New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Saturday, September 1, 1849.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume v, Issue 426, 1 September 1849, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Saturday, September 1, 1849.

Among th§ different performances which have lately taken place for the amusement of the public, not the least diverting is that, an account of which has been published under the form of a Report of the proceedings of the Constitutional Association. The political quack with his merry- andrew has mounted the stage and sounded his penny trumpet in praise of his own infallible nostrums, and in condemnation of all that may happen to differ from, or be opposed to, them. The names tacked to the resolutions, like f - " Broken teacups, wisely kept for show," and which are paraded with such amusing ostentation, serve only to exhibit the weakness of the ranks of the faction, since, after the most strenuous exertions to make a demonstration, some of their number are made " a double debt to pay" in moving and seconding the resolutions. The framer of these resolutions is Dr. Featherston, for although we are told they are prepared by a committee consisting of Doctor Featherston and Mr. Lyon, yet few will make the mistake of supposing the latter person had

any hand in theni. The evidence of their authorship is too strong and patent to leave any doubt on this point. They are but a rifacimento of the hacknied arguments (if indeed they deserve the name) the laboured perversioDS, the studied misrepresentations, the gross fallacies, with which since his exclusion from the Council, the political Doctor has nauseated the public. The coarse virulence, the personal malignity which animates his hatred of the Governor-in-Chief is another characteristic feature peculiar to their author, who, in his eagerness to do " all that a dog so diminutive can" to injure the object of his aversion, has been led into all sorts of inconsistencies, even to the length of becoming the champion of Captain Fitzroy and Major Richmond, of both of whom he has been the most bitter and unscrupulous assailant. It would be idle to wade through the tissue of absurdities which pervade this composition, and yet it may be as well to afford our readers a specimen of the sort of reasoning which is attempted to be imposed on the public as conclusive in condemning Sir George Grey's policy. It is perfectly indifferent which of the resolutions we select since, in this respect, they are all alike ; at a venture we will take that moved by Doctor Featherston himself, as a brick from this precious Babel, from which our readers may in some degree form an opinion as to the composition and value of the rest. An attempt is made to show, by a comparison between the revenue and civil expenditure of this settlement in the years 1842 and 1848, the wasteful expenditure of the present Government. It is stated that " In 1842 the amount of the Revenue of Wellington

which shows that (while the population Las continued stationary,) th« revenue has increased by only about £2,700, while the Civil Expenditure under Sir George Grey has been increased by nearly £12,000 a-year." Now in 1842 this settlement was a mere dependency of Auckland, under the control of a Police Magistrate, and in consequence of the repeated complaints and clamorous remonstrances of the settlers of the uncertainty and want of communication between Wellington and Auckland, first a Superindent was appointed, and, that arrangement failing to satisfy the wishes of the settlers, the Southern Settlements were erected into a separate and, to a certain extent, independent Province, with a separate machinery of Government, so as to obviate as much as possible the necessity of a reference to Auckland.*. The constitution and machinery of Government for the Southern Province was modelled after that which already obtained at Auckland, and in this Sir George Grey is not to blame since he has merely obeyed the instructions of the Secretary for the Colonies, who supposed that, by this arrangement, he was promoting the wishes of the settlers. But this fact is suppressed because the truth would not serve the purpose of the framer and mover of the resolution. The resolution concludes with a very droll reason in favour of Representative Institutions — " That portion of the expenditure of the Grant which can be considered as intra-colonial is so small and ill-administered by the despotic government in existence, that no worse consequences could follow its administration by the local representative legislatures if submitted to their control." This sort of recommendation is somewhat similar to the praise bestowed on most-quack medicines, that if they do no good at all events they will do no harm. In a similar spirit is the ninth resolution, in which it is asserted "that Sir George Grey's treatment of the natives has been, like most other acts of his Government, a succession of temporary makeshifts, distinguished by no broad or institutional views, and affords no grounds for their permanent or progressive improvement." And this is asserted with unblushing hardihood in the face of the experience of those who remember what the natives were in Captain Fitzroy's time, pampered into rebellion by mistaken indulgence, and what they are now, instructed by the Government by employment on the public works in the arts of civilization, studious imitators of the settlers in their houses,

cultivations, keeping of stock, and habits of life, while all reference is carefully suppressed to the hospitals which have been established for their benefit and which, by the able ministration of those to whose charge they have been entrusted, have convinced the natives of the beneficent intentions of the British Government, have established their confidence in the Governor, and confirmed them in a willing obedience to those laws and institutions which, they are satisfied, are essential to their protection and well-being. To these results of his plans for ameliorating and quieting the aboriginal population Sir George Grey may point with honest exultation, and while the Faction would have hounded him on to the confiscation of the native lands and the extermination of their race he has rebuked their persecuting spirit, and has proved by the result that, even on the low ground of self-interest, it is better to save than to destroy. But we have said enough to expose the nature and tendency of these resolutions ; they smell not of the lamp so much as of the fumes of tobacco and brandy-and- water, under whose inspiration they were composed.

Professions of attachment to representative institutions, and devotion to the interests of freemen, attended by a practical despotism over the press, are — Fox et preterea nihil. — Vide Otago News passim.

Experiments have lately been tried in Wellington for extracting the ore from the iron sand which is found in such abundance at Taranaki. In one of the most recent experiments on Thursday evening last, although the furnace was constructed of common bricks, and therefore not capable of maintaining a great degree of heat, the metal was run in a state of fusion in twenty minutes. With a good furnace constructed of fire bricks the melting of the iron sand might ,be carried on with facility as a profitable article of export. The iron is described by competent judges to be of a superior quality, and likely to comxnand a high price.

The Theatre. — On Wednesday evening Mr. Marriott had a farewell benefit at the "Britannia Saloon, on which occasion he was greeted by an overflowing house, who appeared greatly to enjoy the evening's entertainments. After the first piece, Mr. Marriott, in making his bow to the audience, acknowledged in suitable terms the patronage with which he had been favoured. — The following evening there was a performance by some amateurs of the 65th regt., for the benefit of the family of the late Sergeant Lovell; the house was crowded in every part, and the performers acquitted themselves very creditably, and were very favourably received. A consideiable sure ■was taken at the doors, so that their benevolent exertions in favour of the family of a deceased comrade were attended with deserved success.

vas :nlB4B, .... rhe Chil Expenditure in 1842 was [n 1848, above ±y,708 12,474 4,409 16,000 U 4 0 0 U 9 0 0