THE PENSIONERS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume 3, Issue 121, 16 October 1847, Page 2

THE PENSIONERS.

If we were disposed to be severe, we might with propriety say some hard things respecting the vaccillation of purpose that has marked the conduct of the Government in reference to the location of the Pensioners. There is certainly something unaccountably strange in the sudden determination of a point which has been the subject of a doubt and indecision during ten long weeks. There is just as much, and no more land now in the vicinity of the capital, then there was when the first draft of Fencibles arrived, ten weeks ago, and yet these men have been kept, up to the eleventh hour, in a state of anxious uncertainty as to the

whereabouts of their future homes. Mahurangi was at one time to be the spot, but the ineligible character of this place was so obvious, that the idea of placing Captain Kenny and his men there, was speedily abandoned. And well it was so, for Mahurangi would have proved but a grave to the pensioners, in so far as their own personal comforts, and their utility to the colony generally are concerned : indeed, this fact has been so universally acknowledged that it was common, when speaking of Mahurangi as the home of tho pensioners, to designate it by the fitting cognomen of Kill-Kenny. Mahurangi, Wangarei, and the Bay of Islands, having all been successively visited by his Excellency, it was predicted as a matter of certainty that the last mentioned place was destined to be tho future home of the pensioners. The Surveyor-General was sent off to select a site, when lo ! a change came o'er the spirit of the dream. The Minerva and the Sir Mobert Sole arrived in Port, with more pensioners, and then, as though the additional number of men to be provided for made the selection of homes for them near Auckland a much easier task than it was for a few — the Sur-veyor-General — despatched on Sunday to select and purchase the land at the Bay of Islands — is recalled on Monday, by sending off the Government Brig in chase of him, and Onehunga is now declared to bo the proper place. It was first selected by i Captain Kenny, and the determination ought to have been adhered to. It required | no great amount of judgment to discover the pre-eminent advantages of Onehunga and its neighbourhood. Major General Pitt, the Commander-in-t Chief, may have accelerated this final deci- | sion, as it is certain that he, if applied to for advice, would discountenance the idea of sending the men away to distant districts, where the objects for which they were landed in the colony would be entirely defeated. Major General Pitt, would have no latent bias to warp his judgment, and we think that the pensioners, as well as the settlers may be truly thankful for his opportune arrival. When we picture to ourselves the disappointment, loss, and even danger, to which the pensioners would have been exposed, if either of the three rejected sites had been fixed upon ; we may heartily congratulate them that the Government has at length determined to place them where they may improve their own circumstances, and benefit the colony at large. If they had gone to the north; it is probable that disturbances would have ensued, with the natives ; and then, instead of being capable of aiding in affording us protection, they would have stood in need of succour themselves. Indeed Heki had positively stated that he would oppose their making a settlement at the Waitangi side of the ' Bay cf Islands, where it was proposed to send them, and we havo even heard parties immediately interested in that locality, express the most seriousapprehensions for the consequences, should the pensioners be sent there as proposed. But had all apprehensions and difficulties on the part of the natives been removed, we do not hesitate to say that the expedition would have been an utter failure, in so far as the pensioners are wholly unfitted to form a settlement for themselves in the bush. They want experience and physical energy, and can only hope to succeed near to some thriving settlement, where their labour is wanted, and where every assistance will be afforded to them. And should this first expedition fail, besides the vast amount of misery that would fall on the individuals themselves, it would prevent the home government from attempting the formation of future settlements of a similar description, while they are prepared to carry out the system to a large extent, if the present experiment should prove successful. But, although the settlement oi this long pending question is now happily effected, we cannot help deploring the indecision — if such a term is sufficiently characteristic of the real motive of the procrastinating policy that has been pursued — that has caused so great a loss of time, and given such uneasiness to those most nearly concerned. Time, moreover, is not the only valuable article that has been lost, timber, which in this instance is as valuable as time, has also been lost. The contractors, weary of these shillyshally proceedings,have shipped off large quantities to the neighbouring colonies that might have been appropriated to the building of the pensioners' houses. We will not charge the government with intentional neglect and delay, nor openly express the rumours that have been current respecting the motives which prompted such strenuous efforts to secure a site for the pensioners anywhere but in the immediate vicinity of Auckland, but a heavy culpability rests somewhere, and

I though "better late than never" is a pro7er h°applicable to the adoption of a wise Jroceeding, yet it offers no excuse for its iot having been adopted at the first. Commander op the Forces. — Major general Pitt, K.H., made his public landn if on Saturday last, under a salute from he battery at Brittomart Point, and was eceived by a guard of honor from the | grenadier and Light Company under the ommand of Captain Nugent. On landing ie was received by Lieutenant Colonel Wynyard, Lieut. Colonel Bolton, R. E., Major Marlow, R. E., and several other officers. Colonel Wynyard's carriage was a waiting, which conveyed him to government house, where he was received by the Governor, the Members of the Legislative Council, and the Senior Magistrates. The Reports of Council proceedings preserved from week to week, have so so accumulated upon our hands, that we are compelled to give only an abstract of each day's proceedings, in order to bring up the arrears. We hear it rumoured that it is in contemplation to get up a public address to General Pitt, expressing the thanks of the community to the gallant General for establishing the pensioners in this neighbourhood. But however well we think such an address deserved, we think it would for many reasons be in bad taste on the present occasion ; nor do we feel sure that it could with propriety be accepted. We doubt not, however, that a fitting opportunity may soon occur for the people testifying iiieir respect and good wishes towards the General, without being open to any charge of impropriety, as on the present occasion. We understand that since Wednesday morning the Engineer department have been busily occupied at Onehunga, in erecting temporary buildings for the pensioners, and have already got sufficient accommodation prepared for 100 men, and before the end of another week, the whole of them will be similarly provided for. This expedition shows the capabilities of the place in proper hands, and shows that if no time had been lost after the first arrival, a great portion of the permanent buildings might ere this time have been erected. Better late than never, however, and we should now rejoice that matters are so far comfortably arranged to the satisfaction of the pensioners themselves, as well as to that of the community.