New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Wednesday, December 6, 1848.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 349, 6 December 1848, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Wednesday, December 6, 1848.

We understand that the negotiations for purchasing' the Wairarapa district are proceeding more favourably than could have been anticipated from the pievious obstacles, and the disinclination at one time evinced by the natives at parting with their lands. We have reason to hope from the present state of the negotiations, that they will be speedily and satisfactorily concluded. It is fortunate that the Governor-in- Chief, with whom rests a portion of the responsibility of selecting the locality of the new settlement, should have arrived at this interval, as the chief difficulty in founding it at the site originally contemplated will be removed by the purchase of the district. By carrying out this scheme as originally intended; the whole of the Southern part

of this Island will be concentrated into one compact powerful and flourishing settlement, with Canterbury for its metropolis and Wellington for its commercial port, and from the new settlement colonists would quickly spread over the fertile districts of Ahuriri, the plains at the head of the Manawatu, and the extensive level districts of Rangitiki. If, on the other hand, some other distant locality should be selected, we shall be again exposed to the evils occasioned by another rival - settlement with separate and conflicting interests, evils which we have so often deprecated, and which, perpetuate <& spirit of localismand divide the different portions of New Zealand into so many different communities, establishing a sort of Heptarchy, and weakening the resources of the colony, instead of uniting its efforts, and guiding its energies in one common impulse.

We are surprised to learn that some alteration is intended to be made in the working of the Colonial Hospital. As there have been no complaints made against its present management on the part of the public, but on the contrary it appears to have been the general opinion of those who have visited the Institution that the present Colonial Surgeon has conducted it with great ability, and devoted much care and attention to it, as this has been frequently acknowledged publicly with gratitude by patients who have been long inmates in it, and have derived benefit from the treatment they have experienced, as its management has given very general satisfaction to the natives, for whom it was primarily intended, and as they have great confidence in the present Colonial Surgeon, who has been in the habit of attending them for many years, and who has considerable knowledge of their language aid peculiaiities, on whom consequently it has produced a very beneficial influence, we think under all these circumstances that the Governor-in-Chief would not exhibit his usual judgment in acting against public opinion thus unequivocally expressed in a simple matter of this kind in which the public are competent judges, in doing an injustice to a valuable public officer, and . iD risking the efficiency, perhaps impairing the, usefulness of a valuable Institution for the sake, it may be, of gratifying the suggestions made by professional jealousy. Where an Institution is found to work well, it is always advisable to let well alone, and it will be quite ■ time enough for his Excellency to interfere in modifying or altering its present management when it fails to satisfy the wants and expectations of the public.

Information has been received by the cutter Fly, which arri >ed from Taranaki yesterday, of the melancholy loss of the Maid of the Mill, which is supposed to have foundered at sea, parts of the vessel having been found on the beach near Mokau, and parts of the ceiling having been washed ashore near Nga Naitu. There were five Europeans and two natives on board the vessel at the time she was last. The accident is supposed to have occurred about a fortnight ago. The Fly has brought a cargo of flour from Taranaki, and will be followed in a few days by the Carbon, also loaded with flour.

We regret to learn by the Sisters, from Akaroa, that the report of Mr. Greenwood's death is confirmed. On the 14th October Mr. Greenwood left Port Levy in a whale boat with an European and a native for Komotinau, having arranged with a party of natives to follow him in a second whaleboat at an interval of three weeks. On the latter party reaching their destination they found Mr. Greenwood's party had not arrived, nor have any tidings been heard of them since, but parts pf a whaleboat have been washed ashore to the south of Kaikora, and it is supposed they must have perished at sea.

A vert handsome silver cup is exhibited at Mr. Armstrong's, Sadler, Lambton Quay, which is to be run for at the ensuing races at Burnham Water, by the four year old produce of iEther and Riddlesworth. The ornaments <of-!tn.e cup are of chased silver, the handles are attached to the cup by oak leaves, and the cover is surmounted by a finely modelled figure -of a horse. - zSo tempting a prize will greatly increase the spirit of competition and very much add to the interest of the ensuing races \ '

Quantity of rain fallen during the month of Novemher, 1848 :—2: — 2 inches, 4 tenths.

The following; extract from a letter from Wanganui gives an interesting- account of the effects of the recent earthquakes in that vicinity: — '* '*' You ask me for some particulars relative to the late shocks at Wanganui : compared with those you have experienced ours have been trifling, none of bur chimnies were thrown down or any of our buildings injured) and it is remarkable that although my chimoies are full thirty feet highland rocked to and fro in

a very violent manner, there is still not even the trace of a crack in the plaster to mark the shaking they have had. Our principal shock commenced aboutrhalf-past two on. Monday morning ; the movement was very violent, and from the NW or WNW ; it Was like a wave rolling on^its course, hut it left a tremulous lateral motion, which continued for a long time, and resembled the quivering of a dish of jelly ; about four minutes after the first we had another violent' shock, 'and I "tl&nk JT^nay say it w'as^ nearly an hour before the movement of the earth ceased to he perceptible : on the Tuesday afternoon we had another sharp •shock, and about five o'clock on the Thursday morning a third. We have however had a..series of minor ones, but too gentle .Jo require notice. It is our general opinion that the earthquakes of 1843 werecrnore severe ; this appears to be established- by their effects; then nearly all our chimnies were thrown down, the gable end of the church, which is brick, fell ; the earth opened in fearfuj refits, emitting noxious gases, which caused much sickness : at Rangitikei also a cliff overwhelmed a house with, its inmates, the land on the S side of the Wanganui was elevated, and the channel of the river in places was considerably deepened. "But these late shocks have likewise occasioned several singular changes which are worth recording ; on the S side of the; Bluff near the mouth of the Wanganui a rock was thrust up in the deepest part of the channel, which is now 18 inches above the low-water mark, a shoal has arisen where there was a depth of 6 feet, and a long spit of land extends from Wai Puna to Wilson's, ditch, w : here formerly there was deep water. The gun-boat wharf also has perceptibly sunk, and a row of posts near the gun wharf has been thrust out full 3 feet. Several fissures in the river were also noticed after the shocks, which have since been filled up ;■ the beacons also at the heads are now much out of the perpendicular, and a large tree which formerly was embedded in the clay, and was used as a landing place, was removed several yards from its position, and carried further up the stream. In a recent visit up the river I noticed a grdat number of landslips, but none of any gfeat size. The teacher of Hoperiki however had a very narrow escape ; he was sleeping at the root of a large rata tree; he was awoke by the tree moving in an extraordinary manner, and immediately jumped up and ran away; he had onlyjust time to escape its falling on him, and bad not turie even to carry away his garments with him. ,1 have noticed that all our shocks come from the same quarter, which leads me to suppose they radiatefrom some centre seated in the sea ; the channels of rivers are evidently fissures formed in the upheavement-of the land, the shocks are chiefly felt in their vicinity, frequently they are not perceived at a little distance either on one side or the other; the entire course of th'je Wanganui presents a series of these upheayements, the country laying in stages from the sea to the central' plains of Taupo ; every little stream which falls into the Wanganui is but a lateral fissure marking the extent of one upheavement, the one end of the strata being elevated as much as the other end' is depressed, the part lifted up being invariably opposite the point from whence our shocks still proceed."