AUCKLAND.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 72, 22 July 1843, Page 287

AUCKLAND.

We received last week, by the Pickwick the Auckland Chronicle and the Southern Cross of May 27. The preparation of flax for exportation appears to have excited a considerable share of public attention at Auckland* The Chronicle has a long article on the subject, in which it states that the average price of Russian hemp is £40 per ton, and the cost of New Zealand flax, including freight and other charges, £26. We hope there may be no mistake in this state' ment. Our contemporary also says that flax to the value of £50,000 will be exported from the colony in the ensuing year.

The following letter, which appears in the Southern Cross, shows the sort of benefit the colony is likely to derive from the presence of the Parkhurst boys :—: —

To the Editor of the Southern Cross. Sir — I have now had the pleasure of perusing three numbers of your Southern Cross, which have shed their illuminating rays over the fair waters of the Waikato, and I rejoice to find that the capital of New Zealand at last boasts a journal worthy the country whose interests it advocates*. You will doubtless imagine that we, poor souls, buried in the bush, and having no one to associate with but the lords of the soil, have great difficulty in spending our now long evenings ; but our firesides do not want the merry tale ; and the vivacious natives, after their return from the now frequent visits which they pay to the capital with provisions for sale, have as many and good yarns to tell as were ever spun in the cock-pit of a man-of-war. The purport of my present letter is to initiate you into a secret or two, which I have picked up from my sable friends, when discussing their doings in the great city ; as it may be the means of putting your shopkeepers on their guard when trading with these innocent people/ If you heard them telling each other iiow they " did " the white men, you would smile at the idea of the necessity of that useful class denominated Protectors of Aborigines. You must know then, that, On approaching the capital with their pigs, &c, they are frequently met by one or two iomaitepakehas, alias Parkhurst Seedlings, who all at once take a great interest in their welfare, and enter into a very lively conversation with them> which is highly edifying to the native, and from which he profits not a little, while your storekeepers sustain no small loss. .After he sells his "porka," &c, and, to make use of Seedling phraseology, " fingers the blunt," accompanied by one or two of his tribe, he enters a shop to make his purchases ; and, as he says, whenever he displays the " money gold," the "pakeha" flies about in all directions, covering the counter with goods, to secure, if possible, the treasure. There is something still, however, on the shelf he must have down. The shopman is all alacrity. Deluded mortal ! — when his back ia turned, a cap, a shirt, a waiatsoat, or a pair of trousers, is slipped in below the blanket worn by the native, or handed to an accomplice in the rear, and some other article is pulled forward for examination to supply the place of tha stolen property; Here the " Seedling," watching outside the effect of his inunctions, grins with delight. Such, lam sorry to say, is the system extensively practised in your metropolis, and many are the trophies I see here exultmgly displayed : from a blanket to a handkerchief. The "Seedling," however, 'seldom gets much for his lessons in "prigging," as the native coolly tells him, if he wants anything, "he must steal for himself.*' fie kindly, however, escorts the natives to their huts in tbe suburbs, and, sleeping with them there, manages frequently to ease them of any superfluous money they may have left. The other day a chief from this district wished to make a purchase of tobacco, to the amount of £6, but could not get any to his liking. On his return home, he got eased of bis burden, as I have described. I cannot conclude my letter, Mr. Editor, without calling upon you, and every friend and well-wisher of the native race, to remonstrate with the Home Government against such vile importations at that per the St. George. It was a gross breach of faith to the European settlers. It will prove a baneful curse to the moral welfare of the native population. I remain, sir, Your obedient servant; Waikato, May 13. . " P»o«CToiur