New Zealand Spectator AND COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday, APRIL 25, 1846.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 81, 25 April 1846, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator AND COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday, APRIL 25, 1846.

His Excellency the Governor recently promised that, an account of the revenue and expenditure of each settlement should be made public locally every quarter, and in our last number we were enabled to furnish statistics for this district, ordered to be supplied in the spirit x>f this voluntary engagement, but want of space precluded our commenting upon them. We would premise by stating that we cast aside, as having no connexion with the real question, all reference to receipts from or remittances to ti east tries —and of receipts and payments on account of the Fitzroy Debenture fraud. The real revenue for the last three months it appears amounted to £1087 :12 : 10. An account of the revenue of the prior three months would be necessary to enable us to conduct-our review with perfect results —but lacking such information, we must recall attention to a remarkable event which took place a short period prior to Christmas. The schooner / don't know arrived then from Auckland, andfrom transactions which arose, the public became convinced that they could not too rapidly dispose of their Debentures, nor dispose of them so well as by paying them into the Colonial Treasury, and duties upon bonded goods were paid within a week, it was reported, to the extent of £2,500. Now the effect of paying duties to so large an extent just prior to the commencement of the past quarter must have Tjeen to diminish the amount of duties paid in the period between. January last and April. A.IU we feel assured, will agree that in only claiming an additional £500 for the kst quarter, in consideration of this premature payment of £2,500, we are very moderate. Many, we feel assured, would state that the proper allowance would be £2000 —which added to the amount received, £1,087 :12 :10, would ■show a local reyenue of more than £3,000 for three months, or £12,000 for the year. But, as we have already stated, we only claim to .add £500 to the £I,oB7:l2:lo —which shows a revenue exceeding £1,500 for the or £6,000 for the year. We consider, then, that we are entitled to regard the revenue of Port Nicholson as exceeding .£6,000 per annum. The local expenditure is stated to be £2,183 : 18: 1 for five months. We assume that the expenditure of the last three months has not been proportionally greater than the expenditure of the prior two months; we shall therefore take three-fifths of the amount as the expenditure for the past quarter, and £1,310: 7 then appears to be the amount expended here during the last three months. But we are not prepared to admit that we ought in justice to be charged with one iota of the following items set-down in the 'list of !

These sums together amount to £267:0:9 for five months, or .£160:4:0 for three months, that sum deducted from the above £1,310:7:0 leaves £1,150 :3: 0, from which we shall presently show cause for very material deductions to be made. We object to being charged with Mr. Fitzgerald's expenses as a surveyor on two grounds; first, because we have paid the New Zealand Company for surveying the land, and if, therefore, it be a just charge, it is just, not as against us, but as against the Company; and secondly, because there would be no difficulty in showing that Mr. Fitzgerald's surveys have not been either for the substantial benefit of the colony, the settlers, the Company, or the natives; his time in fact has been occupied in a frivolous and vexatious manner. We object to paying for medicines and medical attendance for the natives, because the natives have no better claim to be supplied, nor .is there any more necessity to supply them with drugs and Doctors gratis than there is to supply the settlers. If the British Government or British public have a turn for doctoring and drugging the natives, let it be .done—but at the expence of John Bull. Philanthropy is a very -charming thing, but the rich big man ought not to indulge in it at the expense of the poor small boy. We object to paying for Militia, because Militia ought not to be needed, and .would not have been required but for the gross injustice of the Colonial Office towards the set-

tiers ; and because as we are Colonial slaves we ought not to be charged with any portion of the expense attending that protection to which all slaves are entitled at the hands of their masters. We need not object to £45 for Protector of Aborigines, because the abolition of that department, which is about immediately to take place, is an admission that it should never have been created. We will now turn to another item for which we have a decided objection to pay; il is the Superintendent's department. We maintain that if Auckland be relieved from the expense of the Governor and Chief Justice by the vote of the House of Commons, so ought we to be relieved from the expense of his Honor the Superintendent. Surely if the capital of New Zea'and, the seat of all the wealth, respectability, and productive powers of the colony, require such assistance, poor Port Nicholson ought not to be forgotten by the generosity of the Home Government. We reduced the expenditure for the quarter to €1,150 : 3 : 0, or £4,600 per annum. Now, if in justice we are are allowed to make the foregoing deductions, they will amount to £229 : 7 : 9 for the Superintendent — after making this deduction, the expenditure per quarter would be £920 :15 : 3 or £3,683:1:0 per annum against a revenue, as we have shown, exceeding £6,000 — leaving a balance in favor of the settlement of about £2,300, which ought to be devoted to local improvements, either in a direct manner, or to pay theinterest upon a loan fd the purpose ; the latter we opine would be the best mode of expenditure. Whether the Home Government will pay ■our judge's salary, as it once promised to do, we know not — but if not, it is plainly an .expenditure which should only in part be charged to this .place ; a part of the salary should be debited to Nelson, Akaroa, and Chatham Islands, and next year another portion to Otakau. By distributing this fairly, the Port Nicholson expenditure would be reduced below £3,000 : 0 : 0 per annum, leaving an excess of revenue over expenditure of more than £3,000 per annum. His Honor the Superintendent was appointed to the Southern Division, and at the time it was supposed New Plymouth was subject to his jurisdiction, but Capt. Fitzroy's desire to swell the importance of Auckland induced him to take that settlement of the Company in tow of the North ; and lately Capt. Grey has been kind enough to allow Nelson to repudiate this miserable functionary, so that within a few days the Southern Division and Port Nicholson were synonymous — but now, the Major's juris- diction is limited within very narrow bounds ; in fact, the Southern Division was last Monday further curtailed, and now it and the Town of Wellington are one and the same, for the remainder has been placed beyond his Honor's control by being subjected to Martial Law. Now we submit, that if the prideless, the ambitionless, the soulless Major cannot take the hint, whether the people of this district ought to be taxed to the extent of £600 a year that he may be " His Honor the Superintendent of the Town of Wellington ?" In conclusion we would statp, that if called upon to contribute our fair share of certain salaries, and only such other expences as are justly chargeable to the district, £3,000 per annum would meet the Government necessities of the place, and thus even this year there would remain at least £3000 to be devoted to local wants and improvements. We shall consider it our duty each quarter narrowly to criticise the returns of local revenue and expenditure, and to urge the utmost economy consistent with efficiency, and steadily protest against the gross injustice of not expending every farthing of our surplus income in this district ; a claim which may be supposed to be recognised by the House of Commons granting an annual vote which may be .considered to cover what may be deemed the general expenses of the Executive Government of New Zealand.

During bis Excellency's late sojourn amongst us, every opportunity was eagerly sought by him of obtaining information of the wishes of the settlers, .and the requirements of the settlement. In due time we may expect to receive the benefit of the information thus obtained in salutary reforms, and in wise and judicious measures tending to establish the peace, to develop the resources, and to advance the prosperity of this district. First among these, and as an earnest of further benefits and future improvement, we may rank the establishment of an efficient Police Force, and the projected .roads to be executed by the military under the inspection of Capt. Russell. And among the objects which occupied the immediate attention and engrossed the solicitude of his Excellency previous to his departure may be mentioned, the institution of a Savings Bank at Wellington for the benefit of the working classes. So deeply was his Excelleucy impressed with the advantages to be de-

rived from its establishment, from a knowledge of the practical good effected among the working classes by the Savings Bank at Adelaide, that he has generously offered to guarantee the Interest on the Iteposits at his own expense, if a Savings Bank were established in this district. Mr. M'Donald, the manager of the Union Bank, has also kindly consented to receive deposits and to manage the business free of expense, until the institution shall be placed on a firm basis. Nothing therefore remains but that the working classes should add their cooperation, by availing themselves extensively of the benefits of the institution. It may be deemed hardly necessary to point out to them its great advantages in giving a stimulus to industry, in diffusing habits of forethought and economy, and in helping those who are disposed to help themselves. The smallest sams are received, and remain to accumulate at interest until by successive additions, they are of sufficient importance to carry out some plan which may secure the comfort or add to the independence of the depositor, who receives the amount of his deposits the moment he chooses to demand it. Many hard earnings have been wasted in small sums in this settlement, because no opportunity existed for securely and profitably invesiing them ; many a family might have received a material help if they could have availed themselves of the boon of this Provident Institution. Now that the opportunity is freely offered, we are sure that the intelligence and prudence of the working classes of this district will not be slow in shewing, by the use they make of it, their just appreciation of its value.

-Superintendent's Department. — We are informed that Mr. Kemp, late Native Protector in this district, has been appointed Clerk and Intel preter to the Superintendent at £180 per annum, and the salary of Mr. Giimstone, the Secretary of the Southern Division, has been reduced from £200 to £150 per annum, if his Honor requires the assistance of some one to do the spelling of his department, it would only be fair to defray the expence out of his own salary, but it is hard that the most efficient person in this department should be made to suffer for the incompetency of his Principal by a reduction in his salary.

On Monday last Martial Law was proclaimed in that part of the Southern District " South of a line drawn from Wainui, in Cook's Straits, to Castle Point on the East Coast, excluding therefrom the Town of Wellington." We have little doubt that his Excellency was induced to take this step in consequence of the predatory visits of the rebels, who still remain in arms in the neighbourhood, and from a .conviction of Major Richmond's incompetency, and the utter want of confidence of the settlers in him, should any critical emergency occur in the interval of hisExlency's absence from Wellington.

On Monday last, a party of the rebels visited the Hutt district and carried away a quantity of potatoes from Mr. Mason's section, just above the spot where the camp formerly stood. On Tuesday another party robbed a settler named Leverton of potatoes, and three pigs which they killed and carried away. They also took away his blankets and other property. A party of mlitia under the command of Mr. Watt followed on their track, but it was night before they came up with them, and as they were ignorant that Martial Law had been proclaimed they refrained from firing. At daybreak on Thursday Major Durie went up the Hutt with a party of Police to scour the valley and co-operate with the Militia in the necessary measures for the protection of the settlers.

On Wednesday morning at eight o'clock H.M.S. Castor , Capt. Graham, sailed for Auckland, and about two o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, his Excellency and Mrs. Grey embarked onboard H.M. Steamer Driver to return to Auckland. A salute was fired by H.M.S. Calliope, and the yards of the Driver were manned in honor of the occasion. It is reported that his Excellency will not be absent for more than six weeks or two months. The Calliope remains to protect the Southern district. Colonel Hulmeand the other officers of the staff accompanied his Excellency. Te Ringa Kuri and two other natives went in the Driver to Auckland, and by this means the district has been relieved for the present of a very troublesome character.

The last advices from Porirua state that the natives had not been seen near the encampment. The entrenchments werj proceeding very rapidly, and it was expected that the defences would soon be in a very advanced state.

Plrs Excellency has been pleased to appoint Mr. R. S. Cheesman Clerk to the Bench of the Wellington District.

In consequence of further evidence obtained since his trial, establishing an alibi (the defence set up on bis trial), his Excellency has

been pleased, at the recommendation of his Honor the Judge, to grant a free pardon to Kumete who was found guilty at the last sittings of the Supreme Court, of having been concerned in the robberies on the Hutt, and sentenced to ten years' transportation.

Suicide* — On Wednesday last a native of Pipitea pa nan ed Jackey, committed suicide by shooting himself. The deceased was cohabiting with a native woman, and it is believed that the taunts of his fellow-country-men on his course of conduct drove him to commit this rash act. An inquest was held before Dr. Fitzgerald the Coroner, when the Jury returned a verdict of Felo-de-se.

For the information of our readers who may ■wish to know what Martial Law is, we give the following definition of it hy the greatest military authority of the age — being an extract from one of the Duke of Wellington's Despatches written during the Peninsular war. " What is military law? Military law as applied to any persons, excepting the officers, soldiers, and followers of the army, for whose government there are particular provisions of law in all well regulated countries, is neither more nor less than the will of the General of the army. He punishes, either with or without trial, for crimes either declared to be so, or not so declared by any existing law, or by his own orders. This is the plain and common meaning of the term military law."

Private letters from Sydney state that the companies of the 58th and 99th Regiments, now in New Zealand, will shortly return to Sydney, and be replaced by the 65th and 24th Rpgiments, both of which, it is expected, will be stationed in this colony. Another Commander of the Forces is expected at Sydney to relieve Sir M. O'Connell, and a Deputy Adjutant-General and Deputy Q.uarter-Master-General will be appointed, and a Bri-gade-Major will also be appointed at Auckland. It is reported th*t three thousand troops are to be sent to New Zealand.

We have been favoured with the following translation of some Chinese verses. The sentiments they contain are of universal application, and the colonists of New Zealand will have reason greatly to rejoice when these signs of prosperity are produced by good government in their adopted country :—: —

SIGNS OF PROSPERITY. [Translated from the Chinese.] Where ipades grow bright, and idle swords grow dullj Where jails are empty, and where hams are full; Where church-yards' paths are with frequent feet outworn ; Law court-yards weedy, silent, and forlorn; "Where doctors foot it, and where farmers ride; Where age abounds, and youth is multiplied : Where these s gns are, they clearly indicate A happy people, and well-governed state.

mrveys • • *< Medicine and Medical Man "I for Natives j ' ' Militia 'rotector of Aborigines 50 0 32 12 45 0 v 0 9 0