WELLINGTON.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXI, Issue 31, 12 April 1862, Page 5

WELLINGTON.

[From the New Zealand Advertiser, April 9.] At the date of our last Summary the Wellington- public were hourly expecting a flying visit from Sir George Grey, but they were doomed to be disappointed. Either he did

not intend to come, or the state of affairs at the North prevented him from coming ; but from his own silence on the subject, and from the silence of the Auckland press, it is impossible to conjecture uhy he has not, up to the present date, paid a visit to any one of the provinces except Auckland, and why he has not even there had a public interview with any of the settlers. It is from faith in the man, and not from any knowledge or approval of his measures, which impresses the colonists of the North Island with the conviction that the result, in the long run, of his administration will prove beneficial to the colony. There are few visible indications that either this town or province is making any progress. From the published abstract of the receipts and expenditure for the December quarter of last year, we find that the ordinary revenue for that quarter amounted to only .£3,604, and the ordinary expenditure, without including land and survey departments, subsidies for steam, &c, &c, to £3,550, this shows how necessary it is that the ordinary expenditure of the Government should be diminished. The return shows that at the end of December there was a balance in the hands of the Treasurer of upwards of £17,000, more than one half of which was in cash, and the remainder (£8,300) in Treasury bills; but £13,165 of this was an advance by way of loan from the General Government of the sixth of land revenue which had been set aside under an Act of the General Assembly for the purchase of native lands. In December a general census of the population, &c, of the colony was taken, and, when published, it will show that this province has made less progress in population than any ether in the colony, though one district of the province, the Wairarapa, exhibits greater progress than any other country district in New Zealand. It is not, therefore, the fault of the province itself, but owing to the maladministration of its affairs that it does not go ahead. Mr. Ward has engaged two steamers to run between Otago and Auckland, one by the East and the other by the West Coast. We think that the various Chambers of Commerce in New Zealand, which he pretended to consult on the matter, will not feel themselves flattered by the way in which he has acted. Since discussion was evoked by the General Government in its assumed zeal for the public convenience, the attention of this and other mercantile communities has been more particularly directed to .the effects attendant on having more steamers on the coast of New Zealand, if largely subsidised by the Government of the colony. The first consideration is whether the Government can afford to give away more public money in the shape of subsidies, and the perpetuation of hurtful monopolies. The second is that it is unfair to the colony that the Government did not publish what terms they were disposed to offer for such a service. And thirdly, that an arrangement effected as this, and as former ones have been, effectually cramps our local exertions to raise a steam fleet of our own. In the days when the colony is providing itself with banks, local insurance and 3team companies, we think the Government deserves the censure of the mercantile community, considering the answer the scheme met with when proposed to the Chambers of Commerce by the Responsible Minister, the Postmaster-General. When the Stafford Ministry contemplated holding the session of the General Assembly at Wellington, in 1860, they advertised for tenders for printing the parliamentary papers several months before the date fixed for the opening of the session, and yet there was no session of the Assembly held here after all. If the Fox Ministry had any serious intention of holding the session here, either at the end of May or the beginning of June, they would have long since taken at least preliminary steps for the purpose. How was it, moreover, that when Mr. Fox was here, and speaking of Sir George Grey's visit to Wellington, he did not publicly state, as be could so easily have done, that, as it was intended to hold the session here in a short time, the natives would then have an opportunity, if not before, of meeting his Excellency ? The Provincial Council is to meet for the despatch of business on the 25th of this month, but we are at present completely in the dark as to the nature of the measures it is proposed to submit to it. The deep water jetty is progressing. There are some sixty or seventy piles on the ground, more than half' of which' are already coppered. They will be driven in by a steam-engine of twelve horse-power. A handsome and commodious Custom-house and Post-office is about being erected ; Mr. Rolla's tender of £2,097 for the erection of the same having been accepted by the Government. A bridge over the Pakuratahi river, near the Remutaka, on the north-eastern or Wairaraparoad, another over the Wangaehu, on the north-western road, and a third over the Taueru, above Masterton, are about to be constructed at an aggregate cost of £1,949.