NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Saturday, March 20, 1852.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 692, 20 March 1852, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Saturday, March 20, 1852.

The third and last chapter of his hook Mr. Fox devotes to the Government of New Zealand, and here, as might be expected from a previous knowledge of his character, he indulges to the fullest extent in heaping every description of abuse on Sir George Grey and his Government. Indeed, it must be evident to the most impartial observer, from the tone adopted by Mr. Fox, that he must have been actuated solely by a rabid hatred to Sir George Grey, and that any desire of placing before the public statements which would have tended to bestow benefits on the colony and the people generally, was

| far from being his main abject. Mr. Fox i has no love either for tl j country or the hard working settlers; h never set an example of patient suffering, bearing the heat and burden of the <hy; although his cry was “ Follow me,” le was too fainthearted to meet the toils and dangers which he called upon others to encounter. A colonist Mr. Fox never was, as is clearly demonstrated by his ca'eer while residing in the country, for he remained only just so long as he held a pcsition whereby he could gratify his own mercenary desires, he looked on New Zealand as a very comfortable provision, and when he had pocketed the last quarter of his salary of ATOOO a-year, and found there was no more to be had, he felt not the slightest compunction in quitting his “adopted country." It is quite beyond our power in our present space to expose the misstatements and wilful facts with which the chapter now under review abounds, and we do not so much regret this as, so reckless of truth has Mr. Fox been in the assertions he has made, that his character for veracity is completely destroyed in almost every line that meets the reader’s eye. Of course, by Mr. Fox’s account, the form of government is most despotic,—the settlers groan under the tyrannical sway of a man who possesses more absolute power over their actions than is exercised by a Turkish Sultan over his subjects; such slavery cannot be much longer endured, and Mr. Fox would remedy the evils, which only exist in his own evil mind, by dispersing the imbecile rulers in Downing-street, and urging the settlers to an open defiance of all law and good order. 1 o consider the Legislative Council as a body self-acting and in any degree independent, is in his opinion sheer nonsense, for care is taken “to secure only such as will give the Government unflinching support.” This is notoriously untrue, and Mr. Fox while he wrote it knew it to be untrue, for in the first formation ol a Council in this Province the Governor’s offers, as is well known- were made indiscriminately to persons of all parties, without any reference to their giving the Government ‘'unflinching support.” Mr. Fox himself admits in a note that offers were made" to all the leading politicians, who declined; and that the Governor “was driven at last to nominate retail dealers, commission agents from Sydney, keepers of small preparatory schools, and others of no note or standing in the colony.” How is it possible we ask, in the name of truth and common sense, to reconcile this statement with what Mr. Fox asserts about care being taken to secure those who “will give unflinching support r” If, for the sake of argument, we suppose the Governor did obtain members who would give him their unflinching supportdoes not Mr. Fox tell us in language too plain to be mistaken by any one that he was driven to do so? And here, it may be observed, we find Mr. Fox, the man of the people,—the self constituted champion of their rights,—who is to get them the points of the charter, —the man who throws up his cap and hurrahs for liberty, equality and fraternity, positively assuming an aristocratic air and sneering at retail dealers and others of no position in the colony, as. we have since seen others of his clique who, unmindful of their own origin, affect to treat with sovereign contempt those who presume to differ from them, and regard them as low people—“ individuals of no note or standins’ in the colony!” No position or standindeed i wait,? •nx? ojujj ivi me day of trial —the day when representatives of the people are elected, and it is probable that the aristocratic Fox and his respectable compeers will find that the very men whom he tigmatizes as having no position in the colony will then be raised above those -.hose sole aim seems to be to create di§< intent and disunion throughout the sett intent.

Mr. Fox uses evdy effort to destroy all confidence in Sir Gorge Grey; with regard to “ despatch Aiting” not the slightest reliance can b< placed on the Governor, who in his lyes appears to be a very Beelzebub. r . > put grievances into writing to be subi itted to the Colonial office through Sir ( orge in the hope of redress is all labour n vain ; the way in which Mr. Fox act infs for this is perfectly ludicrous, an it is quite a relief to find in such an ao initiation of fearful mis-statements, so ilfully made, some-

thing calculated to raise a smile. Should the prayer of the memorial, we are told, containing grievances be denied by the Colonial office, it is “no easy matter to bring public or Parliamentary opinion to bear upon the Colonial office when it decides wrong” —“ for when printed the merial will appear in the Blue book in small type, preceded by his (the Governor’s) defence in large, to which is certain to be appended a reply from the Colonial Minister assuring him (the Governor) that the complaints of the colonists have in no way lessened her Majesty’s confidence in him.” Here we are gravely told by Mr. Fox that noweight can be given to a document so long as it is printed in small type; whatever truth it may contain, —no matter how forcibly expressed or palpable to the meanest understanding - , it cannot be laid hold of either by the public or Parliament, because of the small type with which it is smuggled into the Blue Book. Can anything be more absurd or ludicrous ? Our opinion is, not that the small type, which seems so much to disturb Mr. Fox’s peace of mind, is the cause of the apathy at home, but rather that the grievances, apparently so difficult to be endured by those who complain of them, in reality rest on such slight foundation, that they appear both to the British public and Parliament to be matters too insignificant for their attention, and are regarded as the noisy outcry of an unscrupulous faction. Our sense of seeing informs us that large objects are easier to be discerned than small ones, but with Mr. Fox we are seriously afraid his organs of vision are so defective that to express the truth for him to read, the type must be of the very largest kind; the defect may possibly arise from his not having educated his eye to take in the truth.

Mr. Fox complains sadly of the extent of the Government establishment, and the large amount of revenue which goes in the way of salaries into the pockets of the officials, every appointment that is made—whether it be a clerk in the customs, or an inspector of scabby sheep —is made by Sir George with a view to strengthening his position, and increasing his influence, hut he seems to forget that ho also was an official in the settlement, receiving a salary exceeding in amount that received either by the Judge or the Lieutenant-Governor, and besides when he accepted office under the Government, in the Northern Province, he took care to stipulate that his rate of pay should be such as would enable him to make something out of the Government, and yet he grudges the moderate salaries received by the officers of Government.

Mr. Fox says—“ But the instances of patronage which create the greatest dissatisfaction are those which emanate from the Colonial Office. Take the Otago Judge for example. The infant settlement of Otago rejoiced in a surplus revenue of £BOO a year, and was only perplexed on what work of utility to expend it, when the difficulty was solved by the arrival of a Judge of the Supreme Court ■with a salary of precisely that annual amount.” W e have here an excellent specimen of the untruthfulness of Mr. Fox’s statements. The appointment neither originated with the Colonial Office nor with the Govemor-in-Chief, but was solely owing to the representations made by Lieutenant-Governor Eyre: this was not known until the appearance of the correspondence in the Blue Book, for when the appointment was first heard of Mr- Evre was the very first to express surprise thereat, and affected such thorough ignorance that both Mr. Justice Chapman and the officers of the Executive Council were fully convinced that Sir George Grey had taken upon himself to obtain the appointment, without reference first being made either to the Judge or the Lieutenant-Governor of the Southern Province. Mr. Eyre remained silent, and until the reception of the Blue Book the public were entirely ignorant that Mr. Eyre himself had repiesented the extreme inconvenience which resulted from there not being a second Judge in the Province, and this he did so urgently as to succeed in obtaining his request.

It is far from our intention to justify the appointment of a second Judge, for at the time we considered it to be unnecessary, we merely wish to show that it originated neither with the Colonial Office nor with Sir George Grey. On the removal of

Mr. Chapman the Otago Judge supplies his place at Wellington, and a second Judge is, we believe, not to be appointed. We would wish to draw particular attention to the remarks on Mr. Fox’s statements with regard “to the inefficiency and incompetency of the officials.” Mr. Fox gives what he calls “an instance or two he states that “in January last a deputation of the settlers waited on the Governor on business of importance. The Attorney General and Colonial Secretary were present officially. To the surprise of the deputation, the Governor and the above named officials were entirely ignorant that the lands within the settlements which had formerly vested in the New Z ealand Company had for six months past been revested in the Crown.” This charge of ignorance is without the slightest foundation, and Mr. Fox knew he was writing a deliberate untruth, but it is evident he cared not, as long as he could circulate any story to the prejudice of the Governor and his officials. No one better knew than Sir George the position in which the lands within the Settlement were placed in reference to the Crown, he gave a wide and liberal construction to the terms of agreement between the Government and the Company. The Company had certainly given notice, but they had not surrendered their Charter ; in giving therefore a liberal construction and acting discreetly towards the Company, his Excellency was careful to avoid all technical expressions contained in the Act of Parliament which to the pettifogging narrow minded Agent seemto he of paramount importance. Both the Colonial Secretary and Attorney General were fully aware of his Excellency’s opinion on this subject. Presuming they were not, Mr. Fox we suppose would have had them, in the presence of the deputation, behave in an uncourteous and unbecoming manner by jumping up and informing the Governor that he was in error, and proceed to argue the point with him; no doubt such a course would have accorded with Mr. Fox’s notions of propriety of behaviour.

The next instance of inefficiency and incompetency which Mr. Fox brings forward is the following “In consequence of a dispute between ci party and the Registrar of Deeds, a case was referred to the Supreme Court for decision, when it tinned out that the system of registration in force was directly contrary to the provisions ol the Ordinance establishing it; that the Government had in fact for ten years been working the wheels of its own machine the wrong way, and all that it had done was invalid in consequence.’* A party, as it is here elegantly expressed, was no other than Mr. Fox himself. Mr. Justice Chapman who had, as is pretty generally believed, a leaning towards those who are denominated the Faction, of which “ parly" Mr. Fox was the head, certainly gave a decision in the party s favour, but we have since understood on good authority that Mr. Chapman has afterwards, on several occasions, reason to state that his decision was incorrect. Indeed those well qualified to pass an opinion on the subject unhesitatingly stated at the time that the decision was incorrect; so much for Mr. Fox’s spiteful insinuations against the Registrar’s Office.

Mr. Fox, of all others, should have been careful how he brought charges of inefficiency and incompetency against the officials, for the old adage that “those vyho live in g-lass houses should uot. throw stones applies with peculiar force to himsc . In what way, we may ask, did Mr. lox perform his duties as Company’s Of £IOOO a year, a salary one-fourth igher m amount than the highest salary paid to the highest officer in the province of New Munster ? Unscrupulously active as a demagogue, indefatigable in inditing oi his organ, the Independent, his diatribes against the Government, it is notorious that the duties of his office were performed in a most disgraceful and incompetent manner; the revelations that were made after his hasty retreat from the colonv, when the Company’s documents at length came into the possession of the Government fully account for Mr. Fox’s conduct m refusing to hand them over to the overnment when demanded. While the' the Company’s records at Nelson were in such oroer and good arrangement that onouiable testimony to Mr. Bell’s dili-

gence and careful industry was borne by the Government officers to whom they were surrendered, the records in the office at Wellington were left by Mr. Fox in the utmost state of confusion; registrations of vital importance to landholders were made in the most careless manner; in some instances sections were marked off on maps in pencil only, with no corresponding entries in the oilice books, in others entries were made in the books in pencil marks only, scarcely legible, and liable to be defaced altogether, affording abundant evidence to prove that Mr. Fox, so far as documentary evidence was essential, was altogether regardless of the interests of the Company or the settlers. Here we may pause for the present, and in our next number will proceed to examine the statements made by Mr. Fox in reference to the administration of Justice and the Intestate Estates.

Otaki Council.—A drawing in waler colours i lias recently been executed by Mr. D. Barraud : of the interior of the. Native Church at Otaki, j of which it is a very spirited and graphic, as well as faithful representation. The church at Otaki is one ot the “ lions ” of the settlement, an object of such interest as usually to command a visit from every passing traveller. It is entirely the work of the natives, and constructed very much after the native fashion, but zealous for the honour of “ God’s House,” they have bestowed the utmost pains on the workmanship, which to them has been a labour of love. The building is 80 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 40 feet high, and is capable of containing seven hundred persons, it is lighted on each side by lancet-headed windows, and four lofty lancet windows, separated by totara slabs coloured red, fill the eastern end. The peculiarities of native construction are faithfully rendered in the drawing, instead of tye beams and framing, one solid totara slab eighty feet long cut from a single tree, fit from its size “to be the mast of some great ammiral,” forms the ridge board which is supported by massive totara columns, each also formed from a single tree, and additional strength is given to the roof by means of braces abutting on these columns. The slabs which form the roof are ornamented with a rude scroll work, relieved in white, and the spaces between the slabs in the roof are neatly filled in with reeds ; the compartments between the slabs in the walls of the building are ornamented with plaited raupo. The whole building affords very satisfactory proof of native skill and construction, and of their proficiency in the use of European tools. The artist has represented the natives attending the celebration of divine worship clothed in blankets and mats of native workmanship, as more characteristic ; but we believe the great majority who attend service on Sundays are habited in European costume. We understand it is the intention of Mr. Barraud to have the drawing executed hl coloured lithography in England, and if the copy equals the original, its merit both as a work ot art, and a faithful representation of a most interesting monument of native architecture, will ensure it an extensive sale not only in New Zealand, but also in England.