TARANAKI.

Press, Volume VII, Issue 684, 7 January 1865, Page 4

TARANAKI.

SEPARATION. The Taranaki people are not at all inclined to join with Auckland in placing the North entirely under the dominion of the Colonial office. In an article on the public meeting in Auckland the Taranaki Herald remarks:— On what grounds are we to account for the strange difference which a few days wrought in the public opinion of Auckland ? In no other part of the colony was Sir George Grey more uncompromisingly or more pertinaciously assailed; he was openly and persistently charged not only with gross incapacity, but with absolute indifference to the welfare of the colony, if not with actual malevolence; all the evils the country is suffering from were laid to his charge, and nothing better was' to be hoped for while he was here. This continued until a few days after the Assembly met, when the storm of abuse was checked, and then suddenly subsided, or rather was turned into quite another direction. There was no longer any talk of getting rid of his Excellency by a process to which a certain Australian Gover-! nor had been subjected; but, on the contrary, it was announced by the leaders of public opinion in Auckland, that the i only means of saving the colonyj from destruction was by giving up the entire control of this island to that power which is represented by Sir George Grey—that is, the people were told they must ask to have despotic powers given to the man concerning whom, a few days before no words had been sufficiently strong to express the popular distrust and contempt. It might have been thought that Mr. "Whitafcer and Mr. Bussell would not have had a very high opinion of Sir George Grey'B qualifications as a ruler, or of his desire to promote the welfare of the colony. Up to the time of their leaving office, they had expressed very great doubts on these Sints in language that was not at all ttbtful, and yet they at once put themselves at the head of a movement which, if it had any effect whatever, was to give the Governor ten times more power than that which according to them he had previously so grossly abused. A month ago Sir George Grey was to be sent away or denuded of all power because he was an enemy of the colony; now he is to be retained with despotic powers because Auckland may thus obtain what it holds far dearer than the welfare of New Zealand. The Auckland meeting, as we have said, Tmim been called a finger-post in our colonial history, but we do not think it points in the direction in which Taranaki people will like to travel, and it is therefore desirable that they should set up a finger-post of their own ; not that there is much fear of their losing their way without it, but to show the English Government tljat they: have no wish to travel the Auckland road—that there is | a part of this Northern Island which is not willing to give up the right and duty of governing itself—nor afraid of undertaking the burden of its own defence. The question ' is a practical one. Should we be better off than we are now. if—the constitution being suspended—Sir George Grey had absolute and undivided power given }mr\ to deal with the Native question after his own peculiar fashion ? Or would our disposable revenue be much increased if his Excellency first took out of it what be wanted for 'Native purposes ? ' Or would the condition of this province be improved in any respect if it were made an Cpt-eettlement of Auckland? The Colonial Office is a noble and beneficent institution; Us representatives in this colony nave been Xemaxkable men in their ways, and have done . many remarkable things; The Auckland Provincial Council and City Board are also in tbeir way worthy .of note.; but jM Wβ' would rather see the affjars J&J&&, mt*jf colony of the North lelattd, or of Taraoaki,, left in the hands of tile^Geaetal^ Assembly of NewZe4iland, Ilave* «qn jntJThjetencal by |be of loan* the sealed vjfpvewuneht ; itlfciiaald be deafly shew* that they are speaking and acting f& Awnsehco aJoae, : arid not for any atf«jM& of % colony. . TARAFAKI HARBOR. .- ATpropoeal has been made for the formation of a harbor at Taranaki, and Mr. Doyne hasbeen requested to report upon it in conjunction with 3>fr. Balfour, the Marine Engineer of Otago. The Herald of the 24th nit. says? — Wβ are very glad indeed to see that the liarbjor Quesjfciou has been revived. His Honor the Superintendent on bis return from' Auckland was fortunately enabled to bring with him Mr. Doyne, an engineer, who, though he has not, we believe, paid special attention to marine" works, has had a large engineering experience in this and the neighboring colonies and in During die war with Bussia in 1854, he was appointed to take charge' of the Army WofkvCorpe Jn the Crimea on the rccommend&tion of the Institute of Civil JSagmeers; he lias since been concerned in extensive works in Tasmania and Melbourne; be bud out, we believe, the Dun Mountain Ktift, and is at present acting as consultingengineer for the railways north and south ot Canterbury. His opinion, therefore, will be that of a practical T««*, and as he will report in con-

junction with Mr. Balfour, the Marine Engineer of Otago, who was some time since asked to visit thie place, we are likely to have an opinion that may he acted on with safety and success. On Tuesday last Mr. Doyne, in company with the Superintendent, the Collector of Customs, the Harbour Master, and others interested in the matter, went down in one of the boats and inspected the Sug^r-loaves, taking soundings, Ac., and examining the quality of the stone, which is pronounced to be very good. Mr. Doyne is, we hear, favorably impressed with the natural facilities offered for making an excellent harbour among, or rather on this side of, the Sugarloaves. It would of course he premature to enter into any details at present even if we were in a position to do so. The general plan, however, of the proposed harbor is to connect Moturoa (the pointed Sugar-loaf) with the shore by a sea-wall and cause-way, the water there being not quite three fathoms deep at low water, and then to run out another wall for 800 or 900 yards in an easterly direction, but curving a very little perhaps towards the shore; the latter wall would have to be built in six fathom water. This, when done, would enclose, it is estimated, about 60 acres of still water varying in its main depth from three to five fathoms at low water, but by carrying the easterly wall out a little farther six fathoms could be got if necessary. Mr. Doyne will no doubt be able to form a sufficiently near estimate of the probable cost, and ii as we believe will be the case, the sum required to carry out the work will not be so large as to preclude the possibility of our being able in some way to raise it, the next question to be considered will be that of ways and means. This will be best discussed hereafter, when the amount required is known, but we may point out that it is a work in which the colony generally has an interest, not only commercially as supplying the only harbor of refuge on this coast, but politically, as tending to strengthen immensely what has always been the weakest part of the colony in its relations with the Maori race. * "We think therefore there will be fair grounds for appealing to the General Government or General Assembly for help to the extent of guaranteeing a loan, and perhaps advancing the interest until the work is completed ; after that there can be no doubt that the province will be able to take the whole burden on itself. In October last, Mr. Chilman estimated the actual yearly loss to the province from the want of a harbour at £15,000, a sum which if raised as harbour dues instead of being thrown away, would pay eight per cent, on (in round numbers) £200,000. But this was calculated on our present trade, which we apprehend would not be a very large part of the trade we should have if there was plenty of land in the market, and a harbour at the Sugar Loaves. Auckland ob New Zealand ?—As we have said elsewhere, we have received only two or three Auckland papers since the 17th instant, but there appear to be many notices of ship loads of immigrants arriving and to arrive. "We would call the attention of the Government to the fact that there is a large extent of fertile country on the outskirts of this settlement which would bear peopling as well, and yield as good a return, and be occupied with as much benefit politically as a great deal of the laud in Waikato. Mr. Whitaker's Ministry we are aware sent for these immigrants for settlement in Auckland alone under the impression that that province was co-extensive with New Zealand. The late session, however, proved that this was a mistake, and as Auckland has not deserved better than the other provinces of Mr. "Weld and his friends (unless indeed they are susceptible to flattery), we hope they will not forget Taranaki and Wanganui in the distribution of these settlers. — tterald Dec. 31. Militia. Pabade.—lt will be observed that a general parade of all men in the Militia and Volunteers has been called for Saturday next. It is certainly necessary, in order to see that the arms and accoutrements are kept in decent order, that an occasional parade should be held, and as the men will receive a day's pay for it (which stands in about the same proportion to a day's wages as the time occupied by the parade does to a day's work) they cannot justly grumble. The great majority no $oubt will be willing to do their duty as ths!yhave always done it hitherto, but at thialast muster "there were several defaulters 'were under the impression, we believe; they had been struck ofFpayandrations could" not be compelled to attend. This is a great mistake; they are legally just as much hound to obey the orders they receive as if they were on pay, and though we are sure Colonel Lepper is willing to do as he has done all he can to meet the convenience of the men, his orders leave him no choice but to proceed against any who are wilfully absent without leave. — Ibid. Boating Department. — An important experiment is to be begun next week in the working of this department. The boating] is no longer to be a Government work but is i to be carried on by the boatmen, who have formed themselves into a company for the purpose. They are to receive two-thirds of the gross proceeds, and the Provincial Government will receive one-third for supplying the boats, and gear, &c. Duncan Cameron, who has proved himself to be a good seaman and an excellent coxswain, is we hearto superintend the working of the boats, and we have no doubt the men have made a good choice in - selecting him. Capt. Gibson remains Harbor Master as before, and Mr Pitt clerk. Mr. John Black will be the boatmen's clerk.— lbid. Death of Mrs. Patterson.—We are extremely sorry to have to record the death of Mrs. Patterson, who died on Sunday last of typhus fever. She was the widow of Mr. George, Patterson, who was barbarously killed and mutilated by the Taranaki Natives in February last while riding out to his farm. Bfis widow sever got over the shocking

manner of Wβ death; it appears to have been constantly in her mind, and no doubt made her more susceptible to disease. Sis little children are thus left orphans, but fortunately they are not destitute, and more particularly still they have been taken charge of by some good Samaritans who, if any, can well supply the place of parents to them. — Ibid. JN^TrvE.—We are informed that Natives were heard on Thursday by McGuinness's party in the bush between Sentry Hill and Manutahi, and that a party from the redoubt under Captain Morrison discovered that an ambuscade had been laid in the centre of the bush the men are felling. The skeleton of a Maori —a tall man —was found yesterday, no doubt one wounded at Sentry Hill. His knees were drawn up to his chin ; there was no gun, but in the pockets of his corduroy trousers there was found several caps and gun flints. — Ibid.