THE WANGANUI CHRONICLE AND RANGITIKEI MESSENGER. "Verie sans peur." WANAGNUI, DEC. 19, 1861.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 5, Issue 273, 19 December 1861, Page 2

THE WANGANUI CHRONIC LE AND RANGITIKEI MESSENGER. "Verie sans peur." WANAGNUI, DEC. 19, 1861.

The intelligence received! from Auckland by this mail isof much same complexion as that* of last month. The Governor’s reception -at. J?PP9 r aikata will be the 'turning point in the peace negotiations,. and it is probable next mail, if his Excellency does not previously arrive in Wellington, may give us certain information as to. the settlement of the native difficulty. , £ . .

Mr. Mantell has; resigned the office of Native Minister, and the Colonial Secretary acts in his place, with the assistance - of Mr. Ilillon Bell.

Our , contemporary, the Hawke's .• Hewidi seems to. think he has found a foemanHvorthy- of his steel in ,out humm o sheet» ajid. again 'in. his issue of sth . Nby-, ■#hich we- received last Veeky calls in question some remarks of ours' of date. ; 26th -Sept. "'.(This .tip lo he feels' a little sore, becausethe -subject’ is "one which teuclies the pocket* of his readers, whom /ofcourse 'h'e ds> hound ito put-? on them . guard against all* aggressors* whether..in thieiprin of .’A'native .-■vy r |xd;.-leyies blhpk , > hail i>y driving

Superin^pident jof asks in a quietfStaijr ,iVha£\hri eonsidet's His own. The Hawke’s - Ba^' responsibility for its'sh'are .'bf'ttHe thH shhjefet on which bthr talented us. He; -presutiifeh Ave‘ re-. • garding'iit fas’ we ,; have', -becausetvWe- are ' *< Very imperfectly acquairitechwith the , 'fects.” .'TSHe<!fac!tsihuSl:so obscure seem to be very few, to judgefrom tHH iH'eraWsdetail of them. Chrpnicfoy? says the Herald , ‘‘ charges - our members with * attempting to urge X& /settlement before the merits of the case have been brought to light.’ We, on-the contrary, charge the Superintendent' of-WellirigtorF with an attempt to obtain a. settlement, on? his own terriis from the: late ministry, with*-< out going to? the .Assembly/at all,’’ and had it not beenifor Hawke’s;Bay mem-, bers, who ‘‘obtained;? &■ postponement: on definite terms, there, can be little ! doubt . the present ministry would have complied with Hr. Featherston’s demands.” -There; are three statements here, thd first and last of which are virtually the same. The second is regarding our Superintendent’s, trying to. get payment of the interest due on his own terms, from the late ministry. Of cdurse’ h’e and he would have beeti Very. temiss( ''in.. tere’sts" of the province if He had not" done so. Biit heusecß ho undue haste- '/In-, deed; so' far from his wishing to take any one by surprise, He seems to have' pressed the claim not ' at all at first, and afterwards with great moderation. The-Co-r lonial 'Treasurer wrote first to the Superintendent on the subject on the 4th Her. cembe'r, 1858. The Superintendent replied on the 12th December; 1859, with the documents containing the information wanted, but does not 1 ask .either. for a settlement or money. On the 6th March 1860 he is informed by the Colonial. Se-: cretary, that the matter is to be laid be/ fore the General Assembly. . On* the Ist June 1860, the Superintendent writes the. Secretary, that as the Assembly had not' met as was expected, as more than 13,000/ , of interest had been paid by Wellington, and as 4000/ would soon be due, ; of all which Hawke’s Bay ought to priy its share, he would be obliged by the Government “taking Steps”, to. bring the Hawke’s Bay province, to what is vulgarly called “ the si ratch.” . My. Stafford replies on the 9th June, that tHp Government had not been able to make out the exact amount of interest due. Aware, however, that there wruld be A consider/ able sum, they had not asked from Wel- ‘ lington 3500/ which was due to the General Government by .the province, and now to account ofthe Hawke’s Bay debt/ Thenext letter is six months lately - frotti • the of' Wellingtqn,iagam risking the /Government, fpr .. a settlement of , the Hawke’s Bay elaim, as, he had. shortly to remit .4000/ of, the ■ interest/ Tfi answer to this request," the Colonial Secretary sent y pther’ '£2s 00' oel the .2rid ; FeTwiiaiy last ; and; on. the ,26th February the Superintendent wrote again to the Government, urging a settlement, in fulfilment. 0f their pwn promises. On the 6th April, the Colonial Treasurer sends him a Memorandum, in which it is stated, that frirtheri legislation on the subject is;.unavoidablo, and that ‘ meanwhile . 3000/;.mbre. would be/ advanced. . This is the whole of the correspondence ; • and on again looking over it our first impression is strongly'confirmed; 'that the Superintendent of this province was . singularly, moderate, in his demands. So far, indeed, was Dr. desiring 'that' the matter should be that it was on. his- motion that, the bill, introduced ;by Mr. Richmond for ; its settlement was* thrown out on" its second" reading in October last <yeari So., much, Dr. Feathers'ton’s undue. haste in thiU matter. The-other part of our ( contemporary’s, attack is very easily disposed of., The •truth of the. matter is,-—and we make a. clean breast of it with some: degree of . shame,—we gained the greater part of our information regarding the subject of it from his .own; columns. It is lawful, but it would appear is very dangerotis, to' learn from an enemy. Our contemporary has been singularly painstaking in giving' his readers information on the facts of. the case. But he has either forgotten these facts, or never thoroughly understood them. He agrees with us that Dr. Knight’s, proposal, pf a basis j?f settlement. was simply absurd. In his issue of 31 st August he gives particulars of Dr. Knight’s repqxtarid then goes onA-s Consequetit ontliereferee-havirighanded in this statement, Mr. Ormond put a notice on the paper, that on Tuesday the J2oth inst. he would move for leave to bring in a bill for the apportionment pf the debt. Strong expectations were formed, that despite the unreasonable opposition of the" Wellington members, it would be favourably considered by the house, and become law.' We feel assured;

-that the community will recognize Mr, Ormond's great exertions to bring about this happy consummation.” Again, in' ' ■ St's issue-of Sept. 14; in regard to th'e first reading of the bill, the Herald remarks, ** It Was carried by a majority of sevqru go far well. V; But we findfronva Sotiilibii. (Cross of the 30th, that on Monday the . ~;by jtffc : Ormond' W:were thunderstruck oa;- , reading;,this.” (Perhapa .this thtinder :i /stroke - may 3»r'7cpn temporary’s aheitafidbs.) ; In his: 24th r our cpntempprafy giyes the reason; for the awful fate, . of the bill; frohl the; announcement of which hfe; . s such serious mentah paralysis, ‘f in our ‘ .issue'ofthe was a'.Suit* '4ay }*' : ?oie ''x&iuxiiß^r,'"_liowever, is dated Saturday r d4th'^Sept.)—We''expressed' our . (We.haye since, learnt .that this Was ! ' knpwledge, ea&ly gained: *tKe measure hdd no the" elcoSa rekdxug

niany’ -iriembers‘ Having voted for t the first as a matt.er.of; courtesy, who >vould, upon" the principle of the bill coming/under/ijiaqussion- on the - second 'regjdinjjj the ,fPtth<i> ; ArrayeA against.;, ife , They hoWeyeiy'that should wu£ mciriber'iii clia*'ge{ef <;tbe , "'iji?l*%r£ riiond) agree to save the time of thehouse bjc withdrawing it, they wquldi’dq their; best,to limit the- amount on which' the. interest- should be paid in /.the meantime'' r-r* r.,'!ppnding • a final;'decision.” The Herald then informs. its readers, that ' there: Were cbnferencesKeidbetwebA three? Wellington members and three Hawke’s tßay members; " The former wanted 35,00Q/,the;latter.adhered;tO ; Dr; Knight’s ■ “ absurd ” award. It - was • “ surmised ’ ’ that the Wellington :,mpinbersj "Would have taken 30,000/; but the Hawke’s Bay .members, nailed their figures to the board. /Ultimately,; after sundry vain attempts at ari adjustment, a claiise (prepared by Mr. • Bell and moved by Mr. Fitzlierbert, neither of them a Hawke’s B a y mem her) was introduced ' into'" the Appropriation act, which “ provides for an ad interim payment equal to the interest on 30,000/. ’’ The Herald adds, “ There the matter .-rests. ’ It' is lamentable 1 tpithirik ;t]iat we are virtually in the same position as' before the d'oriunencem'entr Pf - sion ; . but we feel Assured that everything has been done to advance our interests that man can do, and that' the failufefof all efforts to obtain a fair adjustment is owing entirely to-causes over which our representatives had no control.” How does all this read beside the clause—the Hawke’s "Bay members “obtained a postponement on definite terms 1” Does it not agree more closely-with our view of the case—that the Hawke’s Bay members tried earnestly to have the matter settled before it had been thoroughly investigated? The Herald beiiig condemned out of its own-mouth, what >need H there of further refutation 1 We have referred to: the Herald’s- remarks,? not so mubh.in self-defence, as because ./ opportunity: is thereby .given ,ef -laying the facts of the casebefore - our- readers .‘ifitore in detail than our'limits permitted the last time it. was adverted t 0..• l '■ * . . . -

The time for sending articles to, the, Great Exhibition of 1862,. ha.s; now; nearly expired. ft is eight-moriths since we called the attention of our readers to the propriety of preparing articles ' for transmission, and to the class of articles that was wanted. Various ' circumstances have since arisen to distract the attention of the settlers,- and prevent them from avail-' ing themselves of this so desirable means; of giving information as .to the capabilities of the. district. . But still it is to be regretted that something has not been, done, The only contribution-sent as yet from this neighbourhood consists of a few .native.. .curiosities -and some- 5 verjr small 'specimens of flax-—a very unworthy ‘offering from such: a district. It may 1 perhaps serve to increase the number of such contributions, to mention that after thb Exhibition they will be at.the disposal of the contributors, so that persons wishing to /.send; specimens of native" art, photographs of scenery and such like- articles to their friends in Enjgland would be able to do so iri; this - way without expence. But we' should like mo„st:to see some good samples of wool; wheat, and other produce' which would .shew the• genial/nature of our climate and. the.productive character of the soil. Let us again mention that Messrs. Waters and Watt are the representatives here of the Wellington Commissioners, and that; they will be happy to give information and forward contributions, which must be despatched at latest by :the Wonga Wohga at the end of this month- , .

We have on occasions, 'directed attention to- the desirableness of again obtaining direct communication with Melbourne, and are now glad to observe that the necessity of the measure is beginning to be recognised in Canterbury. The following, remarks on the subject in the LyU telton . Times of NTov. 27; deserve attention:— .

••//,“ We had hoped that this province would have joined Otago and Wellington in obtaining ani efficient mail service to and from Melbourne, in which, by the employment of two boats, each .port might have been visited without the drawbacks. of transhipment,’, and a great saving; of time effected between the receipt and despatch of our English mails, The last steamer. from the south brought, the news; however, that Otago has made a separate* contract for the conveyance of her. own mails, for which she is'to pay ,£IBOO a year to the. owners of the Omeo, and it is therefore no longer likely th4t an arrangement can be made to include that; province. . The little province of Southland also advertises for a separate steam mail service with Melbourne. It will soon therefore become a matter, of necessity for Canterbury, either by itself or with Wellington, to organise a direct service with Melbourne, if it does not wish to be left a week or ten . days behind, its neighbours in its communication with -the outer world. We trust that the Council will not hesitate to place such i suih‘ oh the estimates as will enable us to maintain as perfect a system of steajn ; eonunumcation with the neighbouring tbslonies as canbd obtained." '