New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Saturday, September 26, 1846.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 121, 26 September 1846, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Saturday, September 26, 1846.

It is generally understood that the Governor, when last at Port Nicholson, determined that the public interest rendered it imperatively necessary that three military roads from "Wellington to the country, should be made as speedily as possible. There is no doubt whatever that his Excellency is perfectly correct in adopting this opinion ; for the roads it is stated he has determined to have constructed will prove alike beneficial to the colony and to the mother country. The facilities afforded by them to the settlerwill, we hare no doubt, be taken advantage of to the fullest extent, and the consequence will be a large and thriving country population, who will be consumers on an extensive scale, and through whose consumption of imported articles the colonial government will enormously augment its local revenues; and the facility these military roads will afford the government of moving in any direction into rhe interior will be a guarantee for permanent peace with the aboriginal population, who, ceasing to be a heavy tax upon the mother country, as they now are, and demanding as they do the presence of a large military force, will become profitable rivals of the European population in the production of all the necessaries, of life. We have no doubt his Excellency clearly forsees the very great benefits which will accrue to the

colony by the formation of the roads in question, and he evidently felt the sooner they were made the better for tne home and local governments. We fear, however, his Excellency will on his return be disappointed at the slow progress making, and with a view to call the attention of the authorities to the amount of work to be performed, and the necessity, therefore, of applying all the labour, at command, we will submit a few calculations, made however, we beg to state, necessarily upon very imperfect data. But we trust they will be beneficial in two respects, the one in bringing forward statements that will enable the public and the authorities to ascertain nearly the amount of labour to be performed, and the other in hastening the completion of these most important public works. We believe his Excellency has ordered the construction of three military roads ; one from the town by Porirua towards Taranaki; another from the town to the coast by way of Karori ; and another towards the East Coast by way of the Hutt. The first and the last named roads have been commenced. The distance from Wellington to Jackson's ferry is estimated at about twelve miles, or about $0,000 feet.* We do not think it will be found that on the average a man can make more than about one foot of this work in a day ; for there is felling and cross cutting heavy timber, making numerous bridges, heavy side cutting and metalling besides other work to be performed. Here, then, is work for 1000 men for sixty days ; or for fifty men, about the number now on the road, for three years and four months. But the distance to Jacksons's ferry is only about one-third of the road which will have to be made in that direction, nor are we aware that the road from Jackson's ferry forward to the coast will be found more easily constructed than that from ' the former mentioned place to Wellington . In this direction, then, there is work for lOOO.men for one hundred and twenty days, or fifty men for six years and eight months ; which, added tothe-fbrmer statements, makes a total of work upon Porirua road for 1000 men. for six months, or for fifty men, for ten years. As far as we can estimate, and it is necessarily most rudely, we should say that the Hutt road will take about half the force required to complete the Porirua road in the same given time ; and' the same may be stated of the road to the coast by way of the Karori. The result then is, according to this rude estimate, that it will take fifty men ten years, or 1000 men six months, to make the Porirua road to the coast ; half this number during the same periods to make the Hutt, and the same to make the Karori road ; or fifty men for twenty years, or 1000 men for twelve months to make the three main roads it is stated to be the Governor's intention to have constructed. We suspect it will be found that the available force for roadmaking will prove to be about 500 men; and taking that as the number, 'about - eighteen months will be required to complete the Porirua and Hutt roads. We would suggest to the authorities the propriety of taking advantage of the fine season now approaching, to put every man that can be obtained upon the roads. Fifty men, we hear it stated, could hold'Parramatta Point, and ' we think the remainder might be so distributed, as road parties, that upon a signal being given by cannon, rocket, or otherwise, the whole might speedily be concentrated at the barracks or elsewhere, and if so they would" in the meantime be employed more agreeably and profitably to themselves and greatly to the advantage of •the 'settlement — and sure we are his Excellency would be greatly pleased on his, return here, which may be expected at an early period, to find that the works, he is so wisely anxious should be constructed as speedily as possible, Iwere in as satisfactory a state of progress as the resources within the control of the Local Authorities enabled them to be.

* Twelve miles contain 63,360 feet lineal measure, but we have taken it at 60,000 feet for the convenience of round numberi. ' '

Th* adjourned meeting of the committee of Qwnerp r o( land orders was held at Barrett's 'Hotel on Wednesday evening, W. Hickson, (Esq., in the chair, when the discussion on the details- of the memorial to the Directors of the -New Zealand Company was resumed. At the close of the discussion,, it was moved by Mr* Revans and seconded by Dr. Dorset :—: — That the memorial now read be adopted. Moved by Mr. J. H. Wallace, seconded by Mr. Brandon :—: — That a Committee be appointed to obtain the signatures <»f ,the / Land Purchasers to the address, to collect subscriptions for the purpose of having it printed, and to take measures for transmitting it to the Court of Directors; and that such Committee consist of— Mr. Hickson Dr. Featherston Captain Dahiell MX Brandon , Dr. Dorset Mr. Lyon Mr. Revans Mr. Catcbpool Mr. Clifford With power to add to tbeir number. 1 The&boVe resolutions vrete unanimously carried. A vote of thanks was then given to the Chairman for his conduct in the chair.

H. M. Steamer Driver, Commander C. O. Hayes, arrived on Thursday from Auckland, •which she left on the 16th inst: The Driver was off Cape Paliser on Sunday, but heavy weather coming on she was driven off the coast. Lieut. Col. M'Clevertv and his lady and Mr. Thomas, half brother to his Excellency the Governor, have arrived as passengers. There does not appear to be much news from Auckland. We have only received one New Zealander of Sept. 12 ; we are at a loss to account for the reason why the other papers have not come to hand, but are satisfied that no blame is attributable to the Wellington Post office. The Ralph Bernal had sailed about four or five weeks since for Taranakj, Nelson, and Port Nicholson. The barque Mary was loading at Auckland, and was to sail immediately for England. . H. M. S. Carysfort, Capt. Seymour, ar- ] rived at Auckland Sept. sth, and sailed for Valparaiso September 9th. We regret to state that when the Driver left Auckland his Excellency was labouring under severe indisposition. The day for the meeting of the Legislative Council had not been fixed, and Mr. Domett was the only non-official member who had been nominated. " We have extracted the* reports of a few trials in the Supreme Court at Auckland having reference to Port Nicholson, and a trial in which a native chief is plaintiff, which is interesting as marking the progress of civilisation.

Sales of Live Stock. — The ewes which arrived per Coaxer were sold on Thursday, after having been a month in the colony, at 10s. and 10s. 6d. per head. The horses which arrived per London were sold at from £13 to £20 per head. The wethers per Sti,r of China, very strong and healthy, brought 15s. per head.

In addition to the stock expected by the Susannah Ann, two cargoes of sheep and cattle will be sent from Twofold Bay to Port Nicholson in the course of the ensuing month.

The Kate arrived on Thursday from Sydney after a favourable passage of twelve days, bringing Sydney papers to Sept. 12. There had been no arrivals from England since our last dates, and the Sydney papers contain no news of particular importance. The Post Office Packet for May was still due. The following are the latest prices of the Sydney markets : —

Stdney Markets, Sept. 12. — Wheat, 7s. 9d. to Bs. a-bushel; flour, £18 cash; > bread, ,4_d. the 2lb. loaf, and an advance of is expected ; maize,. 4s. Bd. to 4s. lid. per bushel, retail ss. to ss. 6d. ; hay, £9 to £10 :10s. per ton; Van Diemen's Land potatoes, £5 :2 : 6 to £5 : ss. per ton ; colonial do., £4 to £5 per ton ; Glenlee butter, 2s. 6d. per lb. ; Wbllongong and other districts, from 2s. to 2s. 3d. pec Ib. ; salt butter, Is. 3d. to Is. lOd. per lb. ; fat rattle, from 60s. to 80s. per head ; sheep, from Bs. to 10s. per head.

Wellington Savings Bank. — Mr. Spinks, Mr. Robert Stokes, Mr. R. R. Strang, an<pl Mr. W. Lyon, the Managers in rotation, will attend to receive deposits at Mr. Ross's office, from seven to eight o'clock on Saturday evening, the 26tb Sept., and at the Union Bank of Australia, from twelve to one o'clock on Monday forenoon, the 28th September.

Dwd, yesterday, the 25th inst., Mr. James Jackson, of Lowry Bmy, formerly of Bradford, Yorkshire. The deceased was one of the oldest settlers, and was greatly and deservedly respected by his fellow colonists.

The following order for disbanding the militia has been issued by his Honor the Superintendent. We shall take the opportunity of making a few observations on the subject in our next number : — Wellington, 23rd September, 1846. The Superintendent is happy, from the altered and more pacific state of the country, to have it in his power to relieve the Militia from duty, that they may return to their usual occupations, from which they have unavoidably been detained so long ; — their attendance will not be required after Saturday the 26th instant. The high encomium lately passed on the corps by his Excellency the Governor renders it unnecessary for the Superintendent to add more, but he cannot let this opportunity pass without recording his sense of the service which it has rendered the colony during the late disturbances, and expressing his thanks to the officers, non-commissioned officers, and men, for the cheerful manner in which hardships and privations have been gone through — the zeal and willingness to perform any duty, however arduous, evinced by every rank, the orderly behaviour of the men, and their ready obedience to the orders of the officers, all of wliich tend not only to prove the state of discipline the corps has arrived at, but cannot fail to give a feeling of secuiity to the community, relying as they may on the willing and efficient aid of their fellow citizens who have been thus trained and already so distinguished.