CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

Wellington Independent, Volume II, Issue 67, 3 June 1846, Page 4

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

[From the Hobart Toivn Courier.]

A few numbers of the * Cape Frontier' Times' have brought down our intelli-i gence from that quarter to the beginning' of December. Major Smith has been appointed AgentGeneral and Frontier Commissioner. This appointment has given general satisfaction, and, if followed up by the concession of necessary discretionary powers, is likely to be productive of much benefit in protecting the Frontier from aggression and preserving tranquility. Such an appointment is rendered the more necessary by the proposed, and, it appears, the intended abolition of the Lieutenant Governorship of the Eastern Districts. To the want of an efficient Agent-General, resident on the spot, much of the failure of the old border system is to bo attributed The depredations of the Kafirs still continue, and the Frontier Farmers are, in consequence, exposed to continual alarm and frequent losses. An angry discussion has, for some time, been carrying on between members of o:her churches and some of the Wesleyan Missisionaiies, as to the extent to which Christianity has been introduced amongst; tho Kafir tribes by the labours of the latter, and the degree in whirh-iis influence has been feneficially exerted on the aboriginal character. The missionaries main tain that the great bulk of the Kafir people are under the influence of Christian principles j while by their opponents this is asserted as a pross exaggeration. Great complaints are mado in the interior, of the insolent behaviour of the Hottentot servants. Many of the farmers prefer to be without servants, rather than be tormented with tin ir independence and impertinence. Much of this evil appears to have its origin in the false notions of Christian duty which the natives seem to have imbibed. An association has been announced in the London papers, under the designation of the " Great South African Railway Company," with a capital of £2,500,000, for the introduction of locomotive travelling and transport into the Cape Colonies. This project is described, in the Stock Exchange Express, as *' one of the most promising undertakings now before the British public." Much sickness is said to prevail throughout the colony, and especially at the Cape, occasioned by the sudden and considerable changes of the temperature. A new set of colours has been presented: by the Lieutenant-Governor to the Ist Ba-lalion of thedlst Regt. The Legislative Council has recently been much occupied with an enquiry into the Judicial and Law Establishments, and, "whether arrangements might not be made whereby an administration of justice of equal or greater efficiency would be obtained at a smaller cost than is at present incurred." The report of the Committee, which had been agreed to by a majority, was read and ordered for future di-cussion. The report of the minority, drawn np by the AttorneyGeneral, was also brought forward. The former was considered to be of to"o sweeping a character in the changes which it proposed ? while the lat.er was regarded as embodying, in its more raodera c alterations obvious and unmixed advantages, without danger of the slightest evil, disorder, or inconvenience." It was thought "scarcely probable that the Council would sane:ion any alteration of the judicial system involving the destruction of the Supreme Court, for which the creation of a number of local independent Judges throughout the colony would be no fit or efficient substitute." The Rev. E. Scholtz, a missionary of the Berlin Society, and a servant in the employ of T. Shepstone, Esq., Diplomatic Agent at Fort Peddie, have been murdered by the Kafirs. The newly arrived Missionaries were proceeding to their station in Kafirland, and had reached the top of Fish Hiver Bush, when an attack was mado upon them in the night by a party of Kafirs. The servant was stabbed in the assault, and died duing the night, and Mr. Scholtz was found, the next morning, severely wounded, but still alive. Arrange menis wero immediately made for conveying him to Foit Peddie ; buf, on the way, he was found to be dying. He called his brethren to him, bade them farewell, and commended his spirit to God. Thus perished, by the hand of barbarians, a messenger of Chri-t.amty, on his way to declare to them the tidings of peace and salvation. Cap am Shepherd of the Royal Artillery, stationed at Port Victoria, was shot

by a private of the name of Long. He was passing across the square towards the arsenal, when a gun was discharged from one of the huts and the ball penetrated his heart. Lieutenant Bombardier Oliphant instantly rushed into tho'hut and found Long lying on his back; his carbine was in the corner, and had recently been discharged from its warmth 'and appearance. No cause is assigned for the commission of the act, beyond a sulky and insurbordinate disposition on the part of Long, and the fact of hi-) having been ordered to do his duty as gunner.