PUBLIC MEETING.

A requisition having been made to the Sheriff to call the inhabitants together, for the purpose of impressing on the Government the necessity of taking such steps as might be deemed expedient for the better protection of life and property in this settlement, a public meeting was held in the Court House, at one o'clock yesterday. A. M. M'Donald, Esq., sheriff, on taking the chair, stated that he considered the meeting a very proper one, and that it was highly necessary that prompt measures should be taken to show the natives that such an outrage as the late lamentable one could not be passed over unpunished ; and the absolute necessity of having but one law for the two races. The following resolutions were then submitted :—: — 1. Moved by Mr. James Tytler, seconded by Mr. Sinclair, That we, the inhabitants of Nelson, have heard with feelings of the deepest grief and horror of the murder at the Wairoo of many of our friends and fellow settlers, in the execution of their duty as magistrates and Englishmen. Deprived of the counsel and protection of the Government Representative and of our most experienced magistrates, in the emergency of the case we confidently appeal to the Government to afford us that prompt and efficient aid which is alike necessary to bring the criminals to justice, to prevent the recurrence of similar catastrophes, and to enforce respect and obedience to the laws, as well from the native as the European population of the colony. 2. Moved by Mr. Poynter, seconded by Mr. Domett, That the irreparable calamity which has befallen our settlement has arisen from the ineffectual attempt of the Government Representative and local magistracy to assist and maintain the authority of the law. But we cannot avoid expressing our conviction that this violation of the law would never have occurred had the investigation and adjustment of the land claims been prosecuted with that earnestness and activity which this question demanded, and that, until the settlement thereof no security can be felt for life and property. 3. Moved by Mr. Macshane, seconded by Mr. Greathead, That a memorial be forwarded to the Home Government, setting forth the present exposed and defenceless position of the European population of this settlement; and earnestly praying for that protection to which, as loyal British subjects, we are entitled, and which, in the opinion of this meeting, can be 'afforded by an efficient military or naval force only. 4. Moved by Mr. Elliott, seconded by Mr. Hildreth, That the following gentlemen be requested to draw up a memorial in accordance with the previous resolution — Messrs. Tuckett, Domett, Jollie, Duppa, and Elliott, with power to add to their number. 5. Moved by Mr. Otterson, seconded by Mr. Jollie, That the sheriff be requested to forward to the Colonial Government the resolutions and proceedings of this meeting. A vote of thanks was then moved to the Chairman, and the meeting broke up. [We regret our inability from want of time to notice the speeches, but the greatest unanimity prevailed.]

A sad accident occurred on Thursday night, at the western mouth of the Waimea. A boat belonging to a Maltese named Polo Portello was returning from Massacre Bay, and there being a heavy sea and the night dark, sought refuge within the bar, on crossing which the boat was swamped. Portello, with a man named Pelham, escaped; but Morgan, his wife, and daughter, who were also in the boat, were drowned. The bodies had not been found when this intelligence left the spot.

A Hint to Etymologists. — Doctor S. was one day questioning a young Etonian as to his studies at school, and happened, among other things, to put some question to him relative to Antiuto. Not relishing this kind of extra-official examination, the boy determined to cut it short, by queering the querist. Having paused therefore for a moment, he owned that he knew nothing of Antium, but the derivation of the name ! " And pray " asked the doctor, " what may that be ?" — "It comes from Humbug, sir," responded the youth. The doctor stared in the greatest amaze, as veil he might, for of all the extraordinary etymologies upon record, he never met wrth so singular a one as this. " Did you not know that before, sir ?" cried young Hopeful, quite proud at the idea of having posed the doctor. "Itis as plain as can be, and the pedigree runs thus : Humbug, Anti-Humbug, Anti-Hum Antium J" —Leigh Hunt's Tatler. There is no surer mark of the absence of the highest moral and intellectual qualities than a cold reception of excellence. — Bailey. Books the Confehubrs of Immortality. — The men by whom literature was chiefly encouraged and protected in the age of Augustus, were all of them rich and powerful — consuls, statesmen, and warriors, — yet now they ore only known to us, or at least are only objects of interest, as the persons from whom Virgil obtained the restoration of a few acres of land, of which he had been unjustly deprived, and to whom Horace fled destitute and trembling, from the field of Philippi. — Jhtnhp's History of Roman Literature.