AUCKLAND.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 125, 27 July 1844, Page 83

AUCKLAND.

We have received the Southern Cross to the 6th of July, and the Chronicle to the 4th. The doings in Council, as may be supposed, engross the greater part of the columns of our contemporaries.

A public meeting was held on the 19th of June, for the purpose of remonstrating with the Governor on the injustice and hardship of imposing fresh taxes in the present condition of the colony. Two resolutions were adopted to that effect, and a deputation of some of the principal inhabitants appointed to forthwith wait on the Governor^

We copy from the Chronicle the result of the interview :—: —

" On the arrival of the deputation at Government House, several of the mechanics, labourers, &c, followed, being naturally anxious to learn the result. Mr. Graham, as chairman, informed the priyate secretary that a public meeting had just been held, at which two resolutions were passed, which resolutions he (Mr. Graham) wished to lay. before his Excellency; and informed him at the same time that the deputation was in attendance, who would wish to speak with the Governor when convenient. The deputation were shown into the library, and, in a few minutes, his Excellency made his appearance, when Mr. Graham rose to explain the cause of their visit ; but his Excellency claimed the privilege of speaking first. He commenced by saying he was sorry the gentlemen composing the deputation had not given him previous notice of their intention of waiting on him, as ,he considered their abrupt manner a breach of etiquette and wanting in proper respect. He. then asked were all the gentlemen the deputation, and, on being answered in the negative, said, when the gentlemen retired whose names were not down as belonging to the deputation, he would then hear what they had to say. Upon this, several of the parties left the room; and his Excellency then commenced lecturing the deputation, when, after listening for a few minutes, the whole of them rose up, and unceremoniously left the room, without waiting for any reply."

The chairman of the meeting (Mr. W. S. Graham) has published a letter in the Southern Cross, which gives some additional particulars : from this we take the following : —

" Wednesday being the day appointed by his Excellency himself to receive visitors on public business, I considered it would be an unnecessary waste of time to communicate with the private secretary as to when his Excellency would receive the deputation. Accordingly, we proceeded at once from the meeting to Government House. On arriving there, I asked for the private secretary, and, putting a copy of the resolutions passed at the meeting, with a list of the names of the gentlemen comprising the deputation, into his hands, I requested him to lay them before his Excellency, and to say that the deputation were desirous of an interview with his Excellency, if convenient. A few minutes having elapsed, he returned, and said that he was afraid his Excellency could not see the deputation at present. I then requested him to say that if it was not possible for his Excellency to see the deputation that day, they would beg an interview with his Excellency the following morning, before the Council met. The private secretary returned, and requested the gentlemen of the deputation to walk into a room, which we did.

" In the meantime, it appears that a number of individuals who had attended the meeting, and who were naturally anxious to hear the result of the interview with his Excellency, pressed into the room (I believe shown in by the Governor's butler, or some other person in attendance), but of the presence of those individuals I was entirely ignorant until they were shown into the room ; and I made the remark to the gentleman sitting next to me (Mr. Montefiore) that those individuals whose names were not on the deputation ought not to be there; but, before the matter could be arranged, his Excellency came into the room, and commenced a tirade of abuse, equally uncalled for as it was insulting. I, on the part of the deputation, explained that there was not the slightest disrespect intended towards his Excellency ; and the only reason I could give for the additional number being present, was their great Anxiety to hear the result of the interview.

" His Excellency then called over the names of those gentlemen comprising the deputation, and the others left the room. I was then in hopes that his Excellency would enter upon the business of our interview, but I was disappointed, and, to my great astonishment, his Excellency indulged in another abusive attack, such as I have never heard in any drawingroom before, and such as no gentleman could submit to, more particularly as every explanation had been made that there was no want of respect on the part of the deputation towards his Excellency. " The deputation then left his Excellency, after informing him that he laboured under a great mistake in supposing that the deputation came there to be lectured by his Excellency on etiquette, or propriety of conduct, and wished his Excellency good morning. " I cannot help feeling that individually I was insulted, as well as every gentleman on the deputation ; but this is not all, the public, the inhabitants of Auckland, have been grievously insulted through their representatives on the occasion referred to, and told, forsooth, that they ought to be ashamed of their conduct !

"His Excellency surely forgot himself; he might have imagined that he was on board of ship; but I trust a little of the "wholesome opposition " which his Excellency so much delights in, will teach him that quarter-deck discipline will not do in a colony of free-born Britons."