New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Saturday September 7, 1850.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Issue 532, 7 September 1850, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Saturday September 7, 1850.

5n our present number will bfi foand a long and very able despatch by Sir George Grey on the state of the native population, published in the last Blue Book relating to New Zealand affairs. In this despatch Sir George so clearly explains the condition of the natives on his assuming the Government of the colony, the peculiar difficulties with whidh he had to contend, and the outline .of the policy adqpted by him to overcome those difficulties, the measures pursued to remove their 'distrust and hostility, to make them peaceable subjects and advance them in civilization, together with the success which has attended those mea-

they drawn from the general and the sagacity his measures have the success with which been attended in this Province. which are made between January and 15th April of the preMr. Kemp has divided the settle - HK into four districts, the Port Nicholson Ktrict, the Waikanae and Porirua districts, 'he Otaki, Manawatu, and Rangitikei districts, and the Wairarapa district, giving a succinct account of each native settlement, the number of inhabitants, extent of cultivations, and such other particulars as are likely to prove of general interest. The total native population of these districts amounts to 4711, the number of children is 1062, so that the children form only onefourth of the population. The total European population in the same districts, according to the census taken in August 1848 is 4688, the number of children under 14 years of age is 2029, or nearly one half. This fact places in a striking light the difference between the two races, and the comparatively smaller amount of children in the native population. The total number of half-castes is 70. The number of natives who can read and write their own language is 1148, of those who can read only 414; so that one third of the native population have received the elements of instruction ; : while at Otaki, we are. informed, has been established, attended by 150 day scholars, some of whom are beginning to read the English language, and some few j attempt to speak it with considerable success. The number of horses owned by the ! natives in these districts is 349, of cattle ! 262, of sheep 42, which at a moderate computation may be valued at £6500, while an amount of £318 : 10s. has been placed in the savings bank by native depositors. Besides these proofs of advancing civilization, of capital possessed by the natives the fruits of their industry, or the evidence of the good use to which the purchase money received from the Government for the sale of their lands has been applied, they have three water mills, one erected at a cost of £800, two vessels of 55 tons, seven boats, and ; eight carts ; and we are told that the cultivation of wheat is daily increasing in the different districts, particularly in the neighbourhood of the water mills : new villages are in progress in several districts along the coast, several weather boarded barns have been erected, and they possess other property shewing a considerable amount of fixed capital. The natives receive, besides, from the settlers the yearly sum of £803 as rents for land. Throughout these districts the attention of the natives has again been directed to the flax trade, which Mr. Kemp thinks they are likely to carry on still more extensively than at present, and calculates the present average quantity produced at 120 tons per annum, which they have sold at the rate of £10 per ton. The average of expenditure by the natives in articles of European manufacture he estimates at £6000 per annum, and anticipates a considerable progressive increase in this amount, from the increased mean's of the natives arising from the produce of their labour. The first reflection suggested by the perusal of these reports is that all this wealth, this marked contrast between their former discontent and their present peaceful pursuits, this rapid advancement in civilization and accumulation of property has taken place mainly | within the last five years, and is to be attri-

BFe understand that the Committee of the Athenaeum have unanimously resolved that, in accordance with the rules of the Institution, no lecture shall in future be delivered which shall involve the discussion of political questions. It does not therefore appear very ' probable that Mr. Fox's late lecture will be printed by the Committee, as stated by the Independent.

A I.ECTURK on Phrenology was delivered by Mr. Marshall on Thursday evening at the Wellington Athenaeum. The room was very full and the lecture appeared to excite considerable interest ; a second lecture on the same subject will be given by Mr. Marshall on the 19th inst.

Last Tuesday's Government Gazette contains the following notices and appointments. Notice of a Public Pound having been established at Dunedin, and another near the | Halfway House on the Porirua Road, of which latter Mr. J. M'Kain has been appointed keeper ; the appointment of Mr. J. Anderson to be Inspector of Sheep and Poundkeeper at Dunedin ; the appointment of Native Assessors at Okirihau, Utapu, Rangitikei, and Wangaihu for the purposes of the Resident Magistrate's Ordinance; and the Registrar General's Quarterly Return of Intestate Estates to the 30th June. The following is the return of the amount of notes of the Colonial Bank of Issue in circulation in the four weeks ending the 22d August, 1850 : — £5 and upwards £ 970 0 o Under£s 3110 0 0 Total 4080 0 0 TotaJ Amount of Coin held by the Colonial Bank of Issue on the same day : — Gold £ 550 0 0 Silver 3521 0 0 Total £4080 0 0 It will be seen from this return that the circulation of the notes of the Colonial Bank of Issue has been nearly doubled since the last" return, the amount fn circulation on the 27th July being £21 39.

The weather at Wellington, during the month of August, 1850: — , Days of continued Rain. 3 Showery days .•.....« 7 Days on which no Rain fell 21 Two shocks of Earthquakes, one slight, one sharp. Highest. Mean. Lowed. Barometer .... 30.48 29.97 29.46 Thermometer.. 60° 45° 30° Rain .... 4 inches, 4-100.