NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT BILL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 90, 25 September 1852, Page 10

NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT BILL.

We have been favoured with a perusal of the above Bill as printed for the consideration of the Imperial Parliament. When it has passed and become Law, we shall publish it entire. At present our Readers have been made acquainted with its general details, but there are a few clauses, not yet generally known, which are of sufficient importance to be published in extenso —viz.: that the Legislative Councillors are to be appointed fob. life ; and that the New Zealand Company's debt of 268,000/.is madepayable out of the proceeds of the Crown Lands at the rate of ss. per Acre of Land sold, saving as to the Lands in the Canterbury Settlement, &c.

34. Every Member of the Legislative Council of New Zealand shall hold his seat therein for the Term of his Life, subject nevertheless to the Provisions herein—after contained for vacating the same.

74. And whereas under and by virtue of an Act of the Session holden in the Tenth and Eleventh Years of Her Majesty, Chapter One hundred and twelve, "to promote Colonization in New Zealand, and to authorize a Loan to the New Zealand Company," and of a Notice given on the Fourth Day of July One thousand eight hundred and fifty by the New Zealand Company in pursuance of such Act, the Sum of Two hundred and sixty-eight thousand three hundred and seventy Pounds Fifteen Shillings, with Interest after the yearly Rate of Three Pounds Ten Shillings per Centum upon the said Sum, or so much thereof as shall from Time to Time remain unpaid, is charged upon and payable to the New Zealand Company out of the Proceeds of the Sales of the Demesne Lands of the Crown in New Zealand:

In respect of all Sales or other Alienations of any such Lands in Fee Simple or for any less Estate or Interest (except by way of Licence for Occupation for pastoral Purposes for any Term of Years not exceeding Fourteen, or by way of Reservation of such Lands as may be required for public Roads or other internal Communications whether by Land or Water, or for the Use or Benefit of the aboriginal Inhabitants of the Country, or for Purposes of Military Defence, or as the Sites of Places of Public Worship, Schools, or other public Buildings, or as Places for the Interment of the Dead, or Places for the Recreation and Amusement of the Inhabitants of any Town or Village, or as the Sites of public Quays or Landing Places on the Sea Coast or Shores of navigable Streams, or for any other Purpose of public Safety, Convenience, "Health, or Enjoyment,) there shall be paid to the said New Zealand Company towards the Discharge of

the Principal Sum and Interest charged as aforesaid, so long as the same or any part thereof respectively shall remain unpaid. Sums after the Rate of Five Shillings for each Acre of Land so sold or alienated: Provided always, that it shall be lawful for the New Zealand Company, by any Resolution of a Majority of the Proprietors of the said Company present at any Meeting of such Proprietors, and certified under the Common Seal of such Company, to release all or any Part of the said Lands from the Monies or Payments charged thereon by the said Act or this Act, or any Part of such Monies or Payment, either absolutely or upon any Terms or Conditions, as such Proprietors may think fit.

75. It shall not be lawful for the said General Assembly to repeal or interfere with all or any of the Provisions of an Act of the Session holden in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Years of Her Majesty, Chapter Seventy, intituled "An Act empowering the Canterbury Association to dispose of certain Lands in New Zealand," or of an Act passed in the Session then next following, Chapter Eighty-four, to alter and amend the said first-mentioned Act: Provided always, that on the Expiration or sooner Determination of the Functions, Powers, and Authorities now vested in or lawfully exercised by the said Association, the Provisions of the present Act shall come into force as regards the Lands to which the said Acts relats. 76. It shall be lawful for the Canterbury Association, at any Time after a Provincial Council shall have been constituted under this Act for the Province of Canterbury, to transfer to ths said Council all such Functions, Powers, and Authorities, and the said Council is hereby empowered to accept such Transfer, upon such Terms and Conditions as shall be agreed upon between the said Council and the said Association : Provided always, that nothing contained in such Terms and Conditions shall interfere with the Rights of Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, or of the New Zealand Company respectively ; and from and after such Time as shall be agreed upon between the said Council and the said Association, the said Council shall have and be entitled to exercise all the said Functions, Powers, and Authorities. The £19,000 reserved, is to be appropriated as follows:— £. Governor 2,500 Chief Justice 1,000 Puisne Judge 800 Establishment of the General Government 4,700 Superintendents of the Provinces 3,000 Native Purposes 7,000 £19,000

A Eeporting Machine.—Many and strange are now the uses to which machinery is being adapted now-a-days ; we question if it ever entered into the head of any man to adapt it to such a description of work as reporting for the press. Yet this has actually been accomplished by our ingenious townsman, Dr. Dewar,who has invented a machine, at one end of which the reporter's short-hand notes are placed, and at the other end of which—a few yards off—they are produced at the ordinary rate of speaking, •in clear bold long hand, ready for being put into the hands of the printer. To give an idea of the advantages that may be secured by this machine, we may mention that four columns of the type used for reports by the Times may be produced comfortably in a couple of hours by one reporter, whereas, under the present laborious and cumbrous plan, nearly eight hours would be consumed in the task by an ordinary reporter.— Aberdeen Herald.

Matrimonial Tiffs.—l have frequently re^ marked that a guest lias become the paste and cement of two married 'quarrelling halves, be cause shame and necessity have obliged them to speak and be friendly to one another, at least so long as the guest * was listening. Every married lord should be provided with one or two guestg who might come in to relieve his sufferings when the mistress of the house happened to have the devil of dumbness in her body, for she must talk, at least as long as the gentlemen are present, and take out of her mouth the iron thief-apple silence, which grows on the same stalk as the apple of discord. — Jean Paul liichter.

The Shem-ey Forgeries.—No small sensation has been caused in Paris by the discovery of the extraordinary forgeries of the Shelley letters; and the articles on the subject by this or other journals have been copied into all the Paris newspapers. The fact is, that the system of forging letters and manuscripts of distinguished personages is carried on to a large extent in that city; indeed, it is as much a regular branch of business as the manufacture of pictures by the great masters is in Italy. There is, we are assured, not a sale of manuscripts in the French capital—and nowhere are such sales more numerous—in which foro-eries are not audaciously palmed off on the public by wholesale; and there is reason to suspect that gentlemen of position, or who have gained celebrity as manuscript collectors, do not hesitate, for a "consideration," to allow false documents to be slipped among the real ones, and to be offered in their names by public auction. In Germany, many similar frauds are practised 'with much success. Only a little while ago a gentlemen purchased several letters purporting to be written by Luther, every one of which it now appears is a forgery, "in Italy, too, the same nefarious system is carried on. We are assured, for esample, that a great many of the papers said to have belonged to Torqua'to Tasso and for selling which a Count Alberti was tried' a short time back at Home, were undoubted forgeries, though some of the most experienced men in such matters declared them authentic The skill of the forgers, whether French, Italian' or German, and we may now add English, in concocting papers, inks, seals, and writing, is truly reicariJable.— Literary Gazette.

Tee Pacific Ship Canal.—By the advices this week from New York it appears that Commissioners from the American Atlantic and Pacific Ship Canal Company were expected to leave almost immediately for England, too-ether with Colonel Childs (formerly the chief engineer of the State of New York), to submit, according to the London agreement of October, 1850, the completed surveys and estimates of the work. It will hs remembered that the negotiations at that period resulted in a pledge on the part of some of our leading firms, that if the undertaking were found practicable at a cost that should promise a fair revenue, it should be introduced with al! their influence to the English public the Company, in return, pledging themselves to allow, under those circumstances, a participation, upon equitable terms, to the extent of onehalf, so that the interests of Great Britain and America might be identical. It is now understood, that after a thorough exploration by himself and his surveying corps, the report of Colonel Childs will demonstrate that both as regards cost and difficulty the enterprise will not only be less serious than many of the ordinary undertakings carried out in the United States, but such as to cause surprise that it should ever have been neglected. Instead of the elevation of 487 feet, supposed to e::ist on the strip of land which separates Lake Nicaragua from the Pacific, it seems that the highest rise is 48 feet, while with regard to the river San Juan it has been found that the greater part is perfectly available, and that in the portion where the river cannot be used the excavation will be through land entirely level and without rock. Under these circumstances the Company, it is said, are prepared immediately to proceed, either alone or in coucurrence with England, as may be decided upon. Tiie temporary transit which was opened in July, 1851, has yielded a return which is proportionately without example, and inspired by this experience and the ardour which is now manifesting itself on the subject throughout the entire Union the leaders of the undertaking, while they express an undimiuished desire for a mutual arrano-e----mant, state themselves at the same time to°be indisposed to any further delay. A prompt and final adjustment of the question is, therefore to be anticipated. In the eighteen months which have elapsed since the Commissioners originally visited England, the Australian discoveries have doubled the urgency as well as the temptations of the work, and the intentions of the United' States to seek a direct intercouse with Japan, and to establish forthwith a steam route to China, have also developed new motives of a, momentous character. The impulses towards an immediate settlement are, therefore, of the strongest kind, and there can also be no doubt that in case the Company should require it, their own Government will be prepared to aid them to the full extent of its constitutional powers; — Times, May 14. '