AUCKLAND.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1364, 23 February 1865, Page 5

AUCKLAND.

By the Lady Bird we have our papers to the I.3th inst. The news is b:it of slight importance :—

Tauranga.—-By the cutter Whitby, which arrived last night from Tauranga, we have received a communication from our correspondent, stating that the Tai cutter, had arrived that morning (the 7th inst.) from Maketu, with intelligence that the Southern natives had at last arrived in that neighbourhood, and that the troops and the Arawa natives were all under arms on the previous night, the 6th inst., and were expecting an attack upon Maketu. Knowing the determination which these Southern rebels expressed to be revenged upon the Arawas, we may expect to hear of an engagement by the next arrival. Our correspondent speaks very deploringly of the unsettled state of affairs at Tauranga, and trusts that a few days will disclose whether the course of events will be for good or evil.—Southern Cross, Feb. 9.

Military Movements. — The s.s. Alexandra, Captain Williams, left the Manukau yesterday morning at eleven o'clock, for Taranaki and Wanganui. She takes down Lieut.-Colonel Synge, 43rd ; Major Tupper, A.D.C., 50th Regiment; Messrs. Eikington and Ross, D.A.C.G.; Dr. Goodwin, S.A.S.; Lieut. Cuppage ; Ensigns Miller, Brett, Rowan and Lyons, of the 43rd Regiment; and Ensign Frederick, of the 57th ; and 46 privates and 1 sergeant of the 4Jtrd, and 54 privates and 1 sergeant of the 57th. The detachment of the 43rd will join its regiment at Taranaki, and that of the 50tli its regiment at Wanr ganui. Nearly the whole of the above troops arrived by the Nelson, from England.—lbid.

Drury.—The correspondent of the Southern Cross, writing on Feb. 9, says; —" Within the last few days i some 280 of the Cape emigrants have arrived in : Drury, where every available house or room has been appropriated for their accommodation. What , their ultimate destination may be is a matter of un- . certainty, and to themselves unknown. Maketu, Tuakau, and Paparata are among the places named; • but wherever they may be eventually located, it is i to be desired that their stay here in such numbers may not be protracted, as, I fear, from the overcrowded state of their dwellings in this sultry weather, much sickness and mortality may arise. I am informed that while at Onehunga, low fever, diarrh&a, and whooping cough were prevalent; and these maladies, since their arrival in Drury, have not decreased. In one family the mother and three children have been stricken with the fever. The youngest child has died, and is to be interred this day, and it is to be feared others will, follow. I mention this circumstance, finding that there is no medical practitioner to attend to these poor people ; rior is there any place within a distance of four miles where . medicines can be obtained, while the abode of the nearest medical man ds ia Papakura, where I suppose he is too much occupied witli his own patients to allow of his attending every sick call in Drury. Of medical such as wine and other luxuries, when required there is no want. Mr. Walter Runcitnan, who is overseer, does all in his power to minister to these requirements, while Mr. Rhodes, the contractor, by varying the diet (unlike what they were accustomed to in Onehunga), has in this respect caused much satisfaction. The urgent want of medical advice and assistance in this emergency has 'induced me to write these few lines, and I trust the matter will receive prompt attention in the proper quarter.—lbid, Feb. 11. Removal of the Records.—The whole of the records of the Defence Office will be taken on board the Lady Bird this morning, for conveyance to Wellington—these (with the exception of the printing office) being the last remnants of General Government trappings remaining in Auckland. A few of the clerks employed in the office are also to take their departure per the Lady Bird, but Mr. Holt, who has succeeded Mr. Seed, as Under Secretary, will not leave until the next steamer ori the 23rd instant. We understand that the Government printer has also received orders to pack up. S'oicide by Assistant Surgeon Storey.—An inquest was held yesterday, at noon, before Dr. Philson, coroner, at the Military Camp, Otahuhu, , on view of the body of Robert Storey, assistantsurgeon, Royal Artillery, in Medical charge of the Commissariat Transport ' Corps at that Post, who committed suicide, at an early hour on the previous morning. From the evidence adduced it will be seen that deceased had been under the care of Dr. Bawtry staff-surgeon-major, since Sunday last, and Was suffering from a severe attack of diarrhoea. He was removed from his own residence at Otahuhu, to the sick officers'quarters in camp, for convenience of attendance. He was abstemious at the doctor's request, and therefore did not commit the rash act whilst in a state of delirium tremens as was reported. The evidence goes to show, that on the evening prior to his death he was slightly delirious on waking out of his sleep. No cause can be assigned for the suicide beyond the temporary derangement of deceased's intellect, induced by prostration of body. Deceased's wife and child were living at Otahuhu, and the latter had been ill for some time, which was a source of great concern to deceased, who is said to have been passionately fond of his child. It will be seen that hi# last request was respecting his child's health, and that he feared that it had died. The room in which the fatal deed was committed was an officer's hut, with a dressing-table on one side and a bed on the other. On the table was a looking-glass, an opera glass; two volumes of "Verona," from Varty's Circulating Library, a razor, a penknife (open), and other articles. The razor was clotted with blood, and lay on the dress-ing-table. The statement that the table could be reached from the bed was erroneous, for deceased had apparently committed the rash act before the looking-glass, put the razor down, and staggered back on to his bed, a distance of some six or eight feet. The body yesterday lay in the same position as it was found, obliquely across the bed, with shirt and trousers, socks, and one slipper on. Both hand 9 were much covered with blood, and the floor of the room, from the dressing-table to the bed, was sprinkled, besides a large pool on the bed. The wound was deeply incised, from ear to ear, and death must have been almost instantaneous. The body was discovered quite dead, in it is supposed, about ten minutes after the deed was committed. The jury returned a verdict to the effect that deceased committed suicide whilst suffering from mental derangement. The funeral took piace immediately i after the inquest, in the Otahuhu burial-ground, forty men of the 14th Regiment forming the firing party, Deceased was highly respected by a large circle of acquaintances. —Ibid. Dr. Hochstetter's Book. —The committee of the German Association met yesterday evening, at the Auckland Hotel. The attention of the meeting was, in the first instance, directed to a memorial to his Honor the Superintendent, in which the desirability of publishing an English translation of Dr. Hochstetter's work on New Zealand, was set forth, and a deputation was appointed, consisting of Dr. Fischer and Mr. Hirsh to present it.—lbid. Separation Sentiment. —The public of this province had declared its opinion on the subject of separation by sending home a popular petition signed by the inhabitants. If anything were still needed to convince our Southern friends of the great earnestness with which'we have taken up the matter, this fact surely would suffice that nearly eight thousand adult mnles were found willing to sign such a petition. We do not, however, fancy that they want much evidence to convince them of the fact; it is so much a matter that commends itself to their own minds as probable, that any of them putting themselves for a moment in our position know full well that they would do the same. It suits the purpose of some persons to say that the removal of the seat of Government is the reason why we move in the cause of separation, but thif we deny. The removal of the seat of government was a gross injustice to Auckland, and it was an evidence of that spirit of hostility and unfairness towards us which was the real ground of our wish to secede from the Southern part of the colony, but it was only influential as a very tangible and well-known instance of the spirit about to be shown in everything. While the feeling is strong and cnergetic, so we may feel pretty sure will the movement be; so soon as it gets slack and loses spirit, the power and even the energy of the Association will go down along with it, As we have said, it is upon this that the principal opponents of moment are reckoning even new. Of these the chief headquarters is not in this island, but at Canterbury— and no wonder. That provirtce ought to be the friend of : things as they are, because she has far more thah a due share of power and influence at present. jThis power and this influence she uses unscrupulously for her own purposes at all times. While usjng more fine-sounding language than any other community in New Zealand about what they do or suffer for others, her politicians use it merely as a convenient sort of sheepskin cloak to conceal the fact | that she is taking care of her own interests 00! very decidedly, in the first place, that those of j others are to be forgotten altogether. Canterbury is the most political of all the New Zealand provinces. She is better organized, and far more unanimous in her sentiments than any other; and the reason of her unanimity is very being merely tljis—that while all other provinces think more or less about their neighbours, Canterbury

thinks, with admirable persistency, solely about herself. Anything that touches, or seems likely to touch herself, she is therefore very sensitive to, with all the acuteness with which intense selfishness endows people. It is, therefore, quite worth while to observe what point she is afraid of, and what she thinks of no consequence in anything hostile to her. In the first place she has fully made up her mind that separation is hostile to her. She did, indeed, seem to hesitate as to this, for a few weeka after the last session of the Assembly resulted in so strong a cry for separation. She was puzzled how to get out of the difficulty, that she had always represented herself and the South in general as being fleeced and impoverished by the Northern Island, and did not quite see which course to steer so as to get out of this difficulty. But she soon got rid of the weakness. It was only the ignoring all that had been said for a time, after all, and trading liberally upon the claptrap of such expressions as " a great and united nation" and " a petty confederation of feeble states," and " Canterbury was quite equal to such an emergency." It was too much to expect of her that, for the sake of a show of consistency, she should consent to a separation which would cause a great part of her talent for political intrigue to be thrown away. As she put the thing with considerable force, the force which a truly one-eyed selfishness generally bestows, "Isitlikely that Canterbury would join in the cry of separation until she knew what she was to gain by it?" Not what the country would gain, but she—Canterbury—individually, it may be observed. It is clear, therefore, that, having added up both sides of the sum, she is convinced that the separation movement is one which she has cause to fear ; and, therefore, her views as the fact? of it which are dangerous, and those that are not, may be regarded as well worthy of attention. The petition was a very necessary step, no doubt, but not in itself a very dangerous one in the eyes of the Canterbury people. They don't expect to hear of much notice being taken of it, and perhaps they are right. Separations are not readily granted by the Home Government, and a long course of energetic struggle may—probably will —be requisite. It is not the petition that troubles Canterbury much, but it is the appearance of anything like a strong, calm, regular organisation—the sort of organisation which goes into the details of every thing that may help or hinder its object, that which divides its work and does it well; which keeps the feeling alive in every part of the country, by never letting itself be forgotten, and never putting itself in a false position. Such an association, whether in Dunedin or Auckland, will prove gall and wormwood to all the opponents of separation, because it is certain to succeed in the long run. The first thing we hope to see the Northern Association expending its energies upon, is the carefully getting up of the electoral roll of this province. Not a name should be omitted, and with good management, not many names need be so. In any case, this will be a great benefit to the province, whose hands it will strengthen in an almost incalculable degree.—lbid.