SEAT OF GOVERNMENT.

New Zealander, Volume 1, Issue 44, 4 April 1846, Page 2

SEAT OF GOVERNMENT.

On mere inspection of a map of the world, delineating the peculiar shape, 1 extent^ and position ' of the islands forming the- colony of ' New Zealand, 1 it" wouldnof be difficult" to fix on a spot 'to be 'the Capital and seat 'of government, that' 'should central l and apparently eligible" :' but a 'combination of advantages are'essentiaP, mop 1 especially on the 'establishment' of "a* new' colony, for the site of the principal metropolitan city.' -That the shores of the -Waitemata, were selected by Capt. <E[obson has long 'been cause of Toud ' "copplaint,' i'y ' aljf JTew" Zealand Company's settlers, and "all the' powerful influence''of the Company/ in England,' has Keen exerted t to remove the seat of government from Aucl&arid ; while at the same' time, our squtnern cotemporaries in the colony, as' well as the writers eulogizing' tliose' sejttleme^s, have incessantly, by perversion of facjs'ajid gross misrepresentations, detracted from the, pany advantagous peculiarities', 'pi the' locality and harbour of Auckland. J In truth, the partisans of the company, have evinced /nuch .ta,c ( t, 'in the course tfiey have pursued ; for tney have endeavoured ip attain their end, not so mucli, by proving the eligibilityliiid -superiority of their own settlements, as "by °'de'te r riorating and fortli 'false statements respecting the government district. The seat of government has been fixed for the last five years : therefore it is almost unnecessary 1 to 1 allude £o the inducements which primarily occasioned Auckland to be the -selected epot; but before we point out the many and weighty reasons, which at the present juncture ''should prevent its removal : we 'extractfiom a r de's'patch r of Capt. 'Hobson, to the Secretary of State for the colonies in 1840, the following passage :— " ' • After mature consideration, / have decided upon forming the seat hf 'Government upon the* south shore pf the Waitetnata, in the district of the Thames. For the choice. I, have thus made, J jiave been influenced by a combination of circumstances : — first by its central position j—secondly, by the great; facility'of inferhal'wa^ercbmmunkation, by, the Kaipara and its branches to the northward, 1 and the'Manukao and the Waikato to the southward ; — thirdly, from the proximity of v several smalj^r jjor^ abounding with tile ni^st valuable timtier;— ahd-fiinaliy, by thetfertiility of the soil, which is sjtated' by persons capable of appreciating it, {©"be" available for every agricultural purpose:— the richest and most available land in the Northern Island being concentrated .within a ia'di&o'f fifty mile's!'* »V» V "• '- '{i ] 5 ' X ' ' The harbour of Auckland, is one ,of the greatest advantages , of the Waitemata cijs^nct, aridtlje facts, and, events respecting shipping in the colony, during, the last five years, prove its su P^s?l^y_ QY^bU 'the squinern ports'.' It would be a task of supererogation to^dwell on^ih'e Necessity of 'the 'seat' of ' (government, in a colony,- comprising three! iplands, — being ! a good harbour, accessible in all weathers, — | with -excellent' hbldifig 'ground, and where the wind, to use a nautical; pl^rase,7-never blows home. 1 With the exception of two or three small coasters, badly provided witli anchors, or from other palpable 'neglect;' driven on shore, in i some of the heaviest gales, — yet got off without damage, — there' has been 'no accident, occurring to' 1 any vessel entering,' departing, or at anchor in the port. Since the harbour has been properly souhcled, buoys and marks 'lais down, and. descriptions published, by the active'J intelligent^ harßour master/' Captr ßough, who from being he^e,' since the foundation*' tif the settlement, in Sept^, 1840, ha's obtained } a perfect knowledge 'of' every part ; vessels 1 that 1 hive been perfect strangers, to, the port, have entered and departed inme 'darkest nights, i without the aid of a' pilot, in "perfect safety. There ' exists also, 'another peculiarity to Auckland, most fortunate to the mariner, — as a harbour.. Foggy weather, is^ mmostt t singularly'rarej' in the Gulph of Houra^i, so that the princip^aUeading marks, of — Shojutprua,— dajje- Colviile,— Tiri Tiri' 'RJaitangi, — Rangitoto, and tjie North Head, can scarcely ever be mistaken ; added to which," the very gr,eat a'dyaritage'of b r eing able to' heave the lead,' a^ liight,' or ip. rainy weather, to guj^^t^e vessel, as to* soundings. Besides, before making the harbour, after entering'the Gulph of Houraki,— the boundaries of ''which are Cape Colville^ and Point

"Ti5 ~ ' ■ ' Rodney, — instead, of being in such a funnel of everlasting 'gales', as Cook's Straits, vessels can always find excellent shelter, under lee of the Barrier Islands, and can run into good harbours, in Jthe Great Barrier, Jor water jind "other supplies. '""In vrorTang"up to Auckland," in calm winds and slack tides, there is excellent 'anchoragevfor jnany mijes, outside RangitotoV -' ' On our harbour, we shall not further expatiate, -in accordance with the old adage, — " good wine needs no bush ;" — but as our southern cotemporaries and their friends, are, so .prone fybe state-, ments, — of which assertion, we coujp: ksa w t e, at hand, the productions of Petre, Heaphy, Majoribanks, &c, give sufficient quotations .in proof,— ; we Shall "meTeljTdbserve, . that since; 1 840, there has jbeeiuio one instance of serious I damage by grounding, .much legs' _of greeks, of vessels entering A the of Auckland. Turn we' now", to the southern settlements, an& peruse a s recor3edHist,' : By ; h*b means'' totally complete, of the -vessels which have been wrecked, lost, jjinjl'damagecr, since 1840, in Cook'js Straits. The precise dates of their .catastrophe, we deem immaterial: we' give the 'names in 'proof of our assertion. &t Port^Nicholson and adjacent : — Barques totally lost .we^e — yittoria : David : Magnet; and Tynel '"And 1 the Clydeside's ' repairs cost £400, and' ilie"|l'ar^ha 1 ' f ßidgway, ' 'Brig' totally lost : — Black Warrior. Schooners totally lost : — Speculator : '"Tra.nsfer : Jewess : Elbe : R°, r y O'More : Itate : Erin ;']ftnetta : !NewZeai'ander': jVfapri Davis ; Jane Wade, capsized in the harbour 'in a gale of wind ; — Success, ,s,tyuck on the" same reef as the Tyne and'K'ate ; Look-in, damaged. Cutter totally lost ;p-Eickwic^, ~fyc t) fkc» At Nelson and adjacent :— 9 Barque totally lost : — Fifeshire. Brig, difto xrsW&e&c. * &c. £c. The above imperfect dejtail shows :-~five Barques ; tm Brigs ; twelve Schooners ; one Cutter, totally lost; —and two- barques and two schooners seriously damaged, — at or near the two southern harbours, (New Plymouth being only an open roadstead). Having, we conceive, fully established the superiority of' the Waitemata, as a Port and Harbour, we advert to the other important considerations/ that must prevent any' idea of the removal of the seat of Gr overnment. The first and most powerful of circumstances, is the sales of cro\?n lands, in the town of Auckland, and adjacent districts, to the present abiding settlers, Jay^ the Government, It rcannoTbe imagined thai'^tKr^^ent Qovernbr' would ever' think of comiriittihg 'such gross injustice', as even to 'recprftmejidj — the deed itself u h'e Kas'not't^'e power to'fulnl,7-that the loyal enterprising' settlers' of the northern district, after five years of Hardship and struggle with difficulties, arising solelyby the acts of the government;, are "now to 1 be deserted by that government, 'arid that their property, for which that same government had exacted most exorbitant sums/ is at once, to be rendered valueless. It cannot be doubted or denied, that Auckland, was decidedly intended, ' from the very first hour it was selected/by Cap't. Hobson, to be the cqpital of iStew Zealand/ The land was sold to' 'the'first settlers/with that express understanding" ) ' and on* that account alone, w'ereT such high' sums' given 'for the town allotments. l The local government in those days, looked to raise large funds, from" the sale of crown lands, to enable^them to ,survpy the country, and to obtain European labour by emigration, —-and, they certainly anticipated, that Auckland being avowed to, be t^e ernpf-yo capital, would" attract' capitalists 'anc}' other's^ frpm the neighbouring colonies, as well, as gfeatly enhance thie value of crown' lands in the Waiteniata'district"!''' ' ■' '■ In.addition to such facts,' there is, another circumstance, which we consider, is not generally borrie in mind, in reflections on tl^s.sjibjec't; but wh,ieh. gives/ tIW settlers, in the northern district, strong claim' on the government, as to more especial protection and consideration. The purchasers of ' land from the crown, have come to the colony either from England or elsewhere, at their own expense, — and afterwards have given high prices for their property. "With the settlers 6'fthe New Zealand Company, the fact_ was far different, for they were bought to the colony, fr.ee of expense, iir Consideration of their purchases. Besides the direct^ purchasers, from £he government, there'is' tdpo another class^ of landed proprietors, which" Have equal riglit f to protest against' any such unjust 'act of the government ;' we mean, those forxner r land claimants who have exchanged their distant iprope'rties for others, in the' town, suburbs, and' adjacent districts of Auckland. ' ' It will be remembered, that four years since, when the first bill for the settlement of land claims, was before the Legislative Council, Captain Hqbson presiding, — th,at it was, attempted to make the exchange of glands, comfulsory, on the part of the claimant ; and. the argument then strenuously urged by Captain Hobson, and its supporters, was, thatHhe , European settlers, in the northern district, \

qught and shpuld .be .concentrated round the capital/. If, when New Zealand first became a colony, recognised ostensibly, of Great Britain, the home Jiad sent the first Governor to the company's settlements, without taking possession ,pf, ,o.r land fro ( m,the ;or .Ruining $ey become possessed of land in tne.norihern .district, and sold to persons, under such circumstances, there could -have arisen no just cause of complaint, from such purchasers, as the capital Jhe fisting .circumstance^, of ( the lgcal .goX^Wpftt] .aSitP.'ttMr/sjiies.of &nd,,aftej: £xing the capital, to remove it, would be in our opinion, the most outrageous, glaring breach of faithj-^the most wanton deliberate act of fraud and dishonesty, )that ever $as by the most tyrannical, ;un.&ccj>untable despotism. Before we dismiss this part of the subject, we would aJlpn^e ,to i anosjh,er which Jb^s frequently and jQccurre,d to us. Presuming for ,a.n " that the government ,w,ere to Remove ,to Wellington, — ■ would any thing be naore ridiculous or ana.makms, -tfean ,the ,fact,i — tljat at the ;vgry ,s.ecjt j of^egovernrnentj and within jnany h.undred i miles distant from it, the g&pernmejit $tself I would not possess an acre of" land, except the I few reservjs made for public purposes in the town ! 1 But we are anxious jto discuss this question | .on different grounds, — on the great superiority of Auckland, as a capital, to any other spot that could haxe been, x or be, .chosen ; whether, : the population, European or native, — the proi ducfs, agricultural or commercial,— the resources, indigenous or mineral,, — of the colony, ( are tHe 'matters %y principally considered. At' tliis particular crisis^ after the recent, overt, native rebellion, and the latent element^ still in existencei' — the amount of population, in the various districts, i? jfche subject mpsj; important; and if the home government are sincere in alf their former^ protestations, for the welfare of the natives of New Zealand : pr if they are anxious and determined tft secure I this colony ±o the crown of Great Britain, ! as ,w,ell as to protect the persons and preser-yja j the properties pfher British subjects within it, they must keep the capital, intact, where it i? at' present 'fixed : in the district, between jthe two most numerous and powerful native part ties, — accessible to both coasts, with easy corns mu'nication to the .interior, — and in the very centre of the majority of the native population of the northern island. The European population of Auckland, for the' year 1845, was 3,635 persons, and it may be fairly - computed, that the Europeans in the adjacent out-settlements of the Thames, Coromandel, Great Barrier, Waiheki, Mahurangi, Kaipara, and Manukao, wpujd increase the census t,o 4,^00^ ,in $ie "Waitemata district^ The native pop,ulatiqn, tfyatmay Reconsidered within the jurisdiction of "Auckland, are very numerous.' The tribes, northward of. the Waitemata, in addition to those on tt^Wajkato, andthenc^ to dpotiki,pn the $as;t,coa£s ? embrace a population of above sixty thousand native^. The^^re within and the, Waitemata district, there is a population of between sixty and seventy thousand British subjects. Now let us refer to ' the . population of sthe northern shores of Cook's Straits,— and here, we must remark, thai} w t e consider the_ settlement of New Plymouth^ more anj appendage to Auckland, than it is, ' or ever \yill* be/ Wellington. At present, the intercourse, between Auckland and New Plymouth, is more easy and- certain, than between theiatter place and Wellington, and already vessel's trade with the capital, by entering it's southern harbour, Manukao. ' However^'we shall consider New Plymouth, wtyhits l.OfiO' Europeans, and Native population of about 2000, exparte, to pur present remarks. ' By the official returns,, we fin ( d, the European population, f6r the year v ending 3,lst August, 1845, as follows : — ' Persons. Wellington • . . 4,074 Ou'tsettl'ers . . . 'ISO Whalers . . . . 7,74 . 'Wahganui '. . . 18(3 ' Total 5.16*4 Of the Native population, there are the tribe* residing on the northern 1 shore of Cook'sStraits, at — Ahurin . . . 5000 Waikanae .... 3950 Wamiate . . . 3000 Otaki- . . ' . ' . 5000 Wanganui -. . . ■ 5000 Total 2i,95Q. Therefore the combined Eu^peanand Native population, within the district of Wellington and the northern shores of Cook's S raits, —amounts to rather more than 27,000 souls. It is perfectly evident by these figures, that the European population in, t|ie Waitemata, district, is nearly equal, (if that of Taranaki were included, it would greatly exceed ii), to that of the ,P ( ojJ; Nicholson, sej^ tlements; whije the n^tjlve 'population^ is thrice tJie number.

I.f'th.eriipre, the seat, of, gove.rnm,ent is to t\e determined by nuiuerjcaj population of British-subjects, in and surrounding aj*y giyen , district, we conceive the question^ to be finally set at rest. Our limits this day will not allow us to J pursue this subject, with regard to tjje other proposed points; — but we shall resume the subject in,our nes number. In th.c. m,ean time the return of his, Excellency, Govfirnor Grey, from the southern settlements may now be hourly expected ; and the Europeans in this district, will not be true or just towards themselves, if'they do not immediately assemble, and, address his Excellency on tjris most important subject. Until the f^ars, doubts, and apprehensions which prolific rumpur. hai excised, apd, l?ept in action for some time past, are removed and decided, there will be an universal stagnation, in this district, of all enterprise, whether in commerce or agriculture. Capitalists will not invest in any description of property, and those of limited, means will fear rjsking" their s,niall funds, unc^r, such doiibjful, qircum^tances; therefore, vje, consider.that.fpr the benefit of the whole colony, Governor, Grey should at once, publicly and officially announce, — that- Auckland is irrevocably Jixed for the seat of government.

Native? at Orakf.i. — T,he anticipated war like visit of Taria, from Houralfij to the Nga.tiwatua, at Orakei, has be.eti prevented, by amicable adjustment $ but he is coming to have a korero with the latter tribe, and we believe they are to meet on neutral ground — Waih,eki,,,or ip th,e Bay near Munga r mungaroa. It is respecting some old family feud, for which Taria wishes to be pacified andi compensated, by obtaining a portion of land from the Neatiwatua, in orcier to rai ( s.e produce for, sal,e a¥ Sale of Crown Lands. — On Tuesday last the Colonial Treasurer pu,t up to Auction, at the, Court Pou^e,, several allotments of; Town, un,d Country Lands. The following Town allotments were sold. — Section 14. No. H, containing 34 perches, at .£213 per acre ; bought by Mr. Langfo^d. Section 18, ]$o. 8, conta,injng 21 perches, in Albert Str,eek at £320 per acre.; purchased by Mr. Davis. No. 9, containing 1 rood arid 3 perches, at £175 per acre ; bought by; lyir,. Lan^ord. The allo^en^s e^citjng mps& intent, were those sjtuated on the present beach, facing Shortland, Street, in Section No. 2. No. 1, containing 48 perches, sold, at =£306 pe,r acre; bought by G. §rraham, Es^.,,, &, My, Harp ; No/2^ cpn.^ining 4^ perches, at £210 per acre^ bo.ughj} by Mr.. Me Coy. No. 5, containing 48 perches, at £150 per acre ; purchased by Mr. Langford. No 4j, containing 48, p.erchcs a,t per acre]; Bou,gls by Mr. Foot. Post Office.— By the Maukin, from Sydney have arrived the Commissioners, Messrs. Smith and James, appoini^d to examine into, anjj report on the Post-office regulations, &Xj We trust that the great hardship, existing in no other colony but this, ofj the tax of one penny on all newspapers inwards and outwards, will, be abolished. The Bishop of New, Zealand. — It is with much pleasure wesannqutjc^ the safe arrival of Doctor, Selwyn, at Kawaranga, at ihe moutli of the Thames, after his long absence. The whole of the Church Mission stations^ on the East Coast, and the interior, hav,e been visited by the Bishop, on his journey from the southward, which must have been a duty most arduous and wearisome. Divine Service wiil be performed by his Lordship at the Ijloar.aki mission station, to.-rnprrpw,, a^, y» the ensuing week he will arrive in Auckland, Sale of Cattle.— On Friday next, § Mr. Hart vyill sell the well known Hereford Bull, imported by Mr. Kempthorne, in addition to a prime herd of fat and dairy cattle.