Untitled

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 5, Issue 274, 26 December 1861, Page 3

No official statement of the plans of His Excellency the Governor has yet been published, but it is generally understood that the Maori Runanga. which..has of late come into such, activity amongst the Natives throughout the Island, will be made the basis of the new form of government; that in every Native District there will be a central and one or more divisional Runangas, the first being the parliament of the district, the others the Councils ,ol the several Hundreds into which each such District is proposed to be divided. Thus at the Bay of Islands, the Civil Commissioner would assist at the deliberation of tlieprinciple Runanga, whilst the Resident Magistrate at Waimate, at Mongonui, and at Hokianga respectively would guide or assist the native Runangas of the Hundreds of which the places just named may form the centres. The scheme of “establishment” for each district is understood to include fixed provisions for religious instruction, for secular teaching, for medical care, and for efficient police. This we believe, is all that can at 'present be said to be determined. The operation being necessarily of a tentative character, what will be attempted in the, first instance will, we are sure, be measured by a pruderit calculation of what can probably be immediately accomplished ; a Maori Minerva is not likely, to spring from the brain of Jupiter in Waikato even under the hands of an, accoucheur so skilful as Sir George Grey*. The elect fin, of Members, of the Prc-

vinciaE Council for Auckland have been brought to a close, and a proclamation calling the Council together on the 6th January next has been issued by the Superintendent. We are glad to be able to acknowledge that that, excepting the first Council, no better one lias been chosen since the Constitution Act - came into operation. Gold being the great want, and digging the favourite industrial pursuit amongst the uneasy classes in these colonies, we have to record for general information that, an arrangement, as complete and satisfactory as could be hoped for reasonably/has been effected by the General Government with the Native owners of the Coromandel district, by which the whole country, one small portion expected, from the. Waiau to Cape Colville, has been thrown open for exploration. It has been proved by experiment that gold may be found over the whole district, and that quartz reefs of great extent, and in some places of undoubted richness in the precious metal, exist there. So long as the Natives- refused either to sell the°land, or to allow it to bo worked by Europeans, there appeared to be a feverish desire on the part of the latter to obtain possession of the country, but now ■j that the flavour of prohibition has been abstracted, the public taste has changed, and, excepting a very few enthusiastic explorers, no one thinks more of Coromandel at present. Some great “And” will perhaps one day awaken attention, and then no doubt Coromandel, for good or ill, will be opened with a “rush,” which is, we suppose, the normal mode oi opening and occupying gold-fields. The local Commissioners for the International Exhibition of 1862 have nofe been idle, anil we are glad to say than Auckland will be represented there not discreditably. A catalogue of the articles about to b,e transmitted has just been published and shows, amongst other items of native growth or. njannfacfcure, — as prepared for exhibition in England buckets made by machinery, candles, and soap, dried fruit, flax, mats, rope made from New Zealand flax, furniture of excellent workmanship, furniture woods of various kinds and of great beauty. There are also weighty specimens of Coromandel Gold'; coal’ from Druiy and from Waikato; coffee and cotton from the South Sea Islands, with which Auckland lias established a regular trade ; copper ores from-various localities in this Province ; sulphur, from White Isl.ahd ; marble, fro n Wangarie ; wool; stuffed birds of New Zealand ; kauri gum, besides various other articles illustrative of the natural history and products, of this Province. The art of the painter too, lias been enlisted in the service ; the New Zealand, flora has been gracefully illustrated in a water colour drawing, by Mrs. Fox ; Mr. ' ITeaphy will add to his established reputation as an artist, by his pictures of the White Island Volcano and of the boiling springs of Te Tarata in the lake district, and; as a man of science, by his Geological map of this Province ; Mr. A. Martin contributes an admirable view of a portion of the Mannkau Harbour, and Mr. Crombie furnishes

photographs of “ th e heads of the people,” the representative men of New Zealand, as they appeared in the elective chamber of the General Assembly in, the Parliaments of 186,0; and 1861.

Sir. George Grey, having since his ari’ival been acting as Administrator of the Government, has received Her Majesty’s Commission as Governor-in-chief, and, on Monday last, His Excellency took the oaths of office and assumed the Govern-

ment of the Colony,, of which facts proclamation was duly made. A re-appoint-ment of the. Executive Council thus became. necessary, and the members took the. rxsual oath,s and their seats at the Council table o.n the same day. We observe that

the name of Miv. Mantel! is not included in the list of members of the Executive, ' and we learn that that gentleman has resigned the office of Native Minister. —New Zealander Nov. T.