, died in December ; he was the first native of the Sandwich Islands that learned to read.

Manufactures. — In reference to our recommendation to promote the breeding of swine in this colony, we may mention, that the skins are purchased at 10s. each at the Glenmore Tannery. They are much in demand, and will be likely to continue so, inasmuch as they are valuable for saddlery. We understand that the shrub commonly known by the erroneous designation of the tea tree, is likely to possess the colourless tannin which produces white and coloured leather, or colour might be removed by a solution of chlorine. Hogs' skins tanned are in great demand in the Sydney market, for saddlery, at 20s. each, and they will doubtless realize a higher price when their value becomes better known. They would find a ready sale in the London market. The manufacturers of steariDe complain of a deficient supply of lard in Sydney. The sulphuric acid required for the making of stearine and for the various arts, is being made with great success at Five Dock, from New Zealand sulphur, so as to leave no doubt that henceforward all the chemical agents may be manufactured in the colony. — Herald. Our readers will recollect that for a long time, the various papers in the Australiau Colonies were full of surmises as to wheu and where the " Conference" between their Excellencies -Sir George Gipps and Sir Eardley "Wilmott, and his Honor Mr. La Trobe, relative to the forma- ! tion of the new penal settlement, to the north- -. ward of the present located lands of New South * Wales, was to be held. A Melbourne paper, received yesterday, declares this intended conference is not to stake place, in consequence of the squatting gentry iin Australia Felix having been too good natured, , in taking the Pentonville Exiles off the hands of. the British Government. The following extract from an article on the subject, in the paper above refered to, will be read witti considerable interest. If true, this statement evidently shows that the Home Authorities are by no means desirous of forcing their felon population upon us against our will. "It would appear that the British Government, on shipping off the first batch of these men by the Sir George Seymour, did not anticipate that the Port Phillippians would run after them, as has been the case with reference to the squatters, and, accordingly, the whole paraphernalia of a large depot, together with the necessary officers to conduct the colony, were shipped in the same vessal with the men. Dr. Hampton was to be the governor of the new colony, Mr. Boyd, deputy governor, and Mr. Kerndoff, religious instructor ; all with full salaries, and full rations, &c, for their wives and families, supplied them from the British Trea-

sury. In the event of the men finding ready employment, which we regret to say wjis the case, the idea of forming a new settlement was to be abandoned forthwith, and it has been abandoned accordingly ; the ship was to return to England, giving the beforementioned officers a free passage home, with six months' full salaiy ." — Sydney Australian. The Cowrie gum lately imported from New Zealand, has been sold at auction for between £16 and £17 per ton. Some excellent varnish has been manufactured in Sydney from similar gum The officers of the Indian army now in Sydney for the purpose of purchasing horses for the India market have given £50, to be run for at the next Homebush races.