AUCKLAND. [From the New Zealanders, July 19, 22, & 26.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 318, 16 August 1848, Page 2

AUCKLAND. [From the New Zealanders, July 19, 22, & 26.]

From the Government Gazette, published yesterday, we give the following summary of notices and proclamations. Robert Kelly, Esq,, has been appointed Registrar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, for the Province of New Ulster, and Deputy Registrar of the same for the district of Auckland. This gentleman is further nominated to be Registrar of Deeds for the county of Eden. The three several appointments to bear date from the 13th instant. The royalty levied upon minerals, is declaed by her Majesty in Council, to be reduced from fifteen per cent, on the value, to one fifteenth portion of the material raised. An act "to amend the acts for rendering effective the service of the Chelsea and Greenwich Ou^t-Pensioners," is likpwise recited. Notice is given of various pre-emption claims having been disallowed, and of compensation being awarded to Messrs. Polack and Brigham. Ordnance Department. — On Thursday, a meeting of the Board of Ordnance, at which his Excellency the Oovernor-in-Chief was present, was convened for the purpose of determining the most commanding position whereon >o construct a fort in defence of the harbour. No site has yet been decided upon, and ere a matter of such moment be finally resolved, we trust that the gentlemen with whom the decision rests will give to the several localities their patient and most searching investigation. We hope they will eschew such mutilations as those which, at Sydney, deform the wretched Isle of Pinchgut, and such cuttings and maimings as those to which Bradley's Head has been so ruthlessly subjected. — We trust they will neither copy the vagaries of a Barney, nor imitate the originalities of a Kelsall, but that they will show the world that Auckland's first battery was the conception of a competent and practical engineer. — It was determined, at this meeting,' that the Square of the Albert Barracks should be considerably enlarged, the walls extending towards Queen Street on the one side, and towards the Government domain on the other. Church op England Meeting. — Yesterday a numerous meeting of the members of the Church of England, (responsive to the invitation of the Bishop of New Zealand),, assembled in the school-house, Eden Crescent, to take into consideration the most effectual method of affording additional ministerial aid to the spiritual requirements of the town. At this meeting, which was essentially a preliminary one, his Lordship, the Bishop, presided ; and a discursive inquiry (during which many interesting details of the praiseworthy objects of the meeting were elucidated) as to the best means of raising funds, and the most judicious method of appropriating those funds, when raised, ensued. The principal speakers were the Bishop, the Chief Justice, the AttorneyGeneral, Mr. Fitzgerald, and Mr. Carlton. A series of resolutions in furtherance of the cause for which the parties had assembled were unanimously adopted, and a committee, consisting of three gentlemen, were elected to solicit subscriptions from such church members as were favourable to the appointment of an assistant minister. The meeting was then adjourned until Tuesday, the Bth of August, at noon.

Welseyan College and Seminary. — The foundation stone of the first building which is now being erected in connexion with the abore named Institution in this town, was

laid on Thursday last, by the General Superintendent assisted by the other missionaries who are now assembled at their Annual Meeting. It is expected that this building will be open for the reception of pupils early in the ensuing spring.

The New Zealand Seals. — The Illustrated London iVeto^con tains sketches of the seals which have recently been engraved for the Government of New Zealand. That for the general government has a pillar on the back ground, on which are a cross, the scales, and other emblems of religion and justice, and on the top a municipal mace. In the front ground are two figures, one" of a New Zealand chief with his war dress and spear, and the other a white man in a singular looking gown, which we are told is an "English settler in municipal robes." The " savage," as represented, is decidedly a more graceful and better dressed man than the "civilized" gentleman who is placed in contrast with him. The legend declares the seal to be for " The Islands of New Zealand," and there is the usual mofto of "Victoria, &c." The seal for " The Province of New Ulster " has the royal arms, and a number of scroll ornameuts, and in the centre there is a New Zealand war canoe sailing, with Mount Egmont in the distance ; the design will be found in Augas's New Zealand sketches. The seal for " The Province of New Munster " resembles that for New Ulster, except that the design is a whale-boat, manned, and in pursuit of whales, with a ship in the distance. — Sydney Herald, July 3.