DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE. The Arrival of the Governor.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 35, 16 December 1843, Page 3

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE. The Arrival of the Governor.

Ik our last number we published the news of the arrival of Captain Fitzroy in Sydney, and probably before we have the pleasure of addressing our friends B irain, he mny be amongst us. His arrival will have the effect of putting an end to present conjectures, if not to many hopes and many fears. We shall then have the living man himself before us, and we may iudee of him not by report, but by his own deeds. \Ve shall then be enabled to test his worth by the t, e3 t of all tests, by his own conduct. He comes to us with a fair reputation ; as fair perhaps, as any Governor of a colony ever had, and we sincerely trust it will remain unsullied to him while in New Zealand. I This, however, will depend entirely upon himself, i We trust he will profit by the fate of his predecessors, j and avoid the rocks upon which they were wrecked. We hope he will keep clear of, and demolish " the family compact." It must be torn out root and branch. The old dynasty of impotence and ignorance must be clean swept off, before another and a proper Government can be established. " The refuge of lies" must be utterly destroyed. But we do not wish to anticipate the good deeds of our new Governor. Let him see, -judge* and act for himself. As his advent is rather an event in the history of our colony, some anxiety appears naturally to arise in the minds of some of the people as to the manner in which he ought to be received. We have formerly given our opinion on this subject, and we would now merely repeat what we said then. Man worship we utterly detest, especially when it is directed towards an object who has as yet, conferred no benefit on this society. We see no reason what, ever for making any noise about a new Governor. There is no cause for rejoicing in the arrival of a Governor, it is a mere matter of course and of necessity. When we see that he is really a benefit to New Zealand, then let us rejoice, and value and esteem the man^because we know he has deserved it. Collecting in a body to receive him on his landing, unless he wish it himself, appears to us to be quite unnecessary and unbecoming ; he is a private individual until he is sworn in. Until then, he is not known to the people as their Governor. When he is fairly settled, we should certainly recommend the people to have a meeting, and to get up an address to Hiß Excellency. A calm, respectful, and manly statement of existing grievances, with suggestions for their removal. Such a statement cannot be offensive to a man of sense, and may afford him some means of ascertaining the wishes and views of the people on 'various {joints. Some of our friends may doubtless wish to know how the Southern Cross itself will stand affected by the coming of the new Governor. On this point we can easily satisfy tliem. They have only to consider why we have been called into existence, and how we have conducted ourselves since then, and they will find all the information they require on this subject. We need not tell them that we have always kept the interests of the colony before üb, as the first, the only object. If, as we sincerely tiust, the new Governor will uct in a similar manner, his star and that of the Cross will be friendly and not rivai lights ; and if, as we most earnestly hope, he will be found altogether f.uch as we would wish liim to be, his path may not require the light of the Cross, and we may be saved the cxpence and trouble of guarding him against dangers- We have already fought two hot and fiery buttles, and we hope we may be saved a third. We shall be however, at all times ready, and if the people rcqnire our services, and bear a part of the expence and burthen of the warfare, we shall not forsake them. The fault will be their own, and not ours, when the Cross shall set. The better the people support us, the better can we support and defend them. We trust our friends will not forget this. Mr, Shortund, — We trust this is the last time we shall have to speak of this gentleman in his official capacity. It nvght be expected now that he is on the eve of being superseded, that we should review the acts of his Government, so as to bring himself and his successor face to face* This, however, is not necessary, and we do not wish to wound Mr. Shortlnnd's feelings, his day is done ; and to speak in the language of a contemporary, we shall only say, requiescat in pace. He has not after all done the mischief to the colony he might have done ; we have always checked him, and if he has not followed our advice in actually doing good, he has frequently at our suggestion, perheps from fear of our censure, refrained from doing much evil, that he might otherwise have been disposed to perpetrate. Mr. Shortland has been after all, more of a king-log than any thing else. Beyond the influence of private prejudice and self-interest, he has never travelled far out of his way. His Government was passively more than actively mischievous. He was placed in a situation for which he was altogether unfitted, he erred as a matter of course. Nature and education disqualified him for any public situation. He wbb placed in an office where good temper, patience, suavity, education, intellect, and disinterestedness were requisites ; and he could not help the faults of nature, and the defects of education. Copper Ore. — Independent of the rich and extensive mines which are at present being worked at the Barrier Island, we have been credibly informed by various persons, that Copper Ore is found abundantly in many other parts of New Zealand. Indications of Copper Ore are to be found in several places on 'he East Coast ; and we have been informed a few days ago, by a gentleman from Kaipara, that he has seen specimens of Ore found in some rocks in that Qistrict, in every respect equal to that from the Bar» r 'er. The mineral treasures of our Islands are valuable and abundant, offering the highest and the most tempting inducements for the outlay of capital, and it is now to be hoped that these treasures will not be allowed to remain much longer hidden. There is . oundance of capital in England waiting to be invested in. any thing likely to give a good return, and we snow of no other country where the capitalist can , secure himself better in that respect, than the Islands « «ew Zealand. Flax, Copper Ore, Coal Mines, manganese, Sulphur, &c, invite him to our shores. Bread.— We are happy to see during the present scarcity of flour, that one of our bakers, Mr. George, "making bread from native wheat, ground with hand- i ™»ls. This bread is, although apparently a little ! «ar«e, in reality much better, and much more wholeb|"ne than that from any foreign flour. We trust *j»e present scarcity will have a salutary effect upon l«el «e colony, and add another to the many reasons why w * should endeavour to render ourselves independent ot foreign supplies. , ,

The Emigrants.— The treatment of the emigrants at the hands of this Government is a subject which has very frequently been brought before the public without any effect whatever ; but we sincerely hope that the new Governor will be somewhat more influenced by humane feelings towards his fcllow»men than the present head of this Government. No class of the people have in reality suffered worse treatment than the poor emigrants. They have been seduced from their native homes with promises and hopes ! which have all been blasted. Upon their arrival in this colony they met with every discouragement from the Government ; no proper provision had been made for them, either as regarded houses or food. The majority of them have been huddled together in miserable native huts in Mechanics' Bay, the most,, if not the only unhealthy part of the town. The consequence of this neglect has been, that several of them have been attacked with disease, and some of them have j died under very distressing circumstances. We cannot conceal that these poor people have experienced much inhumanity. The Government not only placed them in an unhealthy situation, but when taken ill, they denied them even medical attendance. We are aware that the late Colonial Surgeon attended some, while he was in the pay of the Government, but we regret on his own account, to hear it said that he ceased attendance whenever the pay ceased, and but for the humane attention of Dr. Davies, the condition of the emigrants would have been bad indeed. The Government and the Colonial Surgeon left them to their fate. The Government did even worse than this, they prevented the people from procuring the means of regular and gratuitous medical attendance to the poor, by putting every obstacle in the way of establishing a dispensary. The Ensuing Land Sale. — An extensive sale of lands by Government is advertised to take place on the 18th and 19ih instant, chiefly we believe, with the view of affording some of the land claimants an opportunity of exchanging their lands ; of the justice «of this course we have formerly treated. The most of the lands advertised for sale, belong actually to Mr. Fairburn, one of the land claimants ; indeed, we do not know but bis house, in which he has lived for perhaps twenty years, is included. Mr. Fairburn has. publicly protested on a former occasion against the right of Government to seize upon his lauds, and as the case can only be decided at Home, it- is rather a venture on the part of the Government to go on with this sale. We are also given to understand that several parties of natives claim theße lands, and maintain they have not been either sold to Mr. Fairburn or the Government, if this be the case, we should not envy any person who would settle upon them. The Government will doubtless give a grant to any person purchasing ; but if ihe natives have not been paid, the grant will be similar to the New Zealand Company's land orders at Port Nicholson. A grant even from the Crown, is no guarantee of peaceable possession. Mr. Beveridge has a grant from the Crown, but he now holds a part of nia lands upon native sufferance. It may be the same, or worse at Maraeta and the Tamaki. Tauranga Expedition.— lt is currently reported that the Home Government huve intimated to the Officer administering the Government, that he ii personally to bear the expence incurred on this foolibh whale boat expedition. It serves Mr. Shortland right. He himself has never manifested much feeling for the losses and misfortunes of others ; and we dare say, few will regret his own. We would advise Mr. Shortland to get out of the colony as fast as possible. Mr. Boyd is, by a private letter per Tryphena, reported to come to New Zealand per City of Sydney, or Bangalore, doubtless with the remainder of the £15,000: * Akauoa. — It is reported that several of the French settlers at Akaroa are about leaving that place for Tahiti and the Marquesas. This is very likely to be true ; it is natural that they should prefer living with their own countrymen, and under their own laws, to remaining in a country where every obstacle hus been put in their way by the Government. Horton. — This person has been again secured by the Police Magistrates ; the Constables having traced him to Kaipara, from whence he was taken last week. never should have had a chance of getting out of ths way, seeing that his evidence is sa material ill, the trial of EIHb. A Mistake.— The Sheriff has not been (as is repotted) requested to call a public meeting to congratulate the Governor. Tamaki Church. — The foundation of this build» ing is to be laid on the 21st inst,, by his Excellency Mr. Shortland. We hope some of the debentures will be deposited, as being the most remarkable record of the state of the colony. • A copy of Mr. Boyds agreement might also be preserved. Could no other person be found who has done more for advancing morality and religion ? i !- ' Chronicle. — We perceive several Bland articles in the last number of this paper. Has Mr. Shortland no more despatches to send home ? Shortland, Bland. and Moore, are a strange fraternity 1 We fear the organ of self-respect is badly developed in the three. Perhaps Mr. Shortland has some compunction on account of his former treatment of Moore. It is at all events strange, after the affair of the Government Type, that the two should again become such friends Birds of a feather &c. Perhaps the new Governor may yet enquire into the Type Affair, together with the purchase of the Herald. There may be another surcharge. Mr. Bland makes a poor Editor. — {Com?nunicated.) Saw Mill. — It affords us much pleasure to hear that Mr. Brown has succeeded with his saw mill at Mauranghi. We have the other day seen a cargo of timber from this mill, which appeared to be extremely well sawn. We hear also, that Mr. Brereton has established another saw mill at the head of the Weitemata. The two mills are constructed on American principles, and are likely to succeed well. The price of timber is certainly very low at present, but if good Government were once ensured to the colony, build* ings of various descriptions would be immediately commenced, and timber like every thing else, would soon rise in value. Much of the wood ot this country is adapted for the finest furniture. We have seen some specimens at the work shop of Messrs. Lang* ford and Gardiner, which in beauty equal the best mahogany, or the finest rose-wood. County Court sits on Tuesday the 19th instant. Ecclesiastical Intelligence. — We understand that the Rev. Mr. Lawrie is daily expected in the colony, as Superintendant of all the Wesleyan missions in Polynesia. Auckland is now to be made the bead quarters instead of Hobart Town. The Rev. Mr. Warren is aUo to be settled in Auckland. We 'wish the Wesleyans every success.