AUCKLAND. (From the New Zealander, November 18.)

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 347, 29 November 1848, Page 2

AUCKLAND. (From the New Zealander, November 18.)

On Saturday the Legislative Council — formed in accordance with the Bill repealing the projected Constitution of Earl Grey — met for a brief and sudden session. After the customary oaths had been administered his Excellency read the address — which will be found in the report of the Council's proceedings. To the calamitous state" of affairs in the Southern Province, then ; and, to the urgent necessity for passing the three bills brought before them, are to be attributed this hurried convocation of our Colonial Senate. Of the expediency, if not of the absolute necessity, of his Excellency's piesence in the South, there are few, if any, conflicting opinions. " The restoration of public confidence and the whole future prosperity of Wellington" do most unquestionably depend upon Hlie promptitude, the energy, and the address exhibited in remedy of those disasters which have overwhelmed the town, and which— judging by his despatches, prophetic of further evil, and cowed by those which have already occurred — have filled the mind of the Lieutenant-Governor with maudlin terror, and guided his pen with drivelling prognostications of desolation and doom. Instead of animating the Respondent, he has been the first to give an added bitterness to their'-ap-prehensions, by a gratuitous and unseemly exhibition of his own. If the Man quailed beneath the unwonted terrors of his position, the Governoi was imperatively called upon to rally his energies, and to cheer and inspire the people confided to his rule, rather than to prostrate them, and damage their settlement ,by expressions, ex cathedra, such as these, wafted on the four winds of heaven, and, which if calmly weighed, are, after all, but the sorry evulgations of a very nervous individual.' " A blow has been struck, (quoth the despatch writer,) at the prosperity, almost at the _ very existence of the settlement, from which it a ill not readily recover. C-\ Did Lisbon recover from her blow — compared with which, that of Wellington was but the fillip of a lady's glove ? " Every one seen-.s to feel a presentiment that it will end in some still more fearful catastrophe than any which has yet taken placjb. The terror which so frightful a visitation naturally produces in most men's minds, will / apprehend drive from the colony all who can find the means of getting away." 'We hope, like Burchill, in the Vicar of Wakefield, we may, without profanity, exclaim — " Fudge,/" When Terentius.had withdrawn his shattered legions from one of the, most sanguinary fields of the ancient world, such was Ws, w^ell grounded confidence in the energy and constancy of Rome, that in reply to his despatch, detailing bis defeat, he received the thanks of the Senate; who pronouncedimn.tq .ftave de-

served well of his country because he had not desj aired of the affairs of the Tepublic. We would counsel' Lieutenant-Governor Eyre to study the Terentian maxim, recommending him to pause ere he again indulges in doubtful predications and injurious predictions. There is stvff enough in Port Nicholson to defy despair ; and energy sufficient to repair the calamity under which they labour. May their arms be strong — their hearts resolved.

On Thursday evening, a Public Meeting was held, at the Hall of the Mechanics 1 Institute, for the purpose of adopting an address, expressive of the deep sympathy entertained by the inhabitants of Auckland towards their unfortunate fellow colonists of Wellington, and in order to raise a pecuniary subscription so that a partial relief may at least be rendered to some of the most pressing cases of distress. Considering the littl : time that had elapsed from the notification of the intended meeting, it was more numerously and respectably attended than could leasonably have been anticipated. Mr. Heale having been voted by acclamation to the chair, the Bishop of New Zealand was requested to open the business of the evening. This his Lordship, accordingly did, in an eloquent and feeling address, during which he observed, that he had needed to use no incentives in furtheringjhe aims of benevolence — that every where the heart was as liberal as the band was prompt. 1 will, said bis Lordship, give you two examples, suppressing the names, but leaving you, from the circumstances, to guess at the donors. From one- person, probably the largest sufferer by the sack of Kororareka, I received ten pounds, the contributor intimating'tbat he had himself known what it was to Require the sympathy and assistance of his fellcw man, and fhat Providence having since blessed him with the means, he was happy to have it' in his power to tender his. quota in relief of others. The other example, is that of a sorrowing mother, bereaved of her four children, upon whom the grave has recently closed. In her own deep distress, this poor woman had yet a heart to feel for that of her fellows, and a mite to offer in its alleviation — an offering, as it were of thanksgiving for the recovery of a sick husband slowly convalescing. A series of resolutions were presented and adopted by the Meeting, the principal speakers — amongst whom we may enumerate the RevJs. Messrs. Lawry and Watkin, and Messrs. Cleghorn, Hyam Joseph, Rout, For--saith, and Wbydaw — deprecating delay in transmission of the contemplated relief and enforcing by argument and illustration the excellence of tlie adage — Bis dat gui cito dat. There was a commendable unanimity in the matter before the meeting, the only difference of opinion occurring as to the manner in which the distribution of the funds might be most efficiently carried out — the Bishop appositely characterising the offering as " From the towu of Auckland to the town of Wellington." Incidental allusion to the rivalry existing between the Northern and Southern settlements was made by more than one of the speakers ; but all in the most generous and conciliatory spirit, and deprecatory of any bitterness between men sprung from one common stock, embarked in one common purpose — and equally sundered from the land of their common nativity. The Rev. Mr. Watkin denied the existence of any acrimonious feeling' entertained by the inhabitants of Wellington towards those of Auckland. We should have been content to pass the Rev. gentleman's assertion unchallenged, had it not been accompanied by an accusation against " irritable editors," upon whom he charged the odium of such a, feeling. We, for our own part, beg to disown this impeachment, We have never had a feeling, save that of kindness towards Wellington, in which to indulge. We have met unseemly vituperation in a tone that deplored its indulgence and deprecated its recurrence — and we turn to our pages -in vain to discover in what instances we merit the charge of being " irritable," or by what means we have sought to embitter the set'.lements one against! the.other. If our Rev. accuser will but point us out one calumny to which we have given currency, we pledge ourselves to make the most full, aud ample amende. Differing as we. do on this point, we ,cannot dismiss the subject without congratulating the inhabitants of Wellington on the able advocate and successful mediator they found in their Reverend representative, wbose temporary sojourn in Auckland has .proved so opportune. — Ibid. ' . ; i