New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday, November 8, 1845.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 57, 8 November 1845, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday, November 8, 1845.

"Next to his instructions, the most important subject for the consideration of a colonial Governor must be the choice of public servants, as instruments for carrying into effect the measures of his government. Whatever may be those measures, whether in accordance with the wishes of the colonists or not, a prompt and efficient execution of whatever is to be done must be a matter of the greatest moment to all concerned. At all times, and in all places, both the Governor and the governed are equal'y interested oil this point. In the present position of affairs in New Zealand, however, declared by Loid Stanley to be " most embarrassing to the Government as well as to the New Zealand Company," in other words, to all having the remotest interest in the colony, and on the advent of anew Governor, this p.int b?coraes a weighty and perplexing question. Feeling sure, is we do, from the prompt recall of Capt. Fitzrov, and from the negoci.ition between Lord Stanley, Sir James Graham and Mr. Buller, that no ordinary man has been appointed as Governor, we have a right to assume that this question will not be treated in an o-dinary manner. The new Governor, we opine, lieing a very different sort of person from either the late Capt. Hobson, or from the ex Governor, Capt. Fitzroy, will act in a very different wav from that, which was followed by either of them, in the selection and appointment of Government officers. As to the appointments made by the first Governor, we believe, that from his position at the time, just emerging from dependency ( n New South Wales, he had hardly any option, and consequently, he named every public servant, v> ith very few exceptions, from amongst the refuse of the i Government o'Sces in Sy r 'nev, Besides these, there were some appointments made in England, the Attorney General, for instance, which were equally objectionable, although on different grcunde, as those made in the colony. Tr-e ragged regiment from New Holland were, perhaps, not worse fitted for the discharge of their official duties than the imbeciles impoited irom Great Britain. A precious group they were when Mr. Shortland resigned the Government ! We need not be particular, for every body knows that the holders of five different offices, the Sheriff being one, was in cu=tody for debt or out upon bail at the same time that there was a defaulter to a large amount ; and that there ■were two Police Magistrates who have since left the colony under the most disgraceful circumstances. Captain Fitzrov, without hesitation or enquiry confirmed the appointments of all the incapables whom he found in office, and added a Colonial Secretary, whose obscurity, incapacity and gross ignorance rendered him at once a congenial associate With his colleague s, and. therefore a ready instrument of the Governor's purblinJ and malicious tyranny. Of the Government officials in the South we can not speak so decidedly, for the simple reason, that they have had nothing to do. The officers of Government in Auckland have acted as mock councillors to the Governor, and in that capacity have assisted in and sanctioned all the acts for which he has been recalled. Some of them have also done a little business on their own account, b\ forging debentures. In the Southern distiict they have had no functions, and therefore it has been impossible to play such pranks as their compeers in the north. They have been, nevertheless, most mischievously obstructive ; their vis inertia being constantly opposed to the exertions of the colonists to help the-n-selves. By this means, they have carried out the idea of their chief which, we know, was to destroy the Southern settlements. For his endeavours to this end, as well as for other things, he has met with a fitting reward in his recall, followed as it will be by contempt, obscurity, and despair of ever being employed again. Are the corps of the Government officers in the South entitled to a less reward ? From his Honor Major Richmond, the Superintendent, down to the Surveyor, who receives £200 a year for mapping, and thereby proclaiming the sanction of the Government to encr achments by the natives, have they not, one and all, aided and abetted the ex Governor, in opposing, thwarting, vexing and maltreating the settlei s in C ooic s Straits ? Their conduct has, no doubt, been in obedience to orders from Capt. Fitzrov, but will this excuse avail them with a new Governor? Can Major Richmond ju&tifv his apparently do nothing, but really most injurious and mischievous career or that ground ? We think not. We believe that the new Governor will inquire into the character, position, and capacity of all holders of, as well as of all aspirants for place, and what could Major Richmond urge in his own favour ? Secluding himself from all intercourse with

the settlers, economising in silence, unbroken save by one or two disreputable g< ssips, he has.fiiled his office wiihout earning a claim to the respect or gratitude of, and therefore is without influence over, the smallest section of the community. Whether the Province of Victoria be erected or not, a new Governor will, if he be a man of action, try to do something for t c settlemewts in the «ouih, and men like Major Ricnmrnd and his colleagues can be of no service to him. Perfect parasites, humble, s-nooth, and silent, as instruments of Government they are utterly worthless, except at a period of depression and despair like that passad through under Captain Fitzroy's sway. That uespot by his measures respecting the southern settlements, having created a solitude called it peace, and these sycophants responded to the cry We feel assured that their occupation is gone.

By the brig Bee we have received Sydney papers to the 25th of October, containing extracts from London papers to the 1 8th Jane, and extracts from Adelaide papers, containing English news received via Singapore, to the 24th June. The affairs of New Zealand had occupied the attention of tbe Hous>e of Commons in a deba'c of three nights continuance. On the 1 7th June Mr. Buller submitted the resolutions adopted by the committee on New Zealand the previous session, omitting that which condemned the conduct of the New Zealand Company in sending out settlers to New Zealand without the sanction of the Crown. Mr. Buller's speech is a most able and masterly history of New Zealand from Cook's visit to the present period, and occupies twelve columns in the report of the Moining Chronicle. Mr. M. Milnes seconded the resolutions. Mr. G. W. "Hope defended the conduct of the Government; but was very moderate in his remarks upon the New Zealand Company This occupied the first night. Captain Rous commenced the debate on the second night by moving the following amendment : — Th.it the treaty of Waitangi should be inviolably maintained, and ihat the conduct of the New Zealand Company, in sending out settlers to New Zealand, not only without the sanction, but in direct defiance of the authority of the Crown, was highly irregular and improper. Mr. Aglionby, Mr. Barldy, Mr. Hawes, and Lord Howick, spoke in favour of the original motion ; and Sir R. Inglis and Sir H. Douglas in favour of the amendment. The Sydney Herald adds :—: — We have no report of the third night's debate, but the London Mail says that Sir J. Graham and Sir R. Peel both spoke, and that iheir tone was conciliatory. The amendment was carried by a majority of fify'-one. In the course of the debate it was sfated that Captain Grey, now Governor of South Austialia, had been appointed to New Zealand, .which, judging from his Excellency's conduct in his present government, is a most judicious appointment. Mr. Hutt, M.P. for Gateshead, and Mr. Emerson Tennant, are spoken <>f in private letters as likely to succeed Capt. Grey. It was currently reported in Sydney that Sir George Oipps would hs appointed as ' Commissioner for a limited period, to advise j with our new Governor in arranging the - affairs of New Zealand and in that capacity j would shortly visit this colony. If our new Governor will decide on visiting each sjttlement in the company of so able an adviser, collecting information from respectable and well-informed settlers, and receiving with caution the interested suggestions of the ! present official clique, and then act vigorously and impartially, we may shoitly hope to ! see as great a change effected in New Zea- I land as was caused by his Excellency's j judicious measures? in the colony he ha* just left. Our new Governor comes among us with a fairly earned reputation, but Captain Fitzroy's fame (to use a phrase of Lord Brougham'^) was credit got upon. tick. It is said Capt. Grey may be expectei in Auckland the middle of this month. Capt. Fitzroy had been offeied a passage home in H.M.S. the Fhj. It was generally believed in Sydney that a war steamer had been sent to New Zealand from the South American station. Mr. Hope in his speech on Mr. Buller's motion informed the House that a regiment had been ordered for New Zealand.

On Sunday, the 26th October last, Mr. Nankeville's house, at Manawatu, was burned down, and we are sorry to add that everything it contained was entirely destroyed. The house, which was a very large one, was built of reeds and tohi-lohi ; and it is supposed that thp fire was occasioned by a spark from the chimney, which communicated with the thatch.

Rc^beries. — Od Saturday night the stores of Messrs. Bethune & Hunter were broken open, and various articles taken ; and on Monday ni^ht Mr. Waitt's store was rubbed of 2 hags of flour and 1 bag of sugar : some jobberies have also occurred at Wade's Town. The Police ought to exert themselves to discover the depredators.