CALIFORNIA.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 471, 6 February 1850, Page 3

CALIFORNIA.

We do not see it in the papers, (probably they are not aware of the fact,)but learn, verbally, that many persons in San Francisco and the vicinity have committed suicide ; and that one man had been actually starved to death in a place called " Happy Valley !" He was found dead, after having eaten the flesh from his own arms, in the desperate strife with the King of Terrors. A great responsibility will devolve upon the authorities there during the approaching winter, when so many will be thrown, in destitute circumstances, upon them for aid. With such enormous prices, and destitute of money and employment, it is almost impossible to imagine the amount of suffering that will fall to the Jot of multitudes who will congregate at San Francisco during the autumn and winter. — Polynekum.

Ikfdemajpiok from the Mines. — We learn from a gentleman who has just returned from the Tuolumne, where' he has been located during the last two or three months* that great success has attended the search for gold in that region. He informs us that two gentlemen, the names of whom he gave us, obtained in two days, a few miles above Rogers's Bar, eighty ounces of gold, and that the success of others was very encouraging. The weather at the mines is daily becoming more agreeable, and sickness is to a considerable extent abating. Great numbers of emigrants were daily arriving in the mining district overland ; many of them were from Texas. A very small proportion of those who arrive at the mines are able to endure the fatigue and privations which they are obliged to undergo, consequently many return to the States; others establish themselves at San Francisco, and at the several places of deposit on the banks of the Sacramento, Tuolurane, and other rivers. Agriculture is beginning to atiract the attention of a large number, who are conyiuced that this branch of business will pay as well as any other. Sacramento City, New York on the Pacific, Benecia, and other settlements are rapidly increasing in population and business, and it is believed that in one year from the present time, California will vie with others of the states in the Union in importance. Pacific News.

The Progress of San Irancisco. — The growth of San Francisco is the last wonder of the wotld, be it the eighth or the sixteenth. I had almost called it the greatest. The streets have the crowded, busy, excited aspect of the most crowded and excited portions of New York. Men are dashing to and fro, their hands full of papers, and their heads of grand projects. The Californian style of architecture, wood and canvass blended, half house, half tent, is rapidly giving place to massive and ornamented edifices, two, three, and four stories high — merchants' exchange and reading room — half a dozen grand hotels, and scores of large warehouses, are now going up as fast as gold and master builders and hard-working carpenters can build them. To see a block of heavy stores," thronged with customers, where last winter you shot ducks in a duck-pond, or long ranges of fine mansions where three months ago you could not force your way through the thicket of scrub oak, astonishes even the man who has remained on the ground. It is no marvel that it seems like a marvel to the absentee of a j yea: or six months, or to the newly-arrived j who expected to find here an uninhabited wilderness. No city in the world, it is safe to say, ever grew with the rapidity of this. " Rome was not built in a day." But San Francisco was. The old adage won't hold. And the business of the place is immense, but not immense enough, I fear, to justify the enormous rents paid. The fact is, the present rate of rents is unnatural. The rush of shipping hither, with rich and miscellaneous cargoes, which must be disposed of or rot, create ' an unparalleled auction and commission business. Merchants of this class made enormous charges and enormous profits, and paid extravagant rents. They could afford it but it was often at the expence of the owner at home. And when the price is stated at which the goods have been sold here, it is by no means an index of the profits to the shipper. E. g.: a merchant shipped from the east an invoice amounting to 2,500 dollars, and the goods were sold here for 8, 800 dollars — a grand speculation it would seem, and enough to set half the tradesmen in Yankeedom crazy. But look at the expenses — freight, lighterage, cartage, storage, and commission charges, &c, in all a bill of 7,600 dollars ! leaving for the original shipper 1,200 dollars, or 1,300 dollars out of pocket by the operation. This is a real case, and a sample, I imagine, of many other " operations" fey which adventurers expect to make themselves richer than Crwsus. — Correspondent of Polynesian.

Introductory Memorandum, by the Hon. Colonial Secretary, to the Statistics of New Munster, New Zealand, from 1841 to 1848, laid upon the table of the Provincial Legislative Council by the Lieutenant Governor, and ordered by the Council to be printed. The Province of New Munster is considered in the following Returns as divided into four districts. The first, that of Wellington, includes Wanganui or Petre, and as much 1 of the Northern Island as is comprised in the Province. The north end of the Middle Island, halfway down to Banks's Peninsula, forms the district of Nelson. The districts of Aktroa and Otago comprehend all the remaining portions of the Middle Island which are nearer those settlements respectively. The names Wanganui and Petre are applied indiscriminately to the settlement on the Northern shore of Cook's Strait. The Returns are compiled from mattrials furnished by a general census taken in August, 1848 ; and front thosa supplied for the

ordinary colonial blue book at the end of eacb year. This will account for some discrepancies in the totals of different returns respecting the same subjects, On the face of all those derived from the census is a notification to that effect.

Population. — General increase. — In the < years 1845 and 1846 the population of New '. Mnnster had decreased 5*68 per cent* on its < amount in 1844 ; but in 1847 and 1848 it increased 20*62 per cent, on its amount at the end of 1846. In Wellington during the latter two years the increase was 17*06 per cent., in Nelson 9'oo per cent, on their respective populations in 1846. Increase by births. — 'The number of registered births is no guide to the actual number that took place in the Province in 1848, as it is certain that very many occurred which were never registered. But even those that were, amounted to 3*55 per cent on the population at the end of 1847. An approximation may however be made to the real rate of increase by births, by comparing the number of children in the Proviuce under two years of age (Return No. 3) with the numbers of the population at the end of the years 1845, 1846, and 1847. As the Returns for those years were taken in December of each year, and the Return of children in Augus , 1848, the amounts of population at the periods mentioned may be considered the correct numbers of those of whom the children were the produce. The average population of these three years was 7645 souls. The numler of children under two years (deducting those belonging to Otago, the inhabitants of which settlement arrived in 1848), that is, the number born between August, 1846, and August, 1848, was 760, which gives an average of 380 for each year. The increase, consequently, on the population in 1846 and 1847 was at the rate of 4*95, or nearly 5 per cent, per annum by births alone. The deaths in 1848 were only •81 per cent. (Returns No. 1 and 5) on the population of that year, (the number who died being added to its amount.) This would give 4*14 for the actual rate of annual increase of the population, exclusive of immigration. In Great Britain the increase of population for ten years, from 1831, to 1841, (allowing for emigration) was 15*02 per cent., or I*so per annum. The per centage is, however, too low for New Munster, as the births of those who died under tw« years of age are omitted in the above calculation. The large proportion of deaths in Nelson, as compared with Wellington, in 1848, was occasioned by the number of infants dying that year of hooping cough. In the same year, throughout the Province, the deaths were 1 in 123 of the whole population. In England, in 1842, lin 46*08 ; in the United States (no date given) 1 in 37. Original extraction of the population. — The centesimal proportions the inhabitants of different origin in the Province bear to the whole population respectively are as follows : (Return No. 2.) 51 86. . . .per cent, born in England. 12*16.... „ „ „ „ Scotland. •55.... „ „ „ „ Wales. 321 , „ „ „ Ireland. 2.39.... „ „ „ j, British Colonies. 3-17 „ „ „ „ Foreign Countries 26*51.... „ „ » >• New Zealand. 9985 « ! Thus it appears that there are, eiclusive of the Military, more than four times as many English as Scotch in the Province, and nearly four times as many Scotch as Irish. The Foreigners are principally Germans, and the French at Akaroa. Proportion of Sexes. — In August, 1848, there were about 1000 more males than fe- ' males in New Munster ; an excess equal to about one-ninth of the whole population. This excess is greatest wmong adults between 21 and 45 years of age. At Wellington the actual excess of males of this age is about four times as large as in Nelson, though the population is only half as large again. The proportion of females born is .considerably greater than of males, judging from the number alive under two years old in 1848 ; but the proportions are reversed with respect to all the other septennial periods given. The number of females considerably exceeds that of males in England and Ireland. Immigration and Emigration. — The Re- ' turn of Immigrants and Emigrants are mere lists of arrivals and departures. The only 1 result apparently that can be arrived at upon ! this subject is an approximation to the excess of re- emigration over the immigration that has taken place independently of that set ' on foot by the New Zealand Company in the first colonization of the country. Deducting 1 from the total population of August, 1848, which amounted to 8543, the number then exissing of persons born in the colony, which by Return No. 2 is shewn to have been 2264, we have 6279 mmigrants still in the Province. Taking the whole number introduced by the New Zealand Company as 8904 souls, and allowing 1200 for New Plymouth, we have

7704 for New Munster. If the number of immigrants at present in the Colony be ■übtracted from this, the remainder is 1423, which represents the excess of loss by breath and re-emigration, over gain by immigration other than that caused by the New Zealand. Company in founding the Settlements of the Province. As the deaths in question, by a calculation from the loose Returns we have of them, amount to between 400 and 500, the excess of loss by re- emigration, would be about 1000. The actual number of them that belonged to the body tentontby the Company, the Returns do not enable us to ascertain. Medical Statistics* — The Hospital Returns chiefly relate to the Natives, and shew conclusively that the diseases most frequent amoog them are those arising from want of goO'l food, good shelter, and cleanliness ; perhaps, also, from the absence of habits of industry. The centesimal proportion of diseases treated at the Wellington Hospital were these ' — Fever 14*6 Rheumatic Diseases .11*1 , Inflammation of Lungs B*B Consumption 4'? Cough and Catarrh .- 3*B 28;4 t Abscess .'..»»..» B*9 Ulcers ..- 3*o Hakihaki B'6< Scrofulous Diseases >)•• 5;4 .25*9 Contusions, Burns, &c. . . 5-4 Opthalmia 4*l Syphilis and Gonorrhoea . . 4*7 16 other complaints 159 Total 99*0 Thus, 71 per cent* of the cases of disease 1 may be attributed to the causes above stated { for the 4*l per cent, of cases of opthalmia most probably arose from the habit of living in huts filled with wood-smoke.- - Return No. 7 also shews the habitual residences and the parent tribes, of the patients received into the Hospital. The greater part came from the neighbourhood of Welling tofa, and the West Coast as far as Wanganui, and belonged to the Ngatiawa. Such Returns, continued for a series of years, would be in- . teresting, as marking the gradual extension of the beneficial effects of European science and skill among the N*tiV«s«

Occut atioS. — Of the JLSOI persons in the Wellington Settlement .'following Specific callings (exclusive of female domestic setvints) it appears that 34*8 per cent, were engaged in agricultural and pastoral pursuits in 1848 ; atid of the 699 at Nelson, 45 3 per cent. But at Nelson there were 36*8 per cent, employed in husbandry, and in Wellington only 22*3 per cent.; the proportion being restored in the latter place by the much greater number employed in stock-keeping there than at Nelson. Of the whole number of Mechanics and Craftsmen in the Province, no less than 54 per cent, were carpenters, joiners, splitters of wood, or sawyers. Ot the 2548 persons in the Province following specific pursuits, there were 37*5 per cent, belonging to the labouring class engaged in pastoral or agricultural pursuits j 30*5 per cent of mechanics and craftsmen* and about 5*3 per cent of mariners and fishermen. In Great Britain the proportion engaged in maritime occupations in 1841, including the national and mercantile navy and fishermen, was 3*B per cent, of all male persons 20 years of age and upwards* The Return of persons holding special licenses for the sale of 'spirits affords a standard of the gradual spread of the settlers over the interior of the country since the year 1845. One of the first symptoms of traffic commencing in a new direction is the licensed house for the accommodation of travellers*

Production, &c. — Land in cultivation, $c. t -r-In Wellington the cultivation of land appears by the Returns (No. 10) to have been neglected for the breeding of stock, which the high rate of wages for labour, the ready market for cattle, and other circumstances, render much more lucrative. The only noticeable increase, though a slight one, in the number of acres of any grain cropped in 1848, was of oats; but a considerable quantity of land seems to have been laid down in pasture. In Nelson the quantity "of acres cropped was about four times as large as in Wellington ; and, on the whole, greater than in the previous year ; but a slight decrease is observable in the number of acres of wheat, barley, and potatoes ;' the increase being in oats. The amount of land laid down in pasture had also increased. In the whole Province a steady increase in cultivation has been maintained since 1843 ; the greatest being in 1845 and 1846. In Nelson the number of acres cropped in 1844, 1845, and 1846, increased at the rate of 1000 a- year, though the population in the same yean was decreasing.

'Stock.—!? the years 1843, 1844, and] 18J45, horned cattle increased in the Settle-7: ment of Wellington at the rate of 400 a -year,: in 1846 and 1847, of 200 a-year ; and the| increase in 1848 was 2014. The greatest) proportional increase in sheep was in 1846,| 'the consequence probably of the suppression) of Native disturbances. : Iti Nelson the amount of horned cattle in, a 848 was 1500 greater than in 1847, the! highest increase in any pievious year having' %een 503. Sheep having increased at tbej Tate of 3000 a-year during 1843, 1844, i 1845, and 1846, increased by 10,000 in 1847 ; and by 17,000 in 1848. This wasj the consequence the opening of the WairaUj -districts to flockowners. ' There were 7 coasting vessels belonging to Natives in New Munster in 1848. Mortgages on Land in Wellington. — It is not to be inferred from Return No. 17 that the amount of property mortgaged in 1847! was for money then advanced. The fact is, that the landed securities were not given till that year, -but the debts were incorred in the earlier and less prosperous years of the Colony's existence.'

Interchange. — Imports and Exports. — Wellington.— {JEietxixm Nos, 18 to 24). The articles imported into the Colony in greatest quantities are the following : Flour, Tea and Sugar, .Live- Stock, Beer, Wines, Spirits, and Tobacco. " The greatest increase in Imports to Wellington in 1847, as compared with 1846, and the considerable decrease in 1848, seem to shew that the improving circumstances of the Colony in 1846, and the commencement of the large Commissariat expenditure, and oi that upon toads, caused a sudden rise in demand, the jjxtentof which could not be suffi' ciently ascertained to enable the importers to provide only the requisite supply, which accordiugly produced the falling off in Imports in 1848. It is satisfactory to observe that the importation of flour into Wellington from beyond seas has been declining since 1846 ; while the quantity imported coastwise has been proportionably increasing. From the Return (No. 23) of Coastwise Imports for one quarter it appears that above 1 00 tons must hare been so imported in 1848. The decrease in Imports in 1848 also affects the Return of Exports for that year, as the totals given in the latter include Imports re-exported. The other causes of the decrease in Exports jxpra tb.e Province in 1847 and 1848 are, Ist,— the increased proportion the Expor.ts to ' New South Wales havjt borne 4 to those to Great Britain in those years as "< compared with former ones, which tends to ' iqjfer the declared value of goods at the Custom House, as a duty of 10 per cent, is paid upon them in Sydney ; 2ndly, — the low price of wool in England in 1848 ; and, 3rdly, — the consequent retention by sheep owners of the produce of their flocks in the expe ctation of getting better prices at a future period. Nelson. — The sudden increase of Imports into Nelson (Return No. 18 ) from £10,706 ■in value in 1847, to £21,879 in 1848, is shewn by No. 19 to have been caused by the introduction of sheep, cattle, and horses, the number imported in that year amounting in value to £13,454. These productive Imports being deducted, the total from beyoud seas would amount only to £8,425, while the total Exports beyond *eas and coastwise, amounted to £6,796. The greater part of the wool was retained, as the value of <bat exported was only £140 in 1848, and in 1847, £1,878. Some was sent through. Wellington ; but the sheep having increased from 20,000 in 1847 to 37,000 in 1848, the -value of Exports produced may be presumed to have equalled the Imports from abroad, ■even though such of the latter as were received through Wellington were included in the -estimate. This ia satisfactory proof of the ■sound condition of the settlement. The rapidly increasing production of flour for home txmsumptkm is also shewn by Returns Nos. 19, 23, and 24. In 1846, 155 tons (value £1,478) were imported into Nelson from beyond seas, — in 1847 only 54 tons (value £484), and in 1848, none at all, — while 86 tons (value ;£1,032) were exported coastwise. In 1848, 2,594 bushels of barley, 600 bushels of wheat, 38 tons of potatoes, besides other field produce, were exported beyond seas. New Munster. — The Return of Exports j of New Zealand Produce (No. 21) gives a favourable view of' the resources of the country. Though the amounts exported are small, the variety of valuable articles enumerated, — several of which, especially flax and timber, appetr only to aeed a greater supply of capital and labour to render them considerable exports — is such as to warrant sanguine anticipations of the future importance of the colony. Native Trade. — Return No. 22 gives an approximation to the amount of trade in New Zealand produce coastwise" to Wellington. '

No Return of the exact quantities of particular articles was kept till the last quarter of 1848; but the Return given shews the; amount of tonnage employed in the aggregate of trips in bringing the articles enume-1 rated in it. The produce imported from the East Coast of the Northern Island is entirely grown by the Native population, and- much of that from the West Coast. So with respect to Queen Charlotte's Sound. The number of tons employed in this trade amounted in 1848 to 6,044 — the tonnage of each vessel being multiplied by Hb number of trips. When, in 1 addition to the Maori produce thus imported, the quantity brought by land into Wellington, is taken into consideration, as well as the; money spent, chiefly among the Natives, in the construction of roads (about £17,000 in 1848, according to Return No. 18,) it will! be apparent what a powerful agency for im-j parting the most effective kind of civilization is brought to bear upon them by the existence; of the Settlement of Wellington, with its Go- 1 vernment expenditure. The work on the roads' gives them the regular habits, and a knowledge of the implements of industry ; while; they are encouraged and stimulated .tpj persevere in it by the tempting market ( and ready remuneration the Settlement offers for its fruits. The resources of the Colony are at the same time developed, and the best guarantee provided for the preservation of peace. The system of road making is, in fact, a native school of industry, and the effects of attendance at it are seen, not only in the personal benefits, physical and moral, which work must unquestionably confer on the aboriginal people, but in the spread of thei* cultivations, the increase of their property and trade, and, as a necessary consequence, their more willing submission to European law. The Returns of Shipping invards and outwards, for 1846, 1847, and 1848, shew a gradually increasing amount of vessels and tonnage trading with tbejColouy. The number of men belonging to British and British Colonial ships in the trade amounted in £848 to 1054. Provisions. — From Return No. 26 it appears that the price of the necessaries of liTe has diminished considerably since 1844. Moral Condition. — Education, — The conclusions to be drawn from the Educational Returns are much less definite and decisive than would have been the case ha 3 the numbers of those acquainted <wifb, pr ignorant of, the <elementary arts of reading and writing, given iv Return INo. 30 been classified according to their ages ; so far at least as to distinguish between children of the age »t which instruction is generally given, and adults who 'had passed it. We learn, however, from the tables as they stand, that, of the proportipns of persons unable to read and write in the different settlements to their population respectively, the greatest was inAkaroa, being 354 per cent ; and, as perhaps might have been expected from the state of education in Scotland, considerably the lowest in Otago, being only 20*4 per cent. In Wellington it amounted to 28*4, and in Nelson to 32.4 per cent. The fact of a greater proportional number being unable to read and write in Nelson than in Wellington may possibly be accounted for in some degree by the greater proportion* of children in Nelson, where the number under 7 yeaTS of age is 31 per cent., while in Wellington it is only 28 per cent. But it is more probable that the excess is owing to the difference of the classes from which the adult population in the two Settlements was derived. Ai this is so much more exclusively agricultural at Nelson than at Wellington, where so many comparatively are engaged in commercial pursuits, an equal amount of elementary knowledge was hardly to be looked for among them. This supposition is confirmed by a comparison, as far as <:an be made, of the proportions of the numbers above 7 years old unable to write to the population above the same age in the Settlements respectively. At Wellington this proportion amounts to 266 per cent., while at Nelson it is as high as 349 or nearly 35 per cent. ; a considerable increase iv the difference of the proportions against Nelson, as compared with those given above. If the Returns had furnished the means of arriving at | the number of adults in the Settlements unable to write, it would probably have been found that the difference in the proportions had still increased ; that is, that a still greater proportion of ignorance in reading and writing would be found in the adult population in Nelson. At Otago the ratio of persons above 7 unable to write, to the whole population above 7, is much lower than that given above, being no more than 16*0 per cent., while at Akaroa it is up to 40*8 per cent. The results of a comparison of the proportion of the population unable to write, with the corresponding proportion in England and Wales, appear to be greatly in favour of New Zealand. The proportion throughout England and Wales in 1844 of (hose signi»g the marriage registers with markr was '40*8

per cent, of the jjffholje ; number signing. Though thU may be too high a per centage for. the whole population <at the ifieseat time (as most of theimales under 20 and females under 15 may be considered ,as excluded, and the education of the ysoung had. advanced, since the, portion, of i the population .included in the marriage register was of an. age to receive it, so that a Return comprising the former would lower .the per centage*,), yet the proportion, it may be presumed, would even then be much greater than in New Mup^ter, where those above 7 years old unable to write are only 29*3 per cent, of the population above 7. This comparison is on too limited a scale perhaps to warrant general conclusions, but it seems to suggest, what more extended observation will probably prove to be the case, that emigration is most frequent among the better educated of the labouring classes at horne — that education, in short, is a great promoter of emigration. The proportionate numbers receiving education compared with those at home seem also very creditable to New Munster. Of those between the ages of 2 and 14 (the only periods up to 15 specified in the Returns) the centesimal proportion in New Munster receiving daily education was 58*66, a per centage which would be increased if we could deduct the number under 5 years of age from both sides of the proportion. Even in Scotland the per centage of those receiving education in 1837 was only 31*41. And to the New Munster per centage should be added those attending Sunday schools alone, an amount not ascertainable from the Returns as j made. In England and Wales in 1833 the proportion receiving daily education in schools of all kinds was 30*7 per cent. The fact, -however* still remains, that there are about 26*b per cent, of the children between the ages of 5 and 14 (deducting three-fifths from the number between 2 and 7 to get an approximation to that between 5 and 7) who are receiving no daily education in schools in New Munster. It is indisputable, then, that even allowing for private instruction at home, a great deal is left to be done in the way of education in the Provinco. The proportion of those receiving daily education to the whole number between 2 and 14 years of age is 61*78 per cent, at Wellington, 56*89 at Nelson, and 35*55 at Otago. It is highly creditable to the founder and promoters of the Nelson Schools that the Nelson per centage is so high as it is ; for the centesimal proportion of the inhabitants of the town and suburbs is in Nelson 42*4 to the whole population^ while at Wellington (including Wade's Town, but not Karorior Porirua road, in the suburbs) it is 56*4. This much greater dispersion of the population over rural districts makes provision for the education of the children by many degrees more difficult. But though we may perhaps congratulate ourselves, on the whole, that the state ot Education is no worse than it is, still, considering the circumstances of the great body of the inhabitants of the Province, the proportion above stated of children between 5 and 14 years of age, without daily education, is much greater than should be allowed to continue. It will be a disgrace, indeed, if there ever be found a single adult, of British origin, born in New Zealand since Its regular colonization, unable to read and write. And a peculiar degradation will attach to a person of European extraction, deficient in these simple accomplishments, in a country, the aboriginal and uncivilized inhabitants of which almost universally possess them. Religious Persuasions. — It will be seen by Return No. 32 that at Otago, in 1848, there were 276 persons of five different persuasions, including that of the Free Church of Scotland, and 206 of the Church of England, 1 Wesleyan and Roman Catholic. The fact is ! interesting as connected with the experiment I of founding Settlements exclusively ofper- ' sons of one religious denomination. | Criminal Statistics and Administration of Justice, — The Criminal Statistics of the Province have at first sight an unfavourable asi pect in some particulars, the cause of which is however very apparent from the Returns (Nos. 35 and 36.) The average centesimal proportions of convictions to committals were in 1848, in Wellington 60*31, in Nelson only 37*50 ; or about twice as many convictions per cent, on committals in the former place as in the latter. But the average for the 5 years throughout New Munster is considerably below the the per centage in England, where 72*14 per cent, of committals end in convictions, or in Scotland where 74*91 per cent, have this result. This may in some degree be accounted for by the necessary imperfection of the means for securing the punishment of offenders in a young colony, and especially in one where the settlements are dispersed along so extensive a sea coast as that of New Zealand, where the class most given to breaches of the law can pass so easily ont of the reach of justice, and

**Vide " Porter's progress »f the Nation, ion- I i ' don, 1847." "" " - * '»<» <

the expense pf bringing witnesses! iOftheplaCe of trial is unavoidably , great. ' ButandtWr v cousje will presently ( be mentioue'd.' The c PQAvicu"ionB;for all offence*, excluding those of natives, before the Supreme Court in the district of Wellington, taken at au average qf t£e 5 yeju»-end«g.December,iBl, lB4B, bore to its population the proportion of 1 coowbtion to.evecy 556 aouls; the committals il to every 338 ,*ouls. In Nelson the correepooding proportions were , of convictJQns 1 to every J641, and committals 1 to .every ,753 souls. Thus convictions in Wellington wsre 3 times as many as in Nelson, in proportion to their respective populations, and committals something more than twice ta many. But committals afford perhaps a better te»t of the state of a country, in resptjct %o crime than convictions. And the committals throughout New Munster in these 5 years were^n the ratio of 1 to every 400 souls. Jo JB}n r gland and Wales in 1841 they were only 1 to every 573, and in Scotland only 1 to every 738. This unfavourable, and at first *jgbt very surprising result, may easily, and as far as the settlers are concerned, very satisfactorily, be accounted for. Return No. 35 proves indisputably from what source this large amount of crime proceeds. If from the 88 committals during the 5 years be deducted those of prisoners from New South Wales and Hobart Town, and the few from Parkhurst, it will be found that the amount of committals is reduced by nearly one-third (88 — 31=57), which gives a proportion of 1 committal to every 464 of the population, when the per centage (2*39) from. the British Colonies in 1 848, which may be taken as the proportion in the other years, has been deducted from the average population with which the committals are compared. Again, deducting in addition to these, the committals of soldiers fiom one side of the . proportion, and the number of military from the other — we have the committals diminished by nearly two-thirda (88 — 56=32), or 1 to every 697 souls, a much smaller proportion than in England. Lastly, if the committals of sailors and persons whose previous country was not known be omitted from the .calcur lation, there will be left for committals among original settlers only one-fifth of the whole (88 — 70=18). The exact proportion to thecorresponding population caunot be determined in this last case, because the number to be subtraced from the population is not ascertain tble — but it is clear that it would be such as to make the comparison with either Scotland or England a very favourable one for Wellington. In Nelson, the proportion, including all classes, is less than in either of those countries. - The evils of the neighbourhood of penal colonies are shown by the fact just proved, that one-third of all the crime of the Province for the last 5 years has been supplied thence. And this may in some degree account for the small proportion of convictions to committals noticed above — so large a number of the prisoners committed having been old offenders, roost probably long practised in all the arts of eluding justice.Resident Magistrates' Courts. — Return No. 37 of Classified Prisoners Summarily Convicted, shews in a minor degree the same facts as to the sources of crime. Rather more than one-half the cases of convictions in Wellington during the 5 years were of original settlers. The proportions in 1848 i (Return No. 38) for the different settlements, shew that small offences were less frequent in Nelson and most in Akaroa. But the numbers are too small in tba latter case for any sound conclusions to be drawn. Cases of drunkenness brought before the Resident Magistrate were 3 times as numerous (soldiers not included) in Wellington as in Nelson. The more matitime and commercial pursuits of the inhabitants and the greater amount of money in circulation may perhaps account for this, Civil Cases. — Return No. 39 clearly demonstrates that the Resident Magistrate* 1 Courts hfve satisfactorily superseded the ! Courts of Requests in the Province. The very considerable increase in the number of Civil Cases in 1848, and of the proportion of cases settled out of Court, prove that the extended powers given to the Magistrate* have operated beneficially for the public, and that a greater amount of business in both the Civil and Criminal departmenti of summary jurisdiction can be efficiently carried on in the single Court, than was in the two together previously existing instead of it, — namely, the Police Magistrate's and the Court of Request*.