ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume I, Issue 4, 13 May 1843, Page 3

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Southern Cross. Sin,— The great desire you evince to forward by every means and suggestion in your power, the interests of this colony, renders no apology necessary for troubling you with the following remarks, calculated, as I think they are (if well followed up) to render great service, not only to the European settlers, but also to the Natives. You are well aware ol great obstacles which at present exist in the way of importing shtep and cattle heie from the other colonies, ari.-iDg from the want of grazing ground of sufficient extent, witnin a reasonable distance of Auckland, as the insignificant patches, called smal' j farms, hitherto sold by government, and located upon, \ are utterly inadequate and ust less for such a purpose, and there is no prospect within a reasonable space, of this difficulty being removed ; but, as this affects the j very roots of the industiy and prosperity of the settlement, I have turned my attention to the matter ; and flatter mytelf tbat I hnve discovered a means of obtainI ing not only sufficient pasture grounds of the best dea» , cription, but also an abundant supply of cheap labor to take charge of the stock. My plan is this : — To aria'ige with a native Chief for the ground required, putting the stock under his charge, accompanied, perhaps, w.th a t-ingle European, until the nat yes become fu ly acquainted with the management of the stock.. To any one possessing the Mnalleht personal knowledge of the native, I know it is quite supeifluuus to say, that such stock, put under charge of the natives, would be perfectly secure, and ten times better watched and attei.ded te, than they could or would be, by Europeans, but this explanation is necestary for parties in the colonies, who have no knowledge of the natives, beyond the vague and unsatisfactory, if not contradictory opinions to be found in the printed works on the colony ; but the short space of your valuable paper, will not permit me to enter into any proofs on this subject here, and I must therefore be contented by sating the bare fact, which, as I have already said, will be readily acknowledged by any one having any personal acquaintance with the native ckaiacter. For the trouble which the natives would thus take with the stock, I would suggest, that they should be allowed, as in New South Wales, one third of the increase; and though this would no doubt, be tLemed a very large payment by the natives, yet, I think the owner could well afford it ; and it would make the natives the more careful and desirous to give every possible satisfaction. A regular, legally binding engagem?nt to this effect, might be entered into ; one of the conditions of which, would be to deduct from the natives' share, any loss which might arise through neglect; thpujjh this would njt be at all likely to happen, as the clnels could put a dozen or two of their slaves to look after a single head, if such were required An arrangement of this descrip ion it is obvious, would be of incalculable advantage to the settlers, as independent of the large sums of money for land aud labor which would be saved, the natives are acquainted with every inch of ground, and could at once pui the stock on the best run that could Le obtained. And on the side of the natives, the advantage would be equally great, as it would soon put them in a way of possessing stock themselves, which they are now very eager to obtain. In addition to taking charge of the stock, the natives would a'so cultivate food for them, if required, such as Mangel-worzel, Tmnips, &c, with a very little instruction in the art of raising it. Should this plan be well received by the public, I would suggest that an advertisement should be inserted in the Maori Gazette, requesting information from the Chiefs, whether they would be inclined to take charge of stock in the way proposed ; and an opportunity should be taken to induce them as much as possible, to bring flax into the market for Bale, which would be readily bought up by the merchants ; and thus afford the natives the ready means of procuring the necessaries and luxuries of the white people, which they are fast acquiring a relish for. I remain Sir, Yours, &c, " DELTA." May 10th, 1843. 0 - To the Editor of the Soutliern Cross. Sir, — I have to request the favor of your allowing the following correspondence to appear

in your valuable paper, as well as the com" ments I feel myself bound to make upon it. I am convinced that it is not your wish to offer any factious opposition to the government, but at the same time, I conceive it is your duty as a public journalist to exposo the manner in which the members of the present local government attempt to redress the grievances made to them by tho colonists ; my object in publishing the following letters, is principally to warn the public, so that they may be on their guard in purchasing land at any future government sale, and to enabej them to ask the question, whether the quantities sold to them will bo guaranteed to contain the quantity stated 1 or whether the clause which is now inserted in all their sales viz. : (" more or less") is intended to cover any blunders that arise through their negligence in surveying ? Mr. Cleghorne is, I believe, fourteen acres short, out of his purchase of 103 acres ; and, if this is not to be corrected, I can only say that "more or less" is a capital way of " raising the wind ;" but, in the case which I am now about to relate, the local government have not even the miserable excuse of " more or less," in the lands purchased by me ; as at the first Town Sale, the lots were supposed to be so accurately measured, that an error could not by any possibility occur, and thence the comfortable clause of <'more or less," was not thought requisite. I now beg to inform you, that on the 19th, and 20th April, 1841, I purchased sixteen allotments of town land ; four in the name of Messrs. Want and Andrews, and twelve in the name of Messrs. Lord and Brown, and on the 7th and Bth March, 1842, I purchased seven more town allotments in the name of Messrs. Lord and Brown, for the whole of which I have paid the Colonial Treasurer the sum of £3116 Is. 6d., a sum, far larger than has been laid out by any other individual. Since the day of the first sale, up to the end, of last March, I have been urging the government to deliver over to me the allotments in question, which at last was done, and on the 3rd of last month, I addressed the following letter to the Colonial Secretary, in consequence of having ascertained that there was a large deficiency in the measurement. Auckland, April 3rd, 1843. Sir, — In tha ear'y part of last week, I had handed over to me by the Surveyor General the remainder ef the town allotments which I purchased on the 19th April, 1841, and I have now to report for the information of his Excellency the officer administering the government, that being fully aware that several of the allotments were deficient in quantity, I employed a competent suneyor at ai expense of twelve pounds sterling, to report their contents to me, when I find a deficiency of seventeen perches, for which deficiency, two years ago, the Colonial Treasurer received from me the sum of F>r'y-3ight Pounds sterling, which sum, together with Two years' interest, and expenses of survey, amounting to Sixty -nine pounds twelve shillings, I have to request, may be ordered to be returned to me ; Or, that a re-survey of the allotments may immefliatety take place, and if the deficiences cannot be made up in their proper places, that an equivalent in other townlands equally as va'uaMe, may be granted to me. The defieienccs are in the following allotments : — Section 4, Allot. No. 28, 2 perches, cost 60s. per perch „ 8, „ „ 9&10.5 „ „ 58s. 6d. „ .. 15. „ „ J3, 1 „ „ 225. 1 „ „ „ „ 19, 1 „ „ 19s. „ 17, „ „ 3, 3 „ , 80s. „ „ .. „18&19 5 „ „ 535. 6d. „ I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient. J. J. MONTEFIORE. To the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, &c, &c, &c. The public will perceive from this letter, that I made no unreasonable demand. I asked for no profit — put no cxhorbitant value on the deficiencies, but simply asked for the money out of pocket to be returned, or seventeen perches more ground awarded me — yet, notwithstanding this peaceful and equitable proposal, I received on the 27th ultimo, the following ludicrous letter : — No. 43 I 72. Colonial Secretary's Office, Auckland, April 27, 1843. Sir, — I have received, and laid before the Officer administering the Government, your letter of the-3rd instant, in which you state that you have recently discovered a deficiency of seventeen "perches in ceitain allotments purchased by you at the Government Sale of Town Allotments, of the 19th April, 1841, and request that compensation in lieu thereof maybe granted to you, in some other town land equ illy valuable. Your application having been referred to the Surveyor General ; that officer reports, that in the whole twentythree allotments purchased by you, containing one thousand and seventy-six perches, there is a deficiency of five perches only. Those named by you, and two other allotments. (Nos. 19 and 20 of section 4) wanting in all fourteen perches, while in the remaining thirteen allotments there is an overplus of nine perches. For a dtficiency so inconsiderable Mr. Ishoutland does not consider you entitled to any compensation (! !!) The Report of the Law OfScera of the Crown on this case, has also been called for, and from it his Excellency learns that you are not legally entitled to any consideration (!!!) I am accordingly instructed to inform you, that jour claim cannot be entertained by the government. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, (For the Colonial Secretary) WILLIAM CONNELL. J. J. Montefiore, E?q. F Lower Queen -street, Auckland. In this reply, an admission is made of a series of blunders to the extent of fourteen perches, and is attempted to be corrected by the admission of another lot of gross mistakes, to the extent of nine perches, and I am then

told that in " Mister" Shortlands ! ! ! opinion, I must put up with these Inaccuracies. The Law Officer's report leaves me in doubt whether it is my case or myself that is not legally entitled to any consideration ! ! ! I have since learned that the erudite opinion of the " Law Officers" is, that if a person once accepts the Grants, that he accepts with them all their errors and incongruities ; and that if a surveyor points out the four corners of an allotment, and it contains more than tne Crown Grant specifies, that the very fact of his having pointed out the boundaries, is a sufficient and legal title for his keeping possession of any overplus ! ! ! If this dogma is true, a road is at once opened to undermine the virtue of everj, and any surveyor in the government employment ; because a person Avho is wishing to become a large purchaser, by bribing a surveyor, might induce him to make a false measurement, by which he might give 500 or 1,000 acres ; and although I do not imagine for one moment, that there are any surveyors at present under government, who would be guilty of such a transaction ; yet, the " Law Officers" opinion would put them in a position to be tampered with, and the very promulgation of such an opinion, is to be highly deprecated. I can only further observe, that this exposition of the " Law Officer's" opinion, has been mentioned to me by more than one person, and if denied by them, I will name one of my informants, who ia the iiead of a department, and who mentioned it to me in presence of the next head in his office ; and as the learned gentlemens' opinion also appears to be that any persons' overplus may be placed against a deficiency of another person ; I presume I may be entitled to the large overplus in the allotment of David Rough, Esq., in Official Bay, or of W. Connell, Esq., on the Windsor road, and of all, and every other government officials " overplus" wherever I can find them ; but I should like to know, if an action of intrusion was brought against any person who has built upon an "overplus," whether the boundaries pointed out by a surveyor, will hold good against a solemn and legal document in the shape of a Crown Grant, conveying a specified quantity ? Or whether if I sell a case, said to contain three dozen of wine to " Mister" Shortland, and another, said to contain three dozen also, to the " LawOfficers," and the legal gentlemen find themselves six bottles short, while " Mister" Shortland finds he has six bottles over -. — if the " Law Officers" will put up with " Mister" Shortlands "overplus," or will he resign six bottles for their deficiency ? However, knowing by past experience, the miserable subterfuges that are resorted to by the members of our present government, in evading a direct answer to a simple question, and knowing it would be a waste of time, in attempting to convince them of the meaning" of the words Justice and Equity, I addressed them the following letter, thinking that the first paragraph would have given them a hole to creep out of ; but they could not see the opening made for them :: — • Lower Queen -street, Auckland, April 27, K43. PiR — lam just in receipt of ycur letter of this day, in reply to mine of 3rd instant, and am much surprised, at the ten^r of its contents; the deficience3 in the allotments named by me, I am prepared to prove; and lam yet to learn ! hat an overplus in >illotments yuicbased by me, for Messrs. Want §• Andre its, is to be set against the deficiency ia allotments bou^hc for Messrs Lord 3{ Brown* As I have received no reply relative to the exchange of part of allotments Nos. 19 and 20, of section 4., about which I had an interview with the officer administering the government, in company with the Surveyor-General, I have now to report that there is a deficiency of eight perches in those two allotments. Six, howt-ver, of which appear to have been built upon by some persons, and have not been given over to me with the land. I theietore still claim the seventeen perches mentioned in my previous letter, with an addition of eight more, making Tweatv-five pe'ehes of ground, for which her Majesty's government have received from me the sum of Scvm'yone pounds sterling two years ago. The paragraph of your letter which states i.hat, " Mr. bhortland does not consider you entitled to any compensation," Has perfectly uncalled for, ns I made my application to Her Majesty's representative, and not to " Mr. Shortland," whose consideration in the matter is not at all required. The Law Officers' report in this matter, appears aleo uncalled for, and shews but lit'le for their le^al knowledge, in asserting that her Majesty's government are to sell land to private individuals — receive their money for it — and then refuse to give the quantity sold. Under these circumstances, I have merely to request an early answer to this, when I shall immediately uU such steps as will convince both " Mr. Shortland" and. the Law Officers, who are right in this matter. I have the honor to be, Sk, Your most obedient, J. J. MONTEFIORE. To the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, &c, &c, &c. On the 2nd instant I received the following rejoinder. No. 43 1 71. Colonial Secretary's Office, Auckland, May 2, 1843. Sir. — I am commanded by His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th ultimo, ia reply to mine of that date, on the subject of certain alledged deficiencies in the contents of the allotments purchased by you at the Government Sale of the 1 9th April, )841. Although Mr. Shortland is at all times most anxious to give a patient hearing to the cccaplaints of the coJoaietß, / regret to be compelled to acquaint you, that lht r

disrespectful style of your present v commnnication, pre* eludes bis Excelhncy fiom replying thereto. I have the honor to be. Sir. Your most obedient servant, (For the Colnninl PecreUty) WILLIAM CONNELL. J. J. Monteficre, Esq., I ovrer Queen-street, Auckland. In this rejoinder it will be perceived that the previous admission of fourteen perches deficient, is here artfully called an " alledged deficiency," and that it appears we have a Colonial Secretary in reality, although the honourable gentleman is determined to keep Incoqnitus, as lie plainly tells us he regrets bein'o- commanded by his Excellency— poor, worthy soul ! I really pity him, and any one who is commanded by such a person ; and, although I may give " Mister" Shortland credit for his patient hearing (or rather reading what he could not avoid) I can give him no credit for attempting to redress any complaint; the conclusion is of a piece with the wholo letter ; which is a reply of itself. That the public may be fully aware of the lamentable blunders in the survey of the town, I may mention, that, out of Twenty-three town grants, now in my possession, not only arc there Ten allotments deficient in quantity, but there are Eleven town grants that are actually calculated wrong, which makes a further deficiency of six perches ; as it appears that the common rules of arithmetic are not comprehended, I would venture to recommend (in addition to the advice of the " New Zealand Journal" as mentioned in your last week's paper, of " Murray's Grammar," and Jolm>on's Dictionary") a few copies of " Walker's Arithmetic," and shall have much pleasure in procuring them from Sydney, if I thought their contents would be understood when they got them ; and that they were not stopped at the "Customs" as foreign publications. The errors will be best seen by the following tabular statement :

From this statement it appears that in the allotments in Sections 15, 18, and 21, which were surveyed by Mr. Ligar, there are two f-liort, and three over in quantity ; but, in the 1 6 allotments of the first town sale, the whole of them are wrong, from one fourth of a perch up to roua perclies ; and there are only fiv£ allotments out of them that are calculated correctly. The public will, however, not be surprised perhaps, at these deficiencies, when they are informed, that the practice was to measure up and dovm a perpendicular cliff, and then make an allowance by way of bonus for irregularities, which allowance, was any arbitrary quantity which came in the surveyor's head, and when they remember that the average price of the allotments of the first town, sale, was near six hundred pounds per acre ; they will perceive that a deficiency of only fourteen perches, is an object, and ought to have met with that prompt redress which the conciliatory letter at first written, naturally called for. In however, rejecting an equitable complaint made to them in a spirit of kindness, the local government have added another link to that deep-rooted animosity which pervades every class, against the useless, ignorant and imbecile measures which are daily adopted by them ; and which, if persisted in with that clogged spirit of obstinacy, for a much longer period, will arouse the British Lion at last. I have however, a Court of Law to appeal to, in ppite of the " Law Officers' " opinion ; and in which I shall seek that redress which "Mister" Shortlands patient hearing has denied me, and if foiled there, 1 have still an appeal to Lordj Stanley, with a copy of all their contemptible j documents. Apologizing, Mr. Editor, for the j extreme length which this complaint will oc- j cupy in your intelligent journal. I remain, your well-wisher, J. J. MONTEFIORE. May Bth 1843. We have been kindly favoured with the following interesting article by R. D'Oyley, Esq. The experiments are published at length in the Alfffemeine Deutsche

Garten-Zeitung of Otto and Dietriche, Berlin, they may be of value to our Horticulturists in this quarter. Common Wood Charcoal, by virtue merely of its ordinary chemical affinities, can completely replace vegetable mould, <s proved by the following experiment of] Mr. Edward Lukas. In a division of tbe botanical garden of Munich, a bed was set apart for young tropical plants, but instead of being filled with tan, as is usually the case, it was filled with the powder of charcoal, (a material easily procured), the large pieces of charcoal having been previously separated by a sieve. The heat was conducted by means of a tube of white iron into a hollow space in this bed, and distributed a gentle warmth, such as tan communicates, when in a state of fermentation. The plants, placed in this bed of charcoal, quickly vegetated, and acquired a healthy appearance. Now, as always is the case in such beds, the roots of many of the plants penetrated through the holes at the bottom of the pots, and then spread themselves out ; but these plants evidently surpassed in vigour and general luxuriance plants grown in the common way — per example, in tan. Several of them, of which I shall only specify the beautiful Thunbergia alata, and the genus Peireskise, throve quite astonisingly ; the blossoms of the former were so rich, that all who saw it affirmed, they had never before seen such a specimen. It produced also a number of seeds without any artificial aid, while in most cases it is necessary to apply the pollen by the hand. The Peireskire grew so vigorously, that the P. aculeata produced shoots several yards in length, and the P. grandifolia acquired leaves of a foot in length. These facts, as well as the quick germination of the seeds, which had been scattered spontaneously, and the abundant appearance of young Filices, naturally attracted my attention, and I at as gradually led to a series of experiments, the results of which may not be uninteresting ; for, besides being of practical use in the cultivation of most plants, they demonstrate also several facts of importance to physiology. The first experiment which naturally suggested itself, was, to mix a certain proportion of charcoal with ' the earth in which different plants grew, and to increase its quantity according as the advantage of the method was perceived. An addition of 5 charcoal, for example, to vegetable mould, appeared to answer excellently for the Gesneria and Gloxinia, and also for the tropical Avoided with tuberous roots. The first two soon attracted the attention of connoisseurs, by the great beauty of all their parts, and their general appearance. They surpassed very quickly those cultivated in the common way, both in the thickness of their stem and the dark colour of their leaves ; their blossoms were beautiful, and their vegetation lasted much longer than usual, so much so, that in the middle of November, when other plants of the same kinds were dead, these were quite fresh and partly in bloom. The Aroidese took root very rapidly, and their leaves surpassed much in size the leaves of those not so treated ; the species which are reared as ornamental plants on account of the beautiful coloring of their leaves, (I mean such as the Caladium tricolor, Pictum, Psecile, &c.,) were particularly remarked for the liveliness of their tints ; and it happened here also, that the period of their vegetation was unusually long. A Cactus planted in a mixture of equal parts of charcoal and earth throve progressively, and attained double its former size in the space of a few weeks. The use of the charcoal was very advantageous with several of the Bromcliaceae, and Liliacese, with the Citrus and Begonia also, and even with the Palmso. The same advantage was found in the case of almost all those plants for which sand is used, in order to keep the earth porous, -when charcoal -was mixed with the soil instead of sand, the vegetation was always rendered stronger and more vigorous. At the same time that these experiments were performed with mixtures of charcoal with different soils, the charcoal was also used free from any addition, and in this cape the best results were obtained. Cuts of plants from different genera took root in it well and quickly ; I mention here only the Euphorbia fastuosa and fulgens, which took root in ten days, Pandanus utilis in three months, P. amarillyfolius, Chamsedoria elatior, in four weeks, Piper nigrum, Begonia, &c, in from eight to ten days, and several others, amounting to forty species, including Ilex, and many others. Leaves, and pieces of leaves, and even pedunculi, or petioles, took root, and in part budded, in pxire charcoal. Amongst others we may mention the foliola of several of the Cycadese as having taken root, as also did parts of the leaves of the Begonia, and Jacaranda brasiliensis, leaves of the Euphorbia fastuosa, Oxalis Barrilieri, Ficus, Cyclamen, Polyanthes, Mesembryanthemum ; also the delicate leaves of the Lophospermum and Martynia, pieces of a leaf of the Agave Americana ; tufts of Pinus, &c. ; and all without the aid of a previously formed bud. Pure charcoal acts excellently as a means of curing unhealthy plants. A Dorianthes excel-

sa, for example, which had been drooping for three years, was rendered completely healthy in a very short time, by this means. An orange tree, which had the very common disease in which the loaves become yellow, acquired within four weeks its healthy green color, when the upper surface of the earth was removed from the pot in which it was contained, and a ring of charcoal, of an inch in thickness, strewed in its place, around the periphery of the pot. The same was the case with the Gardenia. The charcoal employed in these experiments was the dust-like powder of charcoal from firs and pines. It was found to have most effect when allowed to lie, during the winter, exposed J to the action of the air." ' The true explanation of these experiments is, that charcoal possesses the power of absorbing carbonic acid and ammonia from the atj mosphcre, which are the chief nourishment of plants.

Sect. „ , . , An a mentioned Allotment. inCrownGraut . Real area describe! in Crown Grant, Actual area by He-survey. A. U. P. A. R, Y. A. B. P. 4 7 8 15 17 18 21 15.1GJ7&18 0 3 29 19&20 0 3 1 28 0 2 5 35 0 1 5 39&40 0 2 ]() 4 0 1 11 9 & 10 0 3 24 13 0 15 19 0 1 5 3 0 1 5 18 & 19 0 2 14 17 0 10 21 0 0 21 23 0 1 3 27 0 0 21 3 0 0 37 0 3 27.75 0 2 36.72 0 2 5 0 1 5.32 0 2 0.71 0 1 11 0 3 24 0 1 5 0 1 5 0 1 5 0 2 13.7G 0 1 1 0 0 2J 0 13 0 0 21 0 0 37 0 3 32 0 2 38.72 0 2 3.84 0 1 5.72 0 2 10.49 0 1 12 0 3 20 0 1 4.44 0 1 4.78 0 1 2 0 2 .10.50 0 1 0.83 0 0 21.50 0 1 3 0 0 21.50 0 0 37