AUCKLAND.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 332, 25 December 1860, Page 3

AUCKLAND.

(From the New Zealander.) THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL. The Council met yo3terday, December 11, present the Speaker and twelve members. A message from the Superintendent was received, containing the reply to an order of the Council for a return of the amount realised by the General Government on the sale, in August last, of certain lands in the City. Mr. Reynolds not being in his place, the motion standing in his name for "a committee to inquire into the circumstances which induced the Board of Education to refuse its due share of the educational grant to the St. Patrick's School, Auckland"—lapsed. The motion of Mr. Farrell, for "an Address requesting his Honor the Superintendent to place a sum of <£300 on the estimates for the purpose of erecting bridges land executing the necessary cuttings for making the west road to the Hunua passable for drays," was negatived on a division. On motion of Major Matson an address, expressive of the admiration of the Auckland Provincial Council of the gallantry displayed by Captain Cracroft of H.M.S. Niger, and his ship's company, more especially in the affair at Waireka, was unanimously adopted and ordered to be transmitted by Mr. Speaker to Captain Cracroft. On moving the second reading of the Appropriation Bill for the year iB6O, the Provincial Treasurer, in giving the usual financial explana* tions, stated that as the Harbor Debenture Act had not yet been put in force by his Excellency, and as the means of providing for the public works of tbe next year depended upon the repayment of the Harbor debt, £25,000, any appropriation, beyond that for the necessary establishment, must be of an uncertain character; as there seemed, however, to be no doubt entertained that the law would be carried into effect, the business was proceeded with, and provision made in Committee of Supply, for the following establishments—Superintendent, .£800; Provincial Council, ,£1,200; Superintendent's Office, £1240; Waste Lands Office, £1365; Road Office, £390; Harbors — Auckland, £846; JttaQuk.au, £524; Russell, .£203 125.; Moug-

gonui, £100; Hokihanga, £75; Kaipara, £100. The consideration of several items for the police aud hospital establishments were postponed, and at half-past six o'clock, p.m., progress was re-. ported and the Council adjourned. • (From the Auckland Register, December 10.) Fortunate as the fight at Mahbetalii has bee a for the European, it has not been altogether profitless to the Maori, who has received a lessoa of humanity which we are glad to learn he 13 likely in future to imitate. The kindly attention bestowed upon the wounded rebels has become known to and made a strong impression on the tribes; and it is currently affirmed that in future conflicts, we shall hare no such butcheries as that of Puketakuere to deplore—a dreadful day, on which most of thosa who fell were but wounded, though, afterwards despatched by the Maori tomahawk. Having themselves been mercifully dealt with—their wounds cared for and their sufferings alleviated—there is every reason to hope that any of our wounded or prisoners will be treated in a like merciful manner, and that unarmed persons will suffer no molestation or injury. The intelligence of the past week is of an unpleasant, but cannot b9 of an altogether unexpected, character. From Waikato—since May last, the grand Maori Alarm Post,—we have tidings of the approaching defection of William. Thompson, the Maori Warwick. This chief, a \ man of much consideration, has, it is Baid, made ' up his mind to cast his lot with those in arms against her Majesty. Thompson has long enjoyed the reputation of being a man ofmoderationand reflection, a strenuous partisan in the King movement, but at the same time a sincere promoter of peace with the colonists. Much importance is therefore naturally attached to the defection of such a man, and especially to the reasons which he has assigned for the Hoe of conduct he is about to adopt. It is natural enough that Thompson should bewail the Waikatos slain at Mahoetahi'; but he should ask I hinaelf what just cause the Waikatos had to be there; and again, whether the Europeans have not much more bitter grounds of complaints against the Waikatos, who, rushing into a quarrel which in no way concerned them, and which had been disgraced by wanton and dastardly murders, lent their powerful name and assistance to worthless rebellion, were aiding and assisting the Queen's enemies, co-operatiDg in the inhuman massacre of her wounded soldiers, aiding, abetting, and inciting in the destruction of one of her Majesty's provinces, in the desolation of the hearths and homes, and in the deprivation of life of numbers of her peaceful and unoffending subjects. It would be well were Thompson to ponder all these atrooities before he hastens with himself and his followers to swell ! their amount, and to seal his and their sure and certain ruin. Against his allegations, paint them as powerfully and as touchingly as Maori orators well know how, the Europeans have to point to a conscience not only clear of offence —to a long and patient forbearance of Maori arrogance and insolence—but to a constant and persistent endeavor to win Maori love and friendship by a succession of the most meritorious efforts to raise him io the moral, social, and physical scale. So untiring and so undeviating have been those efforts, that the only conclusion to be arrived at is, that the Maori mistakes humane \ consideration for miserable cowardice, patient endurance for pitiful apprehension, and persistent friendship as a tribute exacted from the fears of an inferior race. This we firmly believe to be the fact; and so believing, coma what may and cost what it may, we think the time has arrived in which the presumptuous Waikacos must be taught to know themselves—to be made to feel that they will not be permitted to be a standing menace to the peaceful prosperity of the country, and that they will be dealtl with according to their actions, not measured by their words, however poetical, however specious. It was they, not the Europeans, who assumed arms to embroil New Zealand. If they desire to avert the evil which now so ominously impends, let them make amends for the past, lay down their needless but offensive arms, and we shall be well content to dispense with ours. =. As yet, Thompson has not'commifted himself, and we heartily hope, even at the eleventh hour, both for his own sake and that of the land he loves, that he will not do so. A decisive meeting at Tamahaere, to which he has invited the Tauranga and Lake Tribes, takes place on Wednesday next. We hope they will ponder the matter calmly and carefully—that they will forbear to judge of the future by the past—that they will not be led astray by any absurd idea of their own prowess— that they will bear in mind that they who have recourse to the sword perish by the sword, and that until they lay down arms, the British Government—for the Colonial Government have neither voice nor influence in the conduct of the war—will spare neither men, money, or means, until they reduce them to obedience to the law, and to that condition which is alike necessary for our prosperity and their own salvation.

Troops prom India.—A letter from India to a gentleman in Auckland says— " We have just received a telegram from England ordering the 23th regiment to sail immediately for New Zealand.' 3 Coroner's Inquest.—On Tuesday, Dec. 12, an inquest was held on board H.M.S. Pelorus, before Mark Kebbell, Esq., coroner for the district, to inquire into the death of one William Martin, a seaman on board the said ship. The inquest was adjourned till the following evening, at six o'clock, when it was resumed at Miller's Commercial Hotel. It appeared from the evidence that the deceased came on shore on Sunday morning on leave for the day. He was last seen alive about ten o'clock on Sunday evening, on Swinbourne's Wharf. He was at the time intoxicated, but had his senses about him. Bishop, the waterman, assisted him over the broken part of the wharf, and part way down the steps, where Bishop's boat, with four others of the crew in her, was moored. It was blowing very strong at tht tin*, and d«f ceased, seemed afraid to venture. Bishop held on with the boat until he was told she was shipping water, and then put off. The deceased turned back towards shore again. That vram th« last tune he was seen alive. The body was found near Pliminer's Wharf, floating with the tm downwards, on Monday morning, and conveyed on board H.M.S. Pelorus, when it was examined by the Surgeon. No marks of violence were discoverable. There were abrasions about the eyes, , - which had been caused by crabs, the Surgeon. having taken one out of the deepest of them. There had been no sounds of quarreling heard on the Sunday evening, everything having been perfectly quiet. One of the witnesses deposed - that within three feet of where the j bodywas found, there was blood, tracts of which he discovered all across the reclaimei land to the high road. The jury, after a short consul-, tation, found, "That the deceased, Tfilliam,.; Martin, was found dead in the water, but how, or by what means he came by his death ther&is not.; sufficient evidence to show.''— WeUingtWkfipeG^ Wor* ■'■• ' ' , '■ :'