NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Wednesday, June 2, 1852.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 713, 2 June 1852, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Wednesday, June 2, 1852.

We have received a copy of a translation into Maori of Robinson Crusoe, which has recently been made by H.T. Kemp, Esq., the Native Secretary, for the use of the natives. This translation, which has been executed with Mr. Kemp's usual skill and ability, forms a neat octavo volume of 157 pages, is illustrated by some excellent lithographs by Dr. Ralph, and is, altogether,' a very favourable specimen of the productions of the press of this- colony.- -It is one of -a series of works which have been published by the Local Government in the Maori language for the use and improvement of the natives, and with the view of supplying a want which has been , greatly felt by them. The natives have been taught to read, and are fond of reading, but, until recently, their literature, as far as we. are concerned, has been confined to the translation of the scriptures in their own language. The experiment of enlarging the field of their reading by translating into their language standard English works adapted to their peculiar tastes has been attempted with complete success; the book now before us has been received by the natives with intense interest, and in proof of this, and of the sound judgment with .which the selection of this work has been made, we may relate an incident which occurred in the Colonial Hospital. The copy of the work sent there wholly engrossed the attention of the natives, the best reader was selected to read aloud while the other Maories formed a circle of most attentive listeners, they could hardly be persuaded to allow the lights to be put out at night, and the next morn-, ing as soon as there was sufficient light the reading of the interesting story was resumed. We. have no doubt that Robinson. Crusoe and his man Friday in their new dress, will be welcomed in a similar spirit by the natives along the coast and in the interior, and will be as completely established favourites with them, as they have long been with us. This is a part of the. wise and comprehensive system steadily pursued by Sir George Grey for the improvement of- the condition of the natives. So far as the Government is concerned every effort has been' made to improve the social character and condition of the natives, by education, by employment, by instruction in the use of European implements, by the constitution under the Resident Magistrates Ordinance of tribunals at which disputes among themselves or with Europeans may be, decided, and by the establishment of Native Hospitals in the different districts, Jby which their bodily ailments may be cured or alleviated. Nor are the fruits wanting to shew that these efforts have been" attended with complete success, in the tranquillity which exists throughout the island, the entire confidence which ; they reppse in, the Governnxentandinvtheir present Governor, with;

whoncQhese measures for their inforov^ inenHiave originated,T/and -"jblie dike* and* little cost witTvwhich?sb nfanyj thousands" of natives are governed;,; the pearly increasing amount of <produce and consumption of British manufactured goods by them afford most substantial proofs of the good effects of the system. After making every allowance for the difference of races, any comparison between the present state of this colony ani&that of the Cape will [satisfy any^ unprejudiced ob T server of t|ie o£ thje measures pursued by his Excellency towards the natives of New ''Zealand^andr convince the philanthropist of the anxiety of the Government to arrest the decay of the native race and improve their physical and moral , condition. ' ■> •

In the dreary interval between the secession of its Jiate, editor, an^Jihe. advent j>f any other director that chance may happen to send it, tfie Independent seems to have fallen,- if we may judge from, the style of its last number, into the hands of some seedy penny-a-liner from Monmouthstreet or Rag Fair, or some discarded writer of puffs of Messrs. Moses and Co. It is astonished and angry that its-state-ments do not receive the stamp of authen- \ ticity from .the Spectator y that we have not announced as it has done, " the arrival of a lighthouse for Wellington," — and asserts that even a large portion of the selections in the Spectator " have appeared weeks before in the columns of the Independent from which it knows they are extracted." It is but seldom that we trouble ourselves to look at the Independent, still more seldom that we waste our time by bestowing a notice, however curt or contemptuous, on its "contents, but it seems so anxious to be noticed, just as the Arab woman implored the notice of her lord, though it were only to- give her a good beating, that in pity we will spare five minutes in examining its assertions. With reference to its statements about the Commissioners of the South Sea Whale Fishery, they consist of an extract from the Empire and an addition of its own, calculated rather to increase than to allay any irritation that existed between "the parties to which it referred. Whatever information we might have on the subject, and we suspect we. know, more .than the, hi dependent does, however: we might regret these differences, we did not feel called upon, in noticing the -arrival of the Black Dog, to do more than allude to their existence. The Independent can hardly expect we can add the stamp of authenticity to its statements, when they are not tobe depended upon ; and when it is'it'self obliged to retract them. "We have not announced the arrival of a light-house for Wellington, simply because nojight-house has arrived, for we are not so" silly as to mistake for a liglit-house, as the Independent has done (relying on the authority of the Neic Zealand Journal) —an obelisk sent out in the Stag, to be erected as a memorial- to one of < our earliest settlers (the late Mr. Molesworth,) by the affectionate' care of—his relatives and friends. Again in the same number of the Independent we find a, retractation of a statement made the previous Saturday, the Messrs. Hammond and their workmen not allowing the reproach of working on Sundays, which the foolish falsehoods of the Independent would cast on them, to pass ..without contradiction. With reference to the assertion, that the selections in the Spectator have generally appeared weeks before in the. Independent, it may be necessary to' observe that we do not in the slightest degree .trouble ourselves, in t;he conduct of pm : Journal,, to know what the Independent has done, but are guided solely by our judgment as to what may. -be to our readers — the contrary however to the Independents assertion- is so notoriously the fact, that in 1 this respect that Journal may often be taken for a second edition of. the Spectator. .To test, however, the assertion by a reference to the two numbers of the Independent to which our- notice has been thus specially directed (for" the readiest way to refute its falsehoods t is g-enerally by a reference to its_own. columns) in the last , number (May, <29) are. three paragraph's, "< selections j'\ two under the head of California were ' published in the Spectator of May 22, the third, under the head of South Australia, to the present state of the press- at~ Adelaide, appeared in the- Spectator May Ist, one month previously. .In .the Independent of May 23rd ! (another mistake of that paper, it should have been M^y 22, the 23rd being Sunday) among its "selections" is a Circular of the Emigration Commissioners to the absentee "purchasers of land from the New Zealand Company occupying nearly a column, which was ( published in the .Spectator April 7th,! more than_ six__ ioeeks_ previously. . Our, .readers will perceive, from th.c preceding remarks^ it is not .without, reason we; so seldom take notice of the Independent ; we have . already said more than _we intended,, or, perhaps than the subject deserv;ed,,,we will just add in conclusion, ' that, while professing an anxiety." to give prominence; to every, ■question or ,topic directly or remotely ai'"fee ting the interests of ttie Colony," the; proceedings of. the New Zealand Society!

Jhardly eyer find jwhile ,ttjg}3£ of^he/^echanicsl Institute, and thei&eetirfgs illative *.£>• the> Church .Constitution &c o are \so scant : |tnd meaigre as to be'SpeEfectly worthless^ "

The supplement to the Government Gazette of May 25, published since our last issue, contains a list of 38 claimants to land at Akaroa and its neighbourhood, whose claims have been decided by Colonel Campbell, the Commissioner, and who are declared entitled to Crown Grants. .

Militaky.- — The company of the 65 th Eegimentvuider,' Ineutenant Trafford, stationed at Porihia, returned to Wellington yesterday, it haying heen -determined, we believe, to withdraw the troops from that outstation.

We have received by the Eclair Auckland papers to the 19th ult. We are glad to find the little Undine had safely arrived at her destination after a boisterous passage. A reward of £150 had been subscribed by the inhabitants of Auckland "as a. reward to any person who. may discover gold of natural deposit" in New~~Zealand~soil, within a radius of fifty miles of Auckland. , - . - 1 <