New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Saturday, December 30, 1848.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 356, 30 December 1848, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Saturday, December 30, 1848.

Among the immediate advantages resulting from the establishment of a Legislative Council in this Province, not the least important is the opportunity which it has afforded his Excellency the Governor-in- Chief, in his opening address and in his subsequent explanations to the Council, of making the colonists- acquainted with a general outline of his policy, and of giving them such information of his plans and recommendations with regard to the future form- of Government to be established in this colony as will enable them to form a correct judgment respecting it. These plans are to be viewed in connexion with the previous acts of his Government as part of a well considered policy requiring a series of years for its fulfilment, a polidy which has for its objects the pacification of these islands, the amalgamation of the two races, and the gradual introduction of a representative form of Government concurrently with the plans for securing the prosperity of the country now in operation, so as to afford a guarantee of the permanence of this prosperity. And whether we consider the proposed form of Government by itself or in connexion with that general and comprehensive policy of which it forms so important a part, the extraordinary and complete success of his Excellency's policy, as far as it has been developed, justifies us in entertaining the most sanguine anticipations as to the future, while the clear practical suggestions on which his plah-t>£ Government is based, the careful adaptation of the best parts of Lord Grey's Constitution to the peculiar circumstances of the colony, arid the equally careful rejection of its most objectionable features, offers every expectation of its working well and ensures the approval and' concurrence of all reasonble men. As regards the settlers, the chief object of his Excellency's policy Has been to promote the prosperity of the colony, and to give them at the earliest practicable period those Representative Institutions which would afford them the opportunity of managing their own affairs, and of exercising a a reasonable control over the Executive Government. To the natives its whole scope and tendency has been to convince them that the Government established by Great Britain in these Islands ' was a beneficent power, strong enough to repress disorder and violence, but desirous to attach them by kindness rather than to compel submission by intimidation, to triumph by civilization rathei than by force of arms, and to prove that peaceful victories are the most lasting and glorious. Step by step this policy has been developed, since the purchase of the Wairau and Porirua districts the Government have been steadily employed by equitable and liberal arrangements in extinguishing the native title to the various districts in the Southern Province, so that, while ample reserves are made for the present and prospective use of the aboriginal inhabitants, the pretext for further disputes on this subject, hitherto so pregnant with them, will be removed, the lands belonging to the natives will be clearly defined and registered according to Lord Grey's suggestion, and the rest of the country will become an open field for the enterprise and industry of future colonists. We well remember the sneers, the taunts, of those petty critics who attempted at the time to question this policy, who objected to- the purchase at Porirua and Wairau as Iwftng no guide to any future bargains with the natives whether friendly or hostile, as affording no data for calculation, as establishing no principle, as not professing to be part of any system, and like birds of ill omen J»rt£ dieting failure and misfortune. Two years have elapsed, and what has been the result ? Have the natives repudiated' their bargain ? Does not the x security in which the settlers are living, who are scattered over these districts, offer the most unanswerable proof of its wisdom and complete .success? Have

not the -principles' established by this purchase been acted, on and carried out with similar success in other instances? Has not the system been found to be moat effective? In the operations agaiftst the natives has not the result 'justified 5 his Excellency's policy ? In spite of sinister forebodings of ruin and disaster by, those who judged of his conduct without reference to the system of which it was only a part, does not the present insignificance of the rebel leaders, does not the improved condition of the native population prove that Sir George Grey acted wisely as well as humanely, that he consulted the best interests of the country by gradually removing discontent rather- than by attempting to crush rebellion; in believing the most decisive victory would have been dearly purchased by the sacrifice it would have entailed of human life, and the consequent irritation and hostility it would have engendered between the two races ? But leaving these considerations, which have reference to the general policy of his Excellency, we will advert to some of the objections at this time urged by the Faction against the Governor's recent proceedings, and for this purpose- will notice an article in last Wednesday's Independent, in which the writer (whose verbiage and inflated virulence are too well known to leave any doubt as to the authorship of the article), in the dearth of sound arguments wherewith to support a tottering worn out pretext for agitation, has recourse to the exhaustless vocabulary of abusive epithets at his command, and endeavours by a cloud of words to obscure and keep out of view the real merits of the question in dispute. An effort is made, not to show that it would be better, or even possible to introduce representation at once, but to fix a charge of inconsistency on the Governor. But the writer appears to feel that, in proceeding boldly in defiance of public opinion, he has outstepped his usual caution, and seems to have some misgivings on the subject, since he pronounces an eulogium on the Governor, accompanied, however, with a censure on him for defending his own policy and measures ! His principal charge against the Governor is that he procured the repeal of Lord Grey's constitution by "most unfair and unfounded representations," but without attempting to refute a charge of this kind, so vague, so general, and so easily made, it will be sufficient for us at present to state that it would be no difficult task to cite from the previous productions of this writer language strongly condemnatory of the cumbrous and complicated production of Lord Grey, accompanied with a hope that the Governor would not bring it into operation ;. but his chief ground of complaint is that Sir George Grey, a year and a half and two years ago* expressed an opinion that the settlers in the Southern districts might be entrusted with representation, and now refuses to grant that boon. As the constant clamorous iteration of this objection may, on the principle that Gntt* caTftt ]»pidem> non yi aed ssepe cadendo, induce the unthinking and careless to believe that it is not without some force, it may be. as well to examine it. It appears evident from this opinion thus expressed, that Sir George Grey never had any wish to undervalue the settlers in these districts, and that he had no prejudices against the principle itself of representation, and his recent explanations in the Legislative Council show, that if he cannot put that principle in operation immediately, it is from no wish to oppose" it, but because circumstances render it advisable to postpone its adoption until it can be established satisfactorily and permanently. And is it not wiser to consult the permanent welfare of the country, the real interests of this and future generations than to obtain a little temporary credit and populality at tbe expense of these ? How few have the courage to act as Sir George Grey has acted ? But there are other things to be taken into consideration. He saw that Lord Grey's plan was quite inapplicable to the country, more especially to the Northern portion of these islands ; he saw that Lord Grey's chief object was to introduce representation into the -Southern settlements, as he had ex-,

pressly provided in the Act of Parliament ! that its introduction in the Northern part of the colony might be delayed for seven years, though this provision was subsequently omitted in the Royal Instructions issued in pursuance of this Act ; and moreover that his Lordship's instructions left the boundary of New Munster undetermined, merely stating that it should include the Middle Island and a district round Wellington. It was under these circumstances that he acquainted Lord Grey with his objections to his plan. He showed him that, for various reasons, it would be unwise to extend representation to the whole of ; New Zealand, and requested him to obtain an alteration in the Royal Instruc tions on this head without repealing the I Act of Parliament, adding that if the alteration were made, as there would Be but few natives contained in the Province of New Munster as proposed to be constituted by his Lordship, he saw no reason why representation might not be introduced at once. But what course did Lord Grey pursue on receiving these " most unfair and unfounded representations ?" He was at once convinced, not by misrepresentations, but by the valid reasons adduced, that he had commitmitted an error, and with that good sense for which he is so remarkable, applied to Parliament to do more than the Governor had required, and allow the whole subject to be reconsidered. And in this course he was almost unanimously supported in Parliament, however much some members were disposed to blame his previous rashness. ! But was this unanimity solely the result of the Governor's representations ? Did not Lord Lincoln state in /his speech that the colonial papers had unanimously found fault with and condemned the cumbrous constitution ? It is true that Lord Grey by the new act empowered the Governor to establish representation in any province that he thought proper. But why did he not do it himself? Why did he depute to the actual Governor of the colony so invidious and impracticable a task as that of asking the Resuscitated council at Auckland to declare their own unfithess, and the fitness of Wellington, for representation ? The faction here seem to blow hot and cold in the same breath. , They charge the Governor with making a subservient council, and compelling it to do his will, and at the same time blame him for not asking the Auckland council to do what it is absolutely impossible to suppose it would or could have done, consistently with proper self-respect ; and what, if they had done it, they would have been the first to laugh at it for. But while Lord Grey left this discretion in the hands of the Governor, he distinctly stated, on the second reading of the Bill, that he could not sanction, nor could the colonists expect to have, representation, so long as they were dependent on the mother-country for pecuniary assistance. With this explicit public statement of Lord Grey's, which was doubtless confirmed by instructions still more explicit in his Lordship's despatches, even if he had obtained the co-operation of the Auckland council, how could Sir George Grey have I introduced representation into this Province without putting a stop to the works now in progress here, which are carried on by funds granted by Parliament ? It is very easy to bluster and talk of threats and intimidation used, and to say that he might have done it if he had been disposed, but it would have been more to the purpose to advance reasons, and not to use mere words. There are one or two other points which require a passing notice. What can be more ! absurd or more insulting to his readers than the attempt of this writer to show that Sir George Grey wished to increase his reputation by having the credit of introducing a constitution which he knew would not work but must prove a '• failure," and which he was therefore determined'to leave to a successor. If it should prove a failure, how could it add to his reputation ? If it should be calculated to add to his reputation, how could it be called a failure ? The fact is, this writer seems to begin each sentence .without the most remote idea how it is to be ended, and consequently after many dashes

and repetitions falls into these contradictions. Again he affects to despise Mr. Moore's illustration, which was really very much to' the point, and then grossly perverts his, meaning. Mr. Moore said that as a knife of steel was in itself a more useful- instrument than one of bone, still in the hands of a child it might prove an evil, so, though representation, considered abstractedly, was the best form of Government, it might nevertheless prove an evil in a small community. What 1 illustration could have been more apposite ? But he distorts Mr. Moore's meaning, and assumes that, because a man can use a steel knife without injury to himself, and would in fact make a sorry dinner without one, therefore a young and inexperienced community might be intrusted with representation without detriment to itself, thus entirely destroying and perverting Mr. Moore's illustration, and this he seems to consider wit ! But he appears to have fori gotten that if the argument of an opponent must be misrepresented in order to be ridiculed, it is not the argument but the misrepresentation to which the ridicule attaches. To use his own language, he has only bowled down the skittle he had himself stuck up for his own amusement. We may notice, in conclusion, an attempt made in the same paper, probably by the same writer, to speak with disparagement of the abilities of those gentlemen who have accepted a seat in the Legislative Council. After saying that seats in the Council " had been hawked about for a full fortnight," the writer continues to observe that Mr. Hunter accepted a seat "in consideration of the compliment paid in singling him out." He styles him also " a young legislator," but who in this community could be other than a young legislator ? Without examining in further detail his remarks, we should be glad to know, since the comparison has been forced upon us, in what respect Mr. Hickson is inferior to Mr. M'Donald, or Mr. Dillon Bell inferior to Dr. Featherston, and so with reference to the other gentlemen who are the subjects of the sneers of this writer ? .Nay, we are satisfied that these gentlemen who, in defiance of menaces and intimidation, have at considerable personal inconvenience determined by a hearty co-operation with the Governor to do what they consider their duty in the present state of affairs, need fear no comparison, — as legislators, as colonists, 1 or as men, — that may be made between them and those who preferred their own selfish crotchets to the good of the colony.

Bt the Harlequin and Louis and Miriam, which arrived yesterday afternoon, we have received Sydney papers to the 17th instant. The latest English intelligence received at Sydney was to the 9th September.

Te Haua, son of old Wata Nui, and brother to the present Wata Nui, has within the last few days come all the way from Horowhenua, a distance of upwards of sixty miles, for the sole purpose of entering the Colonial Hospital, being threatened with symptoms of incipient dropsy.

An impudent and flagrant piece of literary piracy was committed in the last number of the Independent by copying verbatim, as far as their report extends, without acknowledgment, the account of the proceedings in the Legislative Council published in last Saturday's Spectator.

A CASE FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF THE Humane. — On the day following the Go-vernor-in-Chief s explanatory speech in the Legislative Council, an old woman named Faction was found in the streets of Wellington in a most deplorable condition, she was evidently raving mad. She declared that she had been deprived of her only means of subsistence, and her mind appeared to be wandering on some hobby which she was unable to render intelligible. On enquiry it was found that the poor old woman had been long in a delirious state, and that her disease had been greatly aggravated by the violent remedies of the Doctors. She is now beyond all hope of recovery.

Programme of the Performance by the Band of the 65th Regiment, at Thorndon Flat, on Tuesday, the 2nd January :—: — 1. Overture — Semiramis Rottini 2. Selection — Bondman Balfe 3. English Quadrille Jullitn 4. Polonaise Breptsant 5. Pilgfr au Rhein Waltz Stratus 6. Quartetto — Safe in that bower my ) „ . rose shall hlow— Fair Rosamond . / Barnet 7. Galop, Bencousky Bochta 8. Bohemian Polka „,,..,..,..., c , .. Ktonig