AUCKLAND.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XX, Issue 43, 18 May 1861, Page 4

AUCKLAND.

A new paper, called The Aucklander, has been started in our colonial capital, the first number of which was published on the 2nd instant. The principles on which the paper is to be conducted are broadly stated in the first number : — We begin our editorial career by a declaration of open war against " The system called Responsible Government," falsely so called ; against the Supcrintendency; and against the Constitution which entails or allows such abuses of the functions of government. We are for a Government in accordance with the principles of the British Constitution, and with the practice of British Government. We intend to assert and maintain the right of the colonists in a British settlement, to all those invaluable privileges of liberty and enlightened government which are their birth-right as members of the British community. We are, ia ' particular, for the people of the Province of Auckland, and against the Southern politicians who are fattening on their ruin. We purpose to demonstrate the mischiefs arising from our connection with the Southern Provinces ; a connection which is injurious to them as well as to us ; a connection which has converted these fino provinces into one vast gaming-house, in which the stakes played for are the peace and prosperity of the quiet inhabitants. Auckland has no real interests antagonistic to those of Wellington, nor has Wellington any real interests antagonistic to those of Auckland. It is the same with the other New Zealand colonies in their relations to each other. The inhabitants of each are perfectly capable of managing their own local affairs, without the interference of one with the other ; and colonies, while under the dominion of the parent country, can have no other than local affairs to manage. They are not capable of the proper functions which belong to a General Government. The assumption of such functions is a usurpation of sovereignty. The editor of The Aucklander, confident in his own powers, after thus denouncing our present Constitution and all that has been done under it, consoles us by the information that he will set all to rights, having, no doubt, as he tells us, of " being able to exhibit our governmental institutions, and the framers of them, in such a light as will leave our colonial statesmen no alternative but either to join with ua in bringing about such a change as may consist with the peace, safety, and weal of the community, or of submitting to be considered as seeking their own selfish and ambitious ends at the expense of the public good. When the night is ot the darkest the day is nearest at hand. When the ruling classes have lost all sense of decency, deceiving and being deceived, it is time that public morality, which they have outraged, should rise in its strength, and assert that government is an ordinance of God, intended for the benefit of the people, and not a system of fc contrivances to enable the cleverest and least scrupulous memberg of the community to raise their fortunes upon the ruin of the rest." We are next favoured with the view of The Aucklander on the native question, and here also everything hitherto done has been bad. But the colony is not kept in the dark as to the course which should be taken, and if acts were as easily performed as words are spoken, the Governor w6uld have an easy task to settle all difficulties, if he would but follow The Aucklander 1 s advice : — Let the Government purchase, at a fair and liberal rate, all the possessions belonging to the Ngapuhi, in the north, the men who fought and bled to maintain the Queen's Government against their own countrymen, and who have been characteristically rewarded with a total oblivion of their services, while other tribes, who had no claim to favour, have been petted, and spoiled, by having mills built for tkem, and vessels purchased for them, and money spent upou them in every shape which their covetousness could suggest. And let the lands of the tribes be confiscated who, in return for such munificent treatment, have levied war upon their benefactors. Let the Government turn the rebellious Waikatos out, and plant the faithful Ngapuhis hi. Let them grant, by the old feudal tenure of military service, an ample domain to the tribe, giving to each man his own farm, and to the whole, commonage for their cattle. Let them be afforded such assistance as will enable them to fortify a stronghold. Let the natives throughout the land understand that war shall not cease until every tribe shall have submitted unconditionally to the Queen's authority or till the Queen's friends shall possess the gates of their enemies. The people of Auckland are about to subscribe to a testimonial to Captain Cracroft, of the Niger, as an acknowledgment of the high esteem in which that gallant officer is held by them for the valuable services he has rendered the colony during the war. The New Zealander^ gives a glowing account of the success that has attended the Auckland land system. The editor says of it: — "The experience of a tour which embraced the settlements lying between Auckland and the Mongonui district, the present limit of settlement northward, and which was undertaken purposely with the view of ascertaining personally the practical operation of the Auckland land regulations, has satisfied us that as a whole the system has proved completely successful; the community has gained a large accession of capital and labour of the right sort, both of which are being turned to good account. In the course of our journeying we have encountered but a minute per centage of grumblers, the great majority of the fortyacre men who have settled on their lands appear hopeful, thriving, and contented." The troops which had returned to Auckland from Taranaki appear to have suffered very severely from the inclemency of the weather, through not being provided with sufficient shelter, as their return was effected in the midst of the wet weather which prevailed from the middle to the end of last mouth.