NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Wednesday, June 23, 1852.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 719, 23 June 1852, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Wednesday, June 23, 1852.

The Canterbury settlers are certainly to be greatly pitied for the unfortunate

position into which they are plunged by the gross breach of the contract entered into by the Association to perform certain obligations, the non fulfilment of which has defrauded the land purchasers of a considerable portion of their investments. It certainly is to us a very astonishing fact, that not only do they quietly and "unresistingly submit to this palpable injury ; but they even allow Mr. Godley, the Association's Agent, to direct their attention as much as possible from the true position in which-they stand. That the land purchasers .are ever likely to obtain redress from the Association is quite out of the question, for in all probability that body by this time has almost ceased to exist; its operations [ have long since become exceedingly feeble, and all confidence as to the practicability of the scheme, as propounded by ,Mr. Godley, dissipated. New Zeaj land, -as a home ior intending settlers, will still be as favourably thought of without the aid of " touters," and platform orators, hired by the Association to perform the part, as it were, of so many recruiting Serjeants. It is certainly very deplorable that the land question in this colony should seemingly be ** never ending, still beginning." After a struggle of eleven years the original purchasers in this settlement, are only now getting valid titles, and this long desired event has only been brought about by the demise of the New Zealand Company. No sooner will the Association have ceased to exist, and the administration of the waste lands in the Canterbury block have devolved upon the Government, than a cry will doubtless be raised on the part of the Pilgrims for compensation ; — whether justly or not, it is not our intention to inquire ;—; — we would merely observe that, to suppose the Government would be morally bound to make good at any expence all those obligations which the Association by every moral right should have performed, would be as absurd on the part of the present land purchasers, as it would be unjust to subsequent settlers. Surely some compromise might have been made with the Association ; we have been told that that body was composed oL men wealthy, upright, #nd true, yet no attempt was ever made on their parts to fulfil the promises made by them, no suggestion was ever, made, as far as we know, of raising a fund among themselves to enable them to fulfil those promises. We have, it is true, heard of money being borrowed at interest from some of them, and Mr. Godley made some shew of disinterestedness by reducing the amount of salary allowed him, but we have never heard of any gratuitous assistance given by the members of the Association to the great work of founding the Church of England settlement. The Association must thank Mr. Godley for having been left unmolested by the land purchasers for, implicated as he is in the gross breach of the contract, he has ~ exhibited some degree of worldly wisdom in shielding both himself and the Association from the attacks of the settlers by occupying their attention with political matters ; but we think he has played this game too long, and to judge from his letter in reference to his reasons for resigning his office as Agent, it is very evident that he has thought' it high time, to look out for himself, and in his hurry to do this, he rather ungenerously endeavours at the eleventh hour to separate himself from the &cts of -the Association by affecting to disapprove of a measure not in accordance with the principles of self-government. Although to some this may seem deserving 1 of praise,. we are compelled, from our experience of Mr. Godley's public character, to take a, different view of what we consider to be his motive for resigning. Mr. Godley knew that his position as Agent was a very precarious one, and having an extreme aversion to being in the smallest degree controlled, as he would have been if a resident managing committee had been appointed as contemplated, he resigned on the ground of an improper interference on the part of the Association with the privileges of the land .purchasers; forgetting that those privileges, whatever they may be, would not have been more restricted than when" he reigned alone. Mr. Godley, it would ap-_ pear, never thought of resigning until he had information of his own powers being restricted, although . whatever power

ought to have been conferred on the land purchasers should have been enjoyed by . them from the very first ; this it seems was not the case, and yet he continued - to hold office under the Association. We are in no way surprised at Mr. Godley's inconsistencies, for we are aware that he does not practice what he preaches — indeed this is generally the case with all those who build up in their own minds an ideal form of Government, imagining themselves to be the centre of power giving action to those who are to work under authority. «Mr. Godley is ever preaching up this ideal form, but you must work under him. There is very little probability of our again being burdened with the mal-prac-tices of private companies, organized in England. for colonizing any portions of New Zealand ; for the introduction of such a Constitution, as "that proposed by ■Sir George Grey, throughout the' whole of these islands, will most assuredly protect the settlers from the encroachments of such bodies, even if the signal failure of the Association's scheme should not prove a sufficient warning to future speculators. - • Although the evils entailed on the Canterbury settlers are very great, still from the energy and perseverance shown by them, there is every reason to hope that under every disadvantage, —in spite of the abstraction by the Association of so much capital which should have been expended for the benefit of the settlers in the erection of Churches and Schools — the -Canterbury settlement will beforelong be a flourishing one ; but we can readily imagine the outcry that would have been made, the clamour that would have been raised, the virtuous indigna- , tion that would have been excited, — to all of which no doubt Mr. Godley, as Agent of the Association, would have conceived it his duty to have given all the weight of his personal influence — if these abuses had been committed by the Government; if the Government and not the Association had misappropriated funds set apart for religious and educational purposes.

On Monday afternoon Patrick Hayes, who was . convicted at the last sittings of the Supreme Court and sentenced to imprisonment and hard labour, attempted to make his escape. The prisoner was employed with the other hard labour men in cutting the drain in Kumutoto- street, by the side of the Government Domain, and while- the other prisoners were talcing their dinner (between twelve and one o'.clock) he tried to skulk off unperceived. He was observed, however, by the policeman in charge and pursued and ultimately captured in the garden of. a person named Desmond, in the Tinakore Eoad, Avhere he endeavoured to secrete himself. Desmond, while securing the prisoner, was savagely assaulted by him and seriously injured. The prisoner has been committed to take his trial for attempting to escape from custody.

The case of Enderby v. Dundas & Preston, the •Special Commissioners of "the South Sea Whaling Company, came on to be argued before* his honor Mr. . Justice Stephen, on Monday, for the plaintiff to shew cause why the defendants (who were held to bail) should not be discharged out of custody. The base occupied the Court the whole of Monday and yesterday, and is likely to last some days longer. The Attorney- General and Mr. King are engaged for the plaintiff, and Dr. Evans and Messrs. Hart and Ross are retained for the defendants. The case has excited an unusual degree of interest.

As it is not everyday we have a ship of large size in Port, the arrival of the Stag has created no small degree of interest, especially as»she brings, as part of her cargo, many things which will prove most useful to 'the colonists. She has had a very long' and tfedious passage, having met with baffling winds and some rough weather. Her worthy master, Captain H. N. Clarke, has won the esteem of all the passengers by his seamanlike conduct in managing' the ship, and by his uniform kindness and attention to all on board. Their sense of his conduct has been manifested- by an address which was unanimously adopted, and which has been entrusted to Mr. Bowler for presentation to him before he leaves this port.