New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Wednesday, June 21, 1848.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 302, 21 June 1848, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Wednesday, June 21, 1848.

An extensive purchase of land has just been made by the Government from Tairoa and ! Tikau, and the tribes living in the Southern j Island. The north boundary of this tract of land is a line from Kaiopeu on the east ; coast, across the island to the west coast, forming the southern boundary of the land purchased by the Government, about fifteen months ago. The southern boundary extends from the Kaihiku range of mountains, south of the Molyneux river on the east coast to Milford Haven on the West coast. The present purchase extends over four degrees of latitude, and includes all that part of the island between these boundaries not previously purchased by the Government from the natives, and excepting Banks' Peninsula, which the natives acknowledge to have sold to the French Company. The negociation was conducted on the part of the Government by Mr. Kemp the Native Secretary of this Province, and a deed was drawn up by him in the native language with a map of the island attached, shewing the extent and boundaries of the purchased lands, to which the natives have affixed their signatures. The price originally demanded by them of the Government was £10,000, they afterwards reduced their demand to £5,000, but after some negociation they ultimately agreed to accept £2,000, to be paid in four instalments of £500 each. The first instalment of the purchase money was paid immediately on signing the deed, Tairoa receiving a moiety to subdivide among the natives living South, and Tikau the other moiety for the natives living North, of Banks' Peninsula. It was arranged that another instalment of £500 should be shortly sent to them, and the two remaining instalments are to be paid at the interval of a year each, The natives will be secured by the Government in their present cultivations, and such further reserves, on a liberal scale, will be made for their use, as shall be found to be necessary. The natives have marked on the map several large lakes in the interior which appear to be divided into three groups, the first or more northerly consists of four lakes, the Takapo, Patake, Ohau, and Ahuriri, which discharge their waters into the Waitake, a wide and rapid river falling into the sea between Banks' Peninsula and Otakou; the next group consists of the Hawea, the Wanaka, and Te^W.aipounamu or Wakatapu, which falls into the Molyneux River ; the waters of the most southerly lake, Te Anau, fall into Jacob's River. The Wanaka is described as being as large as the lake at Taupo. As the settlers at Otakou advance into the interior with their flocks

and herds, we may expect to receive much interesting information respecting this part of the country. The natives agree in stating that there are no aboriginal inhabitants on the West Coast of the island. This purchase, with those which have been previously made, extinguishes the native title in the Southern Island, except to that portion of its extremity lying south of the southern boundary of the tract above described. This district belongs to the tribes who live at the southern extremity of the Island, andat Stewarts Island, with whom there was not time to communicate, but this is not a matter of much importance, as negociations can be entered into with them at any future opportunity for the purchase of their claims, In extinguishing the native title, this purchase , removes any further « difficulty connected with native claims,' and opens the Southern Island as a field for colonizing operations, for which, it is well adapted from the few natives inhabiting it, and the numerous open districts which render it peculiarly fitted for pastoral pursuits. We trust that exertions will be made by the local Government to extinguish the native title to all the districts betweeu Wellington and Taranaki. The claims at Wanganui have been arranged, those at Taranaki are now in progress of settlement ; we hope Mr. M'Lean, who in the late negociations at Wanganui has shewn how competent he is to manage these difficult and embarrassing questions, will be afterwards instructed to purchase from the natives the Manawatu and Rangitiki districts. It is absolutely necessary that these questions should be settled, both for the purpose of removing any, pretext for further disturbances, and of offering in this district equal facilities for colonization with those to the southward, so that when immigration to New Zealand is again renewed, no unfortunate incident may occur to interrupt its progress, or divert the stream from this Province. The more the European population increases to the southward, the more inevitable the necessity that the seat of Government for New Zealand should be fixed at Wellington, the geographical centre of these islands.

The Philip Laing arrived on Monday from Otakou, which she left on the previous Thursday. The town and suburban sections had been chosen, and the 23rd inst. was fixed for the selection of the country sections. The town sections had all been chosen at Dunedin, as nearly as possible in a block together, and the settlers were busily engaged in building their houses on their sections ; by this arrangement the nucleus of a town will be formed, and by concentration the convenience of the settlers will be greatly increased and the expense of making roads lessened. One hundred and twelve sections of properties have been sold, and the persons purchasing have been allowed the choice of the first 112 numbers, the priority of choice having been determined by ballot. If a similar arrangement had obtained in this settlement, giving the first settlers a priority of choice, particularly in the country sections, instead of including them in the general lottery with the absentees, many of the evils which we have to complain of would have been obviated, We are glad that, inthis respect, the settlers at Otakou have benefited by our experience.

H.M.S.' Fly arrived on Friday afternoon from a cruise to the Southward. She* left Akaroa, where she had been detained some time by contrary winds, on the 17th May and arrived at the Auckland Islands on the 23rd. She left the Auckland Islands on the 27th, and arrived at Otakou on the 31st May. She sailed from Otakou on the 4th June and arrived at Akaroa on the 7th, where she remained until the 15th to allow time for the completion of. the negociations with the' native* for the sale of the land, whet she sailed for Wellington .where she arrived the following day.) Auckland or Enderby's Island is described as being very mountainous and covered with wood, the island is about one quarter the size of Stewarts Island. The harbour is on the eastern side of the island. The only inhabitants of the island are a few maories who appear to be indifferently off. The weather is very stormy in those latitudes, particularly at this season of the year.

Ysstsbdat being the anniversary of the accession of her Majesty Queen Victoria,- to ' the throne, the different ships in the bar-

bour were gaily decorated with flags, and at 12 o'clock a royal salute was fired from H. M. S. Fly in honour of the occasion. The day was so still and calm that the flags drooped idly, from the masts, there being hardly a breath of wind stirring to move them. In the evening a dinner was given by his Excellency the Lieutenant-Go-vernor in honour of the occasion.

Government Notices. — The following notice respecting the native reserves was published in the Government Gazette of the 17th anst. :— ■Colonial Secretary's Office, ■* Wellington, 15th June, 1848. His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor directs . it to be notified, that the establishment of trustees for the native reserves, as originally contemplated, having never been carried out, and the Government having appointed boards of management in the Province of New Monster, All persons at present holding or occupying native reserves under the late trustees, (or under agents nominated by them,) or who may wish hereafter to occupy or hold any of such reserves, are hereby called upon to substantiate their ckims, or to make application (as the case may be) for leases of sucb lands, to the boards of management of native reserves, under whose recommendation Government will be prepared at once to grant leases of either town or country lands, upon the terms and subject to the conditions approved of <by the board. His Excellency further directs it to be notified, that all persons who neglect to make application to the said boards, on or before the 31st July next, will forfeit any claim to consideration in regard to arrangements entered into, but not entirely concluded, with the late trust. All communications or applications connected with the native reserves to be addressed to " the Board of Management of Native Reserves," at the Colonial Secretary's office, Wellington, or at the office of his Honor the Superintendent, Nelson, as the case may require. Plans shewing the native reserves in or around Wellington, which are open to lease, . will be prepared as soon as possible, and left at the Colonial Secretary's office for public inspection. By his Excellency's .command, Alfred J)omett, Col. Sec. Lieut.-Colonel M'Cleverty, the AttorneyGeneral (when apppinted), and H. St. Hill, Esq., are appointed to be a " board of management of the native reserves," for that portion of the Southern Province, within the Northern Island of New Zealand ; and J. Poynter, Esq., S. Carkeek, Esq., and J. Tinline, Esq., to be a "board of management of the native reserves of the district of Nelson (including Motueka, &c.) The duties of the Wellington board will be carried on, until the arrival of the Attorney- General, by the members of the board at present in Wellington. It is also the intention of Government, at an early period, to cause a census to be taken of the population of the Southern Province.

Robbery. — On Sunday last the house o" Mr. Christison, baker, Lambton Quay, was broken into and robbed of about Fifty-four Founds, in notes, gold, and silver. Mr. Christison left home on Sunday about 1 1 o'clock, and bis wife at 2 o'clock, and during their absence the key of the house was left in charge with Mrs. Wilson a neighbour, the wife of a policeman, and on their return at six o'clock in the evening, they found the box in which the money had been placed, and which also contained wearing apparel, had been taken away, and the money stolen. Two persons named Riley and Fitzclarence were brought up before the Resident Magistrate yesterday on suspicion of having committed the robbery, but no proof having been adduced against them, after a lengthened examination they were discharged.

(Communicated.)

Thx judicious application of Labour to ant Substance is the Origin of all Benificial Increase. — Without labour the whole earth. would be desolate. In the absence of cultivation all giain producing plants continue to be useless weeds; and 'in like manner the hop, and every other vine which yields a fruit, is merely a useless creeper. The trees- of the forest likewise, and all products derived from the earth, • afford their benefits only by the application of this grand operator. •Land, without the process of clearing and tilling, is a wilderness ; so that it is by labour, and from its unceasing application, that the surface of the earth is converted ' from a bed of weeds into a garden of fruitfulness. Without labour the products of nature are of little value, even where they are indigenous ; with it, after the care spent .iouaelecting the best varieties, their value

increases in the ratio of the care and attention bestowed. In the process of selection and preparation, many simple but necessary operations are demanded, both of the husbandman and horticulturist ; such as a due preparation of the seed, to free it from all parasitical plants and insects, — a process as essential to the vitality of seeds, as ablation is to the health and comfort of man : and budding, grafting, pruning, and a long catalogue of minor attentions, are all equally necessary to growth, quality, and flavour, each of them also requiring an application of labour in a greater or less degree. The avocations of the husbandman however, although the foundation of all prosperity, form but a unit of the whole of those occupations of mankind which go to increase the value of the products of the earth. Habit frames our minds to a callous indifference regarding the means by which so great a number and variety of useful articles have been formed and placed around ' us in their present positions. We require, however, only to be reminded of the existence of trackless forests and immeasurable steppes, of the boundless desert, where the silence of nature is seldom broken, and of the howling wilderness which vibrates only with the voices of the beasts of prey, to be brought to a consideration, that constant familiarity with what we behold about us, had banished from our thoughts the cause which must have been operating to produce so much perfection and order. This cause is the labour wrought by the hands of man, by means of which, materials the most obdurate, and substances the most remotely situated from each other, are brought together to receive a form, and a consistency of purpose and utility, which imparts to them a value beneficial to the labourer who performs the work, and most important to the society which gives it encouragement. The peculiarity of all this labour is that the operations belonging to it are mechanical. This character results from a constant application of the hand to one particular kind of action through a long succession of years. By means of great practice, aided by instruction, and the government of the mind during its tuition, that most exquisitely formed member, the hand, becomes so perfect in the performance of its fanctions that it is brought to receive the character of a purely mechanical instrument. A knowledge of the importance of this faculty, when possessed by large bodies of operative labourers, has given rise to the advantage to be derived from carrying out, to a much greater extent than would otherwise have taken place, the principle of the division of labour. This is by no means either a new theory or a modern invention, because the desirableness of confining the hand of one individual, or one class of individuals, to the same mode of conducting the materials upon which it has to operate, to their intended purpose, was so well understood by the most ancient nations upon record, that the peculiarity of cast came to form a part both of their religious and social institutions. Formerly all these distinct modes of fabricating were designated by the terms "trade and mystery." The trades may still be viewed as having an existence, but the modes of performing the labour attaching to them have varied, and are still so continually varying, that, as peculiar avocations for producing, much of their identity is lost in the splendour of modern improvement and invention, so that .the mysterious part of them has been altogether dissipated. This has arisen from the progress of science, and the influence of more enlightened general views, forced upon us by such remarkable instances of the power of intellect over inert matter, as are constantly being exhibited to us, but much of it has also been caused by the introduction of machinery, — many most exquisite machines having been contrived so ingeniously as to imitate even the operations of the hand itself, to a most astonishing degree of perfection. In many of the manufactures, conducted by modern processes, such as varnish ware, furniture, and gold and silver plate, the peculiar sensibility, and nicely conducted adaptation of the hand, produces results as regards surface, such as no member less admirably .formed could possibly effect. Not only in manfactures, but even in the arts, — where the value of the work depends so essentially on the power of imagination, — the faculty of handling, although purely mechanical, is no less necessary to the perfection of the production, than the powerful workings of the mind itself. The handling of an engraving, a painting, or a piece of sculpture, when masterly, forms one of its most admired qualities, in the estimation of those best enabled to appreciate it ; owing to the magical effect of texture imparted to it by this quality above. The hand of a workman is indeed the great criterion of excellence in everything produced, so that all labour is necessarily stamped

vyith an individuality of character, by a peculiarity of manipulation, giving it value in a proportion corresponding with the amount of dexterity applied. W.