New Zealand Gazette AND WELLINGTON) SPECTATOR. Saturday, February 11,1843.

New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator, Volume III, Issue 219, 11 February 1843, Page 2

New Zealand Gazette AND WELLINGTON SPECTATOR. Saturday, February 11,1843.

In our last, we inserted a communication, purporting to be from the New Plymouth Spectator, which ought to be a matter of congratulation not only, to the settlers of New Plymouth, but to all the neighbouring settlements; and- we-fully- concur with the writer of the article in question, that taking' the topography and climate of that portion of. this Island. The 'absence of "what is'called a port, will we have no doubt, - every- way prove to have been the very reverse of unfortunate. It is, we believe, admitted on all Hands, that the district of Taranaki, is the garden of the northern Island of New Zealand, * and it certainly would have been a lamentable misapplication, of the skill, capital, and industry, of the body of settlers located there, with such prospects before them, for the encouragement of agricultural pursuits ; if they had settled down in the profitless speculation of storekeeping and water-frontage competition. Let them set their shoulders to the wheel, their hands to the plough, and the spade to the ground, and rest satisfied, that with the profits to arise from the exchangable intercourse with places better adopted to mercantile speculations, they will find a better balance on the credit sides of the accounts, which their neighbours will not grudge them, and all parties will learn the truth of the adage not only " exchange is no robbery," but that it is possible for two individuals as well as two communities to keep up a constant exchange of the comforts and conveniences of life, as well as the first necessaries of life; and both be gainers by the transaction. Neither would such a system of exchange militate against the principle of selling in the dear market and buying in the cheap one, and least of all would it justify the more eroneous ideas of cutting off your nose to be revenged upon your face, and debarring yourself the enjoyment of a luxury, if you possess the means of acquiring it, because the individual who may be able to supply you with it does not want the only article you may have to dispose of, and for which you would rather exchange it than part with your gold. This is is what, in modern days, is called the reciprocity system in this school of modern statesmen, or. rather would be statesmen, whose maxim is, not to buy what they would wish to possess, having the means to do so, unless the party possessing it will $»uy what they do not want. Following "Miss Martineaus plan of illustrating our meanings, let us suppose during a refreshing south easter with rain we were to meet a fellow colonist, a baker for instance, without a hat or pair of inexpressibles, and upon condoling with him on his state of nudity, he should answer — it is a great nuisance certainly, but I am a man who acts upon principle — I am a* reciprocity man." There is but one tailor and one hatter here, but they take their bread of my opponent, and I never will deal with any man who won't deal with me ; and that is what I call sticking to my principles. Whatever we might think of his principles, we shall think very little of his judgment, and yet it would not be difficult not merely to match the bakers' ignorance, but' to beat him hollow, by casting a glance over the Tories of the Mother country, who not only act in their own cases as our friend the baker would do ; but' having the power would, and do force their families and (servants) subjects to do the same,' and although they became literally a nation of shop-keepers as Bonaparte called them. They were so independent that they could hardly condescend to carry on business, seeing that they were all staunch reciprocity people, and yet kept on manufacturing goods till they were smothered with them ; and then thought to knock blood out of a stone by placarding the windows of their shops and the walls of the houses of their neighbours, with bills larger than the mainsails of a man of war, and each letter of the alphabet as big as a Jack tar — with awful sacrifices— --goods given away, neither of which were true, or if they" had been, deserved no pity ; because, if they had abandoned their reciprocity system, and adopted common sense as their principle of guidance, they would have needed no artifice to have enabled them to. dispose of their industry ; but have found willing customers, at liberal profits. We might enlarge upon this topic to a much greater extent,' but we will conclude, by earnestly reccommending our Taranaki bretheren to stick to their dirty acres, and be content to exchange, their surplus produce with those who may want it, and leave the mercantile portion o£ the business for effecting those changes to such of their neighbours, whose locality and' the attendant division of labour will enable them to effect it more, economically and profitably, than they can possibly do.

By the Y an 9 uar^t we L l» ave received Nelson papers of the' 28th January, and 4th .February.' >' . !- ' * By the former of these we learn that our neighbours were preparing to celebrate tKe anniversary of their arrival on the shores of their newly adopted country, and we agree with our contemparary, that none but misanthropes and pestelential imcubuses, . which more or less, infest all, communities, would grudge to his .fellow mortals the momentary relaxation, from the thousand and one cares and anxieties, which, under the most favourable circumstances of a -first arrival in a strange land, j very individual ef even ordinary feelings, will find himself at times oppressed with, and while -.we regret thst the anticipated pleasures of the day were somewhat damped by the untoward state of the weather. We may, nevertheless, congratulate the Nelsonians, upon the full possession of the indomitable spirit of their native land, in not being driven from their object by trifles ; on this occasion, it would appear, not light as air but as " heavy lead."' There is one part of the amusements of the day, which would be well worthy of imitation to other settlements upon the like occasions ; we allude to that part, where we are told, that laying aside all degrees of distinction save what marks decency from rudeness and vulgariety. The members of the community, from the highest to the lowest, joined in the festive dance. The higher not thinking their title to respectability, endangered, by what some would call their condescension, and the lower, (the term not used in any sense of disparagement,) as little disposed to underrate the proof of that social feeling of those, to whom when kindly treated, they are ever ready to look up with respect and confidence, as examples and guides. <

We learn by the same channels that there has been some further disagreement respecting the title to some land, between the Natives and settlers, but which, although there seemed to be just cause of complaint on the part of the Maories, appears by the prompt attention of the proper authorities, to have been speedily adjusted to the satisfaction of both •parties. We cannot help observing that, on all occasions of disputes or misunderstandings between the Maories and the white people, the ease with which they are adjusted depends upon the promptness with which they are enquired into. The Natives cannot understand (and perhaps they are not singular in that respect,) the slow, (and not on that ac- - count always the more sure) but certain movements of British Justice. They have not yet arrived at that degree of perfection as regards legal knowledge, to be satisfied of the indispensible (as it would appear) necessity of a reference upon all occasions to the accumulated stores of by-gone ages, before a mere matter of dispute however trivial can be finally adjusted. At the same time, it is no doubt desirable, that the Native population should, as speedily as possible, be habituated to a submission to our modes of administering law, and by that means , they may by degrees be brought to admit the justness of the principles upon which they are enforced, and convinced of their' impartiality as regards any distinction between the races.

There is one other subject on which we are tempted to say one or two words — and that is, the dire complaint of neglect, on the part of the Government, towards the Nelson settlement. In one sense of the word, the metaphor of the Government never dies, is true, but alas for the practical effect of the death of a Governor, or even a King. If it does not die, it for a time becomes paralized. This, as regards the working of our glorious constitution, is partly owing to the total change not only of men but as often of measures, consequent on changes in the executive or administrative branches of the state and in its dependencies, by the substitution of a mere locum tenens, until the arrival of a new Governor. In the latter case, and which more immediately concerns our neighbours as well as ourselves, the individual representing the Government is placed in by no means an enviable position ; he has succeeded a Governor who had far exceeded " the most sanguine . expectations " of employers at home in his expenditure, and is called upon to apply a restorative to the enfeebled patient, but has nothing allowed but candle ends and cheese parings wherewith to renovate the constitution with, and therefore we are not surprised that the. patient should grumble at the niggardly - treatment of his nurse; who, poor soul, has nothing but empty cupboards. At the same time it should be recollected, that the state physician at home, who has been lately ap- . pointed to that office, has had ample experience of the human species to ; live and grow fat on potatoes, (haying been Secretary for Ireland many years,) has naturally concluded that any I allowances of dainties to individuals in the I Southern land of potatoes, would be throwing

pearls "before swine, and thinks he has dealt liberally with us if he allows us salt to our everlasting potatoes, instead of to our porridge. If we were not satisfied that our contemporary will speedily be convinced of the erroneous conclusion he has come to with regard to his Excellency's intention of visiting Nelson, we should be disposed to agree with him in his observations upon that subject ; but when we compare what has been our own situation, and the treatment we have up to the present moment received from the powers that were, we can not be accused of recommending to others what we would not practise ourselves, if we say to our friends at Nelson, the climax is attained — prepare for a change — things have been at the worst, and we trust they will mend. ' There is very little consolation in knowing there are others worse off than ourselves, or we might remind our Nelson friends that we, even at this moment, have not got possession of our lands, though we begin to have some faint hopes, that we have at last got into the track which may eventually lead to the termination of our suspence, and therefore we say, as Grip did to his Master Barnaby, " never say die." And when his Excellency arrives and makes an offer of back payment of the arrears, and offers good security for the balance, we recommend them to do as we have done, make the best of a bad bargain, take what he offers and give him credit for the rest. If he, or his Executors, Administrators, or Assigns, should break their engagements, why then have them up before the Supreme Court, and don't spare them.

We some time back urged on the Town Council the pressing want of a Market Place. No steps have as yet been taken to remedy the evil, though the want of such a r place of resort is becoming more apparent every day. Through a Market not being • in existence, Wellington presents the curious anomaly of five or six different prices being obtained for the same articles, in various parts of the town, at the same time. We consider a Market Place one of the few things that would really benefit this Borough.

We have on one or two occasions found fault with our Postmaster for his negligence, but this time our remarks are applied to that functionary at Nelson. The Indus from London, arrived at Nelson, four and twenty v hours previous to the Vanguard's sailing for this place ; and yet only a few jlopse letters were placed on board. Such reraissness as this is highly blaraeable, especially when it is an English mail, as persons are always anxiously waiting for news from their friends at the other side of the globe.

A novel feat was performed on Wednesday night last, by one of the crew of the brigantine Vanguard, which vessel was anchored a considerable distance off shore. A bet took place amongst the men, and a sailor lowered himself into the water with his clothes tied on his head, for the purpose of obtaining a bottle of grog from one of the public houses. After a little "difficulty he reached the shore, obtained the coveted prize, and then swam back to his vessel.

The Government brig Victoria returned to port from Akaroa, on Wednesday evening, bringing back his Excellency the acting Governor and suite.

No less than six hundred vessels have .arrived in this port- since the first formation of the settlement, a period of little more than three years. We wonder if this bears out the statement that, no vessels can beat into our harbour, when one half of tEe above number have worked in against strong head winds. Only one or two slight accidents have occurred, and we question if many harbours can show such a list of arrivals, without at the same time having to record more fatal results than we have. . ♦■