NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Saturday, July 9, 1853.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 828, 9 July 1853, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Saturday, July 9, 1853.

Mr. Wakefi eld's sayings and doings occupy a large portion of the last number of the Independent. Having complete control over that Paper he does not hesitate to use it for his own purposes, and chronicles at length his abuse of those who are not inclined to admit his pretensions, or implicitly to follow in the wake of a demagogue. His range is rather discursive, from the Governor to the Town Crier including of course the Spectator, which seems to be an especial object of his antipathy, and comes in for a full share of his abuse. Before adverting to such of Mr. Wakefield's statements as refer to ourselves we may briefly notice an assertion in the leading observations of his paper, to the effect that, " the Civil Secretary is a constant contributor to the Spectator, if not in reality the Editor of it." This assertion we stigmatize as a most unfounded falsehood, merely invented for party purposes ; and deny .in the strongest and most unqualified terms that any one connected with the Government has the slightest control or influence over this Journal. All this is so well known, that it may appear almost superfluous iox us* to state it, especially in contradiction of thefalsehoods of the Independent which are generally so gross and palpable as to carry the stamp of falsehood on the face of them. The Independent knows as little of the circulation as it does of the management of this Journal, on this head we have only to thank our subscribers and friends for their steady and daily increasing support, and to assure our opponent it cannot do us a greater service than persist in its present course, and continue under Mr. "Wakefield's (management, as it will probably shortly discover to its cost. Leaving Mr. Wakefield's organ, however, on which our readers may think we have wasted more words than it deserves, let us come to Mr. Wakefield himself. His talk about theSpectator being theGovernment organ we have in effect already disposed of, it amounts simply to this, that in deciding between Sir George Grey and the opponents of his Government, we have given the Governor our honest but humble support, because in common with the great majority of the settlers, we feel perfectly satisfied his policy has promoted the prosperity of the colony, — for the same reason we have always exposed, and shall continue to expose the designing and unscrupulous conduct of those who, under the pretence .of being the friends of the people, try to mislead them, and make use of them to promote their own selfish views. Mr. Wakefield, it seems, discovers in the Spectator certain information that the next session of the General Assembly is to be held in Auckland — why he was" the first to make this piece of news known, he was the first to v publish the discovery, to warn the iettlers of the fact. We have no desire to rob him of his due — ours was a humble part — we merely compared Mr. Wakefield with himself, and showed how treacherous his memory had become. We showed that Mr. Wakefield, writing in May to the Duke of Newcastle, asserts and takes some credit for being ahlefrom his peculiar sources of information confidently to assert that the Governor would hold the next sittings of the Assembly at Auckland, and yet in one short month afterwards, writing to the Governor, he professes to be/* embarrassed by his total ignorance on the subject." We need not allude to Mr. Wakefield's insinuations respecting , his differences with the Town crier further than to state they are perfectly groundless, and refer our readers to a communication from the latter in another part of this paper, in which the grounds of difference between these two public characters are clearly set forth. But the great offence of the Spectator in Mr. Wakefield's eyes appears to

have been the account of the interview of the Compensation Committee with the Governor, which he states to be false, but which both he and the other members of the Committee go far to substantiate. They do not, for they cannot, disprove any of its statements, they content themselves with assertions that it did not contain all that passed on the occasion. However anxious Mr. Wakefield may be to rest our account "on the best authority" and to consider it an official report, we are sorry to be obliged to take lower ground. Our report, as we stated at the timQ, was " the current outline," " the general impression," the story in everybody's mouth, and we have every reason to believe, the correct^ version (for the substance of what passes at any interview of a public deputation is very soon a matter of public notoriety) ; while Mr. Wakefield's is evidently coloured to suit his own purposes So much for Mr.Wakefield's statements, with reference to his explanations as to pecuniary matters between himself and the New Zealand Company, we need only go back to the report of the last meeting of the Company, October 21, in the Times-— Does Mr. Wakefield read the Times ?? — at which Mr. Buckle positively stated in the presence and with the assent of Mr. Aglionby, the Chairman, and other directors, that "The meeting would be more surprised when they heard that Mr. Edward Gibbon WaTcefield, who was known as the prime mover of the Canterbury Settlement, who was the prime mover of the machinery, had received himself a portion of that money, he believed he might say £1000. Mr. E. G. Wakefield had received £1000 of the money of the New Zealand Company."

We observe that the Independent, finding any further attempt at suppression useless, has at length published Mr. Bishop's letter. Its conduct with reference to this correspondence has been as unfair, as its excuses are pitiful.

An adjourned meeting was held at the Hutt on Tuesday evening, on the subject of compensation to the working classes, which lasted to a late hour, but which proved to be very noisy, and hard words were, we understand, freely used by both parties ; we must therefore be excused from giving any detailed report ; in due time, we dare say, Mr. Wakefield, the mover in this matter, will publish in the Independent his version of the affair, and represent himself, as he always does, amidst laughter, cheers, and loud applause, the hero of the evening. It seems to have been a struggle between himself and the Faction who, a few months since, were in such haste to receive Mr. Wakefield with open arms, and who now repent at leisure of their precipitancy. Mr. Wakefield takes good care to remind them of the welcome they gave him, and to taunt them with their inconsistency. Mr. Geroge Hart was brought forward at the meeting, under Mr. Wakefield's auspices, as a candidate for the Hutt.