PORT NICHOLSON.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 179, 9 August 1845, Page 90

PORT NICHOLSON.

His Excellency. Captain Fitzßoy, since the commencement of Heki's pranks with the flagstaff, has, we understand, expended not less than the enormous sum of £11,300 in the charter of vessels. He has, at this time; the Slams Castle under charter for three months, at £500 per month, and the British Sovereign at £600 a month ; in addition to these, he has taken up the Velocity,. Vixen, Albert, and Aurora. Will the Treasury at home sanction this expenditure, or will it be made a charge upon the colonial revenue?*. We fear the latter; and thus this infant cdhay will be saddled with a debt, which in tkprrpreaent state of its revenue will take

.years to discharge. — Wellington Independent, June 257 ' We call attention to an advertisement of James Smith and Co., for 100 tons of New Zealand flax and 10 tons hinau bark. We are pleased to find these products are in demand. --Ibid.

We understand that it is in contemplation, by the retailers, to issue immediately debentures of the respective values of one shilling and sixpence, to be taken in payment for goods, or to be redeemed by Government debentures of a larger value. The difficulty in obtaining small change has induced the retailers to adopt this small-paper currrency. — Ibid, July 5. New Zealand Oil Casks. — Messrs. Gunn and Murray have received a letter from Captain Ashbridge, of the Bella Marina, reporting most favourably of the oil casks made from New Zealand woods. We have never had any doubt as to the ultimate success of New Zealand casks ; and the satisfactory report of Captain Ashbridge must be most gratifying to Messrs. Gunn and Murray, who were the first to Venture in the speculation of making casks from New Zealand woods. Some of the casks sent by the Bella Marina were made of hinau and others of black birch.— lbid, July 12.

Wool. — There is a great demand for New Zealand wool in the London markets, and good prices may be expected. We hope this intelligence may at once' induce those hesitating to go into sheep farming, at once to do so, rather than allow their capital to remain longer idle. — Ibid. Sheep. — According to advices received from Sydney, a vessel was about to embark there 800 ewes for Messrs. Northwood and Tiffin. Sheep continue to advance, and good ewes cannot now be had in Sydney under ten shillings per head. — Ibid, July 19Trade appears to be steady and improving in the neighbouring colonies. By the last advices, to the general surprise, wool had advanced threepence per lb. in England. This advance affects the New South Wales clip to more than the extent of £100,000 in value. As we have throughout confidently affirmed must 6oon be the case, flour is steadily advancing in price. The prospects of grain growers in this colony are now more promising. We have always been of opinion, are still so, and recent low prices never affected it, that the average price of flour will, over a series of years, be found in this part of the world nearer £20 than £15 per ton.— lb.

Hinau Bark. — Captain Robertson reports favourably of hinau bark for the purposes of dyeing. — Ibid.

Under some belief that £50 debentures or bonds would be more acceptable than small notes, they were sent here, but they have not proved serviceable. Efforts have been made to deposit them as collateral securities, with bills at three months, signed by respectable persons, but the Bank cannot entertain the proposition. The militiamen are therefore unpaid. What is to be done ? The militia are as much entitled to pay as the regulars, for they have been called from customary occupations to maintain the authority of her Majesty in New Zealand. We should think there ought to be no hesitation to pay them from the commissariat chest. Sure we are such a mode, especially considering circumstances and distance, would, immediately it was known, be sanctioned by the Home Government. The £50 debentures, for the payment of the militia, are useless; and we. would suggest, if no better mode can be devised, that, on their being deposited, Major Richmond should issue the pay of the men and officers, or that the captains of companies should take the £50 bonds and issue to their men the month's pay as against them, payable in the £50 bonds. Where there is a will there is a way, and of this we are assured, let it be determined that the finance shall be maintained at the present moment, and it will be maintained. The confusion reigning here just now is no novelty in the history of commerce, and with determination and intelligence order may be got out of chaos, and at no distant date. — Ibid, July 23.

Wreck of the Tyne. — The sea being comparatively smooth at Sinclair Head, on Friday last, Captain Robertson engaged Young's boat, with a crew of seven hands, to go round, having supplied them with tapering screws. On Saturday morning they succeeded, by means of the screw, in getting up a specie box, containing 1,000 sovereigns, which they immediately brought round and lodged in the Bank for salvage. The boat started again on Saturday evening, but they have since lost the grappling implements among the wreck. Captain Robertson entertains hopes that more of the specie will be found if the weather continues favourable. — Ib.

We are happy to find that a good demand is arising in the neighbouring colonies for New Zealand wood. Pine, for house-building purposes, is said to be worth twenty shillings per hundred feet; and orders having been given here has already raised the price of timber from five to seven shillings per hundred feet. The brig Palmyra is loading with oil, flax, rope, pine, and furniture timber for South Australia, and we hope the result will be satisfactory. — Ibid, July 26. Flour. — This article is becoming very scarce and dear. We trust the merchants of Sydney, Hobart Town, and Adelaide will speedily send a supply. In return we can give them a variety of articles suitable to their own markets. — Ibid.

We have heard it stated that the value of native trade with this settlement is between £20,000 and £30,000 annually. We suppose this means that the natives purchase from us blankets, calicoes, tobacco, guns, flour, sugar, &c. t to this amount. It would be highly desirable to ascertain how near this statement is to the truth. If correct, it furnishes a strong reason for the continuance of a good understanding between ourselves and the Maories, and no doubt it has its due effect upon them in their

relations with us. — New Zealand Spectator, June 28. New Zealand Staves. — The oil shipped in the Bella Marina, in casks made from the tawai, by Messrs. Gunn and Murray, of this town, have fully answered the expectations that were entertained of them. We are informed, by a gentleman experienced in these matters, who inspected them, that the leakage from them was not more than that from the best English casks. This, with the present demand for New Zealand staves for beef and tallow casks in Sydney, will, we hope, prove a great encouragement to this branch jpf industry.—- Ibid, July 12. As the amount of salvage on the Tyne exceeded the amount; of duty, according to Act of Parliament no duty could be levied. The amount of duties lost to the Government is estimated at £I,ooo— enough to have built a lighthouse ; which, had it existed, would have prevented the possibility of such a misfortune. Captain Fitzßoy's attention was directed to this very subject, in the memorial presented to him on his first arrival at Port Nicholson, and he promised to attend to it; but, like all his other promises, it has not been since thought of. — , Ibid, July 19. About a month ago, we were led to believe that Crown grants for Port Nicholson and Nelson would be forwarded by the next vessel from Auckland ; but we are ever doomed to be dis-^ appointed on this subject, as the Crown grants were not forwarded by the Palmyra. — Ibid. Hinau Bark. — It is said that the dyeing property is as strong in the wood as in the bark ; and we have heard that, at. Auckland as much of the one as the other has been shipped for dyeing purposes. — Ibid, July 26. The Rover's Bride, a small vessel of 40 tons, left this port with thirty persons on board, besides a full cargo ; and we cannot refrain from asking, Why is not the Passengers' Act enforced in this port by the local anthorities ? This duty, we believe, devolves on the Customs department; but the responsibility of seeing that the laws affecting the health and safety of the colonists are duly enforced must rest with the superintendent, if this office is something more than a sinecure with a high salary. The psovisions of the act are stringent; and declarfc, that no ship shall proceed on her voyage with more persons on board than in the proportion of three persons for every five tons of her registered burden, the master and crew being included in and forming a part of such prescribed number. The amount of water, provisions, &c., is regulated by the act ; and before any ship Bhall be cleared out for the voyage, the officers of Customs are required to survey, or cause to be surveyed, by 6ome competent person, the provision and water, and to ascertain that the directions of the act are complied with. The penalty for the infringements of its enactments is a fine of not less than £5, nor more than £20, on summary conviction; and no governor or colonial legislature has the power of making any enactment or order in any wise repugnant or contradictory to this act. We are informed that this act is enforced at Sydney ; and if its provisions were carried into effect here they would be attended with the happiest results. The small vessels which leave these settlements for the neighbouring colonies, would not then be so crowded with passengers, to the danger of their health ; and some arrangement could at the same time be made to put a stop to the practice of taking " French leave." — Ibid.

By the Carbon, we learn that on the 26th of June, the Rover's Bride, from Wellington for Tahiti, had put into Auckland with fever on board ; and that before her arrival in that port, Edward Johnson, Esq., of the firm of Johnson and Moore, of Wellington, and another passenger, had died at sea of it. The vessel was immediately put into quarantine by the Government authorties. — Ibid.