WELLINGTON.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 540, 7 August 1869, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

PROCEEDINGS in the GENERAL ASSEMBLY. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) July 27. Since my last letter there lias been nothing done in the political world. I told you we were looking forward to the delivery of the Financial Statement this evening, but, owing to the indisposition of the Colonial Treasurer, this treat is postponed till to-morrow. I had hoped to have been able to send you in this letter the speech, to tell you what burdens we must prepare ourselves to bear, or what taxation we might hope to get rid of. But instead of finance, the Native difficulty is occupying men's minds in Wellington to-night. The grave circumstances of which Ministers on Thursday evening made so much mystery have come to light, and I almost feel inclined to rejoice that what I have expected for long seems rapidly approaching, namely the final struggle between the t.vo races in this Island, not merely for the mastery but absolutely for life. In spite of all the well-meaning efforts of those who would try to civilize the Maori, his race aud ours will not blend. We might be disposed to let his flourish, or, at the worst, to let it die out quietly and gradually, but it does not appear that this may be. Everywhere that the white man has set his foot a providence so shapes his acts that in the end the aboriginal disappears. We see this same law in everything else as well as in the peopling of the world. Even in the vegetable kingdom, the very weeds that are indigenous to the soil gradually disappear before those brought from the countries of the Saxons.

But to my news. Yesterday and to-day the Government have received many telegrams from which I summarise the following : Te Kooti is still in Waikato with Te Heu Heu and Rewi,who are working cordially with him. He has demanded that Orakau be given him as payment for the Uriweras killed there, and that his new form of religion be adopted. The latter demand was granted, but the former was opposed by Ngatimaniapoto, and a split was the consequence. Tawhiao and Tamati Manuwhiri have carefully kept aloof from Te Kooti, who demanded to be made King, and a collision is deemed probable. Te Kooti had made preparations for a descent on Tauranga, should he be ordered out of the Waikato, to be revenged on the friendly tribes there. Great alarm resulted at Tauranga, and 11.M.5.5. Virago had moved up and anchored oft" the town. She landed SO men, and many of her guns. Means are being taken to reinforce the Waikato. The Militia are called out for actual service and posts are being strengthened. 250 volunteers from the Thames have come forward and offered their services, and have gone to Waikato. Tito Kowaru and Tikaokao are expected to join Te Kooti. It is not certain whether Eewi is acting under orders and is shepherding To Kooti. Tawhiao had sent him instructions to keep quiet and to go home, but he seemed indisposed to do either.

The Auckland papers received by the Lord Ashley are also full of alarming intelligence confirming all the above. One of the Assembly Balls, at which I was present, was being held last night when rumours of the above were circulated, and the officers of 11.M.5.5. Challenger who were there seemed to look forward with pleasure to the likelihood of their being sent up to Tauranga, I have heard to-day that they proceed there as speedily as possible. They can land 170 men, including marines and blue jackets, and will be a most welcome addition to the colonial and volunteer forces in the event of any engagements taking place. It is amusing to see here gentlemen attempting to proceed along the streets in some clumsily made velocipedes which a local manufacturer has inflicted on us. A friend of mine with more hardihood than I possess essayed to take a little exercise a few afternoons ago in one of them, and he describes the process of going down hill in them as comparatively easy, but when he tvished to go up an incline his efforts failed, and having succeeded in collecting a decidedly unsympathetic crowd around him, he was compelled to dismount and push his vehicle before him. He touchingly alluded to the difficulties of his situation, mounted on his skeleton carriage and vainly endeavouring to progress, the lookers-on all the while giving him advice, kindly meant, perhaps, but rather harrowing to his feelings. He does not think he will attempt the feat of riding on one of these conveyances along busy thoroughfares again for some time. The fatigue was only about four times that attending walking, and—oh, the cramp the next day. July 30. The Financial Statement has been delivered, and, thanks to the liberality of the Telegraph Department, you will have published it ere now for the benefit of your readers. In many ways it is a remarkable production, and principally so in that, at a time of excitement, when proposals for radical changes are being brought forward on

every side, it is the most Conservative statement we have had for several years. Though brought forward by a gentleman whose reputation, certainly, is not that of a practical politician, it deals plainly and practically with things as they are, and, as he states in the concluding paragraph, it is framed with a desire for " working to the utmost advantage the existing institutions of the country," and it seeks "to improve rather than to revolutionise." As you have already had a report of the speech by telegraph, and, as I enclose you a printed copy of it, I need not take up your space with any remarks on it. 1 may say that Mr Vogel's opponents agree that it is a very fair speech, while his admirers are enthusiastic on the subject of it. The Regulation of Elections Act Amendment Bill has been read a third time and passed in the Legislative Council. Future elections throughout the Colony will therefore be conducted under the un-English form of the ballot. The Summary Trials in Disturbed Districts Bill has passed its second reading in the Upper House. Once more we are going to try the experitnsut of keeping prisoners in the harbor here. I sincerly hope the attempt will be more successful than the last one, when they escaped from the hulk Manukau. The Government p.s. Sturt arrived this morning, having ou board 93 Hau If au prisoners under a guard of 45 Ngatiporous. The women and children belonging to them have been left in the care of frieudlies at Patea. The greater number of the prisoners are young men, some of them being mere boys, while a few are old and grey-headed. The chief, Tauroa, is among them, dressed respectably in European style, and looking rather ashamed of the position he is in. AVhare Matangi—a rather celebrated rebel—is with them, as also is Te One, who is notorious as the murderer of Mr C. Broughton several years ago, and who is certainly a horrible looking villain. During the afternoon the prisoners have been transferred to the ship Newcastle, anchored in the stream, which has been chartered by the Government at £2Ol a month, and where it is intended to keep them until their trial, under the Summary Trials Act. This Act, by-the-by, is not yet law, so they will have some time longer to live if they removed in the eud. I sincerely trust such men as Te One will not be permitted to escape a fate they richly deserve through any fluke, "or any imperfection of evidence. They are well known to deserve, even by our careful computation, hanging if not worse. If left to the Maoris to be dealt with they would long ago have paid the extreme penalty of their crimes, aud if we permit them by any quibble to escape we shall simply get the credit of being afraid to punish them and of being fools for our pains.

There is little fresh war news to send. The Government have announced in the House that the rumor that Tauranga was menaced hy 1700 rebels is an exaggeration; and that though Tauranga is menaced, and the latest news is no more than was first received, yet they regret to say it is no better. The news that the Challenger was going to the assistance of the Virago, which I sent you in my last, was at least premature. She is still in the harbor, and I am not aware of ary preparations being made for her departure.

There have been several cases of attempted arson in "Wellington lately, and there is one very unpleasant feature in theni, that some of them appear to have been prompted merely from a love of misehief. Three evenings ago I had just finished writing my last letter to you at about one o'clock in the morning, and was sitting before the fire having a last smoke before turning in, when I hoard the firebell3 ringing loudly. I of com*se had my boots on and was out in a moment, but the first person I met told mo the fire was out, so I returned thinking it was a false alarm or at most nothing serious. In the morning I heard that the fire was in an unoccupied house next to the Royal Hotel, and, having been discovered almost immediately it was alight, it was speedily put out. Plenty of evidence, in the shape of tar spilt on the floor, aud bundles of rags, and shavings saturated with kerosene, was found that the place was intentionally set alight, and the proprietor of the hotel next door, as well as several Insurance agents, have offered a reward for information as to the guilty person. The singular part of this affair is that this is now the third attempt that has been made to fire the the same building, which has long stood unoccupied and worm-eaten. It cannot be that the owner desires to obtain the insurance money, as were the building insured (which I do not think is the case) the amount of the insurance on such a useless tenement must be a mere trifle. The fire which occurred on the beach a week or two ago, and which destroyed two houses and damaged a third, was also clearly the work of an incendiary, and has caused the Insurance agents to offer a reward for information to lead to the conviction of the offender.

Yelocipedestrianisin (that looks a good word) has received a slight check in Wellington, a young gentlemaD, who rashly endeavoured to paddle bis own velocipede, having come to an untimely end (in a ditch) and broken his leg. Others seem to take warning by his fate, and these innovations, introduced here by some spirited individual, are not so much patronized now as formerly.

Sir David Monro, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who obtained leave of absence a short time ago on the death of oue of his sons, has returned to Wellington and resumed his parliamentary duties. On the first evening of his return he, in feeling words, expressed his thanks to the House for the resolution of sympathy for him under his affliction which was passed a few days ago. There seems to have been some irregularity in the rendering of the General Government accounts by some of the Wesrland officials, and Mr Gavin, of the Treasury, has been sent to investigate matters.