THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, August 19, 1843.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 76, 19 August 1843, Page 302

THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, August 19, 1843.

Lea joummnx devieanest pins nfoeaaairaa * merara qoe lea hommea wmt plui dganx, et V indfrridualiama ,plu it craindre. Cc aenft <Hnwr leur importance quadacn>i» J[a' ila na aenrant qa' Ji gawttir la tibertl: ila wafatfenncnt aciTiliaation. . - - . . Da TocauiYiLLß. „ DaUrß^moavti^cn Ameriqae, topa*,4,.p, saa»» Journals become mote qeceaaary aa men bacome mora equal, and indiYidttaUimniort $) be feared. It .would be to underrate their j^portaAce. to anppoae that they aerve only to laettra liberty : the? maintain cmjUiMion. D* TocauiviLL*. Of Democracy in America, vol . 4, p. 90S.

We announce, with much pleasure, that the intelligence brought by the Mary is of a more satisfactory description than any which has reached us • from. England for a long period. News of the death of Captain Hobson had been received ; and, from the good understanding which existed between the Government and the Company, it was confidently expected that measures would be speedily adopted to give the Comaany's settlements the advantages of local govefc^ ment by the appointment of a LieutenantGovernor at Wellington* <

In our remarks last week on the Proclamation lately issued by his Excellency the Officer administering the-- Government, we expressed our conviction that it would be taken by the natheg as an invitation to outrage on the settlers, and materially increase the difficulties by which the Government is beset. Our apprehensions, we regret to say, are already being realized. By referring to our extracts from the Port Nicholson papers, our readers will perceive ■ that the natives are not slow to avail themselves of the pretext for aggression which this, impolitic, this most mischievous production affords them, The facts" are these t—Four labouring men, named Manson, have been driveni>y a body of natives from a section qn the Hutt which they had taken on lease for twenty-one years, and which they have occupied for the last six months. To use their own words; " "ti*y had workW- day and night to make a little money, and get a crop into; the land they bad cleared {about seven acres), and vow, when their wheat is in the ground and Ithey have no other resource, they are driven off .from the fruit of theif labours." These poor men then applied, to the Police Magistrate for assistance, who told 'them that "he considered . that the natives had not been paid for the land, that they seemed to him. to be in the right!, an.d that he could ghre no assistance 1 to thit Mftnsont." Verify;

these police magistrates are extraordinary gentlemen; and are -fitting supportofrs.iijtheir no IfessP extraordinary superior.; ''But a few 1 ' weeks have elapsed since one of 'these worthies assumed a privilege belonging only to the Governor ; and now we have another who modestly relieves the Land Claims Commissioner from a portion of his duties by decididg, on ah ex parte statement, a question upon which the learned Commissioner himself hesitates to give his opinion aftex ttt twelvemonth's consideration. If our police magistrates possess these despotic jjowers? where is the need of a Governor or

Commissioners either ? We are not so rich that we can "afford these expensive puppets for mere show. 7.

f With regard to the nature of the decision in this case, does any one — can any one — believe that, if the white man had been the aggressor and the Maori the complainant, the latter would have been suffered to depart without a promise of redress — toJiave

(nixed with his countrymen and procl*rS|i his wrong and the triumph of his oppressors? No, no one believes or affects . to believe this ; it is too plain that the administration of the, law in New Zealand is a mockery : nor shall we be accused of exaggeration in faying that the natives as against the white population are doubly protected— by our laws, which' are rigidly enforced when in their favour; and, when otherwise, by the

|tesistance they oppose to the execution of those laws, in which they are encouraged by the timidity and tampering policy of Government : whilst the white population as against the. aggressions of the natives have, in reality, no protection at all. Even their Police Magistrates, paid from their pockets to dispense justice impartially,, will djAt assist them, but evade their application urn a redress of their grievances by pretending to decide on a matter in which they know they have no jurisdiction* The Mansons did not apply to the Police Magistrate for his opinion on the validity of their title : they rented land and occupied it ; they had cleared it and got in their seed ; and they sought only that protection from outrage which the law should give to enable them to reap the fruits of their labour in security. The Question of title was undergoing instigation in a higher court, created s«feW to adjudicate on. this and similar disputed claims ; and, pending such inquiry, occupiers of land are unquestionably entitled to protection from violence of any sort. At all events, if our opinion be erroneous in this matter and this "justices' justice " be

in accordance with law, there is not a house nor a rood of ground in all, New Zealand from which the white population may not, at a moment's notice, be forcibly ejected : no legal process of any sort is requisite ; the Rauparahas and Ranghiaitas have but to claim the land -or deny its sale — with police magistrates their ipse dixit wisj^be sufficient — and those who should be ok protectors will permit, if they do not assist these tender-hearted savages to drive the settlers into the sea. To the colonists generally, it is immaterial whether this state of things be the result of a settled hostility** our rulers towards the settlements in Cook^j Straits, or of their confused notions of what, in the present emergency, is most expedient: we attribute no unworthy motives : but we cannot conscientiously refrain from expressing our conviction that, if the present <me be persisted in, the very existence of tin| colony as a British dependency is threatened with annihilation.

Our Wellington contemporary, in an article on Mr. M'Donogh's late attempi%frJ appoint a Police Magistrate for this districts has the following remarks .: — : " We are extremely- happy to-observe the tone in which the people' of Nelson have takeu up the affair of the massacre. We do not percervgfthe •lightest attempt in.any quarter to gloss it onft: even the Government officers (wholere would 9i soon think of burning their commissions) attend the public meetings, sign the remonstrances, and enter heartily into the views of the settlers. There is no emollient process at work» no softening of massacres into contests, bat one honest, manly bunt of indignation at the murder of their fellow, settlers antf w misconduct of Government which

led to it. They appear to.be already aware that the inhabitants of this settlement feel and will act With them. They taay rest assured that} with the exception of perhaps half-a^dozeh'salaried officers of Government, not a man here will fhinlc at act otherwise." The declaration contained in the last sen-i tence is as gratifying to the inhabitants of Nelson as it is honourable to their fellowcolonists. Concerning the independent feeling evinced by the magistrates and Government officers here, in entering heartily into the views of the settlers, it may be as well to mention that these gentlemen are not the mere creatures of Government, solely^ie* pendent on its patronage for subsistence ; they have, almost to a man, a stake in, the welfare and progress of the settlement, and consequently, on all matters which are likely to promote or retard such progress and welfare, their interests and feelings are identical with those of their fellow-settlers. That the Government officers at Wellington would as soon think of burning their commissions as attend public meetings and sign

Remonstrances to their patrons, requires no great stretch of faith to believe. Why not endeavour to get rid of them ?

We learn from a gentleman, a passenger in the Sir John Franklin from Wellington, that a highly important public meeting was held in that town on Thursday week. As this is a day later than the date of our latest Wellington paper, we are, of course, unable to give details ; but we understand that the meeting, -which was . very numerously and respectably attended, had been called to receive the report of the Committee of Public Safety, and that the business was closed by unanimously passing a series of resolutions condemning the conduct of and declaring the absence of public confidence in the resident authorities. This looks as if our friends were in earnest. We wait witb/^ some anxiety for particulars.

The Mary, which left Portsmouth about the end of March, arrived at Wellington on the 9th' instant, and the Tyne, which sailed from Gravesend on the 7th of February, arrived two days later. The mail by the Tyne has not reached Nelson, the Sir John Franklin having sailed before she had anchored. With two or three exceptions, the' newspapers brought by the Mary have not been forwarded, and our English extracts are consequently very scanty. A little exertion on the part of the Wellington Postmaster would have given -us the whole of our letters and papers, as the Sir John Franklin was windbound within the heads until the I3th.* The Mary has several cabin and intermediate passengers, some of whom we believe are for this place. We have not heard ' whether there are any passengers in the Tyne. The next vessel will be the James Stoveld, which was to sail a few days after the Mary, to be followed by the Mandarin and , In another page will be found the commencement of a narrative of the dreadful march from Cabooi in January 1842. It is \ the only connected account of that disaster |which we have yet seen. We trust that no Apology is necessary for introducing it to our readers. -- A monster of the seal kind was captured on the sands without the harbour on Saturday last. It measured 11 feet 5 inches in fength and 6 feet 5 inches across from fin to fin. Its skin is beautifully marked, and of a very silky texture. -

We omitted to mention in a .former paper that Captain Taylor, of the Catherine Johnstone, had informed us that the earthquake which was felt both here and at Wellington on the Bth of July, was far more severely felt at Wanganui. Several brick chimneys were thrown down, and on the-banks of the river the earth sank in several places to the depth of many feet.

Charity ok no Account to be broken. — Our fallibility and theshortness of our knowledge should make us peaceable and gentle. Because I may be mistaken, I must not be dogmatical and confident, peremptory and imperious. I will not break the certain laws of charity for a doubtful doctrine or an uncertain truth.— Whieheote.