The New Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 148, 30 October 1847, Page 2

The New Zealander.

Be just and fear not: Let all tlte endb tliou aims't at, be thy Country's, Thy God's, and Truth's.

"So many overthrown estates, so many votes for Uoubles." —Lord Bacon. We return once more to Earl Grey's arrangement with the New Zealand Company, and to the Under-Secretary's explanation of his Lordship's views. In Mr. Bawes's letter we find these words ; " There is another amount of about 77,000 acres granted by Governor Fitzßoy, in excess of the amounis awarded by the Commissioners of land claims, and the maximum of grants fixed by the Instructions and Local Ordinances. Wi h these it is more difficult to deal, as the grants have actually been issued, and though, apparently, this has been done illegally, they can only be set aside in due course of law. Lord Grey has instructed the Governor whenever he sees a chance of success, to in stituie proceedings for setting aside such grants," This cannot be called a fair presentment of the case, for it would certainly mislead any person not already conversant with the subject. These grants-^-with a very few exceptions, in which Captain Fitzßoy stood upon his own authority — were not issued in excess of the amount awarded by the Commissioners, but actually recommended by them, in accordance with what was then supposed to be a correct interpretation of the following provision of the Local Ordinance, giving them power to report upon claims, original or derivative, *' Provided, however, that no grant of land shall be recommended by the said Commissioners, which shall exceed in extent Two thousand five hundred and sixty acres, unless specially authorized thereto by the Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council." Yet who would not suppose, from the wording of the passage in Mr. Hawes's letter, that the said amount in excess had never been awarded by the Commissioners at ail. The spirit in which it is written, the animus, is only too clear. The truth is, that an interpretation was formerly put upon the clause in question, different from that which is given to it now. It was then supposed that an award of '2560 acres might be originally made, and afterwards extended by permission of the Governor and Executive. And it has still to be shewn, in a court of law, that this reading was not the right reading ; for the incorrectness of it is as yet only matter of opinion. The probability is, however, that the Commissioners will be shown to have had no power of subsequent extension ; that although a first award, say of 5000 acres, made in accordance with the provisions of the Ordinance, would hold good at the present day, that nevertheless an award of 2560 acies once made, is to be considered as a final decision, as a case not to be opened again. And the supposed illegality of the transaction — if there can be distinctions of illegality— is said to be increased by the circumstance of these extensions not having been made by the same Commissioners who recommended the original grants, or allowed under the rule of the same Governor. Of that objection, we must confess ourselves so obtuse as not to be able to perceive the corroborative force, It appears to us, on the contrary, that the main point in the case, the finality of the first decision, must stand or

fall upon its own merits ; that it is good or bad in itself, and not to be tinkered up by any supposition of additional informality. Upon that matter, however, we express ourselves with ft becoming reserve, seeing that it has been already sifted by those who are betier qualified to form an opinion than ourselves. In whatever manner this point shall be eventually decided, it certainly appears unfair to rip up cases at the present day, in which ail parties concerned — Crown officers and all, in whose guidance we are supposed to put our trust— believed themselves to be acting in strict con'ormity with law ; and it is the more unfair, from the length of time that has since elapsed, during which the lands in question have passed from hand to hand, have been bought and sold in perfect reliance on the validity of the titles. To those who plausibly contend that individuals must be sacrificed to the public good, or to the New Zealand Company, (as matters stand at present, the propositions are convertible), we answer with a passage from Cicero's offices, which bears so strongly on the present question, that we cannot resist the temptation of quoting it. "In pnmis autem videndum erit ci, gui rem publicam administrabit, ut suum quisque teneat, neque de bonis privatorum pubhee deminutio fi<it. Perniciose enim Philippus in tribunatu, cum legem agrariam feiret, guam tamen aniiquari facile passus est, et m co vehementer se moderatum prcebuit " To which we append Cockman's translation *'The principal thing for a governor to take care of is, (hat each individual may be secured in quiet enjoyment of his own, and that private men be not dispossessed of what they have, under a pretence of serving and taking care of the public ; for nothing is more destructive to the peace of any nation than tv bring in a new distribution of estates, which was attempted by Philip, in the time of his tribuneship; however, he quickly gave over his design, and did not persist stubbornly in defence of it, as soon as he found it was so vigorously opposed." To those who urge the necessity of settling a doubtful question, we grant their premises, with readiness ; it is merely the fashion of going to work, that is so unpleasant. It is a settlement, undoubtedly, that is being brought about, and a most effectual one j but rather too rough a cure : reminding one of Queen Entelechia's Quintessential professor in Rabelais, how he devised a plan for ventilating houses, by throwing them out of their own windows, " Ung aultre, par engin minficque jectoit les maisons par les fenestres : ainsi restoieut emundees d' aer pestilent." " Order reigns at Warsaw," said a celebrated Russian bulletiu, leaving us to guess how order came there. The Company has been " working the oracle" behind the scenes, throughout. The curtain is now drawn up, and Earl Grey appears as Punch, Gibbon Wakefield pulling the strings. For his Lordship acknowledges with great simplicity — let us be just, and call it honesty— the true reason of his desperate attack on the Northern proprietors. It is " to guard Her Majesty^ Government and the Company" (the distinction is without a dif ference) "from the injury to which their combined operations, under the proposed arrangements, would be suojected by the competition of low priced lands." In other words, to keep up what is called the Pound-an-acre system • We have hardly met any person, unconnected with the Company, and acquainted from experience, with the real value of New Zealand land, who did not acknowledge this system to be a mistake. Those who form their ideas from the deep vegetable earth of America, the remains of forest upon forest that has rotted away, are much deceived. Our soil, on the contrary, is a thin paring, for the most part fertile enough if careful 'y cultivated, but easily worn out for want of heart. With the exception of scattered spots to be met with here and ihere, more in the nature of oases than continuous tracts of country ; which, however, when within any reasonable distance from a market, we at once acknowledge to be worth much moiv. thau a pound an acre ; with these exceptions, land is not worth the money here, any more than at the South. Its general fertility has be. j n exaggerated at home for interested purposes ; it requires much higher cultivation, much more expensive farming, than would be believed in England ; and if that capital which should be expended upon the earth itself be screwed away in purchase-money from the settler ou his first arrival, he is safe to find himself in two years a ruined man. The consequence of a high upset price, if persisted in, will ultimately be this ; thac all idea of centralization, at least of the agricultural inhabitants, must be given up. Those fertile patches already mentioned, few and far between, will alone be bought, and straggling farms scattered all over the country. We ourselves were speaking to a practical man, only the other day, who was about to part with his own farm, and to buy elsewhere. But he was resolved, wherever he went for it, to buy the best that he could see ; indifferent land, to use his own expression, being "only fit to break a man's heart with." It may be always worth while to purchase fifty or a hundred acres at a distance, an

isolated homestead, for fifty or a hundred pounds, where the advantage of an adjoining cattle run, to be procured tor the expense of a squatting license, can be obtained besides ; but all idea of portioning out allotments, one over the other, in concentric circles to the town, must be abandoned on the part of Government as an Utopian dream. The sole mode of ensuring such regularity of distribution, is to sell them off for what they will fetch. For they will always command their real value, whatever that may be. And there is a danger in abandoning the principle of centralisation, whicn, within the last few days, stares us more openly jn the face than it even did before. Let us never forget that the out-settlers are at the mercy of the natives, as only now has been too fatally proved, and that Government is unable to afford that protection which a pound an acre is supposed to buy. In spite of the braggadocio talk about pacification of the country, which looks well enough, upon paper, in England, we that are here know better. Our best reliance is upon each other, upon mutual neighbourly help. To say that no man is compelled to become an out-settler, that if he chooses to run the risk he must brave it out, is an unbecoming answer for any Government to make. It ha« no right to tempt him, either by offer of advantage, or mitigation of disadvantage. When the golden cup was thrown into Chary bdis, that Pesce Cola, the diver, might be persuaded into an attempt to fetch it up, Iris death lay at the door of the man who placed temptation in his way. And what we have lately witnessed will not prove a warning, for the excitement of such a calamity soon dies away in a colony. The risk will be braved, again and again, so long as it be worth the while, for there is a recklessness of personal danger out here — arising, perhaps, from the spirit of adventure which the loose colonial mode of life calls up — that is rarely seen at home. But let it never be said, that a government has taken advautage of such a feeling to derive a revenue, or to uphold the speculations of a trading Company,

The Pensioners —On Wednesday, the Bishop gave a welcome to the pensioner's wives and to then: children, which they will be long to forget. An ox was roasted for the occasion, puddings worthy to figure by the side of a bullock served up to boot ; all was done iv the old English style of hospitality for which the College is famous, as if it had been three hundred years ago. The Governor was there and Mrs. Grey, the Chief Justice and Mrs. Martin; everybody bore a hand, the gentlemen carving for the urchins, and the ladies waiting upon them. After dinner, cricket, football, and every amusement that could be devised went on; glee singing and choruses, in which .the Maorie boys finally settled the disputed question as to the development of the bump of music in the Native skull. We conceive that a pleasanter day was spent than was likely to have been passed at Mahurangi, or at the Keri-Keri.

Government Gazette.—The Gazette of Tuesday last contains notices—that the Government will be prepared after the fifteenth day of November next, to pay off, at the Auckland or Wellington Treasuries, the outstanding Five and Ten Shilling Debentures; and also the Debenture certificates, which were issued in acknowledgment of debts o f the local government, outstanding at the time that his Excellency Governor Grey assumed the administration, with the interest due thereon for complete years ; and thai interest is now payable on debentures issued under the regulations of the 18th June, and 24th Nov. 1845. Mr. J. S. Burgess has been appointed to the temporary command of the Government brig, Victoria. Land' Commissioner Matson's Couit, is to be open on Tuesday the 9th November next, for the investigation of claims belonging to Messrs. Joseph Newman, F. Ring, John Robinson, John Regan and Timothy Dwane. A license has been issued to Thomas Weston, of Shortland street, to exercise the business of Auctioneer for the. year ending 24ih April, 1848. And a return is published shewing the amount of spirits and tobacco de« livered for home consumption, during the three quarters endjng the 10th inst., and of receipt of Customs, for the years 1841 to 1547« Total collections during the year 1846 amounted to £11,155 10s. Od - t total collections during the three quarters of the pre« sent year ending Oct. 10, amounts to £13,073 2s. 8d; showing an excess during the latter, as compared with the former period, of £1,917 Us. lid.

Auckland Savings' Bank.—Messrs. J. I. Montefiore, and VV. Brown, the trustees in rotation will attend this evening from 7 to 8 o'clock, at Mr. Montefiore's stores, to receive deposits; and the Rev. J. J. Churton, and Mr. J. Dilworth, will be in attendance on Monday, Nov. Ist, from 12 to 1 o'clock.

Branch Bank.—We are glad to learn that Mr. Kennedy has arrived in Auckland, and that a branch from the Union Bank of Australia is to be established forthwith. The want of such accommodation has been long felt in this place, and there is every reason lo suppose that the result will be as profitable to the establishment, as it will be convenient to ourselves. It is understood that the old banking premises, at the corner of Princes-street, will be again occupied.