THE NELSON EXAMINER Nelson, April 8, 1843.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume II, 8 April 1843, Page 226

THE NELSON EXAMINER Nelson, April 8, 1843.

Les journaux devienncnt plus necessaires & mesure que let homines aont plus &gaux, et 1' individualisme plus a Craindre. Cc serait diminuer leur importance que de croire S" a' ils ne servent qu' k garantir la liberty : ils maintiennent t civilisation. De TocauKviLLE. De la Democratic en Amerique, tome 4, p. 220. Journals become more necessary a.» men become more equal, and individualism more to be feared. It would be to underrate their importance to suppose that they serve only to secure liberty : they maintain civilization. Ds Tocq.ubvili.l. Of Democracy in America, vol . <, p. 202.

The Phoebe has brought us more tban one important bit of print. There is, first, the Sixth Report of the Directors of the New Zealand Company ; then the third number of the " New Zealand Portfolio ;" and, lastly, a " Blue Book," containing copies of papers and despatches relative "to New Zealand, in continuation of those printed May 11, 1841. Of the last we are not now in a position to treat ; but we propose (probably next week) to enter at some length into various matters which its perusal suggests. Of the Report of the Directors, there is little to say. It is very short j puts to the proprietors a very just view of the nature of the property which they hold; is perhaps a shade too apologetic on the subject of the returns being in the nature of things uncertain, and always rather prospecttve than immediate ; and concludes by proposing a dividend at the rate of £5 per cent, per annum for the half year ending on the Ist of October last. We give two extracts : " In truth, the transactions of this Company are necessarily of such a nature as to render it very unlikely that its returns in money should be steady and equable enough to admit of the payment of a dividend unvarying in amount. The assets of the Company consist mainly of land. That land in a state of nature, without population to reclaim and cultivate it, and without capital to sustain that population whilst thus engaged, is utterly valueless. With increasing population and wealth, the value of the land must rise in a rapidly increasing ratio. But it may so happen, that in any given half-year, or even year, the ope- 1 rations requisite to give such value may absorb a large part or even the whole of the price realized from the sale of land within that period. Yet, at the same time, the value of the assets of the Company may have largely increased, and its prosperity be placed upon greatly extended and strengthened foundations." "Your Directors are convinced that, in the administration of affairs of such magnitude as those of the Company, it would be the most shortsighted policy to grasp at immediate large profit, at the expense of neglecting the permanent improvement of your possessions; and they are happy to state that they have been able to give full effect to these views. During the four months under review, whilst emigration to older colonies in Australia has been almost entirely suspended, that of this Company has been carried on without

interruption, and upon a great scale. The result of these energetic proceedings has been most favourable. The vessels chartered for the conveyance of free emigrants have also carried out a targe proportion of capitalists,.— the employers of labour. The latest accounts from your settlements represent them as eminently flourishing. Despatches, received on the 6th instant, from Nelson state that the lands reserved for the Company in that settlement have already acquired considerable value from the general prosperity of the colonists. And during the period under review, an arrangement has been- made with Her Majesty's Colonial Department, which wUI add no less than 100,000 acres to your possessions." In proposing so small a dividend, the directors express their conviction that, " bytaking this cautious course,. you will not only add to their power of carrying on your affairs with energy and advantage, but that* the public at large, contrasting this forbearance with the vigour and magnitude of your measures of emigration and with the undfc minished support extended to the settlements which you have planted, will be disposed to regard your proceedings with increased favour, and to repose the greater confidence in your judgment and integrity." The fourth number of the " Portfolio " is written by Mr. Terry (author of the book on New Zealand, which we reviewed some time since), with an introduction by Mr. Chapman. Mr. Terry has dwelt much in the same way, in this paper (which is, indeed, almost purely financial), upon the expenditure and probable revenue of these' islands, as he did in his book. To quote the statistic accounts which he gives would be to reprint the entire paper : for them, we refer our readers to the " Portfolio " itselfThe result, upon considering and reconsidering Mr. Terry's view of the matter, hasbeen to strengthen our impression of its truth. The enormous difference between what is stated in the published Government tables as the " probable revenue," or what Mr. Chapman calls the " improbable reve.nue," and what is likely to be the real revenue ; and also the enormous difference between the realty probable revenue, according to the present scheme, and th* expenditure which will be essentiil, also according to the present scheme, is 6uch as, slangwise, brings one up all standing, and" forces on those who are interested in tbe subject the serious- consideration of several matters- Is, or is not,, the position of the colony — whether by the circumstances of ibs settlement by the British nation, or its geographical character — to be considered such as to call-, from the'- necessity of the case,, for any peculiar treatment? And, if so,, what is the nature of the treatment to be adopted? And what is likely to be the result of any proposed unusual treatment being acted upon, or neglected ? Such or some such considerations suggest themselves on the subject x and thus we would endeavour, to the best of our ability, appropriately to treat of it, making such use of Mr. Terry's remarks as shall appear suitable. - - To commence with an extract : — " Of all colonies, New Zealand Is most peculiarly circumstanced, considering the events of its first establishment. In other instances, Great Britain has become possessed of colonies by conquest, or by gradual increase of territory and population from some primary and limited settlement. Those colonies by conquest, such as some of the West India Islands, Mauritius, Cape of Good Hope, &c, have possessed sources of taxation, duties, and consequent revenue, on account of the lengthened period of their existence under the government of other states; while those which have been founded by the English themselves have been commenced on a small scale, the expenditure necessary for their protection and government being, in the first instance, laid down with'' due regard to the population and trade, as to a revenue being derived therefrom to meet such expenditure. " In truth, it may be affirmed that New Zealand is an unprecedented instance of colonization ; for Great Britain has not founded any new colonies since the days of Perm, until the recent settlements within the last fifty years, in Australia : — and in those it will be seen that, in the first formation of each, the machinery of government has been only on one spot — few in number — small in expense, and increasing only with accession of numbers and extension of territory actually occupied, — as Sydney, HobartTown, Launceston, Port Phillip, Adelaide, and Perth." Is there anything in the character of this^ country which renders it probable that it can supply the means for an expenditure unprecedented in a newly-settled country '( Or, on fbfe contrary, has it not peculiarities which make it essential to limit the general expenditure more than is usual, in order to enable each particular settlement more fitly

to supply the means for that portion of-out-» lay of which the benefit is to be especially its own? The geographical character of the country demands what the circumstances of its settlement alone would have otherwise produced, viz., that the town of each settlement should be a sort of little capital, looking wholly to its own country district for support, having but little necessitated interest in other towns ; prevented, by similarity of produce and the consequent absence of call for any important commercial relations, from having any very powerfullyacting community of interests ; in. fact, having none but what might arise in the case of possible future independence, and the consequent necessity for union, to produce political and render effective physical strength. All trade now going on between the various settlements is sure to cease when cultivation shall have proceeded a certain length ; and the possibility of one settlement becoming the seat of one species of production, or manufacturing labour, and another settlement of another, so that there might be mutual import and export, is too remote and improbable to be taken now into account. The difficulties of raising a revenue in the ordinary way, arising from the same geographical character, next present themselves. Custom duties must be raised, at an expense which it is questionable whether the returns will repay } bjr, a all events, it is certain that the*' support of the necessary establishments will run away with the lion's share. Nature has favoured the smuggler ; or rather the world was made, and New Zealand in particular, without respect to custom duties, or the' convenience or economy of their collection and enforcement. [We are obliged to stop, publication at this point for want of room, but shall continue the subject in our next.]

We had intended making some remarks on the letter of " A True Friend of Local Government," but the letter of our correspondent, D n r has prevented us, and we are not sorry to be thus relieved from entering into any discussion on the subject.

The Government brig left New Plymouth for Wellington on Saturday the 25th of March. Besides the Chief Justice, who was on his way to Wellington to hold a sitting of the Supreme Court, Colonel Wakefield returned in the Victoria. Two or three prisoners, to be tried at Wellington, with a host of witnesses, were also taken from New Plymouth, there being no Court as yet established in the latter settlement.

Passengers for Nelson, arrived by the Phoebe: — Cabin, Mr. and Mrs. Kildreth and family, Mr. and Mrs. Greenwood and family, Captain Gordon, Messrs. Bellans, Jordan, Sinclair, Stubbs, A. and E. Wetherell, Standish, and Keely ; fore cabin, Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, and family, Mr. and Mrs. Palmer and family, Mr. and Mrs. Faucett arid family, Messrs. C. W. Jackson, Little, J. Palmer, and Patten.

The Royal George. — The operations on the wreck of this vessel have ceased for the season. Though Major-General Pasley's sanguine expectations of finishing the entire removal of the wreck this season have thus been disappointed, yet so much las been done, that no reasonable person can now entertain a doubt of the practicability of the attainment of this important national object. The quantity of pig-iron ballast got up this season amounts to more than 103$ tons, and the quantity now remaining at the bottom is only 23 tons. Rather more than 114 tons of shot have likewise been got up, and the quantity of timber recovered this season amounted to about 18,100 cubic feet, or 362 loads. In the afterpart of the wreck, where the keel still remains, but measuring only 62 feet of its original- length, part of the floor timbers also remain, -together with the coppered outside planking on each side : but in the forepart of the wreck, where the keel has been entirely removed, nothing but the planking remains. In proportion as the timbers of the wreck have been removed the shoal of mud has been diminished in height, and the original depth of the anchorage has been restored in those parts whence j the keel was got up. The quantity of gunpowder fired this year, all by the voltaic battery, in charges which were less than 18 and none greater than about 1701b., amounted to 9,4121b., or 4 tons 4 cwt. 4 lb. ; of which 745 lb. were expended in the demolition of the wreck of Tracy's lighter. — London paper, Nov. 12.