New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Wednesday, June 12, 1850.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 507, 12 June 1850, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Wednesday, June 12, 1850.

W? publish to-day a short note from Captain Pulham. commander of the Government Brig Victoria, referring to a letter in the Independent, on which we wished to make a few observations, but have been prevented until now, from the press of more important matter. The letter in the Independent, which is intended as an attack on the Government, supplies the list of passengers m the brig, and we shall not err, from its style and the spirit that animates it, in conjecturing its author to be Mr. Fox, the Principal Agent of the New Zealand Company, who seems to fill up his " spare balf-hours," for want of better employment, in inditing these diatribes for the columns of tha Independent. We are told in the letter that the Government Brig left the harbour of Nelson about eight o'clock on the morning of Friday the 24th, "the wind being fresh and fair for Wellington, " but that, owing to the detention occasioned by taking on board a valuable horse belonging to one of the passengers, and the delay of the passengers in getting on board, the vessel did not sail till about noon. It is stated " that had the Government been worth stunsails," the brig should have made Cape Terawiti by midday on Saturday, and been snug at an anchor in Port Nicholson by sunset ; but that meeting with a south-easter before rounding the cape the passage was prolonged four days', the vessel not arriving at Wellington until Thursday morning at nine o'clock. It is clear, however, from Mr. Fox's own showing, that if the passengers had been more punctual, — but for the delay in getting on board the horse (which belonged to Mr. Fox, and for which no freight was charged) — the four hours of " a wind fresh and fair" thus trifled with and lost would, without the aid of stunsails, have brought the brig into her destined port on Saturday evening, and have made the passage a short and prosperous one. We then have a bitter lamentation on the short- commons and meagre fare provided for the passengers, the fault of which (of course) is laid to the Government. A short explanation will set this right both as regards the Government and the commander of the brig. As far as the Government was concerned Mr. Fox and his family received their passage free, being charged by the captain 7s. 6d. a-day for their diet, which it is the exclusive province

of the latter to provide, and with which the Government have no concern. Shortly after the arrival of the brig at Nelson we are informed a pleasure trip was projected to Astrolabe Roads (Mr. Fox, we believe, being one of the proposed party) t and the captain being desirous on his part of rendering the trip agreeable to his passengers, laid in a good supply of fresh meat; the intention was, however, afterwards abandoned, and the captain was obliged to give the fresh meat to his crew, the affair proving a dead loss to him. To secure himself against a similar loss, and not knowing what delays might arise from his passengers, the captain had, on his departure for Wellington, arranged that the fresh provisions should be brought off to the vessel on her leaving the harbour of Nelson. Owing to some delay or neglect on the part of the person from whom the provisions were ordered, this was not done, and the vessel sailed without them. We cannot help suspecting, however, a good deal of exaggeration in the highly wrought picture presented to us of the cabin accommodations, for, although Mr. Fox indulges in a sly chuckle about killing the Lieutenant-Go-vernor's turkey, if the fare was as indifferent as he describes it to have been, how little soever he might have cared about keeping himself in good case, we can hardly believe that his regard for Mrs. Fox's comfort^ which must have been an object of greater consideration to him than his own, would not have induced him to try and " obtain a wholesome meal" even though it should have been at his own expense ; but whatever became of the Lieutenant- Governor's turkeys, Mr. Fox's escaped scot-free, — six turkeys were put on board the brig by him at Nelson, and six were duly landed at Wellington. The sneer at the albata plate is natural enough from one who, no doubt, was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and expects to be served with no counterfeit, that nothing but solid silver should come " betwixt the wind and his nobility." Most persons will be inclined to think that a decent substitute for silver answers well enough in a colony, particularly at sea, that Mr. Fox would in this respect have been an advocate for economy, and have commended a frugal expenditure ; at all events, had silver instead of a.bata plate been found on board the brig, it would no doubt have furnished him with another topic on which to expatiate, another illustration of Government extravagance. Captain Pulham complains, with reason, that while Mr. Fox withholds from him his due he loads him with empty compliments, thus adding insult to injury ; when he talks of giving the amount to some public institution, it would be well if he learned to be just before he is generous. To sum up all, Mr. Fox receives from the Government (as far as they are concerned) a free passage for himself and family, his horse and six turkeys — his letter we presume, must be taken as a " retort courteous, 3 ' a slight acknowledgment on his part of the civility that has been shewn him.

We understand that next Monday has been fixed for the day on which Good is to be executed. The prisoner is attended by the Rev. J. J. P. O'Reily, from whom he has received the consolations of religion ; he has not as yet made any public confession of his guilt.

During the last week the weather has been very stormy, the wind being from the South accompanied with torrents of rain. The gardens and fences in the town have sustained a good deal of injury from the violence of the wind, and portions of the road between Kaiwarra and Petoni have been washed away, which will occasion a serious interruption to the traffic between the Hutt district and Wellington. The Signal Staff on Mount Albert has also been blown down.