THE NELSON EXAMINER. NELSON, MAY 11, 1844.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 113, 11 May 1844, Page 38

THE NELSON EXAMINER. NELSON, MAY 11, 1844.

Les journaux deviennent plus ne'eessaires h. mesure que les homines sont plus dgaiix, et 1' individualiame plus a craindre. Cc serait diminuer leur importance que de croire qu' iln ne servent qu' & garantir la liberti : ils maintiennent la civilisation.

D« TocatJKViLi/E. De la Democratic en Amerique, tome 4, p. 220.

Journals become more necessary as 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. D« Tocauiyiti,*. Of Democracy in America, tol . 4, p. 203.

We insert in our paper of to-day a letter from Mr. John N. Beit, on the subject of the Petition to Parliament relative to his Excellency's disposal of the Wairau affair, at present in course of signature in this settlement. This we do partly because we wish to open our columns at all times to the free expression of opinion, whether consistent with our own or not; and partly because we think the effect of Mr. Beit's letter will be rather to induce parties to sign the petition than to deter them from doing so ; for it may be supposed that the reasons for not signing which he is anxious to lay before the public are the best reasons that can be offered, and we are satisfied that, if none better can be given than he gives, there is very little to be said on that side of the question.

It is perhaps natural that Mr. Beit should be indifferent about vindicating the memory of those who fell at the Wairau. He was never personally acquainted with any of them — they were not his countrymen — nor, except through the common ties' of humanity, can he have any sympathy with them. It is not therefore perhaps very wonderful that he should think it more desirable " to conciliate" the Governor than to vindicate those whom the Governor's conduct has injured. Those, however, who were personally acquainted with them, who enjoyed their friendship while living, and in whose hearts their loss has created a loss not easily to be filled, will not hesitate to affix their names to a document which has for its object the protection of the good names of their friends and fellow-countrymen.

Mr. Beit appears to have' been misinformed respecting the -transmission of petitions to Parliament the Local 'Government. All complaints against the' Local Government addressed to the Colonial Office in England must be forwarded through th?s Local Government; but the British Parliament is not tramelled by any such official rules, and will notice petitions sent home direct — which indeed is the only way in which they can Toe laid before Parliament. Mr. Beit, being a foreigner, is probably not much acquainted with English practice in such matters ; but we believe he will find that he is wrong in his supposition. It is, however, intended to forward a copy of the petition to the Governor, for courtesy's sake, and it will be accompanied by a Memorial on the same subject to Lord Stanley, so that when the petition is brought before Parliament the Colonial Minister may not be unprepared.

The idea expressed by Mr. Beit, that this petition will tend to keep up excitement, has already been adverted to by us. We regard it as the most certain method of allaying excitement. Petitions are an excellent safety-valve ; many curses, both loud and deep, are softened down by this constitutional remedy. We do not know whether freedom of petition exists in the Low Countries, of which we understand Mr. Beit is a native ; but, in England, it has always been considered not a great source of excitement, but a great security for public tranquillity.

We are happy to be able to add that, at a very numerous public meeting for the formation of a Flour MilljCompany, on Tuesday last, at which nearly all .the res* pectahility and wealth of the colony were present, the petition was handed round for signature, and, with the exception of {we believe) three individuals, every person in the room signed it. Mr. Beit, it seems, will not. We must do without his signature — if we can.

We think it was Solomon, the third king of the Jews, who observed that " he who meddleth with strife belonging not to him is like a man who taketh a wolf by the ears;" — by which he may be understood to mean that busybodies are apt to get monkey's allowance, more kicks than halfpence. For this reason we very sedulously avoid meddling in anybody's politics besides our own, and have, as a natural consequence, lived hitherto on most amicable terms with all our colonial contemporaries.

The course lately pursued by our contemporary at Wellington has, however, induced us on the present occasion to depart from our ordinary practice, and leads us to notice the tone of the articles which have lately appeared in his paper. For four years our contemporary has been the steady and consistent supporter of the Company's settlements. Public faith in the Company itself has been maintained and cherished by our contemporary, and the acts of the Company's principal Agent have not only been in general uncensured, but frequently, and quite recently, vindicated and applauded. All on a sudden a change takes place. We are informed by our contemporary that the Company's principal Agent has ceased to subscribe to our contemporary's paper, and has discontinued its remittance to parties in England whom the said principal Agent represents. And then, iotis viribus, with tooth and nail, our contemporary falls foul of the Company's principal Agent, and declares that, for the future, he (our contemporary) intends to employ himself in continually showing up the misconduct of the said Agent, past, present, and to come.

There is too much temper displayed in our contemporary's columns for us sot to perceive that there is something more in all this than meets the eye. It is clear that there has been some quarrel, some rupture or other, between the parties, which has led to this sudden outbreak. It is not possible otherwise to account for the line of attack now pursued hy our contemporary, at the

termination of four years' acquiescence in (if not approbation of) the conduct of the principal Agent.

We have, however, looked in vain up and down our contemporary's columns for a hint as to the cause of it all. The only glimpse of insight with which we are favoured is to be found in his paper of the , 27th March, 1844; and it is because the subject slightly touches Nelson that we are induced to notice it at all. We read in thafej paper an article headed" New Edinburgh," in which our contemporary comments upon . the appointment of Mr. Tuckett (late chief; surveyor here) to the office of explorer and interim agent at New Edinburgh. Our contemporary complains bitterly of the first Wellington surveying staff being passed over on this occasion ; and it would seem i that this has something at least to do with his recent attacks on the principal Agent. We are not ourselves aware why the first Wellington surveying staff was superseded some two years ago and another sent out from England to replace it. Doubtless there were important reasons for so considerable a step, and probably they may have operated to prevent the employment of that staff in the New Edinburgh settlement. In the meantime, we cannot concur in our contemporary's views of there being any impropriety in the appointment of Mr. Tuckett. Though later in entering it, we,| believe he has been as long in the Company's service as any of the first Wellington staff; and his energy and the successful execution of his surveys have, we know, been recently the subject of express approbation from the Board of Directors. Morerover, exploring is stated to be Mr. Tuckett's peculiar forte; and we have little doubt that he will prove his ability by a judicious selection of the site of New Edinburgh. We can, however, scarcely think that this appointment has led our contemporary to j adopt his present course. The thing is of too little moment in a public point of view : and even in a private one, if motives of friendship should operate, they would scarcely account for the course pursued. If surveyors were monarchs of all they surveyed, the loss of a good job might be a serious matter, and even touch the prosperity of the settlement to which the surveyors belonged ; bnt, as it is, we cannot believe that so trivial a cause could give rise to so great an effect. At the same time, we repeat that we cannot fathom the mystery ; and, till we have further light, we can only attribute the sudden change in our contemporary's politics to the causes touched upon in his paper already referred to.

Our correspondent, " O. P. Q.," has anticipated our wishes, and relieved us rfbm the duty of adverting to a subject which we had long intended to bring before our readers. We can scarcely doubt that our fellow-settlers will fully concur in our correspondent's suggestions, which we hope to see universally adopted.