THE OTAGO NEWS AND THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY'S AGENTS.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 409, 5 January 1850, Page 178

THE OTAGO NEWS AND THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY'S AGENTS.

For some time past, a difference has existed between the editor of the Otago New.and the Agent of the New Zealand Com pany. We alluded, to this on a former occasion, when Captain Cargill charged the News with exalting the pastoral, at the ex* 'pense of the agricultural capabilities of tbe 'district. From that time, a constant warfare has been kept up, which has frequently excited remarks from the press, both in this and the adjacent colonies, but in the absence of all information beyond what was supplied in the conflicting statements of the fcelligerants, we have been unwilling to offer any further opinion upon what had taken place. Undoubtedly, however, the opinions of so large and respectable a body as the 147 persons who signed the protest against the News, is entitled to consideration, and as the Wellington Independent] has undertaken to give a correct version of the affair, and has published the several documents bearing upon it, we shall lay the whole before our readers that they may draw their own conclusions, only omitting the names attached to the protest, which would occupy too much space :— "**" The proprietor of the Otago News came to that settlement entirely as a matter of private speculation; he had, we believe, no connexion whatever either with the New Zealand Company or the Otago Association. On commencing the publication of his paper, however, Captain Cargill, the Resident Agent of the Company and Association, subscribed for twenty copies on account of the former, and twenty on account -of the Qtago Church Trustees. After tbe publication of a few numbers, he considered that the tone of the paper was calculated to be very injurious to the settlement he had charge of, and he soon ascertained that it was entirely repugnant to the feelings of the settlers, of whom no fewer than 147 male adults (that is almost every male adult in a population at that time of little more than 600 souls) signed a Protest against the News, denying the accuracy of its facts and all sympathy with its sentiments. Captain Cargill withdrew his subscription (see his letter to Mr. Graham, printed below, No. 1), against which act Mr. Graham, the proprietor of the News, protested in an official letter to the Principal Agent of the Company, which we print below, No. 2. The reply of that officer follows, No. 3 ; and in No. 4 will be found the protest of the settlers above mentioned, which Mr. Fox refers to in his letter to Mr. Graham, and which, as we have said, was signed by almost every male adult settler. Though the Principal Agent refused to exercise his authority to compel Captain Cargill to renew his forty subscriptions, we understand he directed three copies of the paper to be forwarded to him regularly, two of which are transmitted to England, in order that whatever be the credit to he attached to the paper, the Court of Directors nay at least see it, and its officers not be charged with keeping them in the dark. "Though as jealous of the liberty of the press as most of its conductors, we must confess that we see nothing in the present transaction to justify the charge of attempting to interfere with such liberty. If such an attempt has been made, it has been not by the Company's Agents, but by nearly the whole of the male ad alts of the settlement where the News is published. If the liberty of the press is to be protected, we submit that the liberty of tha purchasers and readers of newspapers is to be protected also ; and we know of no ground on which a party is to be compelled to purchase and circulate forty copies of a paper, which, in common with nearly a whole community, he considers as propogating falsehood, and being highly injurious to himself and fellow-colonists. If you commence dealing with a shopkeeper, or even encourage him to open shop in the belief that he will supply you with sound goods, you are certainly at liberty to withdraw your custom when you find he deals only in rotten apples or stinking fish : and it would be as just to charge a man in such a case with interfering with freedom of trade, as to charge Captain Cargill, or those who have supported him, with 'interfering with the liberty of the press.'*. No. 1. To the Publisher of the Otago New's, Dunedin. Sir — It is with sorrow and disappointment I have to inform you, on the part of the " Trustees for Religious and Educational Purposes/ 1 that they withdraw their subscription of twenty copies of the Otago News. These copies were intended for circulation amongst leading ministen of the Free Church at home and in India ; but they cannot be soused because of the capabilities of the Otago block and its settlers being grievously misrepresented in the editoral articlei. commencing with No. 5. No one could read that article, and believe in its statement*, became of its being published in the colony, without an impression altogether con* trary to the facts of the case, and such as must at once deter him from the investment of a •hilling in the Otago settlement. The resident Trustees, therefore, cannot be .parties to tbe circulation of that which is erroneous in itself, ; and damaging to their fellow setftffr-B, and they , haye reason to believe that the dame feeling is very general amongst ths settlers of all classes. • In like manner, for^hs same reasons, I have ! to withdraw myiubsenj&ions for twenty copies i on behalf of the New Zealand Company, and which were inlaaded for transmission to influential laymen. Had the editor been intelligently

alive to the interests of the settlement, including, of course, his own, he must have marked well that only 200 out of its 2,600 properties had yet been taken, and that the parties looked to for making up the remaining 3,400, and bringing capital into the settlement, had been waiting the result of a year's experience on the part of their pioneers, and therefore that the most scrupulous and careful accuracy as to ever) fact should have been exercised at such a crisis. But neither in respect of a painstaking grasp of the sound and practical opinions of tbe settlers themselves, and the results of their industry, as shown on their several locations, nor in point of common forethought, had the intelligence of the people been duly reflected and dealt with. And with respect to parties at home, experience convinces me that no future article by the same editor could possibly redeem tbe mischief inflicted by No. 5. I am, sir, &c, (Signed) W. Cargill. Dunedin, March 6, 1848. No. 2. To W. Fox, Esq., Principal Agent, New Zealand Company, Wellington. Sir — Enclosed, I transmit to you a copy of a letter from Captain Cargill with reference to the withdrawal of his subscription of twenty copies on behalf of the New Zealand Company. As it is an incident without a parallel in colonial annals, that a public Company should endeavour by such a system to suppress the press (which it is in point of fact an endeavour to do, forty copies having a decided preponderance in the scale of a new colony), I beg to appeal to you, and request your candid review of No. 5 and No. 8, if you consider that I have "grievously misrepresented the colony" to the extent premised by Captain Cargill. At the same time, I beg to state, that such a precedent would prove highly injurious to the Company, and to tbe settlements in New Zealand, more particularly as to the Otago settlement. I beg to remain, yours, &c, W. B. Graham. Dunedin, March 12, 1849. No. 3. To the Editor of the Otago News. Sir — I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 6th March last, to which my absence from Wellington has prevented an earlier reply. After giving the subject to which it relates my most serious consideration, I have come to the conclusion that the leading article in your paper of the 7th of February is calculated to convey impressions not consistent with fact, and likely, if read in Great Britain, to have a very prejudicial effect upon the progress of tbe settlement. Had your observations been confined to an assertion of the superiority of its pastoral over its agricultural capabilities, I should have perhaps concurred in your opinion; but the impression which the article would create, particularly at a distance, is, that the settlement, as regards its physical characteristics, is void of every inducement to agricultural enterprise— an impression which, both from personal observation and from the reports of disinterested parties well qualified to judge, and thoroughly acquainted with the whole settlement, I know to be tbe reverse of the fact. My opinion is confirmed by the memorial which I have received from the Resident Agent, signed by a very large majority of the adult male population of tbe settlement, which states that " nothing could be further from the actual truth, or more calculated to mislead,", than the article referred to. Under these circumstances, I think that Captain Cargill has exercised a sound discretion in declining to circulate your paper among the very class in which the opinions rdvocated by it would likely to have the most injurious effect ; nor do 1 consider that his refusing to purchase copies of a paper which he regards as injurious to the interests of the settlement, can be justly construed as an ".attempt to suppress the press." I have the honour to be, sir, &c, | William Fox, Principal Agent, N. Z. Company. - Wellington, May 19, 1849. No. 4. Protest of thb Otago Settlers. The settlers in Otago being impressed with the conviction, that a newspaper is generally held to reflect the mind of its readers, and also, when published in a new settlement, that its statements and assumptions with respect to that settlement would be deemed authentic by readers at a distance, if so far acquiesced in as toremain unchallenged by the settlers, the Otago settlers, therefore, of all classes, feel called upon to protest against there being any sympathy whatever between the mind and spirit of the Otago News, and those of the Otago community. They in like manner protest against the assumed facts of the Otago News, as being in most cases at variance with tbe evidence of their own senses. The grounds of this protest may be instanced as follows : — The first three numbers of the Otago News were simply passive ; but the leader in No. 4 opened as follows : — "A letter from W. Fox, Esq., in answer to a petition from the workmen of Dunedin, will be found in another part of our columns. It is one well worthy of emanating from the New Zealand Company's Principal Agent, and displays considerable talent — in shuffling a question and creating another in its stead." This gratuitous aspersion might be safely left to itself, because the home reader, on turning to tbe letter above referred to, and comparing it with this comment upon it, would at once see to which of the productions— 'the letter or the leader, the charge would be truth-

fully applied. The settlers have other things to attend to than the reading of uncalled-for and acrimonious expressions ; and if tbe Otago News can find or create a kindred spirit for such things, it can hardly be amongst the Otago immigrants. The community disowns it. Again, in No. 6, the leading article appears to be the production of a party whe had neither consulted his own senses, nor taken his information from those who do. It is as follows : — " On looking at the map of the Otago district* it cannot fail to strike the eye of every unprejudiced observer, that our prosperity at a town must entirely depend upon herds of cattle and flocks of •heep; in fact, that we do not possess, in any part of the district, land suited for the success of agricultural pursuits. The suburban section', in nine cases out of ten, will be worthless for farms for years to come, and then only after an immense expense, in the shape of clearing, draining, and fencing ; whilst for grazing we have a wide, extended field, waiting only to be filled with " stock." We rate the advantages and disadvantages of the country as follows : — The Taeiri district, though possessing a few good sections, and having the advantage of " contiguity " to the town, is allowed by all to be nothing but a lake in winter ; and even were it otherwise, a few flocks of sheep would soon fill it. The Tokomairiro district is in some places extremely narrow, but .offers greater advantages for pasturage than the Taeiri, by opening into the Molyneux district along the shores of the Tuakitoto Lake. Crossing the Koau river we enter not only the veal but the most extensive and valuable grazing country in the Otago block, and to these plains must we look for the future source of our riches and commercial prosperity. We are not interested in the success of one part of the Otago district more than another, neither have we anything personal to gain by it; but we would willingly add our influence (small though it may be) to induce the landpurchaser to settle down at once, and take his stock with him. Let him begin to turn his capital to account, instead of allowing day after day to pass away in indecision on his arrival in the colony ; or, what is worse, to leave his home with a wrong impression of its capabilities. We have nothing in Dunedin for capitalists to speculate in with advantage; their proper sphere is the rural districts, and these are not surpassed in any part of New Zealand for pastoral purposes. 1 Allowing, then, that the Otago district is essentially a grazing district— and who can deny it ? — why have the New Zealand Company, or Free Church Association (if they are distinct), not acted on this knowledge, and sent such a class of free immigrants out as would have proved a valuable acquisition to the purchasers of land and stock ? We gather the following information with regard to the labour supplied to the colony, from the ships' lists : — The John Wickliffe had 8 labourers on board Phillip Laing .26 „ Victory . . . none Blundell ... 8 „ Bernicia ... 6 „ Ajax . not exactly known, but very few. Making a total of only 48 labourers — and many of these had not followed agricultural pursuits at horne — against nearly 170 amiths, founders, bakers, butchers, masons, bricklayers, weavers, calico printers, pressmen, compositors, and the like, exclusive of their wives and families. Now, though we do not believe it essential that a man should have passed his life in agricultural pursuits to qualify him for a free passage to Otago, we still think that a much better choice might have been made — a choice more suitable to the obvious wants of the colony. Let a preference be given to young married couples, and, if possible, from the country, where, at any rate, pastoral occupations will not be entirely new to them. Trades and professions may then follow, and instead of having men eagerly seeking employment from the New Zealand Company, as a refuge from want, or acting as clogs to the progress of the landpurchaser from their ignorance and inability, we shall find around our town and throughout the district, on every hill and plain, living instances of our prosperity." Nothing could be farther from tha actual truth, or more calculated to mislead. The landpurchaser has not waited for a year to be told by a party " looking at the map," and evidently at nothing else, that the production of wool was to be regarded as the earliest article of export from the colony, and that Otago bad singular advantages for it; that if he •should at once set himself to the production of food, on every spot about to be occupied fencing was requisite, and, according to the lands he should choose, clearing or draining must also be effected. All this he knew before leaving England. And every visitor who now looks round upon the actual state of the settlement, has the evidence before him of the extent and success with which a handful of pioneers have at once betaken themselves to their several avocations. With the exception of two parties, who are industrious and successful tradesmen, there is not a proprietor in the settlement who has not been at work upon his lands, and some allotments have also been let to tenants, whose produce is already in the market. As to the selection of working classes, also, it is equally patent, that shepherds, ploughmen, and country labourers of experience [are proportioned to tbe demand, and that amongst the latter are some two or three who bad been weavers in Scotland, but of a class who, in bad times, take to the country, and who are, in fact, the most useful and intelligent at similar work in the colony > one of them, in addition to the support of a large family, has built himself the most perfect and commodious cottage in the settlement, and which is referred to as a model. As to the one pressman, and the one compositor (the editor deals in plurals), it was but a reasonable provision for the possible wants of the one press, which was known to be shipped along with tbe pressman. And in regard to tbe statement of '• 170 smiths, founders, bakers, butchers, bricklayers, masons, and the like," it is sufficient to observe that every one of such persons is fully employed by the public at his own trade, saving the one founder, who it employed bj a master

blacksmith. Had there been fewer of these tradesmen, therefore, the public would have suffered ; and as a master shoemaker has been trying to engage hands by the year at 30s. a week, it is to be hoped that an increased supply will be had from home, where the matter is judged of by the rates of wages. The Association in Scotland is carefully furnished with the price of living on the one hand, and of work on the other, reciprocity of interests amongst all classes being the basis of the Otago scheme ; and of the whole body of working immigrants that have arrived, it is creditable to observe, that there are only twenty- one men and lads who are not e a; ployed by their fellow settlers, and are therefore provided for at interns, on the roads, at 18s. a week. The settlers have also to repudiate the remarkable statement, that they " do not possess in any part of the district lands suited for the success of agricultural pursuits," because the very reverse, is under their hands and eyes. Sisty to sixty-five bushels of wheat per acre, with oats, barley, and potatoes in proportion, are the yield they have seen; and the lands being generally open, fencing, and ploughing up with oxen is all that is required, whilst the luxuriance of the garden and nursery ground exceeds expectation: hawthorn seeds, for instance, give a full braird within six weeks after sowing. The settlers deny the statement " that the Taieri district is allowed by all to be nothing but a lake in winter," and would challenge the production of a single witness, xcho had traversed the appropriated lands of that fine valley, to admit there being a word of truth in the sentence. They point also to the intelligent parties already located there, and to the others preparing to join them. But finally, there is a singular misapprehension in the article referred to, between the appropriated lands for tillage and meadow, and the unappropriated or grazing lands that are near them. In trscing the seriee of valleys which terminate in that of the Clutha (Molyneux does not appear in the "Terms of Purchase," or on the maps in England), it would appear that tbe lands surveyed for sale are regarded by the writer as the pasturage for flocks and herds, and hence the singular statement of the Clutha district, that it is not only the real, but the most extensive grazing country in the Otago block, and to these plains must we " look for the future source of our riches and commercial prosperity," whereas, the very extent of that magnificent district will place its owners, when fully occupied, so far at a disadvantage, from being at a greater average distance from their pasturage, beyond the Otago block— but until then, the proportion of pastur- i age is greatly less for the Clutha district than for any other. All such blunders and misstatements would be harmless in the settlement, but, as already stated, would be mischievious in the extreme if allowed to float to a distance, without immediate and authentic contradiction. (Signed by 147 male adults). Otago, New Zealand, March, 1849.

Immense Cheese.— Mr. James Elgar, cheese- monger, Peterborough, has exhibited an immense cheese, which has attracted the admiration of the inhabitants. The weight is 1,474 lbs., its cicumference 13 feet, and thickness 1 8 inches. This, it may be remarked, exceeds in size and weight the one sent as a present to the Queen from Somersetshire, in 1841, which measured 9 feet rout?, .and was 22 inches deep. Mr. Elgar's cheese was made from upwards of 20 hogsheads of milk of one meal, fronf 737 cows.— Northampton Herald. The Norwich Mercury says that in the neighbourhood of Lynn, there are many acres of land completely barren, owing to the ravages of the rats, which are this season more numerous than they were ever known to be. The farmers have been severe sufferers from those destructive vermin, and notwithstanding every precaution, the crops are materially injured. Effects of Fear. — Extraordinary Expsriment. — The great question whether cholera is infectious has been made the subject of two singular experiments in St. Petersburg, by or|er of the Czar. Four murderers, sentenced to death, were, without being told who were its previous occupants, put on a bed lately occupied by four cholera patients, who had died, and not one of them took the disease. It was then announced to the murderers that they were about being placed on beds in which four persons died of malignant cholera, and that if they escaped the disease, their lives would be spared. But, instead of cholera beds, the murderers were put into beds which had not been occupied by diseased persons at all, and yet, such was the effect of their fears, that all four died within three days ! An operation, performed at the Queen's Hos- • pital, Birmingham, was attended by Mrs. Blackstone, an American physician, who has gone through all the degrees of medicine And surgery, and who is now on a visit to England. We are not aware of another instance of this kind, at lent in modern times. Lately, 300 stand of arms were seized at Hull, supposed to have been intended for the Germans or the Danes. Messrs. Newman and Pomeroy, ministers of the Methodist and Baptist persuasions, have been, it is said, murdered in California.