THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, Novembbr 8, 1851.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume X, Issue 505, 8 November 1851, Page 146

THE NELSON EXAMINER. Nelson, Novembbr 8, 1851.

Journal* become more necessary as men become more equal and individualism more to be feared. It would be to underrate tbeir importance to suppose that they serre only to lecur* liberty : they maintain civilization. De TocauEVii,i,K, Of Democracy in America. toI. iv., p. 200.

The latest intelligence from England is of a mixed character, as far as it affests the interests of New Zealand. We learn that the negotiations for settling definitely the question of our Trust Funds, and which it was thought likely would be brought to an early conclusion, have for the present been suspended, in consequence of the Government and the Company disagreeing about the debt of £268,000 claimed by the latter body. What can be the nature of this difference ? We have no authority for saying

what it is; yet we believe we could hazard a guess, without being far wrong. In the winding up of affairs between these parties, the Government has learnt that tht Company, instead of compensating its landpurchasers in the colony out of its own estate, has very largely appropriated the publii estate for thet purpose, and the Government therefore seems to think that, to the extent of the loss which the colony has thereby sustained, the Company should be made responsible out of its promised £268,000. No one can deny the justice of this ; and al though we cannot assert positively that the Government will insist on the Company paying its own debts, we believe that it has some intention of doing so. As straws determine the current, so much may be learnt from trifles, when properly regarded. We heard the other day that thiDirectors of the Company were using all their influence with Earl Grey to upset the Nelson compensation awards. How is ii we never heard of their dieapprovil of the conditions of the land settlement before ? While they believed they were paying ofl the claims against them with public property, they were perfectly easy and saw nothing wrong in the proceeding, but if they got a hint that the Government would not suffer Peter to be robbed to pay Paul, ihey would be very likely to speedily change their views. Let us hope that the Government will deal justly by the colony, and not sacrifice its interests to the cupidity of half a dozen of its parliamentary supporters.

We have received a letter from George Morley, complaining of our notice of his trial last week in the Supreme Court. We had no desire to wound the feelings of a man placed in the painful position in which Mcrley stands, and we are not aware that we stated anything with which he can justly find fault, it was not our province to say whether the poor man destroyed the sheep with a felonious intent — that was a question for the jury to decide, and, not having heard the evidence, we were not competent to question its verdict. From what we have since heard of the facts, we really believe the man was innocent of all felonious intent, and that he took the sheep as a gift from Mr. Christie, whose property he believed it to be. The case is a very hard one, and we believe that it is intended to bring it before the notice of the Governor.

Gold Discovery. — No little excitement has been caused within the last few days by a rumoured discovery of gold in the Fairfield Downs. The story goes, that Mr. Bolton has found on or near his run a considerable quantity of a substance which bears a strong resemblance to gold, and that in the opinion of those to whom it has been shown, it is thought to be in reality the precious metal. Since the gold discoveries in the neighbouring colonies have been known, there has been no little " prospecting "among our hills in search of indications of the like mineral wealth, hut although many glittering substances have been picked up, none, as yet, have proved to be gold. Whether the above-named discovery will prove to be of the same character,'we shall probably learn in a few days. Richmond Fair. — The- second Richmond fair, held on Wednesday last, was well attended both by buyers and sellers, and was in all respects a great improvement on the first fair, held in July last. The transactions were almost wholly confined to cattle and horses, and the prices were good. Cart mares were in chief request, and sold at from £35 to £45 each ; good cows brought from £10 to £12 each; inferior, and young heifers, £7 to £9. A remarkably fine bull, bred by Mr. Batey, was present, but we believe was not intended lor sale. We have heard that the business done amounted to about £400, which, considering that the fair itself is yet but an experiment, we consider very encouraging. After a little, more confidence will be placed in its stability, and the business done at it will then increase. The Roads. — We are sory to find that the prospect we had of seeing the main road of the settlement put into thorough repair during the ensuing summer, is not likely to be realized, for the tenders received for performing the repairs required far exceed the money in the Superintendent's hands voted by the Council for the purpose. Nearly the whole of the contractors, as we understand, have demanded such an increase oi price, that it is impossible their terms can be complied with, for, in several instances, the increase is from 50 to 100 per cent, over the charges of former years. The plan which the Superintendent intends to adopt is, to invite the cooperation of the inhabitants of the various districts, and to give on the part of the Government any sum equivalent

to that raised by the people themselves, [t is to be hoped, while there is yet time, those most interested in seeing good roads, will bestir themselves.

We have received by the Midlothian, from Canterbury, a file of the Otago Witenss tor the months of September and October, being the only papers we have seen from that settlement for several monrhs past, so that the want of communication with the other ports must be as much felt in Otago •is it is in Nelson. We observe a prospectus lor establishing a Banking Company at Otago, with a capital of £7,500.

We have received the Lyttelton Times to the Ist instant. The ship Canterbury arrived on the 21st of October, bringing a large number of passengers, both cabin and steerage, for that settlement. A company has been formed at Lyttelton for insuring coasting vessels and their cargoes. An " official notification " from Colonel Cambeil, the newly-appointed Land Commissioner for the district lying between the Canterbury block and the Kaikoras, has appeared in the 7'imes, and is a singular official production. Next week, without charging the Government for it as an advertisement, we shall copy it for the information and amusement of our readers.

Colonial Property Qualification. — The Bill brought in by Mr. Hutt and Mr. Adderly to make property situate in any colony or possession of her Majesty a qualification for a seat in Parliament, recites 2 Viet. c. 48, and says, that it is expedient to alter the enactments of the said Act so far as they relate to the situation of the real or personal estate necessary for the qualification of members of Parliament, and to render the possession of property, real or personal, wheresoever situate within any of the colonies, or any of the territories under the government of the East India Company.'or any other possessions of her Majesty, equally available for a qualification to berve in Parliament as the possession of real or personal property situate within the United Kingdom of Great Britain or Ireland, and the Bill proposes accordingly that this should be done. John Miltom. — The following noble panegyr*. on the great poet and patriot, is extracted from Mr. Walter Savage Landor's recent pamphlet, " Popery, .British, and Foreign." It occurs towards the conclusion, where he entreats his reader to betake him to that great man's prose works, " by which his heart will be strengthened, his soul purified to such a degree, that, if duly reverential, he may stand unbashed in the presence of the most commanding genius that ever God appointed for the governance of the human intellect :" " Not only men light and versatile have taken the ■corner's chair to sit in judgment on our instructor and defender. A very large sect, perhaps the most numerous sect of all, and composed almost from every other, believes that religion is to be secured by malignity and falsehood. Johnson threw down amongst them his unwieldy distempered mind, and frowned like a drunken man against the high serenity of Milton. He would have fared better with Johnson had be been a sycophant ; better with" the others had he been a demagogue. He indulges in no pranks and vagaries to captivate the vulgar mind ; he leads by the light of his countenance, never stooping to grasp a coarie hand to obtain its suffrages. In his language he neither has, nor ever can have an imitator. Such an attempt would display at once the boldest presumption and the weakest affectation. His gravity is unsuitable to the age we live in. The cedars and palms of his Paradise have disappeared: we see the earth before us in an altered form : we see dense and dwarf plants upon it everywhere : we see it scratched by a succession of squatters, who rear a thin crop and leave the place dry and barren. Constancy and perseverance are among Milton's characteristics, with contempt of everything mean and sordid. Indifiereuce to celebrity, disdain for popularity, unobtrusive wisdom, sedate grandeur, energy kept in its high and spacious armoury until the signal of action sounded, until the enemy was to be driven from his entrenchment — these are above the comprehension, above the gaze of noisy drummers in their caps and tassels. Milton stood conspicuous over the mines of fuel he accumulated for that vait lighthouse, founded on a solitary rock, which threw forth its radiance to Europe, from amid the darkness and storminess of the British sea. In his eyes, before they closed for ever, all shades of difference in sectarians had disappeared : but Prelacy was necessary to despotism ; and they met again. With weaker adversaries he had abstained from futile fencings, in which the button is too easily broken off the foil, and he sat down with the grave and pensive, who united love of God with love of country. The enemies of the Independents could never wrench away their tenets, could overwhelm them only by numbers, and, when they were vanquished, could not deny that th«y were the manliest of mankind. Milton's voice, more potent and more pervading than any human voice before or since, inspired by those heavenly Powers with whom we may believe he now exists in complete union, warned nations against the fragments of Popery impending over them from a carious old rock, of which carious old rock Simon Peter knew no more than of the old house, which, as the Pope tells the faithful, God's angels brought through the air, and deposited in the village of Loretto." Self-reliance. — The success of individuals in life is greatly owing to tbeir early learning toVfepend upon tbeir own resources. Money, or the expectation of it by inheritance, has ruined more m»n than the want of it ever did. Teach young men to rely upon their own efforts, to be frugal and industrious.and you have furnished them with a productive capital which no man can ever wreit from them,