NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Saturday, July 17, 1852.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 726, 17 July 1852, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Saturday, July 17, 1852.

The very able letter of Archdeacon Hadfield's, republished from the Blue Book in our last number, entirely demolishes the clumsy 'misstatements and misrepresentatations of the document to which it is an answer, and clearly exposes the motives of those "narrow minded persons, unable to grasp a principle," who magine that any public end is to be promoted by such means as those they have resorted to. When their statements will

Tiot bear -the slightest examination or scrutiny, when the ~ arguments they adduce in support of their views are so fallacious, how can these persons- expect that they either deserve, or will receive any attention . It has always been a favorite project of Mr. Fox, the author of the letter from the Settlers' Association to which Mr. Dorset's name is appended, to endeavour by every -.artifice to create an impression that the natives were neglected by the Government, that nothing- was done to promote their interests, •or secure their advancement in civilisation, • and with this view the statements advanced in the letter from the Settlers Association, which has been so completely, so unanswerably refuted and exposed by Archdeacon Hadfield, were reproduced by Mr. Fox in the articles which he wrote in the Independent, and again in his work on New Zealand, which has been 'examined at some length in this Journal. They evidently appear to be pet fancies of their author, since he is never weary of re- ( peating them. In his work on New Zealand, after repeating his comparison between the natives of Otaki and Motueka, and his illustration of the plough as the test of civilization, which Archdeacon Hadfield so thoroughly exposes, Mr. Fox concludes with the following flourish — "Need more be said to establish the point? I would only add that, as far as a very limited personal intercourse enables me to judge, the character of the natives at Motueka is in other -respects nearly as much in advance of that of the natives at Otaki, as it is in the particular of industry, as exhibited by the amount of their cultivation.* 5 How utterly ignorant he is respecting the natives at Otaki, and therefore unqualified to speak respecting them, has been shewn on the best authority; unfortunately Mr. Fox's misstatements are generally not so much the result of ignorance as of deliberate misrepresentation. The fact is that the great improvement in the habits and external appearance of the natives, is precisely one of those facts which most strongly impress any settler returning to the Colony after an absence of some years, while the present importation coastwise into this port of wheat and other native produce as contrasted with the amount imported some five years ago, cannot fail to prove in an equally satisfactory manner the general advance of the natives in habits of industry and civilization. It is no doubt very edifying to find so great a purist as Mr. John Dorset — so earnest a preacher of morality — inveighing against x the "naughty figures" carved at Otaki; we see however how much after all his objections amount to, how much his severe moral scruples are worth. We can only say that^ taking into consideration the difference between the two races, and that the carvings we allude to are in one of the most renowned Christian churches, erected in the palmiest days of the Roman Catholic religion and of Gothic architecture, • carvings as grotesque and as 'obscene* are to be -found in the Stalls of Henry the Seventh's Chapel as at the Pa at Otaki.

DuuiSg Thursday a considerable degree of excitement was caused in Wellington by, the circulation of a rumour to the effect that gold had been founcl near Evans Bay, in the immediate neighbourhood of the town. Specimens of quartz were exhibited, said to have been found near the spot in question, and supposed to contain particles of the precious metal, but before the evening, the whole story was discovered to be a fabrication. A story once fairly set a going, however, loses nothing by repetition, and we understand that by the time the report reached the Hutfc, the alleged discovery was believed to be of the most important nature, and numbers were said to be flocking to the Wellington Diggings. Though the present report has proved to be without foundation, we would not altogether discredit the search for gold, since, in the judgment of those qualified to give an opinion on this subject, probable grounds exist for, believing that gold may be discovered in localities in this district.

The following is a summary of last Thursday's Government Gazette: — Proclamations notifying that the Postage Ordinance of ] 848, and the Debtors Arrest Ordinance of last Session, have been confirmed by. the Queen ; also that the following Ordinances passed by the Provincial Council of 1849, viz. : — the Naturalization Ordinance, Entire Animals Ordinance, Empowering Ordinance, Summary Proceedings Ordinance, Town Roads Ordinance, Appropriation Ordinance, Constabulary Force Ordinance, Country Roads Ordinance, and Dog Nuisance Ordinance, have received the Royal confirmation ; the naturalization of two Germans under the Ordinance ofxlast Session; a Proclamation bringing the Raupo Ordinance into force in Lyttelton and Christchurch on the Ist February, 1853, and a notification of theconfirmation by the Queen of Lieutenant Col. Wynyard's appointment as Lieutenant' Governor of the Northern Province. . '

The following gentlemen have been appointed Magistrates oTthis Province, F. S. Pillans, H. Robison, and G. Lloyd, Esquires, of Otago, and H. Clmrton, Esq., of Whanganui. A circular from the Colonial Office announces that the Commissioners for the Exhibition of ail Nations intend to present to eleven colonies, in which number is included New Zealand, a series of the several medals distributed by them, together with a copy of the Jury reports, and a copy of the Illustrated Catalogue. Notice is also given that seven Grown Grants in Wellington, and eighteen Crown Grants in Petre, Whanganui, have been executed by the Governor, and are now ready for issue at the office of the Commissioner of Crown Lands, also, that thirty three Crown Grants for Lands at Akaroa, have been duly executed and are ready for delivery.