New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Saturday, August 26, 1848.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 321, 26 August 1848, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Saturday, August 26, 1848.

H.M.S. Dido arrived on Thursday from Auckland, after a favourable passage of seven days. The Auckland papers received by this opportunity are destitute of local news of any interest. Our northern contemporaries are making much ado about nothing, in trying to attach importance to an address to -Captain Fitzroy which has recently been concocted at Auckland, a sort of certificate of character three years after date, but in spite of all their efforts we understand the whole affair proves to be a miserable failure. The penny- an-acre claimants must feel their craft to be in danger when they resort to such expedients to help a failing cause. A correspondent in the New Zealander thus sums up Captain Fitzroy's character — If I could have believed that certain parties, (amongst whom I except you, Mr. Editor,) the originators of this notable political dodge, were "perfectly sincere and single minded in their present purpose ; if I could believe that their only object was to offer as private individuals, balm. to a wounded and disappointed spirit, by an expression of esteem and condolence, I should have been amongst the last to offer obstruction to such a proceeding ; but when I see that men, as I have before said, are sought to be entrapped by their private sympathies into a public declaration of confidence in and esteem of the late Governor of this colony, I think it but right again to remind them, that he left us a public debt" — that he annihilated our revenue — that his measures caused the total destruction of one settlement, and endangered the safety of all — that the colony under his rufe was reduced to the depths of distress and despondency; that in the face of this distress,' and in opposition to the often expressed wishes of the public, he persisted in a reckless expenditure, and in maintaining an extravagant and in some parts, a most obnoxious' public establishment; and that there are on public record against him, in this colony, charges 'of falsehood which have never and can never be disproved— not such charges as ingenuity and ill will can torture out of a loosely worded despatch, but downright, palpable, tangible — misrepresentations — I had, perhaps, better call them. On the other side of this long account it is but just that I should record, that in his anxiety 40 develope the re- | sources of this colony, he once, offered a prize

of ten pounds for the best specimen of an indigenous spoiige.> It is really painful to be obliged to ievire these recollectjpns, but if "these soi disant admirers of Captain Fitzroy had any reg*i"<fc for him, they would suffer him to remain in obscurity, and not force upon us the memory of his misdeeds. By the way do they mean to add a Postscript to this address ? While on this subject we may notice a characteristic article in the Southern Cross in which the writer seems to think that the Southern settlers have no right to interfere in these matters, as " the loss of land fund, so much deplored, will altogether fall on the Northern settlers alone, so that our Southern friends can have no interest in opposing us.*' The Southern settlers have so steadfastly resisted the Penny-an-acre Proclamation, that we need only in this place refer to the able memorial to Lord Stanley, from theland owners of this settlement, printed in the ninth number of this Journal, in which the illegality as well as the injustice and impolicy of that measure is fully exposed. But this question does most nearly concern us. If the Southern settlers pay a pound, and thirty shillings an acre for land which these speculators obtain for a penny an acre, their property must be seriously deteriorated in value. The general revenue in New Zealand must be chargeable with the expenses which ought to be defrayed by this land fund which has been annihilated, and we must be taxed to supply the deficiency while a few reckless speculators reap a golden harvest. We earnestly hope his Excellency will persevere in his present policy, and not yield to individual cupidity that which ought to be exclusively devoted to the general good. The regulations under which Depasturing Licenses are to be granted in the Northern Province have been published in the Government Gazette. A yearly rent, to be paid in advance, is to be charged, of eightpence per head for horned cattle, horses, mules, and asses, and of one penny per head for sheep, goats and swine. The assessment of stock, by which these yearly payments are to be regulated, is to be made every y€ar by the Commissioner of Crown Lands. The fee for every license for a defined run is to be Five Pounds, for every 1 ; cense to depasture on common lands Ten Shillings and Sixpence.

A special meeting of the committee of the Port Nicholson Mechanics' Institute was held at the rooms of the Institute on Friday evening last, the 18th inst., when 3 it was agreed that the sum of twenty pounds out of the funds recently collected should be remitted to England per H.M.S. Calliope for the purpose of procuring a supply of books for the Institute. Among the books selected were — Bohn's Standard Library, Nelson's British Library, Knight's Shilling Volumes, the Art Union Journal, 2 vols., the Practical Mechanic and Engineers' Magazine, 2 vols., &c, &c. The money was remitted to Mr. Knowles, formerly of Wellington, but now residing in London. A considerable number of English papers recently received have been presented to the Institute, and Mr. R. J. Duncan has kindly promised to furnish regularly a copy of the New Zealand Spectator. — Communicated.