New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Wednesday, July 28, 1847.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 208, 28 July 1847, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Wednesday, July 28, 1847.

The despatch of Lord Grey to his Excellency the Governor (which we repuhlish in this day's Spectator) conveying his instructions as to the disposal of the Pensioners to be sent to this colony, is worthy on many accounts of attentive consideration. It

would appear that Lord Grey " suggests that the greater part at least of the Fencihles should," in his opinion, " be established in the Northern part of the island, as near to Auckland as may be practicable" in order that " whatever military operations may be in progress elsewhere the capital and seat of Government may be in security, by having a sufficient force retained for its protection." It is therefore sufficiently evident that his Excellency, in proposing to locate at the Nort h the greater part of the Pensioners to be sent to this colony, is only carTying out the Instructions of the Secretary for the colonies We find also Lord Grey directs the Pensioners to be established in the neighbourhood of Auckland " for the security of the capital and the seat of government," settling this question also by his authority. So that the discontented few who have been trying to make a grievance, and who have unfairly represented the Governor as favouring the North at the expence of the Southern settlements find, to their discomfiture, his Excellency has only been acting up to the instructions he has received. Two reasons are assigned by Lord Grey which appear chiefly to have influenced him in this arrangement. He seems to calculate on the disturbances continuing for some longer period at the South, and therefore directs that the Pensioners shall be established at the North as garrisons, in order that the troops stationed in the colony may be disposable for active military operations. If then at present there are to be no Pensioners, a greater proportion of soldiers will be stationed in this Province. Lord Grey also looks to the increased value to be imparted to the lands in the neighbourhood of these settlements, as assisting in defraying the cost of the experiment, and therefore directs that, in the first instance, these villages should be formed in the neighbourhood of lands still in the possession of the Crown ; adding that, if the experiment succeeds, it I will be extended at the North, and arrangements will be made with the New Zealand Company for forming similar settlements in the neighbourhood of Cook's Strait. Leaving other considerations for the present, we may dwell on that which seems chiefly to weigh with the Noble Secretary for the Colonies, namely, the cost of the experiment, This may be divided into two heads, the expence of sending the Pensioners to New Zealand, and (which will be found by far the heaviest item unless they are judiciously stationed) the expence of maintaining them after their arrival. The best position for one of these villages would appear to be rather in advance of a settlement, to protect it from any hostile attack, but sufficiently near to render the services of the Pensioners available to the settlers, thereby fulfilling one of the principal conditions of their enrolment, the affording a valuable increase of the supply of labour in the colony. In a despatch dated last September, the Governor declared this supply to be quite inadequate to the demands of the colony, but the demand has in the interval so gi eatly increased, that even at very advanced wages, it has become impossible to obtain a sufficient supply. If these villages are too remote from the body of the settlers, the necessity for finding employment for the Pensioners will entail a very heavy expence on the Government, but if the Pensioners are in the immediate vicinity of the settlers, they would promote the prosperity of the colony by their labour, and in a short time become independent by their exertions and be in a position to employ labourers themselves. For these reasons we would again urge that one of the first villages or stations of these Pensioners to be formed in this settlement should be at the point where the new road enters the Wairarapa valley. The Pensioners would be usefully employed in the first instance in completing the road now constructing at the expence of the Government, the formation of this station would attract settlers to the Upper Hutt and Wairarapa districts, and promote a concentration of population in the most fertile district in the neighbourhood of Wellington, while the additional value conferred upon the Wairarapa by this arrangement might be justly claimed by the Government, for defraying the coat of the station, and for promoting

more extensive plans of immigration to Cook's Strait

By the Thomas Lovory we have received a number of the Southern Cross, the publication of which has been resumed, and is to he continued once a-week. Judging from the tfumber before us, our contemporary appears to be violently opposed to Lord Grey's instructions relative to the disposal of the Aborigines. In our next number we shall take occasion to revert to this subject.

The Fisherman arrived from Massacre Bay on Monday. The master of the vessel reports, that on the 24th inst. he passed a vessel in the Strait, keel upwards, 36 feet in the keel, and not Goppered. Serious appre-' hensions are entertained, from the description of the vessel, that it is the Leven, which left Otakou 8 days- before the Scotia, for this Port, with the men employedinthe survey.

The detachment of the 65th regiment which -arrived in the Thomas Lowry were all landed on Saturday, and are quartered in the new barracks recently erected at Te Aro.

Wra observe that Capt. Grey's despatches relative to the financial state of the colony, and his measures with regard to Rauparaha have been published in the New Zealand Journal : we received them too late for publication in our present number, but they will appear in Saturday's Spectator.

Sixty fat sheep, a quantity of flour, and other stores, were placed on board H.M.S. CalHo[ c yesterday by Messrs. Rhodes & Co. for the #upply of the troops at Wanganui. The Calliope sails for Wanganui this day.