THE NELSON EXAMINER. Wednesday, September 29, 1858.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XVII, Issue 78, 29 September 1858, Page 2

THE NELSON EXAMINER. Wednesday, September 29, 1858.

Journals become more necessary »s men become more equal and individualism more to be feared. It would be to underrate their importance to suppose that thej serve only to secure liberty: the/ maintain civilization. I)k Tocao«viLi.«, Of Democracy in America, ro). T.,p. 230

/ In some of the late Australian papers, we rea& a string of complaints respecting the action, or rather the inaction, of their Govemment oo many subjects of public interest, which bears a striking similarity to some that we have been making here. They seem dissatisfied not only with the amount of work done by their responsible heads, but with its quality also ; and of course do not fail to bring in the old stereotyped accusation made, time out of mind, against all people in office, that they

looked a great deal more after their salaries than after the interests of the people. First in order comes the land question; and will continue to come, in one shape or other, so long ts one man has more than he can ever profitably employ, and his neighbour has none, or less than he would be able and willing to turn to good account, if he could get it. On this question the London Tunes has been interesting itself, and calling upon the Australians to bestir themselves ; not denying, indeed, that many of the present complications and difficulties are owing to the former legislation of the Imperial Parliament, much in the same way as is the curse of slavery in the Southern States of the American Union ; but still asserting (as that legislation has now been proved faulty and ill-adapted to the wants and circumstances of the community, its rapid growth, its rising importance, and its untold mineral wealth) that it should be done away with at any sacrifice, and replaced by other, more equal and more advantageous arrangements. But here the colonists reply, that in blaming themselves for the evils of an unsettled and unsatis- 1 factory land system, the people of England j i take but a small share of the blame which they j | deserve. They tax their English rulers with J having given them "the curious and inharmonious mechanism of Responsible Government," and with not perceiving, or, at any ! rate, not confessing, that it is "anything but | an efficient and working system." They declare that the machine is a most clumsy and unworkmanlike contrivance; that doing the public work is by no means its primary task, but quite a secondary consideration— a sort of minor and supplementary object, looked after only now and then, under the compulsion of pressure from without. From these general considerations, they proceed to showtheirpractical application tothe present state of affairs. They complain that there is a social deadlock, an obstruction or stagnation, which is susceptible of being removed by wise i and thoughtful legislation. For, say they, our present arrangements are the result of laws, to which, defective as they are, we yield an unforced obedience ; yet, if to obey the law is the first and paramount necessity of civilized life, the next is to improve, to change, and adapt ifc to our altered circumstances. And, they continue, this requires to be done at once ; for commerce is stagnant, agriculture out of sorts, shopkeeping at a discount, labour under a cloud ; all for want of suitable management. The gold-fields are surfaced and dug, not mined, for want of a proper league between capitalist and labourer. Because of this want, the diggers are not doing well ; because of the delay in bringing about this combination, they are discontented. The whole body sympathizes and suffers with each of its members ; andsodoes the depressed state of any one great interest | affect and disturb the healthy action of all the others. For want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe, the horse was lost ; for want of a horse, the rider was lost. So, for want of land, the emigrant does not settle; the successful digger is unable to invest his gains, and takes them elsewhere. Thus the trader loses his customer, the merchant his market, and the country its thews and sinews, a hardy population.

Now we do not offer these remarks simply as news of what is going on in the neighbouring colonies ; in which, generally speaking, our interest is of a very languid kind, so long as we do not see that our own welfare is touched or involved ; neither do we vouch for the truth or accuracy of the statements we have given : there may be, and most likely is, a certain amount of exaggeration ; a colouring of facts, to serve some political end or favour some peculiar bias; but we think they may be assumed to have some groundwork or foundation in fact ; and all the more, if we find in the general outline an air of vraiserablan.ee, or similarity in many respects to what is going on among ourselves. Thus, our Commerce, though, rather dull at present, shows a decided improvement on the corresponding quarters of former years ; agricultural produce has brought fair prices iv the market ; shopkeeping, to judge from the number ot new buildings rising all round us, is still a lucrative employment ; and labour has not lately fallen in value, but keeps fully up to the average of the other settlements. Yet in all these particulars there is room for improvement ; and in all quarters there is a certain uneasiness visible, and a greater uncertainty and want of confidence as to our future prospects than is at all desirable. It is, indeed, what is usually termed the dull season ; but, even taking that into account, we must still allow the existence among us, in a modified form, of some of the symptoms we have described. There is a want of that general briskness and activity which ought to prevail in a place, as in a person "just turned |of sweetsixteen." We are not going to follow the ; example of the papers we have quoted, and lay the whole blame upon the Government ; or, like that amusing writer half a century back, who, caricaturing the popular outcry, asked,

What makes the price of corn and Luddites rise ? What fills the butchers' shops with great blue Hies P and then weut on to say it was all along of that fellow Bony-party : but certainly, if we want a little stimulating, a little infusion of fresh blood, a slight dash of energy and American jjo-a-headism, it is not in that quarter we should look for it. And this brings us to the last item

in the catalogue of Australian grievances, which we can adopt, with all its aggravations, for our own : viz., the gold-fields grievance. That we should now, after two years' experience and labour, know just as much and no more about them than we did at the beginning ; that we should not only have neglected to provide for that combination of capital, labour, and skill, the want of which is now complained of, but that we should have positively refused them when offered to us, are symptoms indicating incapacity as well as indifference ; and lead us to arrive at the same conclusions as our contemporaries, that our present form of local Government is a most clumsy, inartificial, and bungling contrivance; in which the active leadership of the community, the wise direction of its energies, and the steady development of its resources, are matters only supplementary, and of very secondary consideration.

By the Ocean Queen, which arrived yesterday, we have news from Sydney to the 18th instant. The English July mail, which was ten days overdue, had not arrived, but the steamer was signalled as the vessel left. The principal topic of intelligence is the " rush" to the Fitzroy gold-fields, situated in the Port Curlis district, about 200 miles from Moreton Bay. The intelligence from these diggings had been so satisfactory that the Sydney people were said to be leaving in crowds ; thirteen sailing vessels and four steamers had been laid on, and were fast filling with passengers. It is said that there is little doubt that these gold fields will prove the richest yet discovered in Australia.

The horse Chevalier has heen sold by auction for There is little other news of importance.