AUCKLAND. [From the Southern Cross.]

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 107, 23 March 1844, Page 11

AUCKLAND. [From the Southern Cross.]

Anniversary op the Ruin of New Zealand. — Monday was kept as a holiday at the Government offices, in commemoration of the famous Treaty of Waitangi ; but, beyond this simple circumstance, there wast little else in Auckland to indicate any rejoicing at the perennial return of the recollection of that fatal day. In truth, the people of this country, European and native, have little cause to think of the day of Waitangi with any other feelings but those of the deepest regret and sorrow. The day of Waitangi will ever be associated in the minds of the natives and old settlers of this colony with deception, fraud, and wrong. Our liberties, our rights, and our adopted country were sacrificed on that day. Why should we rejoice because of its return ? — Feb. 3. Brandy converted into Salt Water. — The ingenuity of our friends in Sydney since the late depression in New South Wales, has been much talked of. Their success in various schemes unheard of before is doubtless remarkable. But the boiling down is nothing to the new invention of converting brandy into salt water. This is an actual fact. Several casks of brandy were shipped aboard the Ituna in Sydney, freight paid for them, .and consigned to this place to order, where they were landed and received into the bonded stores, for the purpose of ascertaining the exact amount of duty to be paid. Our tide surveyor, who is very expert at discovering and enforcing the rights of her Majesty, inserted his mysterious rod into the interior of these mysterious casks, and behold the brandy was found to have been converted into pure salt water! The Sydney people are really ingenious ! 1 Manganese. — We are happy to hear that this mineral has been found in abundance at Wangari. The Thomas Lord is about to load with peroxide of manganese for Sydney, to be shipped for England on account of Mathew Whytiaw, Esq., the proprietor of the mine, who is himself about proceeding to England in the Bangalore. Mr. Whytiaw is much interested in the welfare of this colony. He has, resided here for the last seven or eight months, and has had the opportunity of making himself intimately acquainted with the varied resources of our country, which we doubt not he will use every effort in representing fairly at home. We expect much from Mr. "Whytlaw's exertions in England. His own well-known character will be sufficient guarantee for the accuracy of his statements; and, after his experience in this country, we may safely trust him to speak of New Zealand to our friends at home.

Smuggling. — Several of the merchants and traders at the Bay of Islands have sent us complaints regarding the prevalence of smuggling in spirits and tobacco. The trade in these articles has completely departed from the honest dealers, and is now altogether in the hands of the smugglers. We do not by any means blame the officers of Customs for the occurrence of this circumstance. Indeed, we do not see how they can, without an efficient preventive service, render any protection to the honest dealer.

From a letter of one of our Bay of Islands correspondents on this subject, we quote the following : " Business is very dull here at present, selling spirits and tobacco are out of the question. The ships are paying the natives for their trade and produce in tobacco, at lOd. to Is. per pound. A person can buy as much tobacco as he likes from the natives for Is. per pound. The publicans buy everything they require from the vessels, and land them without paying duty. I could get tons of tobacco and lots of spirits in this bay, for which duty has never been paid. Under these circumstances, how can the honest dealer expect to do any good ? For my own part, I do not intend to deal < ither in tobacco or spirits if I could once get rid of the supply on hand, which can only be done at a ruinous loss."— Feb. 10.

Watering Place for Ships.— The late Government have been upwards of three years destroying the resources of the colony and devouring its revenues; and although the late Governor and the Officer administering the Government were both of them naval men, neither the one nor the other paid the slightest regard to the accommodation of the shipping which visit our harbour. Neither landing nor watering places have been made for their convenience. We are happy, however, to perceive that, since the arrival of Captain Fitzroy, the latter evil has been remedied. An excellent watering place has been made in Official Bay, where any number of ships can, with little trouble, procure an abundant supply of water. The expense of this work is so trifling, and the labour so small, that, did we not too well know the character of the late Government, we should have wondered how they could have neglected such an essential matter as a watering place. We trust his Excellency will manifest equal promptness m causing a landing place to be constructed. — Feb. 17".

The Hokianga Natives. — In to-day's paper we publish a translation of a letter forwarded to his Excellency the Governor by two intelligent and influential young native chiefs from Hokianga : — " To the Governor the Representative of the Queen of England. " Hokianga, Feb. 5, 1844. " Sir — Welcome, welcome ! Come you and see the state of this country. The intentions of the Queen are good ; but we wish you to make known your intentions, that we may clearly understand.

" Here we are living. Originally, when this land had no Governor, it was well with us; we acquired the goods of Europeans ; but now we are returned to the use of our coarsest and most worthless garments, the ngeri and the pataj we are now like the dog returned to his vomit; and we know that it was the Governor who is dead who has quite ruined us. You must think of this. Listen to our opinion, in which all the natives of this place agree. Our judgment is, that the Governor who is dead has involved this country in error. Had his proceedings continued to accord with the intentions of the Queen which were proclaimed by him at Waitangi and all other places of this land on his first arrival, it had been well with us. It was not then intimated to us that the Queen should have the exclusive right to purchase our waste lands. Our understanding of it was that the Queen should have the first offer; but, should we not come v to terms, we should sell our waste lands to whomsoever would purchase them. Nor did we understand at that time that any portion of the lands we had sold to the subjects of the Queen of England, who had previously taken up their abode amongst us, should be taken away from them for the Queen. Is this in your judgment a just thing ? In our opinion it is entirely wrong : hence our confidence has been shaken in the Europeans, and we have thought they will next turn upon us, take our lands from us, and kill us. His errors have been numerous. This is our opinion; but we are ignorant people, and we only wish to name to you the most important. Now, is it your opinion that it was a just act to seize the kauri of the forests, that we should not be allowed to fell them for the Europeans who had paid for their lands ? By this we have been involved in debt with our Europeans who live amongst us. Do not you be displeased with the things which we now make known to you; we are living in debt and distress, on account of the great quantity of goods we have obtained on credit and are not paid for. We informed the Commissioner of Land Claims, and also the Governor, that we wished to pay our debts with land, but it was not agreed to. We said to the Governor who is now dead, when he first arrived at this place, ' Let your proceedings here be just, that you may not be found guilty at the Day of Judgment. 1 So likewise we say to you. Let your conduct be quite right, that we may rejoice together before our Saviour at the last day. This is our desire. ' From Moses Mabe*

William Barton.

" Another thought has occurred to us : let your answer be given to the person who takes this letter, that we may soon hear."

Arrival of the first Whaler in Auckland. — The Nereide is the first whaler which has entered our splendid harbour, but we are quite certain that before a long period shall elapse Auckland will be the favourite resort of these vessels. There is no port in- the South Sea Islands where a vessel can enter with more safety and ease than our port; and we are quite certain that provisions and supplies of all kinds cannot be more abundantly or more cheaply procured in any other place. We expect very shortly to see Auckland made the head-quarters of all the English whalers in the Pacific. It would be an immense saving to owners of whalers, instead of sending their whale ships home with their cargoes, to tranship the oil in Auckland ; and in this manner keep

the whaling vessels always on the whaling grounds. The time they would thus save in passage homewards and outwards would much more than pay the expense of freight.