The New=Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 6, Issue 471, 19 October 1850, Page 2

The New=Zealander.

Be just and fear not : Let nil the ends tliou iiims't at, bo fhy Country'i, Thy Gou'y, and Truth's.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 18 50.

Well, the rumour which has almost " frighted the town from its propriety " for the last few days, is set at rest. We have the high gratification of laying before the public this morning conclusive evidence of its falsehood. The Seat of Government is not about to be removed from auckland. It would be impertinent to detain our readers by any comment of ours, from the means of satisfying themselves on this very important fact, which the subjoined documents furnish. We at once then proceed to state that a number of respectable inhabitants of the town — aware of the injury which the prevalence of the un contradicted report might produce — addressed the following Memorial to the Governor-in-Chil'F. To His Excellency Sir George Grey, K. C. 8., Governor-in-Ciiii:f of New Zealand. We, the Undersigned Inhabitants of Auckland, beg respectfully to be permitted to inform your Excellency that a report has been circulated here, and generally believed for some days past, to the effect that your Excellency has recommended to Her Majesty's Imperial Government that the Seat of Government for these Islands should be transferred from Auckland to a Southern Settlement, and that Representative Institutions should be granted to the Province of New Munster only, and not to this Province. In matters of such vital importance to our interests we trust that your Excellency will excuse our anxiety to ascertain whether any such recommendations have been made, as we have alluded to, and whether either the removal of the Capital, or the witholding of Representative Institutions from this Province be contemplated; or now

under the consideration of Her Majesty's Government -, and we humbly request your Excellency the favour of giving us such information as your Excellency can afford, so that the Public mind may be set at rest on these important questions. [Here follow the signatures.] k This Memorial was delivered at the Private Secretary's Office only yesterday morning. With a promptitude very unlike wflfot we usually hear of " official delays,"— with a manifest desire to satisfy the public solicitude on the subject at the earliest moment at which the matter was brought before him in any shape in which it was possible for him to deal with it definitively — His Excellency returned the following Reply, during the afternoon of yesterday :— Government House, October 18th, 1850.

Gentlemen, — I have received your Memorial, in which you inform me that certain rumours have been circulated here, which are generally believed ; and in which Memorial you also request me to give you such information as I can afford upon such important questions, so that the public mind may be set at rest. I with much pleasure comply with your wishes, in as far as lies in my power. In regard then, to the first point to which you allude, I have to acquaint you that I have made no recommendation to Her Majesty's Government, regarding transferring the Seat of Government from any one part of New Zealand to another. In regard to the second point, I have to inform you that I have recommended to Her Majesty's Government the introduction of Ivepresentative Institutions throughout the whole of New Zealand, including of course, this Province. You further request me to inform you whether either the removal of the Capital, or the withholding Representative Institutions from this Province be contemplated, or now under the consideration of Her Majesty's Government. On these subjects I am unable to give you any further information, than that no intimation has been made to me by Her Majesty's Government that such suoject s are under their consideration ; nor have I received any other Instructions on the subject than those which accompanied the Royal Charter of the 28th of Dec., 1810, and which have been repeatedly published. G. Grey. To the Gentlemen signing the Memorial. Nothing can he more frank, ingenuous, and unequivocal than this ; and we really almost feel gratified that the late hour at which the documents have come into our hands precludes the possibility of our indulging in lengthened comment, because we apprehend that any remarks of ours might only mar the impression as to Sir George's cordial readiness to meet the wishes and remove the doubts of the memorialists (and through them of the public) in this case, which his own courteous Reply, presented in its freshness, — and, we may say, its more friendly than official character — cannot fail to make on every candid mind.

The only alteration made in the Australian Colonies Bill by the House of Lords, (so far as the information which has reached us goes,) was the important and popular one of the reduction and extension of the franchise. This, as will have been observed from the summary in our last, was not carried by a majority on a division : —probably it could not have been accomplished in that way, but would have shared the fate of the various other amendments which were seriatim rejected by the House. It was " acceded to " by Lord Grey, when Lord Lettelton proposed it. In connection with this valuable concession and the reasons upon which it may have been granted by Government, our attention has been turned to a despatch from Governor Sir George Grev_ bearing directly upon the subject, which appears in the Blue Book for 1850, and which, it is far from unlikely, may have had no small influence on the mind of the Noble Secrltart for the Colonies in inducing him to give (as he seems to have done) a ready acquiescence in the propositien. However this may be, the despatch embodies enlightened and liberal principles on the question, and enlarged views on the real character and

prospects of colonial society , which render it deserving of a wider circulation here than it could attain through the limited channel of a Parliamentary publication, which comes into the hands of comparatively few. We therefore have pleasure in transferring it to our columns, and inviting to it the best attention of our readers. It may be necessary to premise that the " rate of franchise " referred to is thus stated in ihe preceding despatch (No. 106), published in the same Blue Book :—: — *' I would recommend that the right of voting at elections should hs exercised by such European subjects of Her Majesty as can read and wriie, and who have either an estate of freehold in possession, in lands or tenements, situated within the district for which such vote is to be given, of the value of £30, or who are householders within such district, occupying a dwelling within the limits of a town, of the annual value of £10; or in the country, of the annual value of £5. " And I would recommend, that such right of voting should be exercised by such native subjects of her Majesty, as are possessed of property in Government securities, in vessels, or in tenements, within the district for which their vote is to be given, of the clear value of £200, or who may be authorized to exercise such vote by a certificate granted to them for that purpose by the Governor-in-Chief." Copy ov a Despatch trom Governor Grey to Eaiil Gkkv. Gjvernment House, Auckland, March 15, 1849. My Lord, —la my Despa eh, No. 106, of the 29th November last, in explaining the reasons which had indnced me to recommend the adoption ol the rate of franchise which I named in that Despatch, I am afruid that, I did not enter in sufficient detail into the itate of society in these colonies ; and as thii ii a point with winch it it essential your Lordship should be well acquainted, I have thought it better to make the following additional remarks upon thii subject, We have not in these colonies any clnsi of society which at all corresponds with the poorer claisei in England. Generally speaking, every well conducted family, however humble their circumstances may originally have been, acquire here in a few years a property of their own. I think also, as a general rule, that those persons of the humbler classes who emigrate from England, may be regarded us being amongst the most enterprising and intelligent of the class to which they belong, who feding u capacity to raise themselves if a wider field were opened to them, determino to try their fortune in a new country, and have courage enough to carry out this idea. The acquisition of a properly of their own in a new country, in only Accomplished by such persons after considerable exertions on their part, and by great selfdenial, in a country where temptation! to irregubuity arc so strong, and where, from their being separated from their former neighbours and their relatives, theie atv perhaps greater facilities for carelessness and inegulanty than there would be in England. Persons, therefore, of the humbler class who acquire property in thepa colonies are generally people of enterprise and intelligence, who have been in their youth made acquainted with want and privation, vnd who, to escape from this, huve hud sufficient courage to ventuie on an uncle; lulling of considerable difficulty, and have then, with much toil and self denial, succeeded in gaining a competency for them-sclvcs and their children. So soon, ulso, as they hare succeeded in acquiring a la'idcd property, their minds are exnrcued upon an entirely new class of subject. They h,iV(j to become a-quainted with thenututo mid Lrm of title-deeds, to muke settlerm nti, upon their wives and children, to consider the nature and effects of various luws which relate to their own inte/ests, such as fencing acts, impounding lawn, laws relating to local assessments. &c, and they are brought into inucn mure frequent relation with the Civil Courts of the country, and with the foiim mid manner of proceeding in these Courts, thin they could possibly have been in England. From the almost total absence of an aristocracy, or of a class of old landed gentry, the small lauded pro. prietors and artizuns (who soon also become landed proprietors) aie required 'o tuke upon themselves the ulrmst entire management and control of the affairs of the church to which they may belong ; and as there is tio established church in these colonies, a great degrts of activity and of interest id the affairs of their own church is found to exist amongst tha inhabitants gene ally. The same circumstance secures them the advantage of very frequent intercourse with their own ministers, and has the effect of rendering them a rcry orderly and religious people. It should also be borne in mind that none of the small landed proprietors of the class which I am describing have any intention of quitting the conntry of their adoption, but on the contrary, with a proper pride, desire to leave to their children the inheritance which they have gained for them ; and they are generally debirousi by the propriety of their conduct and by the education they afiord their children, to remove any disadvantages which the humbleness of their origin might produce for them. These circumstances have led me to regard individuals of the clus, I am alluding to as in every way well fitted to be trusted with the elective franchise ; and I fear that any rate of franchise which is fixed so high as to exclude individuals of this clais, and to take in principally the wealthy storekeepers in the towns, would entirely defeat (he objects which would probably hi in the contemplation of those who proposed such a measure. The storekeepers and merchant* in the seaport towns have frequently no vested interest in the colony wherein they may temporarily reside ; and have no old established mercantile houses, tuch as exist in Europe. I think it would not be politic to deprive the bond fide country settlers of the light of franchise, and to vest too gieat a share of legislative power in the inhabitants ol towns. The foregoing considerations are those which have chiefly led me to recommend the rate of franchise which I have named in my Despatch No. 106, of 29th November lust, and it wan partly from these considerations that I was induced ao strongly to presg upon your Lordkhip the advantage! that would result from a system of direct election in lieu of an indirect election by meant of municipal corporations. In as far as my ex^eiionce in these colonies enables me to judge, I feel confident that a rate of franchise such as I have named in my Despntch No. lOfi, of 29th November lust, must ultimately be adopted in I them, and until it ii adapted, I do not think that any

form of representative government will work latiifuctorily or well. To delay iti adoption, therefore, when n conititution is first given to this colony, would not, I think, be productive of any udvantage, whilst I foci quite cert tin that great inconreniunccß and disadvantages would spring from naming too high a rute of franchise! I have, &c, (Signed) G. Grey. The Right Hon. Earl Grey, &c.| feu.