The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 518, 2 April 1851, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

WEDJfES J) A V, APRIL 2 , 18 51.

Be just an<l fe.ir not : Let alHhe ■endj- thou aunk't»atj be thy Country's, Thy Gon's, and TiuthV

A Government Gazette was published on Monday. As the whole of its contents, so far as they possess any public interest, will be found in extcmo in our other columns, a brief reference to them here will suffice. The Governor- in-Chief proclaims that Her Majesty has been pleased to confirm the Waste Lands Ordinance, and the Ordinance for Quieting Tilles to Land, passed by the Legislative Council in the Session of 1849. A despatch from Lord Grey follows, explaining distinctly the intention of the Home Government, that one-third- of the gross proceeds of the Revenue raised by the Sale of Crown Lands within any Hundred may be entrusted to the Wardens elected by the Inhabitants of thai Hundred, for the execution of public works, such as rosds, bridges, &c. The lloyal Instructions to this effect follow, but we need not copy them to-day, as they appeared in full in the New Zculundvr of the 26th of February. Another despatch from his Lordship, in communicating the lloyal confirmation of the Ordinance for Quieting Titles to Land, incidentally comments on " the slight grounds, in equity, of many of the claims in question," and the " trifling consideration" which had been given for " extensive tracts of land ;" — and awards strong approbation to " the skill and foresight, and the regard for the various interests concerned," with which the measure had been framed. A third despatch conveys the lloyal Instructions (which also appeared in our p,iper of the 26th of February) for exempting from the operation of the Regulations relative to Sales by Auction, all the lands comprised in the Settlements of the New Zealand Company. A new Regulation, limiting the hours within which Cat^e may be slaughtered, is issued by direction of a General Meeting of Magistrates. Returns of the Imports and Exports of the Province of New Ulster during the year 1850, report the Total Value of the Imports as £108,793 16s. Bd. ; anil the Total Value of the Expoits as £68,023 1 2s lUd.

We transfer to our columns the Addresses presented to Sir George Grey, at Nelson, from the Wesleyan-Methodists, the Officers and Brethren of the Independent Older of Odd Fellows, and the Total Abstinence Society in that district, together with His Excellency's Replies, — because we think there is in those Addresses a peculiar significance which no impartial observer of the state of public affairs in the colony should overlook or lightly jegard. That significance arises, mainly from the fact that they do not pioceed from political associations, and that they touch little, if at all, upon questions of political controversy. No doubt the persons who signed them hay* their own views on these matters; and i' 's veiy possible that those vi ws, if they were fully exptessed, would exhibit more or less strongly marked shades of difference. But the characteristic feature of Ihe Addresses is that they emanate from Bodies who are associated for religious and beievolevt purposes, and who recognise in Governor Griy's general, administration sufficient evidences of a desire to promote the moral and -social well being of the colony, to induce them to merge all considerations of a merely political nature in an united declara' tion of approbation on grounds higher and purer than any which could lie found in the arena of party strife. To a Ruler gifted with an expanded mind and a philanthropic heart, such testimonies as these, calmly and deliberately borne, must be especially gratifying, and well may more than counter balance demonstrations of a contrary character in meetings led on by an excitement which is often as unintelligent as it is boisterous, — in which not a few who shout most loudly, or sign petitions most piomptly, would find some difficulty in desciibmg their alleged grievances, or explaining the ultimate object of the movement to which they lend thoir voices or their hands. Simultaneously with our reception of the paper con aining the Addresses, we also received one in which we tind a document affording evidence of a growing prosperity in the Nelson settlement that might well induce the set lers to tuin a deaf ear to those who would persuade them that their energies are fettered, it uol crushed, under the mal-admimsiration of a heedless or despotic Government. We refer

to. the. Official Report of the Statistics of the settlement for the year ending December 1850,wlrich had just been published. The Examiner, referring to these statistics in a tone of good-humoured satisfaction which pleasantly contrasts with its frequent political grumblings, says, — " Looking at them under nearly every head, there 15 that increase of strength and wealth which shows not only that we have taken deep root in the soil into which we have transplanted ourselves, but that the stem is flourishing and putting forth Irealthy branches." The Return, which is drawn up with a commendable enumeration of interesting particulars, is too long for transference to our columns; but we give the substance of it, availing ourselves also of the > commentary on the official statement whic our Nelson contemporary supplies. The White Population was.—in the Town of Nelson, 1,776; in the Rural Districts, 2.272 ; Total, 4,047. Of these, 2,175 are Males (928 being Adults), and 1,872 Females. The increase 1 on the y#fr amounts to 675 souls. I The Religious Denominations are thus divided : — Protestant Episcopalians, 2,096 ; j Presbyterians, 497 ; Wesleyan Methodists 463 ; Lutherans, 129 ; Others Protestant Dis- j senters, 235 ; Roman, Catholics, 188 ; and — almost the only drawback on the favourable aspect of the Return — 439 persons who. " re- I fused or neglected to state religion." ' As to Employments, there are 434 engaged in Agriculture, 408 in Manufactures ; and 261 J in Commerce. The Births during the year we*e 185; the Marriages 25 ; and the Deaths 40. The Native Population numbers, Males, 719 ; Females, 536 ; Total, 1,255 This is a decrease of 153, which the Examiner accounts for chiefly by emigration. The Immigration has been 504; the Emigration, 56 ; Excess of Immigration, 448. The Educational Report is gratifying. There are fifteen Day Schools, with five hundred and nineteen children ; and sixt~ een Sunday Schools, Avith three- hundred and seventy-seven who receive, education in them alone. The total number of Sunday Scholars (including those who also attend Day Schools) is seven hundred and twentythree. It appears that there are in the settlement only six hundied and thiriy-seven children between the ages of two and fourteen years not receiving education, and " of this number there must be very many who are too young for receiving instruction, and many who, having attended school, are now arrived at an age when their services to their parents are too valuable to be longer spared from home,'' The Protestant Episcona'ians and the Wesleyan Methodists have each four Places of Worship ; the Presbyterians* the Roman Catholics, the German Lutherans, and the Baptists, one each. Divine Service is also | performed by the Ministers of the several i Denominations in the school-houses of the j hamlets where no church or chapel has yet been erected. The Judicial Returns are highly satis- ( factory. In the Supreme Court there was no business, either criminal or civil. In the Resident Magistrate's Court there were fifty- ; five criminal convictions and committals, but " by far the greater number were for breaches of the Merchant seamen's Act." j The Live Stock (exclusive of Stock owned by the Natives) numbered : — Horned Cattle, 5,052 ; Sheep, 70,960 ; Horses, 441 ; Mules, 12; Goats, 5,337; and Pigs, 2,049. This Return shows a large increase on the preceding year. j The number of Dwelling [louses is 776 ; of Warehouses and Workshops, 114; Total Number of Buildings, SBO, being an increase of 158. The Total Number of Acres cultivated is 4,854 (of which the Wheat Crop covered 1,338) : of Acres Fenced, 7,143 : of Acres Cleared, 5,243. The estimated average of the Crops is, Wheat, 25 bushels per acre ; Barley, 26 do. do.: Oats, 30 do. do.; and Potatoes 7 tons per acre. The Native Crops consisted of about 800 acres of Wheat, 50 acies of Oats. 400 acres of Potatoes, 200 acres of Maize, and ; 150 acres of other crops. Revenue for the year was £3,506 18s. 5d.; the Expenditure, £3,213 18s. lid. : Excess of J Revenue, £'292 19s. 6d. The increase on the j year has been nearly 50 per cent. j Total Value of Imports was £17,507 2s. 6d.; j of Exports, £3,633 ; of Nelson Produce sent coast -wise, £3.483 os. Bd. The Examiner observes, however, that the Table does not correctly represent the value of the Produce shipped from the Settlement, as the greater part of its wool goes direct from the vVairau to WelHngtou, and thus (with other produce from the same district) swells the exports of that settlement. We congratulate our Nelson neighbours on the advancement which these Statistics attest. Even if our own progress were not equally satisfactory, we trust we are free from the paltry jealousy that would envy the prosperity prospeuty of a sister settlement. It is not surprising that such sections of the community as those from which the Addresses re'erred to in the commencement of this article have proceeded, should believe that the (government 1 under which they are thus thriving cannot after all, be so very bad as some of the agitators would fain persuade them to think it.