The New Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 299, 11 April 1849, Page 2

The New Zealander.

Be just and Tear not: Let all the' ends thou aims't at, be thy Country*!, Thy God's, and Truth's.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 1849.

We have had two arrivals from Sydney since our last — the Miukin and the Inchinnan — tut with very little, if anything, new to add to our political budget. The November Mail has indeed reached us, and, by it,' our usual pile of English papers ; but ; — thanks to the Sydney

postal delays, and to the dull capacities of the Post Office Packets — their contents are, at least three weeks, in arrear of previous informtion. It is to be hoped that, ere long, all these detentions and delays may be averted, and that means will be taken to push on our mails by the very earliest opportunities, instead of suffering them to acquire an added interest by prolonged custody in George Street. The steamer from Sincapore had not made her appearance, but she was speedily and confidently expected so to do. The 2nd of November was the date fixed by the Admiralty for the presentation of tenders. There is, therefore, nothing unreasonable in the supposition that performance would promptly follow on acceptance of the contract. The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company were known to have the means of tender at their command. This may, possibly, have led to the rumour of their having taken the contract. Whether true or false, a short time will suffice to show. That the contract has been taken begins to be generally believed, and the " Sydney Herald" speaks of the 20th of January as the date at which the mails would leave England. Supposing, therefore, that the Sincapore steamer achieved her passage within the prescribed period — seventy two days — the Mail ought to have arrived at Sydney on the 2nd inst. We, however, feel inclined to coincide with our Sydney contemporary and do not imagine that the first or even the second trip, will be accomplished within its limit — indeed we shall be well satisfied to give a fortnight's law at starting, the navigation being new, aud, in a great degree, untried. Our Sydney Journals are to the 27th ult. The reception of Sir Charles Fitzroy at Melbourne had been marked by every testimony of regard and respect. His Excellency has had another very narrow escape. |The carriage in which he and his son were returning to town from Mr. Latrobe's, was run away with, the horses having been terrified at a squib. The Governor and Mr. George Fitzroy were hurled from the vehicle, which was upset and smashed ; fortunately a few scratches proved to be the amount of personal injury. Sir Charles Fitzroy has surely had more than sufficient warning to Beware of Australian horse-flesh ? His Excellency's tour of inspection appears to be an extensive one, infinitely more so than that of any former Australian Governor. On the 22nd, Sir Charles sailed in the Havannah for Adelaide, and, after his visit to the land of copper, he will make a call at Hobart Town — where no Governor-in-chief has been for four and twenty years. The last who visited Tasmania was the oppressor, Darling, who touched at Hobart Town on his way to Sydney in 1825, beaiing with him the charter which rendered Van Diemen's Land thenceforward independent of New South Wales. It has been alleged, that Darling had instructions to inquire into the conduct of Colonel Arthur, against whose tyrannic rule murmurs were, then, extremely loud. Darling, however, saw nothing in Arthur but a man of congenial sentiment, nor, in his measures, aught in which he did not sympathize. And so, this par nobile struck palms, and, if they did not, as has been insisted, enter into compact, their proscription of the Press, and their infringement of Colonial liberties, were, at least, marvelously simultaneous coincidences. Are these visits of Sir Charles Fitzroy's in prosecution of a tour of pleasure, or in inspection, anticipatory of the appointment of a Governor-General of the Australian provinces'? Such an appointment has frequently been hinted, and we are inclined to think might be productive of beneficial results : especially were a Governor-General independant of the Colonial Office, and placed as a Guardian to whom the colonies could appeal on the spot, in matters in which the colonists and the Colonial Office deputies might be at issue. Of course much would depend upon the character of the man ; but, were he of the Sir Charles Fitzroy school, the practice of political blackballing — the facility of vamping charges against colonists, or honourable officials — Chief Justice Sir John Pedder, for example — would experience a sure and salutary check. Ere this, the question of " Convicts or no Convicts" will have been powerfully tested in Sydney. The decease of Mr. Nelson Lawson created a vacancy in the representation of the county of Cumberland, and into this vacant seat, unopposed and unquestioned, Mr. Robert Fitzgerald, an extensive flockmaster and landed proprietor, had all but walked ; when, at the eleventh hour, Mr. Gilbert Wright, Honorary Secretary to the Anti-Transportation Society propounded the following moral test, in the shape of the first resolution agreed to at the great public meeting :— Thii meeting having considered the Deipatoli of (hi Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colo, nies to his Excellency Sir Charlei Fitzßoy, No. 166, of the Bth September, 1848, in which, taking advantage of the remote situation of this colony, his Lordship announced his intention, without waiting for an answer from the colonists, of forcinir upon them transported felons, in direct violation of the pledge contained in his Despatch, No. 213, 23rd September, 1847, namely — that iv any arrangement for tending out convicti to New South Walei, her Majeity's Government would be prepared to afford facilities to thewiveiand families of convicts to join them 4 aud that means would iilfO be provided for sending out, at the cost of the BriU-li Tie*sury, a number of free emigrants, equal to that of offenders ; it is resolved, that a* the Colonial Office ha« so unscrupulously broken faith with the colonists,

not only in this matter, but also in reference to the compact made during thp administration of Sir Richard Bourke, as to the police and gaol expenses and the territorial revenue— the colony peremptorily refuses to receive the offenders of the mother country, whether undei the name of convicts, exiles, or any other design nation, upon any terms whatever. With this, Mr, Fitzgerald verbally expressed his entire concurrence, intimating that if addressed in writing, he would, in writing, express that opinion. Mr. Fitzgerald was taken at his word, and was so addressed ; but, alas, for his reply, it took umbrage at the query, but proclaimed that the respondent did not go the whole length of the resolution. An opposition candidate, Mr. Archibald Michie, a barrister and an accomplished scholar, was at once proposed, and on the day of nomination presented to the electors. The contest, therefore, assumes a deep interest, inasmuch as should Mr. Michie be returned, at the last moment, in defiance of the local and political influence of this soiled " son of the soil" — this Prince of Wool Bags and Lord of Felon Deserts — it will demonstrate the deep and overwhelming detestation which animates all classes against the return to a system so accursed. Nay, even if unsu ccessful, the struggle which Mr. Michies canvass has evoked is an honourable event to be recorded in the future history of New South Wales. We sincerely hope Mr. Michies return may have been achieved. He has clear, utilitarian, liberal, views upon most subjects— and, above all, he is the uncompromising opponent of a high price of land, of that price which drives the industrious but limited capitalist to other shores. The importance attached to the election of Mr. Fitzgerald by the pollutionists is evinced by the malignant ferocity -with which they have sought to decry the pretensions of Mr, Michie. In that malignant ferocity Mr. Wentworth takes a most discreditable lead, — a lead which, however appropriate to, and characteristic of, the advocate of felonry, — is disgraceful to his reputation as a man of mind, and utterly repugnant to every manly, every gentlemanly sentiment. "Hireling scribbler, — penny-a-liner, — obscure barrister, incapable of stringing together three lines of English "—" — such are the despicable expletives — such the miserable expedients to which William Charles Wentworth, the great gun of Botany Bay, has recourse, in support of his parricidal desire to desecrate his native land ! The transportation question is, however, invested with such a vast moral importance, it entails such a mighty Colonial responsibility, that it cannot be suppressed by a calling of names, nor blinked because of the sordid endeavours of a large body of the Squatocracy, ( whose social and t political morality is dependant on their wool clip ) to reintroduce felon labour at any sacrifice of integrity. It is a question not merely of principle but of prudence, and this its final and forcible solution will do more to elevate New South Wales than all the contests in which she has hitherto been engaged. We look to her bearing in this great National struggle with a hopeful and a confiding anxiety. She is in the vanward of our battle, and her victory will assure our success. "Australia, the land of the felon, or the land of the frse ? " So the Sydney Herald fairly and incontrovertibly states the case! Who are the plaintiffs? Ihe Colonial Secretary of State eager, coute gui coute, to shovel English infamy upon the Colonial shores and to saddle its custody upon the Colonial purse. This British Minister is the prime agent of an evil which would be hurled in his teeth but for the mercenary aims of the Australian Squatocrats — who, by clamorous asseition, and by foreign deputation, seek to damnify the Colony in whose real welfare they have no abiding interest. The defendants, on the other hand, are the colony. Its fathers and mothers of families, wedded to its soil : — Its adscript cc glebte, whether free, freed, or native-born. Th^se, grateful for escape from past pollution, are energetic in their opposition to its devilish recurrence. They have learnt too well to appreciate the privilegesofa community not to deprecate the dangers and the distractions inseparable from the distinctions of a class. The freed perceive too clearly that the admission of Exiles will revive old prejudices, — that free colonists will be apt again to avoid, and impure new comers to claim kindred with them. They see this, and as sensible, and, many of them, truly reformed and exemplary members of society, they are strenuous in opposition to an attempt rife with so much social mischief — infected with so much moral depravity ! It is well the contest should assume such a complexion. — It is well it should have elicited such an universal burst of indignant reprobation. At Sydney — Windsor — Maitland — Bathurst — Goulbourne — Melbourne. In every Australian city and town, public meetings have been convened, and from these the voice of denunciation and of execration have bitterly gone forth' But, above all, it is well that the Governor has listened to, has sympathized with, and has lost no time to soothe the apprehensions of the people. It affords us inexpressible satisfaction to copy the following important communication which appeared in the Herald of the 27th ult. Will Earl Grey,— if he should still be colonial office tyrannus, — enforce transportation in defiance of such remonstrances of the Colonists, of such prompt suggestions of their ruler ? We thiak not, Nay, we hope j

the date of Australasian Transportation has passed. Why not jfelonize the Falkland Islands? There, there are no Colonists to demoralize, but abundant space to occupy, and innumerable islands to classify their gangs in. The cost of transit, too, would amount but to half its present expense. Colonial Secretary*! Office, Sydney, 2Stb March, 1849. S'r,—l haTe the honour to state, for the information of the gentlemen who took a part in the proceedings at the recent public meeting in Sydney against the revival of transportation, and any other parties who have signed the petition on that occasion, that the Governor, seeing the impossibility of the copy of the resolutions intended to be presented to his Excellency being received by him until his return to Sydney, and being unwilling that any delay should occur in making knotfn to her Majesty's Government the sentiments of the petitioners on this important question, has forwarded to the Secretary of State a copy of the Sydney Morning Herald, of the 10th instant, which contains a full account of the proceedings of the public meeting, and of the resolutions adopted on that occasion. His Excellency hat *t the same time strongly urged on his Lordship THE EXPEDIENCY OP SUSPENDING ALL MEASURES which may be in progress for sending out convicts to this colony until he is enabled to put him in POSSESSION OK THE DELIBERATE OPINION OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. ON THE SUBJECT. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, E. DEA.& THOMPSON. Gilbert Wright, Esq., Honorary Secretary for procuring giguatures to the petition against the renewal of transportation.

There were several vessels on the berth; for Auckland, at the date of the "MaxJkin's " departure, namely the brig " Fanny '* (en route for California)' and the schooners " Minerva " and "Sister." On the 26th of March, in getting under weigh, the Maukin ran foul of the barque Emma, and carried away that vessel's mainyard, but without, herself, sustaining any damage. During the same day, the Carpenter, of the Emm 4, whilst occupied aloft, fell from the mainyard, striking the combings of the* main hatchway, in his descent into the hold, where he instantaneously expired. It may be remembered that, during one of her trips to Newcastle, the steamer Rose ran upon the Emma's anchor and stove ter bottom. This led the Hunters River Company to bring an action against Captain Knight, which has terminated by a verdict, in his favour. The Jury decided that the Emma's anchor should have been buoyed, but that it was the Harbour Master's duty, as in charge of the ship, to have done so.

We have a file of the " Nelson Examiner" to the 24th ultima. An abundant harvest appears to have been secured in that industrious settlement, of which Barley continues a prominent and profitable production. Upwards of twenty thousand pounds' wotth were avai'able for export to Sydney, and more than sufficient left for home consumption. A meeting had taken place on the 20th, to urge the New Zealand Company to afford an immediate explanation in the matter of their trust funds. The Company, in June last, had promised to do so in September, but both September and November ships had arrived, yet no statement of accounts. Mr. Mackay, in extenuation of the unbusinesslike indifference of the Company's directors, hinted that those gentlemen might be "grouse shooting." More pleasant, perhaps, but not quite so honourable, in our opinion, as it would have been to have devoted themselves to the adjusting a disputed account, the balance of which must be so essential to the prosperity of a young and energetic community. Indeed, the Company's apathy in this matter deserves to be considered as a sort of moral dishonesty. The Nelson land purchasers claim between fifty and sixty thousand pounds of trust money as their due ; the Company allege it does not exceed five and twenty thousand. Why not come to a settlement of accounts ? The " Examiner" has quoted our own ideas and those of our contemporary on the subject of coasting Steam Navigation. We copy a further exposition of his views on this important topic, because we are anxious to press its adoption, convinced that nothing is so much calculated to render New Zealand a Colony as the establishment of a ready means of communication which shall bind the several settlements in a reciprocal community of interests*

Mechanics' Institute. — On Monday evening, Mr. Hart delivered his promised preliminary lecture on Agwculture and Agricultural Schools. His^ Excellency the Governor honoured the lecturer by his presence, and the hall of the Institute was, otherwise, very respectably filled. Mr. Hart had, evidently, bestowed a great degree of care aneT isesearch in preparing his discouuse, which was illustrated with no inconsiderable anecdotal point. The lecture was one more of suggestion than of instruction, the speaker dealing rather with abstract theories than with determinate principles The vast importance of Agricultural Schools,' in which the native youth should be instructed in the improved system of English husbandry, was, however, earnestly inculcated ; and indeed the whole tenour of the lecture was studiously directed towards the advancement of Agriculture as an art, and to the elevation of the Agriculturist in the scale of intelligence and social worth. We hope, the ice thus bro- [ ken, that the praiseworthy example of Mr. Hart

will induce others to come forward and contribute their quota of instruction for the benefit of their fellow colonists.

We, this morning, lay before our readers a list of applicants for publicans' licenses at the ensuing meeting of Magistrates, on Tuesday next, the 17th instant. If, last year, we were surprised to find thirty five persons eager to pursue so extensive and so questionable a traffic, how much more astounded must we not be to find that list, on this occasion, augmented to forty applicants. Holder, our present object is merely to afford We inhabitants an opportunity of judging of the necessity, or the reverse, for this ' Public' increase ; so that they may be enabled to assent to a convenience, or dissent from the establishment of nuisances, injurious to the local and moral prosperity of their several neighbourhoods.

APPLICATIONS FOR LICENSES.

Names. Sign of House Streets, &c. Brigham, John Prince Albert Inn Queen-street Campbell, John Union Hotel Queen street Dennett, William Duke of Marlborough ttuecn-sticet Davis, Hose Anne Prince Alliort Inn Epsom Fulton, Cluistr. Auckland Hotel Queen-street George, Edward lloyal Hotel Oiiehimga Hayr, Henry Half-way House Epsom Hardingtoi), H. Royal Fxchange Hotel Shortland-street Johnson, James Commercial Tun High-street Johnson, Tlios. Windsor Castle Parnell Levey, S. H. Victoria Hotel Fort-street Lorrigan, Patrich Bush Tavern West Queen-street M'Donald, W. Caledonia Hotel Fort-street Nathan, Henry Russell Wine Vaults Shortland-street Norman Samuel New Leith Inn Onehunga Rogeis, W. L. Greyhound Inn Queen-street Tutty, William London Tavern Shortland-street Thompson, ttobt. Osprey lun High-street Wood, S. A. lloyal Masonic Hotel Princes-street NEW APPLICANTS. Badkin, Joseph Panmurc Inn Hobson's Bridge Bellingham, Wm. Canterbury Inn Wyndham-street Crowe, Edward Phoenix Inn Hobson-street Dignan, Patrick Clanricarde Hotel Albert street Donnellan.Edwd. Ro\a! Oak Chancery-street Gordon, Wm. Farmer 1 ! Hotel Hohson-strect Grffliley, James Gibraltar Rock West Queen-street Hill, Thomas Chancery-street Hoop, John St. John's Tavern Queen-street Joy, Alfred C. Mason's Hotel Official Bsy Kelly, Edward Cliff Inn Shortland-street M'Garvey, Wm. Trafalgar Inn Queen-street Mitchell, Antony London Restaurante Chancery street Madden, Charles Queen's Arms Corner of Queen and Shortland streets Nicholson, John Black Bull Inn Albert-street Fartington, G. New Zealand Hotel Queen street Shuhau, David Crown and Anchor Inn West Queen-street Smithson, Win. Brewer's Anns* W> ndham-street Stuart James Queen's Head Queen-street Twohy William Blue Bell Queen-stieet Weavel, John lloyal Oak llemuera

Programme. — The following pieces of music, by the permission of Lieut -Colouel Wynyard, C. B.; will be performed by the Band of Her M» jesty's<sßth Regiment, within the enclosure of the Government grounds, to morrow, from four to six o'clock, p.m.: — Overture Op. " D'Otello" Rossini Waltz "A Deauz temps" Jullien Grand Selection. ."La Figlia Del Regimento" Donizetti Ballad "The Fair Land of Poland" B»lfe Quadrille " The Emani" Jullien Recit. c Cay. ..Op. «' Eliza c Claudio".. .Mercadante Sonjr "The Light Gui'ar" Cavatina "DitantePalpite," Op. •« Taacredi" Rouini Pollen " The Cavalry" King