Colonial.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XIII, Issue 747, 4 January 1860, Page 4

Colonial.

OTAGO,

By the Airedale we have papers to the 31st ult. The writs for the election of' Superintendent and Provincial Council had come down, and the elections are to take place almost immediately; the' whole, it appears, will be completed by the . first week in February. The election of Superintendent is to come off this day week. The only candidate is Mr. James Macandrew. As to the Provincial Council, the/ Witness' remarks as follows :— "The time was whenOtago had the reputation of- being one of the noisiest, if. not the noisiest, community in all New Zealand, in political matters. No such charge could be brought against us now. Here we are on the eve of a general election of Superintendent and Provincial Council, and yefwe believe there has been no period of our history in which so little interest was felt, or at least displayed, in political matters., Is it that we have grown sleek and lazy in the days of bur worldly.prosperity, or from what cause is it that there should be so much apathy? We are not desirous of seeing political feeling run to the lengths which it does in some of the provinces of New Zealand, but we should certainly like to see rather more animation displayed. Political duties are irksome to every one, and so are all duties; but unless the public generally will take an interest in. the matter, and those gentlemen who are cap-ible of representing the country come forward," the management of public affairs will fall into the hands of a few, who will exercise the power to their own advantage rather than for the advancement of public interests. Beyond a few gentlemen resident in the town of Dunedin, we have positively not the least idea of who mean to offer themselves as candidates, and our contemporary does not appear to be in the least degree better informed. We trust that the country districts will' take more heed of the proceedings than they appear to be doing. The time has come when we may reasonably expect that the Provincial Council should pre- , sent a marked improvement upon its predecessor. We have never criticised the past Council with severity, but undoubtedly there was room for improvement; and we hope to see some of those gentlemen who never had an opinion of their own, and who were of about as much use as a tailor's dummy, retire, and be succeeded by gentlemen whose opinions upon public matters will be of value. We have to remind the electors that the election is for four years, and that if they make such mistakes as they did in the election of Mr. Taylor as a representative forthe General Assembly, theconsequenees may be serious. We therefore trust that the matter is receiving more attention at the hands of our country settlers than is apparent." DEPARTURE'OF THE GOVERNOR. On Saturday morning last, at half-past nine o'clock, His Excellency the Governor, attended by Captain Steward, Colonel Mould, Mr: Macandrew, • Mr. Harris, Mr, Strode, and Provincial Solicitor M'Glashan, took his departure from Dunedin in the " New Era." About 50 ladies and gentlemen interested in the welfare of the Maories of the Province accompanied His Excellency, who had inti- . mated his intention of paying a visit to the Native settlement at the Heads before leaving the Harbour,. On the way the party inspected the Pirate, with which vessel the Governor expressed himself highly pleased; about half-past 12, the New Era reached the kaik, followed by the Nigei-, which anchored outside the Heads, and there awaited His Excellency. The natives, who had been ;previously informed of the intended visit, were, to the number of about 100, assembled on the grass in front of the old Wesleyan Chapel. Several of them were well and respectably clad, but the greater-number pi-esented an appearance, both in dress and in their looks, which unmistakably indicated much need of elevation in their condition. They welcomed the party with loud cheering. His Excellency had a seat prepared for him under the shade of a kaio tree, and a semicircle was formed round him by the visitors ; the Maories being seated opposite at a sufficient distance to leave a.clear amphitheatre^ within which native orators could deliver their speeches.. Judging from the violent gesticulations and saltatory feats of some, the speeches were made as, much by the aid of legs as by the organ of speech. The fallowing address was read by His Excellency to the natives:— , -.-;■■ ■.-...■ ■ - " My Friends,—Most of you are old enough to remember the time when there were only a few pakeha whalers in this country, when you had not heard of the existence of Christianity. At that time you had no law; the strong oppressed the weak, and if any tribe waxed powerful it would make war against its neighbours, take away their land, and enslave their people. Then every man's hand was against his neighbour, and there was no peace in the land. When the pakeha, came they brought the word of God, and taught you to be Christians; they have increased in number very greatly, and are very powerful, yet they have not taken an acre of your land from the weakest of your people without their consent., On the contrary, the Queen's law has been translated for you into Maori; you are protected by it in all your rights, and you enjoy the same freedom as her Majesty's pakeha subjects do. You must therefore see that the pakeha laws and customs are good; andlcome here to advise you to conform to the one and imitate the other in all that deserves imitation. You have now an opportunity to send your children to school; do not neglect it, but let them be taught their duty to God and man, and let them learn the ways of the pakeha, then they willbecomelikethepakeha, and jthe Queen will say, 'I have but one people in New Zealand.' '? You have plenty of good land, but you do not use it.. Why do you not fence and cultivate it, and keep sheep like the pakeha? Do so, and you will grow rich like them. 1 have appointed your friend Strode to take care of you. He will be a father to you, as he has always been. When you want advice go to him and to Mr. Baker—they will help you and show you the right path, and when they write to me that you are doing wisely-and becoming one people with the pakeha, I will write to the Queen, and her heart will be glad to hear it.-—Farewell." The only "big chief" present was "Jneky White," who spoke first; other inferior men followed. The principal subject of discussion was the division of the reserve amongst the natives; the more intelligent men wishing an equitable division amongst all the families, which "Jacky Whito" oh his own part, and for " Tiaroa," who is at present absent in Wellington, most vehemently opposed. The Governor, of course, mado the only reply in his power—that ho could not interfere, the nativo titlo not being extinguished; but he advised them to settle the question amicably amongst themselves, with the aid of the commissioners. The missionary teachers, Mr. and Mrs. Baker, recently appointed by the Society for the elevation of the Maories, wore then formally introduced to the natives

through Mr. David Scott, and were most heartily welcomed. There can be no doubt that however degraded the natives hero may bo, they are greatly interested, in the cflbrta being tnado to ameliorate their condition; and, without^ Baying too much, they appear to have an appreciation of the blessings of good teaching of which many a white settlor might be proud Witness, Dee. 31.