OTAGO.

Lyttelton Times, Volume I, Issue 45, 15 November 1851, Page 6

OTAGO.

We described in our last number the general nature of the political transactions in this settlement during the last five or six months. The following is a more detailed summary of them. We have already published the resolutions passed at a public meeting in Dunedin on the 13th of May, condemning the principle of Nomiueeism, and begging^Mr. Valpy not to sanction it by his attendance at the Council. In accordance with those resolutions, a deputation, consisting of Messrs. J. Macandrew, J.P., J. Healey, T. Bain, W. Stevenson, J. Hyde Harris, W. H. Cutten, and D. J. Napier, waked on Mr. Valpy, the nominee of Sir G. Grey, and handed him a copy of them. Mr. Valpy requested to be allowed to make a written reply, which appears iv the Otac/o Witness of June 7. In that letter Mr. Valpy expresses the utmost confidence in Sir G-. Grey's honest intention to enact in the Legislative' Council all kinds of measures of the greatest possible interest and importance to New Zealand, and urges upon the members of the deputation the expediency of their opinions being put forth in the Council by " their magistrate." Mr. Valpy then quotes the Wellington Spectator and Cook's Straits Guardian (the well-known organ of the Local Government) in support of "the opinion that His Excellency has done a great deal, and promises to do a great deal more, for the benefit of New Zealand. The whole letter is a fulsome panegyric of Sir George Grey, with repeated reeoininendations to yield implicit submission to His Excellency's views. A long correspondence ensued between the deputation and the nominee, and also between the latter and Capt. Cargill, the founder of the colony and agent of

the Otago Association. The conclusion to be derived from the letters is, that Mr. Valpy, after joining in the Otago scheme with a full knowledge of its characteristic principles, has united himself with a party whose aim is to destroy the "class" nature of the settlement, and to oppose the wish of its founders to enjoy free institutions for local self-government, as promised to them by the Home Government before they sailed in the end of 1547. Another strong partizan of the Governor's side appears to be Mr. Williams, Coroner and expectant Colonial Surgeon, who enters into a long and angry correspondence with Captain Cargill; and Mr. James Macandrew, J. P., writes sensibly in support of the principles on which the settlement was founded, and the right of .the colonists to enjoy real institutions for local self-government. We cannot avoid quoting one puerile argument advanced by Mr. Valpy. " The request contained in your last resolution, in which you endeavour to hinder a magistrate in the exercise of his duty, and obstruct the measures of the Go'ernor, who, in accordance with the laws, called a Council, whether, gentlemeu, you are aware of it or not, was to do no less than to resist an established law of the land."

The political differences have, apparently, so pervaded the community, that two institutions of a promising nature, the Dunedin Mechanics' Institution, and the Otago Settlers' Association, have begun their existence by more or less political battles.

The Resident Magistrate, Mr. Strode, withdraws the subscription which he had promised to the Mechanics' Institution, alleging as his reason that " notwithstanding the assurance of the Secretary to the contrary, it has still every appearance of being a political party affair;" and that he is "" the more confirmed in this opinion from the marked exclusion of the names of several gentlemen who hold different opinions from many of those who appear as Patrons and Office-Bearers of the Institute." But the Secretary, an intelligent mechanic, named William Langlands, points out in reply, that, on the contrary, he will find in the list of Patrons and on the Committee, those who ranged on different sides in the last political question that agitated the settlement, and some who cannot be said to take any political side at all." Admitting, however, "a preponderance of those opposed in political affairs to the smaller party in the place," to which he presumes that the gentlemen belong- to whom Mr. Strode alludes, the Secretary adds that " this is just what might have been expected ; for when the mechanics, who originated the Institution, looked about them for assistance, they of course found the larger number from the largest party." He concludes thus : "In the aspect of political individuality, by no means warrantable, but which you are pleased to take, you will find the Board to exhibit a very fair index of the two antagonist political parties in the place. This circumstance, quite accidental, just shews that no regard whatever was had to the political sentiments of those individuals, majority or minority arising- solely from the cause above assigned. I hope you may see the impropriety of bringing such groundless accusations against an Association, the objects of which are solely public good, and the diffusion of general knowledge." The Committee in a similar way corresponds with Mr. Sidney Stephen, the Judge, and with Mr. Valpy ; the one refusing to give an openinglecture, the other withdrawing his name from the Society, (but offering a " donation "of £10) on account of the alleged political character of the movement: but the Committee express polite regret for the Judge's refusal, and Mr. Valpy's erroneous opinion of them, respectfully return the latter's donation, and set both gentlemen right as to the objects of the Institution, in clear,_manly,but temperate language. And the Institution appears to have every prospect of flourishing, even without the support of the three gentlemen mentioned.

In a similar way, Mr. Valpy accuses the paper of having refused some letter of his gratis, and offers his ten shares in it (there bein«- forty in all,) for sale. But several numbers &of the paper had been filled with letters, a large portion of which were Mr. Valpy's; and the Editor had only given a general refusal to insert any more except as advertisements. The shares were bought at par, and the Otago Witness, so far from suffering, becomes a zoeekly, instead of a fortnightly paper, two months afterwards.

The objects and business of the Otago Settlers' Association, according to its Prospectus are " from time to time to consider and discuss

such subjects ofloeal interest as shall be deemed of importance to the colony, and to watch over the disposal of the emigration, civil, ecclesiastiastical, and educational funds placed in the hands of Trustees for the benefit of purchasers and settlers, and otherwise to protect their civil and religious rights." All persons qualified to serve as Jurors are eligible to become members of the society, by subscribing 2s. Gd. annually • monthly meetings are held for the despatch «f business. '

Mr. Williams, already mentioned, appears to have been an active originator of the society, and to have been named the first chairman. The subjects considered at the first meeting ci^ the 2nd of July were :—lst, the accounts of the Church Trustees ; 2nd, the state of the roads ; 3rd, a proposed petition to his Excellency for reduction of expenditure in the Police and Judicial establishments to the amount of £1,155 per annum, and for such a modification of the Provincial Councils' Bill as the colonists had suggested to Sir G. Giey in December last, when he submitted that measure to them. About 70.0ut of 80 members were present. The first and third questions excited warm discussion, but eventually the accounts were pronounced satisfactory, and the petition adopted, by " oveiv whelming" majorities, the chairman speaking in both cases on the side of the minority. In the paper of the 2nd August, Mr. Williams communicates his intention of resigning the office of Chairman, " because I consider," he writes, " many measures they are adopting will be injurious to the settlement; and, as chairman, I have to sign my name to two documents of which I do not approve." On the 4th, the society resolved "that the proceeding of the chairman in adding his remarks to the letter adopted by this society, is inconsistent with the duty of a chairman." Mr. Williams resigned, but received a vote of thanks for his conduct generally in the chair. At a meeting on the Stli September, it was resolved to " draw up a petition to the Imperial Parliament embodying the general grievances of the settlement, and craving redress," to " memorialize the Bench of Magistrates," with respect to the application of certain monies "granted by his Excellency" for the repair of roads, and to " draw up an address to the colonists, warning them not to be entrapped by the promoters of a petition purporting 10 be the humble petition oTthe Magistrates and Landowners of the district of Otago/' which is described as " a secret petition," as " being composed of a tissue of misrepresentation and untruth, and calculated to mislead the minds of the public at a distance." The address is also to urge the colonists "to vindicate their rights and privileges, which are now being encroached upon by a self-interested faction." This "secret petition" had been published in the Witness of the 6th September, but the Editor states that he had had great difficulty in obtaining a copy. It is addressed to Lord Grey, and prays that no Charter or extension "of time may be granted to the Lay Association of the Free Church. At this meeting Mr. John Cargill wab unanimously elected chairman, in the room of Mr. J. H. Harris, who had filled the office pro. tern, on the resignation of Mr. Williams. We shall notice the subsequent meetings of this society, as it appears to be formed for objects similar to those of our Land-owners' Society, and to tend in a similar manner to the exposure of abuses, and to the organization and invigoration of the colonists in the knowledge, although they may not be allowed the power, of managing their own affairs. The Otaffo Banking Company appears*to have been started on a fair footing about the 13th of September. Mr. Macandrew produced wriften^ applications from 25 individuals for stock to the* amount of £7,200, and stated that other parties had expressed their intention of becoming shareholders to the extent of £2,500. The following gentlemen were elected as interim Directors, with power to allocate the shares, to prepare a draft deed of settlement, and to make all the necessary arrangements for the Bank being duly constituted and opened at tin early date, viz.:—W. Cargill, Esq., J.P.; J. Hjile Harris, Esq.; J. Macandrew, Esq.,J.P. 5 Alex. Todd, Esq., J.P.; and W. H. Cutten, Esq. Among other unfavourable comments upon the Local Government and its officers with which the paper abounds, there is one charge of remarkable dishonesty against the Governor-in-Chief himself. " The proceedings of the Legislative Council of New Zealand have by this drawn to a close,"

says the Otago Witness of September 13, "but without one word being said in that Council of the opinions of the Otago settlers on the subject of the Provincial Councils' Bill—although those opinions were called for by Sir George Grey, and promised by him to be laid before it. The Provincial Councils' Bill having thus passed almost without modiV location, and in a shape more unsuiting it for Otago than ever, it is enough on this ground alone to petiv tion and protest against its extension to our district. " The first step of our colonists upon the retirement of the New Zealand Company was a congregational meeting (the substance of the colony) to review their position, and they acted like men. They came to the unanimous conclusion that the foundation had been soundly and successfully laid, and r *.hat nothing was to be feared as to ultimate progress, even in the event that further capital and emigration should cease; not that they apprehended the latter, but that it was wise to take the worst possible view, and to act accordingly ;: nor is their confidence of progress at all over sanguine, seeing that New Plymouth, with inferior advantages, with a population rather less than our own, and with little or no accession from home, is nevertheless going on cheerily, and exporting produce to Auckland, Wellington, and Sydney. The meeting at once set practically to work, by charging itself with supplementing the Church and School expenses, by ordinary collections, seat-rents, andasustentationfund, which was at once organised. Shortly afterwards we had a visit from Sir George Grey, when his Excellency was publicly addressed in the same tone of self-reliance, and a Municipal Charter asked for to " legislate and rule " within our own district; and also after deducting from our local revenue its fair proportions to the civil list (6,000 Z. per annum) of the whole province, that the residue should be at the disposal of our local authorities elected by the people, in order to be applied with economy to local improvements. Now mark the result. The application was met with courtesy ; but difficulties were raised, and a proposal was made by his Excellency that we should have precisely what was asked for, cut in another shape, that of a Provincial Council. In fact, it turned out that he had in print the very Bill now passed into law. He took pains to show how it might be simplified, and made equally as inexpensive as a municipality, and with this view "called for the observations of the Otago colonists, promising at the same time to get from his Legislative Council a separate enactment, in order to suit the measure to the small population and revenue of our district. The observations were framed in the shape of resolutions unanimously adopted by the public meeting of the 3rd December; they were acknowledged by his Excellency, with a promise '. that he would lay them before the Legislative Council when met upon the Bill; and he stated that he had sent a copy to Lord Grey, to be laid before Parliament when discussing the intended New Zealand Constitution. It does not, however, appear that they have been at all noticed in the Legislative Council, or that anything whatever has been said of the separate enactment for Otago ; and as for the copy to Lord Grey, we much fear it will turn out that a despatch condemnatory of class settlements and tending to the overthrow of Otago, has gone from his Excellency, either with or even without the copy of the resolutions in question. His Excellency's attack on class settlements is thus noticed in the Witness of Oct. 4th: — " What shall we say to the fact of the representative of Her Majesty, the highest functionary in the colony, seeking to weaken the opposition to his despotic policy, by casting a bone of contention amongst the colonists, by exciting a religious dissension and the rivalry of neighbouring settlements ? and doing this on the strength of rumours which have turned out to be unfounded; and by obtaining the adoption of an address to the Crown, condemning Canterbury and other class settlements, in a council composed of the most subservient of New Zealand colonists, (to gather whom the gutters had to be raked,) and a band of hungry officials, whose greedy eyes look with jealousy upon the funds derived from the sale of three or four millions of acres. But even in this Council composed of Sir George Grey's creatures, there were men who would not vote the ad- . dress, jind the motion was carried by the casting * vote of his Excellency: but yet this address, the opinion of one man, is put forward as the deliberate opinion of the New Zealand colonists! Can any man now doubt that Sir George would put forward the Nominees from the various settlements as the representatives of the people ?

We stated in a former number, that in the memorials which have been sent by the Society of Land Purchasers to Her Majesty, ami to the Houses of Lords and Commons, the number of Koman Catholics at Akaroa was represented to be forty -two. This we find is an error: sixtyfive is the number inserted in those memorials, and this we believe is correct. Sixty-five instead of two hundred—the number stated by His Excellency.