NATIVE MEETINGS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume 3, Issue 107, 10 July 1847, Page 3

NATIVE MEETINGS.

n Dr. Arnold's sophistries would have availed h ci n uch before these kten intellects ; he would have found them men in intellect keener than his own — knoniiijj well their rights, and asserting their readiness to defrnd them to their death. Tticugh rude and uncultivated, In would easily have discerned that they were not a manufactured nobility, but of nature's own handiwork, and pleading wi'h nn earned eloqu nee and force of character, with which. many of the proui aristocracy of England would have but a small cliarce of competition. The great lurden of the address, however, which we heard, was abcu' their lands, evincing evidently, to siy the least of it. gnat suspicion as to the in * tentions of the Queen in regard to it. Though they know well the purport of Earl Grey's dispatch, yet they seem quite incapable of comprehending that there is any real intention of depriving them of their lands ; nor is it likely they will believe so, until some overt act is attempted by us. Their suspicions are now, however, completely arousedj «o that the slightest act on the part of the government regarding their lands, of a character different to wh.it has hitherto existed, will convert these suspicious into certainty, abd we should never be able to persuade them to the contrary. Indeed we much fear that our mon.1 power is already entirely gone. They must now look upon us as a nation of deceivers — for how shall the honest and straight, foiward man now answer them when they put the oft-repeated question, " Does the Queen intend taking our lands ?" Shill we lie ourselves, or tlull we make the crown the deceiver ? £uch is the dilemma the colonists are now in, and each one is endeavouring to extricate himstlf from it in his own way. Some of an easy conscience are contriving to perouade them that their lands are not to be taken, while o.hers are telling them a very different tale, so that betwixt these contradictory statements the natives may well be excused for entertaining the worst suspicions, and for forming but very indifferent opinions of our honesty ana good intentions towards them. We perceive by late Sydney papers that Mr. Ayrd, the appointed Lieut.-Governor for New Zealand, had arrived in the Glcntannar from London, at that place, on the 18th June ; that the naval force for New Zealand was to be increased by two line of battle ships ; one of which, the Malabar, 78, was to sail in March, having the first division of the veteran batallion on board ; Major General Pitt was also to proceed by the same vessel. Public Nuisances.— =We can not say that we direct the public attention and that of the government to the extraordinary nuisance at the top of Shortland-jtreet, created by the digging out of the foundation of an allotment, the removed earth being accumulated into a mound of eight or ten feet high, and thrown upon the public street, one half of which is already swallowed up, and the other half threatens to be so very speedily, unless the earth be immediately removed. We aay that we do not require to direct attention to this nuisance, because every individual in town feels it to his inconvenience several times a day, and it passes our comprehension how the government should for one moment have per* mitled such a nuisance. We say advisedly, permitted, because we feel certain that no private indivi* dual would have the boldness to take such a liberty with public property and convenience, unless he had been so far permitted by the government to do so. We do not even know to whom the property belongs, nor who the individual in the government can be who mnst have licensed the abuse complained! of. Neither do we care. We feel very sure thatsueh liberty with the public streets ought not to have been taken, and the sooner, it is put a stop to the better. It may be a favor granted to some worthy individual, but it is at the public expense, and what is granted to one, ought not to be refused to another, and if such were generally done, we need not say that the Btreet would soon be entirely obstructed ; as it is, a few more rainy days will make it impassable. We perceive that the Constabulary Force ordinance gives power to constables to "suppress alt public nuisances," and beg to direct their attention accordingly. They will be much better occupied in doing so, than by amusing themselves with the entrapping of unsuspecting publicans into giving them spirits, »nd then informing against them for the sake of the fines, in which we suppose they run shares with the government. — By the way we do not think it legal to give the constables a share under such circumstances, although the ordinance gives such a power to the authorities, it is quite inconsistent with the well known marim of English law, which says that "no man shall be allowed to profit by his own infamy;" and that such a strong expression is not undeserved, we think will be pretty evident when we state, that on a recent conviction of a publican under the circumstances we allude to, the magistrate remarked, that " it is too bad to turn Queen's evidence after these people treating you," and told the Serjeant to •' see that you report that fellow." But mark, lie still imposed the penalty !! The «' Castor." — The departure of this noble looking vessel has already been announced ; nevertheless we cannot refrain from adding, to what has already appeared in our contemporary, a few valedictory sentences of our own. The urbanity and good humour of Captain Graham and his officers, and the uniform good conduct of the crew, have much endeared them to the colonists ; and these good qualities alone, even if they were not coupled with the remembrance of their gallant services in our behalf, would be amply sufficient to make their departure a matter of regret. Selfishness, however, which perhaps would lead us to detain them here if we could, must give way to the sympathy we feel in those pleasurable emotions which a return to Old England must have awakened. May their joyous anticipations be realized, and a speedy and happy meeting with their friends at home, compensate them for the toils and privations of their sojourn here. God speed the Castor. . The Steamer " Juno." — This »plendid frigate built steamer came to anchor on the morning of Wednesday the 7th inst., at £ past 10 o'clock, having left Sydney on the evening of Monday the 14th ult. Her voyage was unfortunately prolonged by a strong north-east gale ; on the evening of the 23rd the gale subsided, and veering to the westward, caused cross. sea, which war the means of her losing her rudder. In this dilemma the vessel proved herself an excellent sea-boat. Notwithstanding the severity of the gale, she landed three. fourths of her Cattle and Sheep, aud all her Horses.

Sixes the arrival of the Inflexible with the native chiefs Waka Nc-ne, Te Whero«wbcro, R*u ( >araha, and others, great numbers of their friends have visited them, and the occasion has been Improved for following out the native custom of meeting and speechifying upon the various matters of interest to them in the present most important state of their connections with u r . We visited one of these'meetings a few days ago. in front of Te Whero-whero Lodge in the govern- J ment domain, but there were only a small number present, not above 40 persons in all. We observed Te Whero-whero, E Kati, Whanaroa, Jabez Bunt- j ing, along with many stranger chiefs, whom we do ! not n Collect to have previously seen — with Raupa* raha occupying a prominent place, in the midst of them. We had only time to listen to one of the speakers, (Whanaroa,) a fine athletic fellow, apparently about 40 year* of age. He possesses a large head, and spoke with great fluency and animation. We regretted extremely our inability to follow his discourse, and were only able to catch a few of the leading ideas. The commencement of his address seemed entirely complimentary to Rauparalia, aud apparently congratulating him on his recent escape from captivity. The old savage seemed soothed and gratified, and smiled on the speaker as sweetly aB a lamb. His expression is an extraordinary compound of softness, duplicity, and intensity, with a lurking ferocity around the compressed lip, ill disguised even in his sweetest smiles. We could not help looking upon the meelin/j, and upon his savage high&ess in particular, without great interest, and not without a certain amount of awe, for we could not forget the fatal tragedy in which he had bo recently played chief actor. It appeared a strange sight to see that noted individual in the heart of our community. We questioned ourselves where he had come from, and what good purpose his presence could be expected to produce at this end cf the island. To us he appeared but too like c fire-brand ready to ignite a heap of combustibles. Passing, however, from him for a moment, our thoughts took another direction, and we seriously questioned oui selves whether we lived in the olden time under the inquisition of Spain, or were really under the British government in New Zealand in the nineteenth century, for we could not resist the fact of a man sitting comfortably befo-e ub who had recently been a prisoner of the crown for months— who had been taken, the community never very well knew why ; now he seemed liberated in the same silent, secret manner — all doubtless for good reasons — but the public would like to know them ; they have a dread of secrecy — it is alwayB allied to weakness, and never far removed from injustice and oppression. While attentively contemplating the meeting, our only wish was to have seen Earl Grey, Charles Buller, and a few more of the directors of the New Zealand Company in ths midst of them. We should have liked to have heard the hon. member j for Liskeard repeat before that small audience his celebrated speech delivered before the House of Commons. It would h-ive saved New Zealand a vast amount of woe could Earl Grey, instead of sending us hi3 instructions, himself have paid us a visit — could he only have been fifteen minutes in that small assembly — how soon would he have altered his views as to the intelligence, the moral and physical power of these aborigines — neither his own