THE NELSON EXAMINER. SATURDAY,MARCH 31, 1855.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XIV, Issue 1, 31 March 1855, Page 2

THE NELSON EXAMINER. SATURDAY,MARCH 31, 1855.

Journals become more necessary as men Income more equal and individualiim more to bn fenrr •?. It would be to underrate their importance to tuppuas u>»t-tU«y »«r»a only to ••our* liberty : they maintain civilization. Pit ToCaOEVILti*. Of Democracy in America, vol. v., p. 230. With the present number of the Examiner we enter on a new volume, and at the same time we come before our readers ia anew and improved form. Wh <^Mltf^^tflPtoflM| commenced out lANMdttfMSKffl^yMJHp^ itwas not without rtoumffl|M|feHfj(|JHrccess of our undertaking — doutits; wnich were not lessened by the untoward events which marked the early history of the colony. To these events were sacrificed not alone many of the high hopes and expectations which had induced the first colonists of New Zealand to expatriate themselves from the- land of their fathers, and undertake the great work of carrying the arts and manners of civilized life to the most remote portion of the globe, and founding there a colony of British subjects, living under British laws, and surrounded by British institutions ; but to the like circumstances we owed also the fearful loss of many most valued lives, and the infant colony of Nelson was deprived of its best advisers at the time when their counsel was most needed. Before this stunning blow the whole colony recoiled ; a panic ensued, and the timid and selfish who were in a position to do so, trimmed their sails to the blast, and abandoned the colony. It wa3 during this storm that the two oldestjournalsinthe colony expired— I the New Zealand Spectator, published at Wellington, and the Auckland' Herald, which left to the Nelson Examiner the honourable post of seniority over the prc.3S of New Zealand. Every one who knows what the settlement of Nelson was from nine to eleven years ago, will not be surprised to hear that it was for a long tune a matter of great doubt whether we could hold on until better days should arrive (for of a " good time coming," we never for an instant doubted), or whether, like other.:, w? thoujd be compelled to bow our head to the gale. The storm in time blew over, the promise of better days began to be fulfilled; slowly, it is true, they came at first, but a move was made, until at length the motion becoming more, accelerated, the steady progress of the colony was secured, and this material prosperity has continued without sustaining any serious check up to 'the present moment. With regard to the future of the colony, we believe it is destined to take a high rank amongst the British possessions in the Southern hemisphere ; and there are many circumstances which go to indicate that Nelson will not be the least important of the several provinces into which the colony is now or may hereafter be divided ; and, aa respects the future conduct of this journal, we shall only point back to its past history and say, that the principles which have determined our conduct for the last thirteen years will continue to animate v«. A newspaper such as this, which dates its existence from the very foundation of the community among whom it is published, fills

i position which no journal published in an >ld country, or even one published in a colony, jut commenced at a time long subsequent to ts formation, can possibly occupy. In this .nstauce there i 3 an identity between the community and its journal, an association^ of feellag which time only can wear out, and we renture to hope that the day is yet far distant ivhen there shall be no journal in this Province which can be regarded as a branch of the original tree, which was planted here thirteen years ago. From this peculiarity of our position we have always, when entering upon a new year of our existence, naturally taken a review of the progress of the Nelson Settlement during the year which had then expired,-and indulged in some anticipations on the prospects which the new year afforded ; and on no former occasion has our anniversary come round accompanied with more eventful circumstances than those which attend the Province at this moment. Following up this practice, we shall notice first the Statistical Returns which appear in oar columns, and which, although they do not embrace till the information wehave been accustomed to publish, furnish many interesting particulars. The statistics^ in a complete form, will, we presume, bo published by the Government, whoa all are made up; but at present the returns from the Amur! district have not been received, and those now given do not extend below Barefell Pass. The White Population of the Province, (excepting the Amuri district) numbers 3,801 souls, which is an increase of 653 since the Ist of April, 1854, nearly an eighth in a period of ten months. This large addition to our number has been caused chiefly by the immigration which has taken place from the Australian colonies within the last few months, although during the same period there have been numerous arrivals likewise from England. We have no means at present of saying what number of persons are residing in the Amuri district, but these, in conjunction with the--arrivals which have taken place at our port ' since the Statistics v/ere taken, justify us in j saying that the White Population of Nelson, at the present time, exceeds 6,000. The return which shows the country in which the various members of our population were born is a document of great interest, and the large proportion, more than one-third, which are New Zealand bred, is a fact which : calls up grave reflection. All these children I will come to look upon New Zealand as their . native country, aud a deep responsibility rests ' with those to whom is left the task of forming | their characters so as to make them worthy of it. The Education tables are rather perplexing. The- number of persons who can neither read nor write is stated to be 1,542, which is 409 in excess of the number of children below five years of cge. This would lead to the inference that all the children below five years of age were without education, as well as a large proportion of those between the ages of five and ten. It raivt b? remembered, however, that among an adult pppttlalion like 'jrn-3, who emigrated to a large extent from tfie* rural districts of England, there must be very many who are wholly wichout education, and we imagine it is this class win have assisted largely to make up the total of 1,542 among loux population who are neither able to r:wl Fnior write. The number of deaths during the ten months preceding the Ist of February must be considered small, aud we question whether so light a mortality as 29 in a population of 5,801 would be found in any other part of the globe. Thi3 speaks wonderfully for the general healthiness of the climate of this portion of New Zealand. The increase in SLock during the past year is considerable. The number of horned cattle is augmautccl by 1,622 head, "sheep by 29,184, horses b} 1 1 17, and swine by u'47. When the Statistics of the whole Province are made up, the increase of Stock will show much larger, as the majority of the runs in the Amuri district have been stocked from the Wairau, and these flocks, some of which are large, are not given in the above numbers. During this present year, at least 12,000 sheep have bsen driven over Barefell Pass, to assist in stocking the Southern Plains, and many of these were on their way before the Statistics were talcen.

But it is to the Agricultural Returns of the Province that we refer with the greatest satisfaction. We find that there has been a large increase in the cultivation of all grain crops, particularly in wheat and oats ; but in consequence of the favourable harvest we have had, the actual increase in the quantity of corn grown in the Province this year is much larger than is represented by the figures. The Statistics do not furnish us with any estimated average of the crops, but they are everywhere admitted 'to have been the best ever grown in Nelson, and we know two instances where sixty bushels of wheat (of sixty-three pounds) to the aore, hs*f* been raised. In all other crops a nearly similar increase has taken place, anJ 3,276 additional acres of land fenced, is a proof that agriculture in Nelson is not to l)e suffered to remain stationary.

Let us now see what hag been done, and what is doing, to advance the Province of Nelson in other respects. The greatest want which we have for some time experienced "haS been the want of labour, and to remedy this, .£B,OOO was voted by the Provincial Legislature to provide for the introduction of immigrants, and an agent has been despatched to England for the sole purpose of securing for the Province men of the right stamp, and to superintend and make provision* for their embarkation. Before the expiration of the present year these immigrants wm have begun to arrive, and we hope to see the stream thus about to he re-opened, always kept flowing, and never suffered again to dry up. By this means we shall get labour not alone for private undertakings, but in quantity sufficient to enable the Government to undertake some of those numerous public works which are absolutely necessary for the true welfare of the people.

At this moment, however, the expectations of the people of Nelson are directed chiefly towards the mineral resources of the Province, anil more particularly to its copper mines. Parties are now engaged in raising twenty tons of ore, which are to be shipped to England ; and if this quantity proves to be as satisfactory

a sample as the smaller specimens which have been sent home, then a company, the neuclcus of which is already formed, will at once begin operations on a scale of considerable magnitude. We shall, at present, venture no opinion of our own as to the probable success of this important undertaking, but shall merely observe, that those who are most interested in the work are confident of success. Another year will, therefore, settle, to a considerable degree, the value of the Dun Mountain Copper Miue, which, it' successful, is calculated to work a miraculous change in the position of tho Province ii an inconceivably short time.

In looking to the future, we must not fail to notice the effects which may he expected from the political changes the colony has undergone. The power given to a local legislature, elected by almost universal suffrage, to appropriate in a Province containing 6,000 persons, the large sum of 933, cannot fail to be attended with very marked results. The provision made by the Council for assisting schools, for erecting reading rooms ia the -country districts, and for founding libraries, would alone be productive of changes highly beneficial to the future social welfare of the inliftbitants; but when we have in addition to these votes, large sums appropriated f6r forming roaJs, builcliug bridges, constructing jetties, exploring ne'.v tracts of country, and bringing to light the mineral treasures of the soil, and if last, not least, maintaining, in conjunction with the Province of Wellington, a fortnightly steam communication between the provinces of Nelson, Wellington, and Canterbury, and a monthly communication between Cooks Strait and Melbourne, which will keep us within about seventy days' sail of England, it is difficult to estimate the full extent of the operation of this new state of things.

Were we disposed to indulge in anticipations of the brightness of the future, there is ■-ample scope for doing so, hut we must remem- ! her that, " What's past, and what's to come, lis strewed with husks," and we shall, therefore, curb our inclination to tlilate on events which may not bear the fruits we expect of them. However, we have dealt only with facts, and their fruits will be determined by time ; but we " bate not a jot of heart or hope."

In presenting our readers this day with a double sheet, and our paper in a new form, it lis necessary that we should enter into a short ! explanation of our intentions for the future. When we originally promised to enlarge the Examiner to its present size, we did not contemplate publishing twice a week ; but subsequently, and when we had for some time been publishing a double sheet, of the old size, we were requested by the majority of our advertizing friends to publish twice n week — or a single sheet on Wednesdays, and a second single sheet on Saturdays. This plan we accordingly adopted ; but now, when we are prepared to carry out our original intention of publishing a full-sized double on Saturdays, we are in mm. position to lsake the Wednesdays isaue of the s.ii.l2 size likewise, nor can we even pledge ourselves, at present, to publish a double paper always on Saturday. The course we propose to follow, is : to publish on Saturdays, as often as possible, a paper of the size of our present issue, aud on Wednesdays, to publish two similar sized pages, instead of four. There is one way in which we might have claimed the credit of doubling the size of our paper, without inflicting upon ourselves either any great additional cost or trouble, and our readers would have had no cause of complaint against ns. Had we been as liberal of margin as some of our cotemporaries ; had we taken the largest type used for book-printing, but which is never seen in newspapers, except in colonies ; and had we displayed advertisements, so as to resemble placards, as if our intention was to adorn a wall, where all who run might read, instead of to lie upon a table, we might have filled, with small labour and cost, a sheet larger than our present one. But it happens that we consider a posting bill and a newspaper as two things essentially dissimilar ; and we never could consent to disfigure and vulgarize the one to badly serve the purposes of the other. If at the present moment we find it impossible to give full effect to our intentions, ia making the Examiner all we wish, we shall never cease our exertions until our aim is accomplished ; and it will afford us the greatest satisfaction to be able to make both issues of our paper the size of the present one.

In our article on Wednesday, on the Registration, an error crept in, which it is desirable should be corrected. In enumerating the districts in which an entirely new registration would he necessary for the election of members to the Provincial Council, the " Waimea " district was named, whereas it is to tho Wai--sva South district alone that th? necessity for a new registration applies. In the other Waimea districts no alteration of boundaries is to take place until after a dissolution, and a new registration is not therefore at present necessary any more than in the town or Suburban Districts.