New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Saturday, January 20, 1849.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 362, 20 January 1849, Page 3

New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Saturday, January 20, 1849.

Having in our previous number considered some of the arguments and statements put forth by the Nelson Examiner in discussing the measures adopted by Sir George Grey for constituting a Legislative Council in the Southern Province, we proceed to examine the personal statements and allusions with which it abounds, And we enter:- upon this part of the subject with considerable reluctance, because we feel that these personal discussions too frequently tend to imbitter a controversy, but we are constrained to do so from the course pursued by our contemporary. Any one who reads the account of " the mode of action" said by this writer to have been pursued by the Governor, " the alternate flattering, coaxing, insisting and threatening," by which he is stated to have attained his end, must be convinced that such a statement could only proceed from the pen of an unscrupulous paftizan, while his confounding the former with the present Legislative Council of New Zealand, in adducing the case of Mr. Brown, does not evince, on his part, great accuracy of perception . According to the Provincial Councils' Ordinance the appointment of a nonofficial member, once made by the Governor, is irrevocable until approved of by the Queen, and when the appointment is thus confirmed, it can only be cancelled by the same authority. But leaving this part of. the subject, let us turn to the " short notice" this writer " deems it right to give of the men who have refused, and the men who have consented" to sit in the Council, and we repeat that it is not our fault that we are dragged into this discussion by the intemperate zeal of this writer. All the talents and qualities which fit men for the office are lavished on the heroes of his story, who are said "to comprise the principal representatives, in Cook's Strait, of property — landed, pastoral, and commercial." In speaking of Dr. Featherston he indulges in a strain of panegyric so hyperbolical as to be truly ridiculous. In canvassing his pretensions we are reminded of one of the same profession in the last century, who dabbled in physic and literature (he did not mix up with them politics and patriotism), and met with but indifferent success in either pursuit, according to Garrick, who thus celebrated his merits — For physic and forces, his equal there scarce is, His writings are physic, his physic a farce is. That the Principal Agent of the New Zealand Company should refuse a seat in the Council, if he were asked, (which we have heard questioned) cannot excite surprise, since we can easily imagine that many questions might arise, connected with the Company's proceedings, which he might find difficult to answer. Of another recusant "representative of commercial property in Cook's Strait," we may say a few words. We have alluded, on a former occasion, to the distinction drawn by his friends between the individual and the Manager of the Union bank ; and before we can admit his claim, (as advanced by our contemporary,) among " the good men and true," to be a principal representative of commercial property, we must draw an important distinction. If he were the Principal of the Bank indeed, "doing what he liked with his own," there would be no further question; but we know that he is only an Agent, possessing no stake in the settlement, and liable to removal at a short notice according to the will of his employers, in their desire to reward his services or promote their own interests. Of his claims as a legislator, we can only say that, if we may judge from such of his reputed effusions as

have appeared in the Wellington Journals, we have a higher opinion of his skill in figuies of arithmetic than in those of rhetoric. We need not further pursue this irksome task, nor do more than briefly notice the criticisms on " the six acceptors." The objection to one of them as " only a casual resident in Wellington, unconnected with New Zealand" appears strange when applied to one who has been for some years a constant resident, established in business in this place. In accepting a seat in the Council Mr. Hickson has shown his consistent regard for Representative Institutions, by taking that course which appears most calculated to lead to their early introduction. The three members, who are " unknown as politicians" to our contemporary, are well known to their fellow settlers, from their business habits, good sense, and those qualities that are likely to- render them useful injthe office which they have accepted. The assertion " tha^ of the six who have. accepted seats, five are amongst the largest .Government and Commissariat contractors in the settlement," is so gross a mis-statement that it is not calculated to mislead any one except those who are equally uninformed with this writer on the subject. We may observe in conclusion, that if those gentlemen who refused seats in th& Council were actuated by a sincere desire to promote the interests of the colony, instead of indulging in vain declamation or unmeaning complaints, they would have gladly embraced this opportunity of working out those measures which would conduce to this end by constitutional means, and if, after having fairly tried these means, they had found it impracticable £o effect any good, they could have retired with grace, and have left the responsibility ©f 'failure with the Governor.

Thb Shamrock arrived on Thursday from Launceston with a general cargo, including a large quantity of oats, so that those gentlemen who are training Horses for the forthcoming races, will now have an pp*portunity of providing themselves with a supply of this article.