NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Saturday, June 12, 1852.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 716, 12 June 1852, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Saturday, June 12, 1852.

We have received from Canterbury the first number of a new paper published at Christchurch, calledthe Guardian and Canterbury Advertiser, and intended- to be a weekly - paper; being published every Thursday. It is very neatly got up and presents a very creditable appearance, being the size of the Nelson Examiner. In noticing the establishment of another paper in the Southern Provinceit is only fair to allow our new contemporary to give his own account of the numerous difficulties with which he has had to contend in struggling into existence, and the principles' by which he intends to be guided. In an address to his readers he says :—: — " We feel much diffidence in presenting to our Subscribers and the Public the first number of the Christchirch Guardian and Canterbury Advertiser ; but if this sheet does Jiut succeed in meeting their expectations, allowance will, we trust, be made for 1 the peculiar circumstances under which it is published. Our press stands at a greater distance from the seashore than any which has hitherto been worked in New Zealand. Our^ types and other apparatus, after being landed at Lyttelton, and exposed to much wear and tear there, were again shipped over the Sumner bar anc* landed at the -' Bricks/ There they again suffered from the weather for some months ; but have at length been arranged in their places at a distance of a mile from the Wharf. Our case has been similar to that of many of the inhabitants of the plains — we have partaken of the delays, difficulties, expenses, and anxieties, of occupying a fertile inland district, having no easy communication with the port of debarcation. But as the energies" of the Colonists, when once planted in this district, have enabled them to overcome all thos.e troubles, and to avail themselves of the natiSSaKidvantages of the country, so we have ventured the- attempt to keep pace with their progress, and to contribute our humble quota to the general march of improvement. "Upon every great question of public interest we shall express our opinions openly and fearlessly — conservative of all that has been proved to be good, but equally solicitous for reform where it can be justified by reason and common sense ; bearing in mind the political axiom — ' It is good not to try experiments in bodies politic, except the necessity be urgent, or the utility be exigent, and to take good car£ that it be the desireof reformation that draweth on the chaoge, atfel not the desire of change that pretendeth the reformation." We shall not blindly-join any party for mere party purposes ; but, submitting every public question to the test of sound judgment, and the testimony of experience, place it before the public in all its bearings, rather, if possible, upon its own merits than upon the claims of its advocates." We have also extracted several items of local news, which will give our readers a favourable opportunity of judging of the merits of this addition to the Press of New Zealand, being the sixth journal printed in the Southern Province: A column is devoted to Garden and Farming operations in which 4 itis stated, as an encouragement to farmers, that before the return of next harvest, a powerful mill will be erected not far from Christchurch, and that an extensive brewery will be established irr which will prove a ready customer for the barley grown in that settlement. We are glad to notice these signs of activity and improvement ; it is only fair to add that the Lyttelton Times contains a cordial and kindly notice of the publication of the first number of the Christchurch Journal.

A eeport was current on Thursday in Wellington that a disturbance had been caused in Auckland by the natives, arising out of the arrest of a Maori who had committed a theft. The rumour rested on native authority, and as iMias received no confirmation by any letters received from the coast by the overland mail, it does not appear to be entitled to any credit.

On Thursday evening Mr. Roberts delivered an interesting lecture at the Athenaeum on Pneumatics. In the course of the lecture he illustrated his subject by a variety of experiments with the air pump ; explained the pressure of the atmosphere on a column of mercury, by which the variations of temperature and changes of weather are indicated, as in the thermometer and barometer, and gave several other popular illustrations of this important branch of Natural Philosophy. The lecture was attended by a large number of members and visitors, who appeared to be very much gratified by the manner in which Mr. Roberts had treated the subject.