New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Saturday, December 11, 1847.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 247, 11 December 1847, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Saturday, December 11, 1847.

from the only copy received in this settlement. The Act is intended to confirm and give effect to the conditions granted hy Lord Grey to the New Zealand Compan /. By it the provisions in the Royal Instructions relating to the settlement of waste lands are suspended, as regards the South Island, for the next three years, and during this period these lands are vested in the New Zealand Company. The minimum price of land is fixed at twenty shillings per acre ; of this sum ten shillings per acre is to be devoted to the purposes of an Emigration fund, the remainder is to be applied in defraying the expenses of the Company, in compensating the natives, in surveys, roads, and other public works and improvements, in the payment of the dividend on the Company's shares, and in the repayment of the loans made by Government. It is provided that during the next three years not more than one tenth of the gross proceeds received for the sale or leasing of land shall be applied to the payment of the dividends of the Cumpany. The Act provides for the appointment of a special Commissioner, subject to the approval of the Company, whose salary of£ 1500 a year is to be paid by them. The powers granted to the Commissioner are extensive, even to the suspension of the powers and privileges of the Company, if such a measure should become advisable. Provision is made in the event of the Company being, unable, at the expiration of three years, to continue their operations, for the resumption by the Government of their property, and the payment to them of £268,370 : 15, as the value, at the rate of five shillings an acre, of the land to which they are entitled, with interest at the rate of 3£ per cent., until the whole amount is paid. The payment of this sum is to be made out of the procee Js of the sale of lands in this colony, after deducting the cost of surveys, and the proportion to be appropriated to the purposes of emigration. In this case, the Government undertake all the liabilities of the Company, and remit the payment of £236,000 advanced to them. It was objected by an honorable member in the debate on the bill, that the Government charged the Irish landlords interest on the loans made to them at the rate of 5 per cent., while they advanced money to the New Zealand Company at Z\ per cent, interest ; but by the bill in its amended state no interest is charged on the sums advanced, but interest is allowed on the money to be paid to the Company as the value of their lands, in the event of their dissolution.

700 bushels of wheat were brought this week to Wellington in the Ocean from Waikanae, consigned by the natives of that place to Messrs. Rhodes & Co., who are commissioned by them to purchase a small vessel for the purpose of conveying their produce to Wellington.

We are informed by a person who has just returned from the East Coast that the natives living in the neighbourhood of Castle Point have a good breadth of land sown with wheat which is looking very well, and is in a more forward state than the crops in the neighbourhood of Wellington.

Wanganui. — The Edward Sti nicy arrived yesterday from Wanganui which she le t on Tuesday morning. Ah was quiet there, but a party of maories was expected shortly from the interior ; it was believed however that their chief object in visiting the coast was. to have an interview with his Excellency the Governor, who was daily expected at Wanganui. The Fisherman left Wauganui for Taranaki on Tuesday for a cargo of flour.

Programme of the Performance by the Band of the 65th Regiment at Thorndon Flat, on Tuesday, the 14th December : — 1. Orerture— Fair Maid of Perth Waddell. 2. Caratina — Hear me, gentle Maritana.. Wallace. 3. The British Army Quadrille Jullien. 4. Selection from the Opera I. Lombardi.. Verdi. 5. Pas dcs Flcurs Waltz Maretzek. 6. La Tarantelle de Bellphegor R. Albert. 7. Post Horn Galop Keonig. 8. Annen Polka Labitzky.

Wellington Savings Bank — Mr. R. Davis, Dr. Fitzgerald, Mr. Hart, and Capt. Sharp, the Managers in rotation, will attend to receive deposits at Messrs. Johnson & _ ■, „ , . „ „ . . , Moiore's store, Lambton-quay, from seven Through .the kindness of the Principal to fi . ht o , clock on Saturday evening, the Agent of the New Zealand Company we are nth December, and at the Union Bank enabled to publish for general information of Australia, from 12 to 1 o'clock on the New Zetland Bill in its amended state Monday forenoon, the 13th December.