THE COLONIST. NELSON, TUESDAY, MAY 8, 1860.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 266, 8 May 1860, Page 2

THE COLONIST. NELSON, TUESDAY, MAY 8, 1860.

In a recent number we gave a summary of the general state of our agricultural, mercantile, and social progress, which, we think, except to those who can never withdraw their mind's eye from the effects of the jaundiced mists of personal dislike. and wounded self-sufficiency, and, take an impartial view of the real facts placed before them, without canvassing the motives which may have prompted the conduct of the Executive of the province, will be read by all who really have the true interests of the province at heart, with, we may say, satisfaction, not only upon the present state of things, but with our future prospects. Having said thus much on our domestic arid social policy, we pass on to the late proceedings of Council, of which it may be said they were " sharp, short, and decisive." —that is, they were sharp as regards the spirit of the debates, if they deserved the name, for with scarcely any exceptions they were indiscriminate attacks upon the individual members of the Government, which certainly, judging from the conduct of the combatants, were neither borne out' by the majority of the members nor by subsequent acts of the individuals themselves; for instance—upon the proposition of the adoption of the answer to his Honor the Superintendent's address, Dr. Monro, according to our contemporary's report, began by stating—"he did not suppose any one would think of voting against so very mild and inoffensive a public document as the reply which it was proposed to make to his Honors speech." To recapitulate the honorable member's discursive dissection of the speech, to which the motion was a reply, would, afford materials to till a volume, we can therefore only indulge in a very brief and cursory review of his remarks. He says, his Honor invites the Council to say with him, that the financial position of the province cannot be received in any other light than as extremely satisfactory-— from which, however, he emphatically dissents, and, on the contrary, says, that the very opposite conclusion would be " neither more nor less than the naked truth ;* and adduces as a proof of his assertion, the fluctuation of our Customs duties, than which we will with equal confidence assert a more fallacious criterion taken by itself could not be put forward. The honorable member reminds us of that great proficient Paganini, who electrified his nightly audiences by playing upon one string. The Doctor will have the customs, the whole customs, and nothing but the customs, for our revenue, reckoning the other resources, such as the items composing a return of £18,000 as nothing, to say nothing of the two or three millions of acres yet unsold. As well might the honorable member say that a large sheepowner with a run of some thousands ot freehold and licensed run land, that his only source of revenue was what he derived from such accumulation of capital as he had invested in some Government or landed security, and that the annual returns from the sale of his wool and surplus stock could not be depended upon, because the return from the one and the sales from the other were uncertain.

And, again, he says the province can only be considered in a sound financial position when the duties of customs rise. Here, again, it would be easy to demonstrate the fallacy of his dictum. We contend that looking at the extent of land which has in the last few years changed its character from that of leasehold, which formed no permanent link between the holder of it and the individuals who occupied it, into that of freehold, which is a guarantee that the owner meant to fix his domicile where he had invested his capital; and looking to the actual progresssive increase of tne very source of revenue which must be taken as the barometer of the more or less easy condition of the people of the province, that we are justified in saying that the honorable member's financial fabric is as fallacious and visionary as his deductions from them are unfounded and unsound; and are, in our opinion, far more likely to~create a false impression than anything contained in his Honor's statement or in that of the Provincial Secretary.

The honorable member then goes on to say, still harping upon this one string— the customs revenue, which, be it remembered, according to his own showing, had only decreased by about £3000, but even say £4000, in the three last years, the amount of money invested during the same period, in permanent securities amounted to some £30,000 or £40,000, which, while it may sufficiently account for the falling off of the customs revenue, does not necessarily impty that the people are; in a corresponding uneasy condition. He then goes on to say : "It is the duty of a Superintendent to place the condition of his province truly, faithfully, and fully belore the Council; the Council, he thought, had a right to expect to be treated in this way." The honorable member is like the soldier who complained that the drummer did not strike fair. State his case how he will give details down to shillings and pence, cautions his constituents not to rely too much on the continuance of the present aspect of affairs, however much he may himself feel confident that from a large, comprehensive, and extended view of the

whole capabilities of the province and of its progressive tendency. Such may be the case; still he cannot satisfy: the honorable member. We find from portions; of the speech of the honorable member, Wherein he refers to the ingress of capital for permanent investment, that we have already answered him. We pass over that portion of his speech which refers to his new bantling the Province of Mariborpugh, reserving our remarks for another opportunity, for with all our endeavors at curtailment and condensation, we are; unable to do justice to the honorable member's declamations, or guard our readers from being led away by his ingenious sophistry. :

In his concluding remarks he notices the subject ot hackney carriages, aud feelingly deplores the culpable negligence of the somnambulists on Mr. Curtis's proposition to license the same. If it should ever be the honorable member's proud "distinction to fill the office of Superintendent, he will find, amongst other new lights which will break in upon his elevated position, that one of the maxims of statesmen in the good old times, to which some folks are so fond of referring, was *'de minimum, non regat lex." And should he carry out his ideas of carrying on the whole administrative duties of the ..Government3 f°wn proper person, it we mistake riof. it will form the prominent item in his (if not household) official words. The length of our commeritariei reminds us that we have already exceeded a most liberal allowance of space for this portion of publication, we must consequently reserve for another number our concluding remarks upon the important debate on this subject.

Mr. Travers, in rather a peremptory manner, calls upon us to justify, from his written report, some observations on the supposed newly-discovered country which appeared in our paper five weeks ago, and were quoted in our last summary for Europe. He forestalls what he supposed would be our line of argument in reply, namely, reference to, "current rumors." Rumors certainly were current, and believed by all but a doubting few, that half a million acres of grass land had been discovered by Mr. Travers. The town was aroused from its usual state by this good news; the discovery of a new gold-field could not have excited more attention. That the belief in these current rumors was not confined to the gobemonches and lower orders, the following list of applicants for runs, with the quantity of land applied for will show:—

March B.—W. T. L. Travers, 20,000; D. Rough, 20,000. ; •

March 9.—M. Bury, under 20,000; Trustees for Mrs. Nicholson, under 20,000; S. Kingdon and W. Jeffery, 20,000; Hacket arid Wells, 20,000; A. Monro, 20,000; Jno. Sharp, 20,000; Alexander Monro, 30,000; G. H. B. Monro, 28,000 ;D. Monro, 30,000. -

March 10.— H. Adams, 10,000; Wells and Hacket. 20,00i>; H. Handyside, 10,000; T..R. Hacket, 20,000; R. K. Newcome, 20,000. Total, 828,000 acres applied for between the Bth and lOth March,

The reader must remember that these (and many more probably) applications vveje made some days prior to the publication of Mr. Travers's account. Whether Mr. Travers, like another Frankenstein, got alarmed at his own work, we know not care not. But in the written report not a word is said in contradictton of the " current rumors."

But to show our readers that we did not found our few observations on the " half-million-acre new country" on current rumors, we quote the following from an authority, which we would as soon doubt our own identity or that Mr, Travers is District Judge, as to suppose that such a statement on such a subject was admitted into a paper (the usual medium of Mr. Travers's opinions, legal, political, social, and moral) without his sanction :~

New Country—Mr. Tiavers, who returned to tofln from his exploring trip on Thursday morning, has discovered a large tract of grass country, computed at 500,000 acres, at the head of the Wai-au-ua and Grey rivers. Mr. Travers crossed the range at the back of Lake Tennyson, and came upon the head of the Wai-au-ua, which he followed down some distance, and then ascended one of its tributary valleys, coming from the south west, at the head of which he struck the hsad-waters of the Grey. As Mr. Travers has kindly promised to furnish us with full particulars of his journey, we hope to be able to give them to our readers in our next number.— Nelson Examiner, 10th March.

After such current rumors and their immediate consequences, and after such selfevident signs of authorship as the above quotation afforded, we certainly should not, even on a more important matter, have waded through a report to see whether the words " half million " occurred. Had Mr. Travers in his published account alluded to the current rumors as somewhat hyperbolical, or hinted the slighest contradiction to the evident ex cathedra preliminary observations above quoted, it certainly would hare been noticed. As ittis, Mr. Travers has not only allowed the current rumori and the above remarkable quotation to pass unnoticed, but has likewise permitted the words in our summary which appear to have given him offence to remain uncontradicted for fnWJive weeks; and he has not the excuse that the article did not excite his attention, for we have good proof that Mr. Travers went through the whole summary, not only minutely but microscopically.

That truth alone is our object, whether sought after seriously or jocosely, is proved by the fact that untruth is generally more palatable to many, and therefore in newspapers as well as in some other matters, would pay better; but if Mr. Travers does not know, he is now informed, that the detection of error is one grand means of arriving at truth. ". For Mr. Travers's intimation that he is about to advertise us in so respectable a medium, we tender him our sincere thanks; but if he, by that intimation, means to imply a doubt of our inserting his or any communication, we beg him to dispel such an idea, and assure him .that our columns are always readily open. to. any animadversions on our acts of omission or commission, however severe they may be.

' ¥he Council-*-We omit t ttLe proceedings of Council in this number, but will supply the three nights' transactions up to the time of its last sittjing for"the present session, in our next. 1 Earthquake.—On comparing our notice of the slight earthquake that took place on the 23rd ultimo, with that of a Canterbury paper, we per? ceive it was also felt at that place, the description and time of its occurrence agreeing closely with that of Nelson, showing that it was widely spread,, although not of a violent character. ■ Dinner to Mr. Sabnoers.—-The dinner to be given, to this gentleman will take place on Wednesday evening next (to-morrow), at' sijc o'clock, at Mr. Krerett's, Masonic Hotel, Trafalgar•treet.