New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Wednesday, July 17, 1850.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 517, 17 July 1850, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Wednesday, July 17, 1850.

We willingly republish from the Nelson Examiner some observations on the Paper Currency recentl/ established by the Government because they coincide for the most part with the opinions we have previously expressed on the principle of the measure, and clearly and succinctly comprise some of the chief arguments in its favour. In the concluding paragraph of the article the writer admits the measure to be a good one but, as he has no confidence in the present Government, he therefore distrusts it, and concludes because, like every other measure it may be liable to abuse, it will therefore be abused ; but as this is a piece of mere party declamation we have omitted it as unworthy of attention. In Saturday's Independent is a long rambling article on, the same subject, in which the writer with overweening arrogance and self-conceit undertakes to enlighten the public on a subject on which he dogmatically assumes all but himself to be profoundly ignorant, neither Lord Grey nor the Governor-in-Chief, the members of the Government at Auckland nor those of this Province, according to this authority, understanding anything of the matter. It is not our intention to weary our readers- by wading through the article, combating and confuting at length each false assumption, but we may briefly examine and expose some of the statements and objections put forth by this writer. Admitting the soundness of the principle, his first objection is that the Paper Currency of the Colony is too limited to admit of the present application of the measure, but the objection reminds us of Dryden's hero Whose wound was great because it was so small to which was replied Then 'twould be greater, were it none at all. But the writer with a confusion of ideas which seems peculiar to him, after arguing against the measure as inexpedient on account of the present limited currency of the Colony, the amount of interest on the specie to be invested being insufficient to defray the expense, considers the investment of the deposits in the British Funds a still i more weighty objection when the amount invested becomes so considerable as to produce more than sufficient to defray the expenses, because forsooth "it will put the Colony completely at the mercy of the Colonial Minister !" What a profound discovery ! The money is to be invested in the British Funds, and is, at the option of those who hold the Government notes, liable to be returned to them at any moment in exchange 'for those notes. Whoever heard

of any Ministry tampering with the British Funds, or using them as an instrument of tyranny against the British creditor ? And if no British Ministry has yet essayed the experiment, how could a Colonial Minister attempt it ? Surely it required no small amount of effrontery, as well as ignorance, to advance an argument like this with any expectation of its passing current. But his chief argument, that on which he lays the greatest weight, is the dishonesty of the Government in the misappropriation of funds under its control, the inherent depravity and corruption of Government Officials which render it impossible that they can be trusted. Why, asks this oracle, should an official regard his oath ? What can keep him honest ? Perhaps the same authority will vouchsafe to inform us as to the nature and efficacy of that conversion which could free an embryo Attorney General from this mortal stain, and invest him with that spotless purity which dignifies and adorns human nature when translated into a snug sinecure as Company's Agent at £1,000 a year. But, seriously speaking, this wholesale defamation, this attempt to blacken the characters of their political opponents by all sorts of infamous and unfounded insinuations so constantly resorted to by Mr. Fox and his partiI sans can only redound to their disgrace, since the community can form a due appreciation of both parties, and of the individuals composing them, and can estimate such arguments, and the men who use them, at their pioper worth. We are next told by this writer that Sir George Grey, disregarding the instructions of the Home Government has converted the Institution from a Bank of Issue into a Bank of Discount. It will be quite time enough to reply to such a charge when an instance can be adduced of bills having been discounted at' the Government Bank. An attempt is then made to depreciate the value of the Government notes by asserting that the Union Bank declines to take them andthat the writer has " heard of one transaction in which they were taken at a discount of 7£ per cent." In answer to the former assertion it is sufficient to state what is notorious to all persons in business, that the Union Bank does receive the Government notes, and that it has not offered any opposition to the ; the latter assertion is so absurd as to carry with it its own refutation, since it is obvious that any one by going to the Bank of Issue may always obtain specie for his notes, and as long as this is the case, as long as the notes are always immediately convertible on demand, so long will they maintain their full value. It is very possible that in the settlement of some account the creditor may have allowed to the person from whom he was receiving paymeat an allowance or discount on the transaction, but as this had no reference to the money in which the payment was made, which might equally have been in Union Bank notes or specie, we cannot think very highly of the honesty of an opponent who can resort to so contemptible an equivocation. Of equal truth was the report lately put forth in the Independent that the Government notes were issued without signature, thereby insinuating that thi3 was a practice resorted to from sinister motives. If, instead of beguiling his readers with "we are informed, we understand, &c." the editor of the Independent will state (to use a favourite phrase of his party) " the how, when, and where" of any transaction, the particulars of any well authenticated fact telling against the Bank, he will find the publie will attach more importance to it than to his groundless insinuations, that facts will have more weight with them than either his information or his understanding. The last objection urged by this writer is of a piece with the rest ; an attempt is made to discredit the Treasurer's monthly return published in the Qazette by insinuating "the probability" that on the Monday (following the Saturday on which the return is made) nearly the whole amount of notes in circulation were returned to the Bank of Issue and specie demanded. The fact might have easily been ascertained by the writer, since a weekly statement, open to public inspection, is affixed to the door of the Bank, stating not only the amount of notes in circulation and the amount pf coin held by the office during the week, but that of each day in the week, and it was quite open to him to have published in the Independent, if he had chosen to do so, the statement of the week immediately following the Treasurer's monthly statement, and also that for each j day in the week. But the truth would not have answered his purpose, his object was to advance specious but groundless objections, to disseminate unfounded insinuations in the hope of their obtaining credit with the thoughtless and the ignorant.

We are informed that Mr. Fitzherbert denies having written, or having been in any

way concerned in, the letter signed " a Conist" in last Wednesday's Independent, on whicb we made some remarks in our last number. As these remarks were directed against the author of the letter, and, as we intimated at the time, only applied to Mr. Fitzherhert on the presumption that he had written it, they can of course on his disclaimer of the authorship, no longer be understood to refer to him. Bat we think, in justice to himself, Mr. Fitzherbert ought to ascertain and publish the name of the person who has so successfully counterfeited his style as to create the erroneous impression in the minds of many persons? of,his having written the letter in question.

The Governor Grey has brought intelligence of the arrival of the Poictiers at Taranaki, after a five months' passage from England. She had landed some of her passengers at Taranaki and had left that settlement on the Bth instant for Nelson with J. 25 passengers, the greater part of whom were for Otago. The mail of the Poictiers for Wellington had been despatched overland from Taranaki and consequently may be expected on Fri- r day next. It is reported that despatches' have been received by the Lieutenant-Go-vernor from the Governor-in-Chief, over--land by way of Taranaki, postponing for the present the meeting of the Legislative Council of this Province, as Sir George Grey, it is said, is in expectation of receiving by October at furthest, Instructions of importance from the Secretary for the Colonies on several subjects connected with the government of the Colony which may render advisable a meeting of the Legislative Council.

The Queen arrived last night from Sydpey after a passage of seventeen days, it is also reported that the Constantinople is off the mouth of the Harbour.

The body of Burdelt, who was drowned a short time since at Rangitikei while getting up the anchor of the small schooner Ocean Queen, was washed ashore last Thursday near the mouth of that river. The body was discoved by Scott, who has charge of the ferry, by whom it was decently buried.

The master of the Salopian reports having seen the Government Brig passing through the Strait on Tuesday week last.

We understand that six whales, yielding 22 tuns, have been caught at Mr. Thorn's station at Teawite, in Queen Charlotte' Sound, and that the whales were so plentiful that parties were out in chase of them every day. As this is only the commencement of the season there is every promise of its proving a very prosperous one.

We have been favoured with the following analysis, by Sir H. de la Beche, of the Roman Cement Septariaof the Middle Island : Carbonate of Lime 66*7 Silica 16-2 Alumina 10*4 Peroxide of iron . . ' 4*7 Organic matter 2' 100 The above has been estimated withoutwater, of which it contained 2 per cent.