THE NELSON EXAMINER. Saturday, July 31, 1858.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XVII, Issue 61, 31 July 1858, Page 2

THE NELSON EXAMINER. Saturday, July 31, 1858.

Journal! become more necessary as men become more equal and individualism more to be feared. It would be to underrate their importance to suppose that they serve only to secure liberty: they maintain civilization. Db Tocqubville, Of Democracy in America, vol. T.,p. 230. For the sake of contrast with our own very quiet and peaceable style of politics, and to let our readers have some knowledge of what was going on in the neighbouring settlements, we have occasionally, in addition to our extracts, called their attention to the subject of Wellington politics by some remarks of our own. These do not seem to have found favour in the sight of the Wellington Independent, who accuses us of flippancy, of taking up the cause of the opposite party, and of deserting the principles which we have always hitherto advocated. In reference to our remarks on the<£s,ooo transfer, we are also informed that "Mr. Fitzherberf, as Receiver of the Land Fund, is an officer of the General Government, appointed from Auckland, and without any salary." Now, withont» depending upon the virtue of the peace-making "If" with which we started, when we said "If Mr. Fitzherbert received a salary for mere form," we are quite willing to give that gentleman all the credit due to his public spirit for doing nothing without being paid for it ; alj though we see no reason for changing our opinion, that his conduct "as an officer of the General Government" should have been the same in the performance of his negative functions, whether friends or foes were in power. He had no right to assume that, because the political party to which he was attached had for the time the worst of the fray, that the public funds were therefore in immediate danger of misappropriation or embezzlement, or join in an illegal act for the sake of throwing unmerited odium and groundless suspicion upon antagonists, looked upon by the world at large to be generally as trustworthy as themselves. The Independent is also mistaken in assuming that our observations are dictated by any, party bias in favour of the opposite party; which, from the first, we spoke of as too heterogeneous in composition to create much confidence or promise much permanence or stability ; or that we blame the acts of the Government members with a gusto which is wanting when we are reluctantly compelled to admit their ability. Our praise or dispraise, unimportant as either may be to the parties concerned, and feeble and colourless as it undoubtedly appears when compared with the bold effects our neighbours delight in, or the strong tints and violent contracts, they paint in on their canvass, is the honest expression of our opinion upon facts as they come before us, and is not bestowed more grudgingly in one case than in the other. Fairly weighed, indeed, we should have declared the balance to be in favour of the F.F.F. To say that in an administration of four years they have generally given proof of energy, activity, and ability ; and in a fierce party struggle for the possession of power, have left their opponents no mogM^Egctive weapon of attack than the " Credit Land^^vstem, which they dare not use effectively; isNkurely more than enough to outweigh our censure of particular acts in the estimation of any impartial observer ; however inadequate the first, or erroneous the second may appear to their own sense of what is due to their merits.

In an old novel, we recollect a description of a lady going on in a very edifying strain of self-depreication, and lamenting her manifold deficiencies, until her husband interposes, with, " Indeed, my dear, I think you do youraeif injustice ,- you hare jour faults, certainly, but" — "and pray," Mr. H., burst in the enraged wife, "What faults have I?" So our Wellington friends. They are such cormorants of praise, and so thin-skinned to the slightest breath of censure, that to doubt the absolute wisdom of any of their acts is to desert our own principles ; to question any of their proceedings is to "support organized rowdyism of the worst description ;" and to suppose that any but the present Triumvirate can possess the least share of political honesty or even common-sense, is to declare ourselves opposed "to rational liberty, and a fair attempt to work out our Constitution in its integrity." We, in our simplicity, believe these great objects to have an independent vitality of their own; that they are not inseparably bound up with the political existence of any three men ; and that rational liberty and constitutional freedom might possibly survive even their loss, and find in the whole Province of Wellington three other Representatives to replace them : longo forsan intervallo. They are now well acquainted with official duties ; which, after all,

require some little aptitude and training ; they are men of education and general information ; if anything, rather too well acquainted with American habits, precedents, and slang ; they are fluent in speech, ready in argument, and unrivalled in the arts of personal abuse and public vituperation. But to counterbalance these advantages, they claim a monopoly of them. If we are to believe the Independent, all the honest men opposed to them are fools, and all who have a grain of sense are unmitigated rogues ; the electors who returned an adverse majority in the Provincial Council are a set of ignoramuses ; and the members themselves a fair sample of those who sent them there. They prove too much ; and »we are only surprised, when we take into account the highly peppered diet which is their usual food, that they should have wasted a single thought on our milk-and-water reflections. Flippant they certainly must have been, for the Wellington Editor says so, and who so well able to judge? We can only plead in excuse that, chameleon-like, we had taken the hue of what we had last been in contact with, and had just risen from a course of his own leading articles. Thus he talks of the self-sufficiency of our "Stuffy" Prime Minister, who breaks down well-contrived plans "in order to get rid of so troublesome a tenant of his brain as any idea must be." One man is a traitor and a " pal " of thieves ; another might do for a dummy, but is a long-eared animal in a lion's skin. Then we have pleasant remarks on the "incoherent jargon " of one, the " virtuous indignation " of a second, the egotistical flourishes of a third. Amidst all these amenities of literature, our editorial brother still finds time for. a little criticism on our style ; to which we can only say as the young crab did to his parents ; " if you do not like my walk, show me how to do better, and I will copy you, as well as I can." We shall in that event most probably have no more such lame attempts as those which try to show, that for Mr. Stafford to comment on Mr. Fox's appliction for a month's leave of absence is "innate snobbishness," and "a violent attack in the worst possible taste on an absent opponent ;" whilst Mr. Fox's parallel opposition to a similar application of Mr. Charles Elliott, was a high-minded exhibition of political virtue. Mr. Elliott's wish to leave, after a month or two's work, could be, of course, nothing but an ignoble desire to start for the diggings ; and besides, his political conduct was too reprehensible, and entitled him to no such indulgence ; for did he not by his casting vote put in the Stafford ministry, and put out the ministry of Fox ; and furthermore, did he not, miserable man that he was, thus furnish a justification to certain supporters of Fox for withdrawing their support, and assuming an independent position, and going over to the enemy ? All which were ,ample and sufficing reasons for refusing the delinquent member any leave to look after his private affairs. But Mr. Fox could only be kept away by public business and official duties ; and any comment on his wish, " considering his position," was flat "burglary." He would never have had the bad taste to " make an exhibition of spleen against an absent opponent," or "belabour him at the opposite end of an island 500 miles long." Perhaps not ; and, a fortiori, still less would he be capable of saying anything to prejudice others at a distance of 8,000 miles. And yet we recollect a gentleman arriving from England about the time of Mr. Fox's visit home, with certain very ugly impressions as to the public conduct of some of our Nelson functionaries, as " robbers of widows and orphans;" imputations thoroughly groundless, but which at one time furnished such virtuous indignation to the columns of the Independent ; in which also, if our memory serves us right, Mr. Fox, the member, took a strong interest ; and about which we do not recollect that he ever expressed any change of opinion. ( Turning, however, from these minor matters, we may remark that, although Dr. Featherston's 922 votes as against Mr. St. Hill's 588 do not give the majority of 2 to 1, which is claimed for him, it still shows a very large majority. How far it represents the general approbation of hia policjy and of those who are his political friends, or is the expression of a feeling personal to himself, we have no means at present of judging ; although the result of the election for the General Assembly may furnish some indications. We look upon it as honourable to him, on account of the character of his opponent ; and it may be useful also, if he inquires into the causes which led to his resignation, which produced a hostile majority in the Council, and which may still render his position anything but a bed of roses. We look upon the contest as far from being decided, and shall watch its progress with interest, and record its vicissitudes ; well contented to look on from a safe distance, whilst the battle rages at Wellington, and draw conclusions for home use, without ourselves, as the boy said of learning the alphabet, gotfrg. through so much to gain so little. Our neighbours are scarcely aware of the character they are acquiring as a hotbed of political strife ; or of the impression produced on strangers, whom we have heard I declare that no inducement could prevail on them to settle in a place where it seemed im- ' possible to be on amicable terms with one half

of the people without that very circumstance creating a feud with the other half.

The road from Waitohi to the Wairau plain, intended to open the last named district to a port which vessels of the largest tonnage can enter, has been written and talked about so frequently that our readers may well have" become sated with the subject; still, as the undertaking must be regarded as one of very great importance — important for the outlay of money made upon it, and for the still larger sum about to be expended thereon, if not important in itself - it is our duty to watch and report upon the undertaking, and keep the public informed of the progress n.ade with it. T^fe are well aware there are persons, and some whose opinions are entitled to respect, who regard the, attempt to construct a road between the head of Queen Charlotte Sound and the plain of Wairau, as a sheer waste of money j who contend that no such road can be made except at a cost far exceeding that which has been estimated ; that, if once made, the road could never be maintained in a proper state, but would be subject to constant and serious injury from floods ; and further, that however good the road should be, it would be but little used, because the harbour of Waitohi being twenty-five miles from Cape Jackson in Cook Strait, with a depth of from eighteen to thirty fathoms of water through the Sound, no vessels save steamers would ever resort to it ; and that as small coasters can enter the Wairau river and ascend either the Opawa or Wairau fot J eight or ten miles, no other shipping port is needed for the district. Admitting, that there may be something in all these objections, we think those who press I them seek to prove too much. From the harbour of Waitohi to the Wairau river is only a distan^of twelve miles, through a practically level country; the extreme rise (which is about two* miles from Waitohi), being only 284 feet. This perhaps is an evil, as the main difficulty of the line arises from the necessity of carrying the road in some places above the level of the valley, the drainage of which is bad, particularly at the Wairau end, for after heavy rain, this portion of~.it is little better than a lake. Although, much might be done to promote the flow of the water into the Wairau river by clearing the Tua Marina stream of the dead timber which now dams it back, and by straightening the channel in a few places ; yet, the valley, we believe, will always be more or less liable to inundations, and any road made through it shotrttN^e carried sufficiently high along the sides of the» hills, to be above the reach of the water at all times. Fortunately, no serious difficulty stands in the way of doing this, as the hills are chiefly composed of a slate rock, which can be easily worked, and would furnish a good basis for a road. Is the construction of a road between Waitohi and the Wairau plain of that importance to the province, to justify the cost of the work ? We wish we were in a position to be able to state what the cost of making the road will be. About has already been expended upon it, and the results are not what we might have expected to have seen from such an outlay, had the work been undertaken in a spirit of confidence, with the knowledge that the funds necessary to carry it through would be forthcoming when needed. Much of the work which has been done is done badly, through an evident fear that to do it well would require more money than would be likely to be voted for the purpose. The Provincial Council has now voted additional, to enable the Government to complete the work, and whether that sum will prove adequate for the purpose is what we should wish to learn. We fear it will not. That it may be sufficient to construct a road over which drays may travel during favourable seasons of the year is probable ; but if this is all which is to be achieved, the road will be a failure, and not worth the outlay proposed to be made upon it. If a road is to be made at all, it should be one capable of sustaining a large traffic j for if Waitohi is to become the shipping port for the Wairau, the carriage on this road would, in a few years, be very heavy indeed. Let a good road then be made, or abandon the idea of a dray road altogether, and construct ft proper bridle road and make that suffice. If the carriage road is not a sound one, it will never be mode use of, but the trade of the Wairau district will continue, as heretofore, to flow down the Opawa or Wairau rivers. f But were a really good dray road constructed between Waitohi and the Wairau, and a ferry established over the Wairau river (or still better, if the river could be crossed by a bridge), then, although a large traffic might still be carried on in the old channel, the district of Wairau would rapidly, from opening such a road, become settled, so that every outlet of ! trade would fill, and the port of import and export for sach a district for everything but coasting traffic could not fail to quickly rise into importance. The advantages of direct trade with countries beyond the sea, instead of suffering it to pass through intermediate channels, will always iAduce: the, producers of a country to resort to suchf marts of trade when the obstacles in the way are not too great; and certainly we cannot reckon among such obstacles an additional journey of from twelve to twenty miles in a country where nearly every man possesses a horse, provided the road to be traveled is a good one. To fully appreciate what aya v rqad between Waitohi and the Wairau would effect, the capabilities of the district must be understood, and little is necessary to be said on the subject. When the Wairau and adjacent valleys are known to contain the largest quantity of land, both agricultural and pastoral, available in the province, the importance to such a district of possessing a really first-rate harbour, capable of receiving every class of shipping, instead of a small river harbour, the entrance to which is obstructed by a dangerous bar, admitting only vessels drawiug from four to five feet of water, will not be disputed. The distance qf Waitohi from Cook Strait, and the depth of the channel in Queen Charlotte Sound, has^teen urged against the port, and we have heard it said that sailing vessels

would not care to visit such a harbour. This objection we regard very little. A sail of twenty-five miles up a magnificent harbour is not likely to deter shipping from visiting a port where freight is to be obtained, and although the depth of water in mid channel would be inconveniently great to vessels wishing to come to an anchor, there are numerous coves throughout the Sound, commencing with the well-known ship-cove of Cook, where soundings are to be got in sixteen fathoms, and, what is of considerable importance to shipping, this great inlet of the sea, as we are told by that admirable work, " The New Zealand Pilot," is " singularly free from danger," for with the exception of two sunken rocks and one shoal patch, marked on the charts, there are no impediments to navigation throughout the Sound. v We have now to say a few words upon the Waitohi Road as it^ exists at present — for a road we suppose we must call it, since it was opened some months ago for stock, a subscription of nearly having been made by the flockowners in the Wairau to get a track made which would enable them to put wethers on board the steamer at Waitohi, and so avoid the long drive overland by the Big Bush. Persons who may contemplate making a journey from the Wairau to Waitohi, during the present season of the year, we should advise to do so on foot, and not to attempt to take horses. The side-cuttings for the bridle-road made last summer, they will find from three to four feet under water, and portions of the made drayroad so wet and swampy as to be incapable of sustaining the weight of a horse, which in crossing it will sink to the girths. If, after this intimation, any person is so foolhardy as to try the road and risk the loss of his horse, he will lament his folly before he reaches the end of his journey. As to driving fat wethers to Waitohi for shipment under existing circumstances, the attempt would be one of madness. But, it will be asked, does not blame attach somewhere for this? Should not the sidecuttings have been carried sufficiently high on the sides of the hills to be above the water at its ordinary winter level ? and should not the made road intended to carry a dray, be sufficiently sound to bear the weight of a horse, particularly when his rider has dismounted, and precedes him bridle in hand, as his only chance of getting over in safety 1 Of course there is blame ; and we fear that the expenditure of the sums of money voted by the Council for roads in different parts of the province, amounting to a 629,000, will produce similar results elsewhere, unless an entire change is made in themanner of road making, andtbesupervision entrusted to a really competent person, vf hose business it shall be to see that proper lines of road are laid out, and the work executed as it ought to be. This would give employment to one or more engineers ; but our economical Government cannot afford to pay salaries to such officers, and the charge of the public works is therefore given to the Chief Surveyor, who necessarily must neglect the duties of his own department to look after another, and both in consequence suffer, to the injury of the public interests., far, very far greater tjian the saving effected twenty times told. Until the Government is prepared to employ a road surveyor of known experience and ability to superintend throughout the province the expenditure of the funds voted for road making, the money had better be kept in the Treasury, even although tea^r cent, has to be paid for it to the public credi^v