NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Wednesday, December 1, 1852.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 765, 1 December 1852, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Wednesday, December 1, 1852.

Among the'different results brought about by the discovery of gold in Australia two of the most important are the great in- J crease of population to these^colonies, by the extensive European emigrationjwhich is daily taking place, and the insufficient quantity of food raised in these colonies to meet the demand which the arrival of such large numbers must necessarily occasion. It is very probable that for some months to come the price of flour and €ther necessaries at Melbourne may be as high as they were at California during the first influx of population to that State ; and these prices will be sustained, unless an extensive importation of flour and bread stuffs from America should take place. The Americans no doubt may be ready to exchange their flour for the Australian gold, but " they will feel a natural hesitation to embark in the trade, remembering from dearly bought experience the severe losses they suffered from the excessive fluctuations in the San Francisco market* And when we look back on the spirited exertions made, both here and in Auckland, in exporting provisions and timber to San Francisco, we may fairly anticipate an equal amount of enterprise will be exhibited now; the market to be supplied is so much nearer as to remove all risks of the voyage, the ruinous port charges and customs levied at San Francisco, which virtually amounted to a confiscation of the cargo ? are altogether avoided, such exactions being of in an English port, while the returns will be certain, and without any of prospect of repudiation. We think we are not too sanguine in expecting that during the coming summer extensive shipments willbe made to Port Phillip of New Zealand produce, and that this trade will be placed on a prosperous footing. At present the irregular communication leaves some uncertainty as to the fluctuation of the markets, but we may soon hope to see this removed through the agency of steam communication. The gold discoveries, in holding out a premium as it were to immigration and the introduction of steam as the means of intercommunication between these colonies and the mother country, have accomplished more than could have been dreamed of some years since, while so far as this settlement is concerned the opportune discovery of the Pakawau coal supplies the desired facilities for establishing a coal depot for steamers at Wellington, which will secure to it all the advantages arising from this circumstance as the central settlement in New Zealand as well as the seat of Government. The prospect of the immediate introduction of steam seems to have caused an unwonted activity in our neighbours at Nelson in completing i their arrangements in the formation iof a company for working the coal, | without waiting for co-operation from i Wellington, and in doing- so they seem to have started with a small and inadequate capital, but the first steamer which arrives in p Cook's Strait wanting supplies I at once establishes the profitable working of the mine, if the coal can be had cheaper, and of better quality than from Sydney and these tw,o points may be ta-

ken for granted. The Pacific Steam Company whose steamers now run from Talcahuano to Panama, on first establishing" their line, worked , the veins of coal at Talcahuano their own cost, in order to supply their boats with fuel, and we may be assured, in the event of the Panama line of steamers calling in Cook's Strait, of an active co-operation, if necessary, on the part of the company to secure so important a desideratum as an abundant supply of cheap fuel. .*. On Sunday afternoon the remains of the late W. H. Bent, Esq., Surgeon of H.M.S. Fantome, (who was unfortunately drowned by the upsetting of one of the Fantome's boats at Porirua,) were interred in the cemetery. The body was found at Porirua on Friday and brought to Wellington. The funeral was attended by all the officers of H.M.S. Fantome, the seamen and marines of that vessel, laeut.Col. M'Cleverty, commanding tbe troops Southern Province, Lieut-Col. Gold and the officers of the 65th regiment, the officers of the Ordnance, Engineers, and Commissariat,, and the non-commissioned officers and a detachment of the 65th regiment, and the body was consigned to the' grave with military honors. We understand that the bodies of four of the seamen have also been recovered and have been buried at Porirua. '