NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR, AND COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday, August 2, 1845.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 43, 2 August 1845, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR, AND COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday, August 2, 1845.

" The appointment of some person, with authority to represent the head of the local government in the neighbourhood of Cook's Straits, invested with sufficient executive power to enable him to act upon an emergency, without the delay of a reference to the seatof government." — Lord Stanley's Dispatch toMr.SJiortland, May 19, 1843. This was the description of the sort of person asked for by the settlers in Cook's Straits, and Captain Fitzroy 1 was instructed by Lord Stanley to appoint such a person. Captain Fitzroy appointed Major Richmond, and his appointment has been confirmed by her Majesty the Queen. We cannot conceive a better illustration of the mismanagement of unfortunate New Zealand, than this appointment. Our friends in England, no doubt, believe that Captain Fitzroy must have obeyed Lord Stanley's instructions in such a matter as this, for two.reasons, first, because it is a governor's duty to obey his instructions, and, secondly, because by delegating his authority, as instructed, he would have saved himself a vast deal of trouble and anxiety. On the contrary, Captain Fitzroy has appointed a representative without any power at all, and the settlers in Cook's Straits are as much without a government as they ever were. The stoppage of the pay of the militia places our position in a very striking light. A large debt has been contracted to the militia, and no funds have been provided to meet it. His Honor the Superintendent has no authority to raise any funds. Two months or more have elapsed since we have heard from Auckland, and how much longer we shall be without communication with the local government nobody can tell. A rumour, most probably of the: truth, that the troops have been defeated at the north, is generally believed, — and to whom are the settlers to look for information or protection ? We regret that we might as well be without a government. Nelson is still worse in this respect, for there is no fund to pay a militia, and the settlement is totally unprotected. Let every one consider this state of entire abandonment in conjunction with the instructions quoted from Lord Stanley's dispatch, and say whether a better illustration could be found of what unhappily wants no further illustration, namely, the imbecility of the miserable driveller at Auckland.

A report is current that the troops sent to attack Heki have been surprized by the rebels, and defeated with considerable loss. There are two versions of the story, one, that they were surprized while cutting a road through the wood, for the purpose of bringing the artillery to bear on Ileki's pa ; another account states that the forces had reached the pa, and were engaged in cutting down the palisades, when Heki's party opened a destructive fire upon them, and Kowaiti's party, which had been lying in ambush, rushed out, and attacked them in the rear, and put them to flight. The report is said to have been brought to Kawhia by a maori who travelled across the country, and thence to Porirua by a small schooner belonging to the natives. We sincerely hope the account may prove to be incorrect, but we are in the meantime kept in a painful state of suspense by the neglect of the local government.

A second box, containing one thousand sovereigns, was recovered yesterday from the wreck of the Tyne by Mr. C. Suisted and Mr. D. Scott, and deposited in the Union Bank.