ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. To the Editor of the "New Zealand Spectator." Wellington, 29th November, 1850.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 557, 4 December 1850, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. To the Editor of the "New Zealand Spectator ." Wellington, 29th November, 1850.

Sir, — As great exertions have been made ta prejudice the Working Settlers of Wellington against the liberal Constitution offered to us by Sir George Grey, by certain gentlemen who are evidently determined to keep the settlement in a continual political broil, in order to gratify their spleen against the Governor-in-Chief, I respectfully request that you will insert the following address to my fellow working men, which I think will undeceive many as to the motive* of these tongue-valiant patriots. I am, sir, Your most obedient servant, A Working Mat*.

To the Working Settlers of Wellington. Fellow Settlers, — The Governor-in->Chief has offered to grant us as full and fair a share ii> the disposal of the revenue and in the Govern--ment of the colony as the Royal Instructions and Acts of the Imperial Parliament empower him to offer us, — to give us all the powers that we asked and more than we expected,- whilst we* remain, as we have ever been, a powerless, expensive, unprofitable and troublesome dependency of Britain. He has offered to us, who neither in the number of residents nor in the?

collective wealth of our community can rate ourselves equal lo some of the larger villages of Britain, powers of self-government which would amply satisfy the most factious spirits of_ older and more powerful British colonies. He is disposed to give us, in short, at once the liberal franchise for which the Reformers of Britain are yet struggling, and to embody the pith and essence of the People's Charter — the power to select freely from any class of voters their representatives in the Colonial Council. The mass of the people would, I believe, without demur have at once thankfully accepted the Bill as offered by our esteemed Governor-in- Chief, but to our surprise we find a few factious agitators, the members »>f an alehouse debating club, (who with insufferable impudence have named themselves the Settlers' Council) encouraged by our political apathy and mistaking our quiet scorn of their proceedings for the silence of reapectful admiration, boldly stating their foolish expectation that, as they dislike the Bill, no settlers will presume to oppose the leaders of the Alehouse Plot, misnamed the Constitutional Association of Wellington. Their real ground of dislike to the Constitution offered us by Sir George Grey is not. as they allege, lack of power in the Elective Council to control the expenditure* of the revenue, — not as they assert that strong grounds exist for doubting the sincerity; of Sir George Grey, — No ! their real fears are. that the self-elected Settlers' Council would be scornfully rejected at the hustings* — they dread thai the people, • contented with the offered Constitution, would, by cheerfully accepting it, end all pretext for agitation, and sink our would be leaders into their former obscurity. Another ground for still deeper hatred to the liberal measures of Sir George Grey is, their objection to the small amount of property required by the Bill to qualify a settler for a seat in the Colonial Council. Although men's political rights are all equal — their social rights according to their labours — their proper places in society according to their talents — yet our agitators , conscious of their lack of abilities, hope % that by inducing the settlers to reject the offered Constitution they will obtain another, limiting our choice of members to the owners of large tracts of land, and thus, by excluding all tradesmen, mechanics, and labourers from the possibility of seats in the Council, secure themselves by law, that which their talents would never deserve — a monopoly of the honour and power of legislation. They thns wish to inflict upon us the worst of all tyrannies, that of a privileged order of landowners from whom alone we should be allowed the dubious privi . lege to choose our political masters. A gentleman, who may be deemed the Achilles of the agitators, informed the late public meeting that it was not merely .Representative Institutions we required, but political power. True, but the power for which we have struggled for years — the power oftaxinjr the lands of resident monopolists to raise a fund to construct and maintain roads, •—•the power also of forcing that band of legalized leeches, the absentees, to contribute towards the revenue of the colony which they have so long plundered, «re^amply secured by the" Bill nW offered us. From the other views of that eloquent but visionary gentleman most reflecting persons will dissent. We cannot expect to enjoy all the internal power of an independent state and at the same time continue to receive gold from the British Treasury, and Naval and Military protection at the cost of the heavily taxed people of England. We are as yet too few in numbers and too poor in purse for such a tone of haughty independence as older and self-supporting colonies have not dared to assume to Great Britain. Utterly despising the mass of wild and uncertain fantasies dignified by the name of the "Science of Colonial Government," I would prefer facts from a beggar to humbug from a collegian. Every enthusiast arranges his crotchets to his taste — then, calls his collection of fallacies " A System" and, deeming a mere misty vision of his brain as certain as the axioms of Euclid, rails at the obstinate folly of all those who, unconvinced by his logic, refuse to make his humbug their guiding pole star, or their Bible of Political Faith. Our new Constitution must be created fo suit circumstances that really exist, and be adapted to meet exigencies likely to' happen ; we can no more create circumstances, or adapt mankind to suit the new framed theories of political sy9tem-makers than ■we could pare down men's heads or feet to fit ready made hats or boots. We must nut indulge in the vain belief that the people of Britain feel as much interest in this, theyoungestand weakest of British colonies, as we do ourselves — nor must we flatter ourselves thit the Imperial Parliament are constantly sitting waiting, attentive to hear the wisdom that flows from the oracular mouths of the orators of the Colonial Alehouse Debating Clubs. We must also remember that our present 'prosperity is not in any way owing to oTur oligarchy, but to our own exertions, aided by the Parliamentary Grants and the Naval and Military Expenditure of the British Government, and that our present peace and amity ■with the natives is owing to the wise and conciliatory measures of Sir George Grey. The powers given by the offered Bill to compel both absentee and resident monopolists of land to pay towards the formation and repair of roads, would doubtless lorce much of the unused land into the market, as the present holders who have by scheming and combination kept most of the lands of the settlement at fictitious values, much above their real worth, must either pay the tax or sell the land at a /air price, which would eventually place freeholds within the reach of every industrious settler. Recollect if you reject thit, Bill you will, as in refusing the Earthquake Relief Fund, reject the substance for a shadow. At least equalling our oligarchy in talent, and surpassing them in numbers, no ground exists to doubt our success. Why then should we yield without a contest when victory depends upon ourselves. I remain, ; Your humble servant, " c A Working Man.