THE MAORI MESSENGER. Auckland, February 27, 1851.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 4, Issue 57, 27 February 1851, Page 2

THE MAORI MESSENGER. Auckland, February 27, 1851.

Died at Ngahuapiri, Rotorua, January, 1851, Moses Taiwhanake, son of the Chief Uritunua Otaikuwhati, of the tribe Ngatirangiwehiwe hi.

We have, occasionally, alluded to the new English settlement which is being founded in the middle island of New Zealand, and which has been called the Canterbury Settlement. As a short account of that settlement may be interesting' to our native renders we lrnvo condensed ft few particulars explanatory of its origin and progress. Canterbury forms a portion of the land of the middle island purchased trom the native proprietors by the New Zealand Company, from whom it was repurchased, in England, by a body of gentlemen who enrolled themselves under the title of the "Canterbury Association." This association propose to erect their settlement in accordance witli particular rules of their own, —the principal of which is that in all their religious establishments the teaching and doctrines of the Church of England shall be the exclusive law. And to accomplish this, ministers and teachers of thot Church have been brought out and arc to be maintained at the cost of the Association. A very great degree of interest for the success o( this Association has been felt in England, mid the departure of the first body of colonists had caused a general expression in their favour. Four largo, beautiful, ships were hired to convey these Colonists from their native land. They have since arrived in safety nt their destination. They sailed from England almost at the same time, and' although only two of them met during their long passnge of 14,000 miles, it is very remarkable that they all came into their destined harbour within a very short period of one another. The first ship was called the Charlotte Jane, of 720 tons. She sailed from Plymouth on Saturday, the 7th ofi September, at midnight, witli an hundred and fifty four passengers; and after a prosperous. passage of ninety nine days dropped anchor ill the harbour, which has been called " Port Lyttclton,'' at 10 o'clock on the morning of tho 16th December. The second ship, tho Randolph, of 701 ton 9, sailed from Plymouth a few hours after tho Charlotte Jane, with two hundred and ten passengers, and arrived at Port Lyttclton at 3 o'clock of the afternoon of the same day on which the first ship anchored there. The third ship, the Sir George Seymour, of 850 tons, sailed from Plymouth at 11 o'clock of the morning of Sunday the Bth September. Sho carried two hundred and twenty seven passengers, and during her passage fell in with the Randolph on the 4th of October, and put a gentleman on board that ship who did not arrive at Plymouth until after she had sailed and had been brought so far by the Sir Gcoryc Seymour. These ships parted company on the 10th of October, the Sir George Seymour arriving after a passage of one hundred days on tlie 17th December. The fourth and last ship of this interesting fleet was the Cressy, of 720 tons, she also sailed from Plymouth at mid- | night of Saturday, 7th September, with one hundred and fifty five passengers. Jlcr passage was eleven days longer than that of the two first, it being the 27th of December before she reached her anchorage. j It is very remarkable to find four ships ) leaving the same port nearly together, and, after a lengthened passage from the world's one extreme to its other, to arrive so closely upon each other as these ships 1 have done. It speaks wonders for the [perfection of navigation, and for the |uiastcrly skill of British seamanship. I

It must, have been extremely gratifying to these voyagers to find on their arrivnl at their new home H. M. Ship fly with His Excelleney the Governor-in-Chief, at anchor in port. Sir George Grey, who hail been on a visit to Welling • ton, Olago, anil the Aucklanil Islands, anil other places was thereby fortunately enabled to render some very essential kindness to the new comers uhos:; good feelings he, in consequence, completely won. The Bishop of New Zealand has also been to Canterbury, where the colonists are now busily occupied hunting their goods, building houses, and making nil the first steps towards the foundation of a town. They had brought live splendid English cows with them, three of which have unfortunately died, one by falling over the eliUs und two in consequence of eating tutu. Several large ships have, 110 doubt, arrived from England since, and several others may be immediately expected, so that liie 740 people now landed may be speedily increased to three times that number, with a certain prospect of a constant addition. These settlers will be able to do little or nothing for themselves during the approaching seed time. Let not our Maori friends forget that they will want bread, and that these colonist-} have gold to give in cxlmnge. We trust that much, very much, wheat and other grain will this season be sown. Now is the time for the Natives to prosper and to prove to ths world that 110 Country is more fertile tii.v.i the beautiful land of New Zealand.