WELLINGTON.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XII, Issue 703, 3 August 1859, Page 4

WELLINGTON.

"By the late Northern mail we -have received^ a ' file'of. Wellington journals to the 20th ultimo. The most conspicuous item of news" is the announcement that the Provincial Council is to be called together ■ again. We append the remarks of each journalupon this announcement. (From the'lndependent') " THE FORTHCOMING SESSION OF THE PROVINCIAL - COUNCIL. A Proclamation .has just been issucl calling1 Hie ' ProvincialCounc.il together on Tuesday the, 30 th August. The Constitution Act requires that there shall be.at least one session every year, and, as the prorogation took place in September, the provisions of .that Act will thereby be complied with. The hope, entertained by the Radical party, that the Superintendent would refuse to call the Council together within the period required by law, is thus disappointed, aud the Council must either determine to work in harmony with His Honor; continue the present dead lock; or memorialise the Governor for a dissolution. The latter alternative is one which we do not imagine they will readily consent to; unpopular as the Radicals have become, their chance of again returning a majority is immeasurably lessened by the number of votes they have lost on the Electoral Roil, If they refused to ' nlay their adversary's game' before this revision . took place, it is not likely they will do so now —if they quietly pocketed all thtilr boastings about removing the Superintendent, when the Governor's presence afforded an - opportunity of making some show and also giving them effect, they are not .likely now to give his Excellency a" loop-hole by which he might be able to retrace the error he committed, when he refused to accede to the Superintendent's request for a dissolution. —having .everything to lose and nothing to gain by such a course, the radical party .are aot likely to adopt a bold policy and either sink - -or swim, but will, -in all probability, continue .to hang" on 'to their seats as lon» as they are able. They won't because they daren't go in for a dissolution. To continue the present deadlock would better f>uit the game. The Wakefield brain, ever fertile 'in cunning inventions, might be able to hatch some scheme by which the onus might be shifted from their shonlders to. his Honor's, and. by cleverly turning the tables, they might hope to regain some of their lost popularity. , Whether or not they will work in harmony with the Superintendent cannot even be guessed at. Of course w.e do not mean that it is a matter of any doubt ns^to whether the Radicals will fall in with all his Honor's plans and help him heartily to carry t)iem out; but we think it is questionable whether they may not see the necessity of dismounting the high horse and adopting a course by which the public business shall no longer be impeded. It depends unon whose influence preponderates in their seciet councils. Jf Mr. Wakefield's, then the deadlock will be continued in all its rigour; but if that of the more moderate prevails, then we may hope to see the conflict between the Executive and the in some measure cease. The decision 'of the Supreme Court with regard'to the poworof the Superintendent to carry on his government with or without an Appropriation Act, may induce that consideration of the estimates which was so contemptuously refused before; and the knowledge that, when --the Auckland .province was in Ihe same predicament as ourselves, the Governor granted a dissolution on the Superintendent a second time proroguing his Council, may act as a gentle stimulant to good'behaviour. (From the Spectator.) An intimation is conveyed bya proclamation in the last Provincial Gazette, thai his Honor the Superintendent has summoned the Council to meet on the 30Lh August next v for the despatch of business :" may it prove so-; but from the delay which has been allowed to take place in calling the members together until the latest date permitted by the Constitution Act, we are compelled to view with suspicion and distrust this proceeding.of the Government.' Should his Honor be leally desirous of acting in harmony with his' Council, this is not the wav to attain the end : necessities have arisen, of which he is well awave, which„should have prompted him to have waved any potty private feeling, and to have taken this step long sinee ;' he would then have shown himself equal to his position, and instead of weakening his influence, it would have acquired'strength, and some progress might. liave been made towards regaining that confidence winch he has forfeited by1 his prodigality aud abune of authority. Of course it is impossible even to conjecture with ■any degree of certainty what may be his Honor's line of conduct in meeting h's Council ;''it is for him to determine whether the province'is to be subjented to a continuance'of the stoppage to the public ' business. Should his inclination lead him to prolong -the confusion wh'ch at present pvevaile, we' fennpose that, until the General fjegislatnve can take co-rnizance of his unconstitutional proceedings, he ' will have it in hi* power.to follow it out; but on the other hand, should he be prepared with concisions, much difficulty may be overcome, and at tho pro <ent juncture a large amount of benefit may accrue to the province. A year has passed in in-

activity, but tlu- lost ground may beI 'recovered by an earnestness of purpose, and a relaxation of jtliat party spirit which'1 has been indulged ill. ' ;

; The followingobservations from the' Advertiser' ; upon the proposed' Gas Company prove th at that undertaking is now in a fair way to have a praotical :-issue. We riiay observe that all papers unite in supporting the 'enterprise. Copies of the prospectus ;have;been forwarded to our office, where they may fee seen by those interested : — '■'"'''. . The -Gas Company.—The establishment of a Gas Company, although at present' :only:*a proposition^will in all probability become : very shortly a fact.' A prospectus has been issued ■by the provisional committee, and is Mw in the hands of the publin, by which the shares,in pursuance with the terms of an amendment carried to ': that effect at "the late public meeting, have been fixed at £5 each. Of this sum £1 per share is to : be paid at the time of allotment, and the remainder in calls of £1 each, at an interval of three months. . The committee it appears have had' an interview' ■with the executive on'the subject, and the Government'has expressed its readiness to render every assistance in its power in promoting the views of the company ■;■ and an application will be made to, ; and will doubtless be favoin-ably received by, the \ Council during the period of its approaching ses- : sion,' Tor the grant of a site for the necessary works. The prospectus bears on the face of it satisfactory evidence of having been carefully and ably drawn up, and, while the estimated expenditure may, if any thing, be considered as rather over-stated, the estimated receipts mny, on the other hand, perhaps be looked upon as below the amount that they will yin all probability reach. Should our impressions ' on this point prove correct, the error will be one on the right side, and such as is not generally ' found in the establishment of companies of a similar description, a'tendency being too often apparent to estimate the expenditure at a small amount, and in a somewhat proportionate ratio to magnify the anticipated receipts. We cannot at present foresee any obstacles as likely to arise to impede the operations of the company, nor the immediate prosecution of the works, as soon as a site has been granted; for, admitting the temporary scaicity of money, the terms under which the payment of bhares is to be made are so easy, 'that it may be confidently hoped thift the->amount of capital required (£8000) wiU be shortly raised, -by the 1600 shares being. speedily taken up. For1 further information upon so important asubject, we should advise a reference to the prospectus' itself, wherein the advantages, both special and general, to accrue from the establishment of the company are clearly and succinctly set forth, and the estimated expenditure and receipts for the first and third years given. Land Piteciiases.—ln a recent number we .republished'from the ' Hnvvkes Bay Herald' an announcement of a purchase from the natives by Mr. McLean, the Chief Commissioner, of a valuable block of land comprising about 90,000 acres. The block in question is about forty miles from Napier, immediately beyond the purchases made in Hapuku's block in 1852, following" the course of the Waipawa to the Ruahine mountains, and embracing an extent of level land with a large proportion of bush. No reserves for^tho natives have been made on the old system, but about 1200 acres have been set apart for their use. Several blocks within the district, but exclusive of the ptirchase above referred to, are still in the* possession of Hapuku and other natives connected Avich him, but it is probable -that these will be'acquired by the Commissioner during his stay in the province. Other blocks of about 50,000 acres in extent, of great vaiue for the purposes of sheep farming, have also been purchased between Napier and Mohaka. The settlers in the province of Hawkes Bay have reason to congratulate themselves on the fact that the Native title has been extinguished over about a million and a-half of acres, comprising more than half the area of the province, and what is of still more importance, containing the greater proportion of the most valuable1 land. The province consists of about 2,600,000 acres, and of this extent it" may be estimated that, after allowing sufficient reserves for the subsistence of the natives, not more than half-a-million acres of available land remain to be purchased, the 'remainder being for the most part mountdinous, and -unavailable for the purposes of agriculture orfeheep farming. It will be seen from what has leen said above that the" new Province of Ilawkes Bay, as regards the extinction of the Native title, is in a flourishing'state, and although impatience has sometimes been exhibited at the operations of the Land Purchase Deparknent,which have been regavdeJ as slowerthan the growing requirements of the country demanded, it must be admitted that important results have been attained by it, and whatever may be asserted to the contrary we do not believe that any other system would- be equally efficient or successful for the acquisition of native lands than that of the extinction of the native titlp by purchases made by the Government. In the Unite'"] Shitps of America, all lands are acquired from the Indians by tieaty, much in the same manner as they are now purchased in this colony, and-no legal title to land can be obtained there except by direct purchase from the Government, who, having a well organised Indian department, receiving it-! instructions from the President of the United Ststes, —in effect, no individual is allowed !to acquire brads from the Indians excepting through the Government. A similar system has been pursued in the colony since it was founded by the British Government; the only exception to the rule has been the -interruptions permitted by Captain Fitzroy, who allowed private individuals to acquire land by purchase from the natives, thereby laying the foundation of endless difficulties and complications that have'not yet beeu disposed j of, and requiring the appointment 'of expensive j commissions of enquiry, whose 'labours have not yet resulted in the settlement of the interminable disputes and endless litigation that would have been obviated by the working of a proper system. j We therefore do not regard with any fasvor the views propounded by those persons who are agitating at the noi th in favor of direct purchase of land from the natives, since this scheme has been tried by the test of experience and the result has proved to be a complete failure. No system <;ould be devised which, in our opinion, would be more disastrous to the prosperity of this island than that of permitting private individuals, for their own aggrandisement, to become on any extended scale the medium . through which land should be acquired from 'the ' natives, since experience has proved that the safest course is that of extinguishing the native title • through the Government.— Spectator, July 20.