NELSON.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 697, 7 April 1852, Page 3

NELSON.

[From the Nelson Examiner, March 13 & 20.] MEMORIAL ON THE LAND AND PASTORAL REGULATIONS. To his Excellency Sir George Grey, K. C. 8., Governor in Chief, &c., stc. The Memorial of the undersigned Settlers of Nelson, in tlie colony of New Zealand, Sheweth— That your memorialists take the opportunity presented by your visit to this settlement to express their deep regret that, by the passing of an Act in the last session of Parliament, the objectionable “ Terms of Purchase and Pasturage of Land,” issued by the New Zealand Company on the Ist of August, 1849, have been revived, and are to be enforced; and to memorialize your Excellency in reference to the evil before us. That your memorialists beg leave to express their strong conviction that the carrying out these Terms of Purchase is opposed to the prosperous progress of the settlement, as they would entirely prevent the further sales of waste land, the price reserved being for the most part much beyond its worth, especially* as the best agricultural portion has been alreadv absorbed; and that the effect of the Terms of Pasturage must inevitably be to render the breeding of stock no longer a remunerating investment of capital and labour, especially breeding sheep, which consequently could not be continued—for no sheepowner c. uld profitably depasture sheep on commonage runs necessarily exposed to contagion, and the country would soon therefore be left in its primitive uselessness. I That the great staple export of this settlement being wool, your memorialists look upon the adoption by the Government of the Pasture Regulations now referred to with the greatest apprehension and alarm, as not only unjust and ruinous to the individual sheep-farmer who has been induced to invest his capital under the faith of prior regulations made by the Coin-

pany or the Government, but as entirely destructive of their most important export; these results w re so fully understood bv, so perfectly known to, the Company’s iate Agents, that no attempt was made to enforce them, nor even to publish them in Nelson : their un-uitablcness to the prosperity of the colony are in fact so palpably evident, that to enlarge upon them would be only to trespass needlessly upon your Excellency’s time. J hat along with these unwise Rules and Regulations, your memorialists are apprehensive that the incomprehensible form of Grants, contemplated to be issued by the Company, will be again brought into question, thereby practically withholding them, for vour memorialists believe not a single purchaser would accept one ; especially as your memorialists entertain a confident hope that your Excellency will continue to issue the simple and complete form prepared and already used. Your memorialists therefore most respectfully and earnestly solicit your Excellency to use the best means in your power to prevent the 1 crins for purchase of Waste Lands, and the Regulations for pasturage, issued bv the New Zealand Company on the Ist of August, 1849, being acted upon in this settlement. Anu your memorialists will ever pray, Horticultural Society.—The second Exhibition for the seas in took place in St. John’s School-room., on Friday, the sth instant, and, we are sorry to say, the number of exhibitors was unusually small. The indifference shown to horticultural matters we consider as a disgrace to our settlement ; nor can we account satisfactorily for the cause of this, as we remember several years ago, when our gardens were few in number and fruit and vegetables scarce, that the tables of the Exhibition were crowded ; while now, when gardens have become numerous and fruit plentiful, no interest in an horticultural exhibition seems to be felt. Unless the public next year evince a far greater interest in these shows than they have done during the past, we see no alternative but to abandon them until we become more alive to the pleasures which a well-conducted Horticultural Society is calculated to confer upon us, as well as the solid benefits which might be derived from it. The br’gintine Comet, five weeks from Sydney, armed this morning with a cargo’ of cattle. The unexampled passage of this vessel, usually so quick and punctual in her trips, has been caused by a succe sion of easterly gales, which in the first instance detained her several days inside Sydney* Heads, and then drove her back to Port Stephens to replenish her supply of water. Notwithstanding this delay a loss of three cattle only has taken place, but several of the weakest were landed at Taranaki on Wednesday last. The Comet has brought back two of the gold seekers who left this settlement some months ago—Mr. Lechner and Mr. John Clark ; and the accounts of the Diggings furnished us by the former, who is a re. spectable young German, are anything but inviting, and should make those who have a fair prospect of doing well here, cr in anv part of this colony, hesitate before they exchange a life of comfort and security* for the gambling and hazardous existence of a gold seeker. Some persons, it is true, have been fortunate, but the great majority do not realize the golden expectations they had formed, but encounter only great hardships, privations, and sickness. The earnest manner in which our informant congratulated himself on being again in New Zealand, spoke volumes in favour of the life pursued here, compared with life at the gold diggings. Considerable disappointment has been felt, particularly by* the mercantile portion of the community, to whom the consequences will be very serious, that the Spray sailed on Tuesday without a mail. Although the Pauline and Despatch had sailed for the same port a day or two previous, it chanced tha; neither vessel conveyed a mail of much importance, while the number of letters posted for the Spray was verv considerable, and in conseqence of the state of the markets for imported goods, thev were of great consequence to merchants who had given large orders to be shipped by the same vessel on her return. The mail, we understand, was prepared by the postmaster at the prop r hour, but fo n the neglect of the party whose bus ness it is to convey it to the beach, it never was taken from the office, and the vessel consequently sailed w’ithout it. We believe an inquiry into tlie affair has been instituted by the Superintendent.