Correspondence.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XI, Issue 690, 7 February 1854, Page 3

Correspondence.

To the Editor of the Southern Cross. Sir,— l have just been favoured ■with a sight of the debate in Council, as stated in your paper of the 27th ultimo, upon the expediency of a Vote of "Thanks to Governor Grey." It is not my intention to offer a remark respecting that question, but upon the charge brought by Mr. Williamson against Mr. Busby and the Missionaries, on that occasion, "that -when there -was a British Resident in authority, that official, in concert with the Missionaries, did all that was possible to impede colonization, and prevent New Zealand from becoming a British possession." The above was a wanton attack, and made after a member had received a rebuke from the Speaker for liis improper language towards Mr. Busby, as a member of Coxincil. Mr. Williamson fared better, not being called to order, when he brought forward the Missionaries with Mr. Busby, upon a matter of which he could have no personal knowledge, not having been in the country -when Mr. Busby was British Resident. I ask, what connexion was therebetween "the British Resident and the Missionaries," an! the question before the Council? I do not notice this remark as coming from Mr. Williamson, but as said in Council. No case however was produced by Mr. Williamson in support of his allegation for the best of reasons, he had no case to produce ; the charge therefore was absurd, petulant, and mischievous. The late British Resident speaks for himself, but the Missionaries stand in the position of a lady, who, when insulted, can merely notice it with a bow, and pass on.. The assistance rendered by " the British Resident and the Missionaries," on all occasions, long prior to the formation of the Colony, and their support given to Her Majesty's Government on the arrival of Governor Hobson, and during the late war in the North, has been too thoroughly ingrafted on the history of New Zealand to be shaken. The British Resident and the Missionaries did no. , as Mr. Williamson asserts, impede colonization, but by their moral influence secured colonization. I challenge Mr. Williamson, if disposed, to the test of my assertion. I have &c. ■* An Old Resident.