craft AUCKLAND, MONDAY, DEC. 21, 1863.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 17, 21 December 1863, Page 2

craft

AUCKLAND, MONDAY, DEC. 21, 1863.

spv.frrr.Mnn .AGF.XPO. " C.lvc every man iliinc car, but few thy voicc: Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. This above nU. —To thiuo owuseK be true; And it must f.»Ho\v, as tbe night the day, Thou can«t not then be to any man."

The : Raneatira' from "Wellington and Napier arrived iu harbour on Saturday afternoon. She brings us our usual exchanges, but no papers of later date, and no intelli- . gence of any interest. The ' Rangatira' was the first to carry tidings from the Manukau to the South of the occupation ofNgaruawahia, by means of our Extra published on the !>th instant. Et the arrival of the ' Kangaroo' in the Manukau yesterday, wo have received Sydney papers to the 9th (being one day later than those brought by the ' Kate,') and Melbourne papers to the 3rd instant, i The files before tts contain no news of • importance: the latest telegrams will be found in another column. o ! THE EX-KING-MAKER. | "We have been kindly favoured with tho following from au authentic source. The tidings conveyed demonstrate that tho rebels . have yet to be put down : and that to trifle ' or temporise would be to ruin Auckland:— ''At tho date of the departure of the ! schooner ' Tauranga.' from Tauranga, the natives were quiet. A meeting, however, ■ had been called for tbe 15th instant, consider a message received from 1 "William Thompson, inviting the people - to join with liim in another conflict with her , Majesty's forces. It was not known what course was likely to be taien: " Such as had not joined the King 1 P-yt.V hut had their cultixations in common with them, expressed their readiness to sell s to the. Government tliei: portion of such i landa they claim within ihe lines of confis- [ cation, and hope that suel. arrangement may be agreed to without striding soldiers to I enforce it. 1 " One Tauranga Clue', named Rotoika, ; was killed at Rangiriri. Another of lesser , note was hit in the leg by a bullet, but escaped. I " There has been mucl mortality among the inhabitants of late. Several iiilluential J old men have died. No property belonging i to Europeans has been toiched." t Tue session of tho Colonid Parliament which has just closed has been ii every respect tho • most important which his been held. To i the ordinary Ministerial responsibility had • been added responsibilit\ in native ailairs i and in the extraordinary circumstances 01. 1 the Colony, threatened bythc dissensions of | North and South, and ton by a savage and i all-absorbing intestinal striggle, larger questions ot policy were iuxjlvod than has 1 the lot of a New Zealand | ministry to devise. The late ministry were not able for tho task. They were, in fact, mcounlly yoked: 1 The energy and comprehe.sive ability, the ' practical determination vhich has been | _ handed down to, and incovjorated with, tho . present cabinet, were overweighted and ; neutralised by the unscru pilous versatility t of the Mercury, and tho. dramy inactivity of tho .Tupitcr Dovmiensi o New Zealand i statesmen. It was elea. - tht such a coil- i

tion was unfavourable to the interest s of Colony, and no one was surprised when n a few days of the meeting of the nbly, the then ministry resigned. Eor ' nent, and but for a moment, the erratic >er for Ellesmero essayed tho for<ti of a cabinet; but the affairs of New ihuul at such a juncture were in too ;ical a state to be handed over to the care

>f enthusiasts and visionaries; the body ; -.Nine was at the turning point of the disease, •id the patent medicines of the quack were ;-m aside for the acknowledged science of ;;,c skilled physician. The resignation of the ministry at so early i period of the debate was productive of at ,>t one great element of good. The late •,.i:iistry had had forced upon them, with

w;-y inadequate resources at hand, the organisation of extensive local forces and military ■U fenccs, and, as necessarily will happen, ; titling abuses had crept in, grievances had 1 risen? and it was hoped, by a small party in t he House that on these points a series of em-

.rrassing attacks, a species of guerilla

warfare, might be made on the Government. Lints had from time to time been thrown ;u:t from certain quarters that "great r.'velations would be made in the coming -wwdon;" that, fearful abuses would be exsi'd and laid bare. The wasteful and uu•ruptilous expenditure of the public money ;is loudly inveighed against, and those . -io secretly in their hearts beheld with : ersion the subjugation of the native race authority and' law. hoped by playing on passions of the people out of doors to \v, iken the Government with the country, v.'.d effect that indirectly which they dared n openly to attempt. But their schemes were signally toiled by ■i'-e unlooked-for course of events. "A/7 nisi • do. morfuis."' The acts ot the delunct v..inistrv were tabooed; the new ministry i-.new them not, and the country was saved much loss of time in the uninterrupted prosecution of the public business. 'Ihe 'Ministerial statement, howevc-r, finally absolved the late Ministry of the great charge •i pecuniary extravagance, for it- was found ~■ at the unappropriated expenditure was :'.;r less than might reasonably have been ,'xpccted ; and not only were the lips of opponents in the House sealed, but a discreet silence upon the subject was henceforth maintained by their once blatant organs out of doors. The new ministry once formed and established, received the almost undivided support of the House, and at once proceeded to the great business of the session—the provision for carrying out. the Maintenance of the local forces and defences, -Vthe suppression of rebellion, and for conseating and settling with a permanent • mi-military population the lands of the ■vbel natives thus forfeited. The House,

tli a spirit worthy of tlte occasion, and

■ .~h nothing more than the diie precaution in granting the power to raise so J:.rge a loan, and in arranging its several items i appropriation, placed in the hands of the ••:nistry the means of carrying out a scheme . policy, sound in itself, and grateful to o feelings and wishes of the people. An important feature of the ministerial -'•dicy was the establishment of a separate ■■•[ministration for the Middle Island, in the ' >rm of a Lieutenant Governor with an executive. We all know the disfavour with '■'.•Inch this proposition was received. It did not meet the thorough views of the separationists, while it sailed too near the wind for those who looked on separation with an evil eye, and was at once the death blow to the hopes of the Wellington part)', whose only expectation of raising their city and province from the level to which natural and physical laws had consigned them, was in applying the artificial forcing which the prestige of being the seat of Government would no doubt to some extent have done, even in the case of Wellington. Taking advantage then of the dissatisfied minds of cither party, the unscrupulous Cook's Straits cabal was formed; and the manner in which their resolution was passed in the House, and during the absence of Auckland members, and contrary to all understood arrangements, will lor ever connect the name of Fitzherbcrt, the leader of the, to say the least of it, unworthy and unstatesmanlike feint, with all that is conceived of underhand, unfair, political duplicity and intrigue.

Nor wore the Canterbury members tree from a desire to take the remainder of the -country at a disadvantage, when in a thin House, and at 2 o'clock on a Sunday morning they endeavoured, during the discussion of the bill for increasing the Representation. to give to their province an unfair proportion of representative members, an object happily frustrated by the--action of those who so managed that the bill at thai late period of the Session should lapse rather than that so gross an injustice should be perpetrated. The people of Of ago and Southland, for ■which province's chiefly increased representation was intended, will know by whose pelty intrigues and selfishness their interests have been sacrificed for at least some time to come. During the Session, as might have been expected, the "NVaitara question seethed up to the surface, but elicited no feeling of general interest. The past Session was felt to be no debating ground for the discussion of abstract questions, but one in which practical measure's for tlie guidance of the colony through its present crisis were rather to be dealt wiih. The exigences of the Strife demanded that it should be so. The praclical mind of the Premier by whom the present ministry is eminently guided and controlled, equally required that such should bo the c: ! se ' . and "Waitangi disquisitions are gone and past, and may now ran!;, as matters of public interest. with the " I'ongo Mission" of the Misses Twin eh. or Mrs. Jellaby's " Borioboolagha. \\ e have now neither the patience nor the time, nor can men see the usefulness of endeavouring to disentangle the ravelled mass, but like Alexander, we have cut the gordinn knot with the sword, and arc prepared to stand by and justify with the sword the work which has been so masterly and ho ably commenced. On the whole the session has been a most important and a most interesting one, for we look upon the resolution of the Cook's Strait cabal as one round gained in the ladder of separation, and we turn with satisfaction to the amount of work clone in a session, which consisted of only thirtyfour sitting days, and during a period when the attention of the members of the Government was necessarily distracted by the pressure yf every-jav ollicial buuiuesa.

The following bills have been passed by both Houses:—Deeds Registration; Superintendents Incorporation, Stewart's Island Annexation ; Enquiry into Wrecks ; Colonial Defence I'orce; Provincial Councils Extension ; Eeligious, Charitable, and Educational ; Land Clauses Consolodation ; Provincial Compulsory lauds taking; Suppression of Rebellion; Nelson College Trusts; New Zealand Settlement; Arms Act; Commencement of Acts; Nelson Trust; New Zealand (£3,000,000); Auckland Reserves; Wellington Patent Slip; Natives Purposes Appropriation; Loan Appropriation ; Miners Representation.; Secondary Punishment; Sheriff's Act Amendment; Hampden Reserves ; Otago Waste Lands Act Amendment Bills, 1 and 2 ; Marine Boards ; Regulation of Elections; Foreign Offenders Apprehension ; Jury Law Amendment; Gold fields Amendment ; Compulsory Vaccination ; Wellington and Htnvkos .Bay Military and Naval Settlers ; Naturalization ; Civil List; Appropriation. Southland, Auckland, Nelson, and Marlborough Waste Lands Act Amendment Bills. The Execution of Criminals Bill, which originated in the Legislative Council, was negatived by the House of Representatives, and of the Naval and Military Settlors (Marlborough,) and the Crown Grants Hills, both brought forward in the latter House, the one was negatived by, and the other lapsed in the Legislative Council. One of the Bills thrown out by the upper House and one which had passed the third reading of the Commons, was the Criminals Influx Bill. The enactments of this Bill were of the most stringent and unenglish character. It was brought in by Mr. Gillies for the preservation of order in Otago, which Province was stated to bo at the present moment infested with the released criminals of Australia, but contained within its few clauses so utter a disregard for all the liberties of the subject, that we almost wonder that it should have reached so far a stage as its third reading in the House of Represent at ives the more especially as it was not intended to make it of a permissive character. By ono clause it was sought-to bring wit hin its meaning all persons whoarrived in this colony within three years of the expiration of their term of sentence in Australia, and for such offenders was provided, confiscation of all property they might have acquired, and imprisonment if they did not immediately leave the country; all police constables or magistrates suspecting any person of coming within the meaning of the Act were empowered to arrest the suspected party and proceed against him. The Land Claims Pinal Settlement Bill, and the Waitara Enquiry Bill both came to grief in the Legislative Council. The Hawke's Bay Waste Lands Regulation Amendment, the Railway, the Nominated Superinteiments', and the Superintendents' Election Bills were lost upon the second reading in the House of Representatives, where they originated. The Nelson Scab Act and the New Provinces Act Repeal lapsed, and two separate Representation Bills, together with the Disqualification Bills were negatived. In the slaughter of the innocents, which usually takes place at the close of the session, the Hawke's Bay Loan Society, the Wardens' Court Appeal, and the New Provinces Act Repeal Bills met their i'ate. SEA BATHING. Last summer, as wo can all remember, :m inhabitant of this city was fearfully injure)!, and barely escaped with life, from the attack of a shark, while bathing in the river. As the warm weather sets in, we may expert to heal - of similar accidents, it' the precaution is not taken of securing safe and convenient bathing places for the citizens. Sharks of the largest size, and of the mo c t ferocious kinds, have already heen seen in the harbor during tl;e present season, and as tho spawning season comes on it is not unusual to find these monsters as far up the river as the Watchman itself. Paring the last summer the carcase of a dead horse, when thrown from a ship at anchor off Point Uritomart, was- seiz.-d and turn to pieces by two large blue sharks under the very stern of the vessel.

With such fearful ri.sk? to bo incurred in its pursuit, it win scarcely bo wondered thnt so h<ltliitil a practice as sen bathing is almost altogether neglected by the people of Auckland, and, even when indulged in, is deprived of lmici. of its enjoyment. We need suv little of its advantage as a matter of healthfulne'ss. Equally necessary is it in a maritime community like this, where few of our citizens can tell — so generally is the water this highway of this portion of New Zealand—when his expertness in the art of swimming may not be the means of saving his own or the life of a fellow creature. Looked at in this point of view, it falls peculiarly within the province of the local Government, wo conceive, to move in tlu: matter, and to assist in procuring for the citizens the safe continuance in a habit which is so essential for the health and safety of the public.

What we would recommend would he that the Provincial Council now in session should appropriate a sum of money for the purpose of supplementing a like sum when subscribed by the citizens for the purpose of tormina: two bathing places, the one west of the wharf and convenient tor the inhabitants of the western, the other in Ollicial Hav, for those of the eastern portion of the city. For the latter we know that a considerable number of subscriptions were'promised last year, when the matter was warmly taken up by }Ir. Hamley. The project dropped through, ho\<-evcr, from the want, we believe, of some such assistance as that which we now propose should be granted in this really public work of necessity. co crt no us r Axn gaol. Ajf.'D others tjiat suffered from the Mood and thunder storm of Friday liitjht, was that filthy and feculent su-ueture the' Gaol and Court House, perilous and unhealthy hovels occupying the finest situ in Auckland's chosen locality—Queen-street—and against whose pollutions and miasmatic influences Chief Justices, Grand Jury, and the voice of public opinion have been uplifted, year after years and session after session, in vain.

That, however, which ihe publics an; unable to compass nearly eliccte'l by the flood of Friday nijiJit. The ]ic*=ti!imti:il abomination was laid parfiailv under water, and ran the risk of being washed'awav, and that 100 a! imminant hazard to life and limb. At hali'-past 10 o'clock, the unhappy inmates were aroused from slumber by the interruption of ?ome three feet of street washings into their dormitories. The volume of vrafer continued to increase, rising eighteen inches in ten minutes, antl by eleven o'clock being so high that men of six feet stature made their way with difficulty to the guardroom, whilst, they of minor inches had to swim for it; and in one ease the individual had to be pitchcd on ton shelf. The unfortunate females had to be placed in the |o!lice formerly occupied by Mr. McKlwain. A child of four years of age had a very narrow escape, it being extremely diliieu.lt to rescue him in the dark. Great praise, we lire happy to be told, is due to the officials. Thev were cool and collected, using every ell'ort to rescue life from a watery grave; and "making sure of their charges at the same time. "When U thi* Court House and Gaol, a di«£nu»e iind a danger to the iincst strict of the finest Cit\ of Now Zealand, likely to be removed ? .Judges, jurymen. the public ami !he press hnre for years made their presentments its eontinaar.ee, hut m vain. L'ufler it.® pestilential roof the Court underpome of the suilerings of the Black Hole in Calcutta ; and nothing hut the desire oj not embarrassing the authorities prevented the Or;md *Tury from preferring a complaint against tae prolongation of its manilohi abominations upon occasion oi their session uu the lat iuatuut.

Why should Auckland not possess a becoming Court Ifouae and Gaol, when the site of the present odious structure would realize a larger sum than the erection of yuitahle buildings would call for ? We heartily hope that no longer delay will be permitted in removing the seat of Supreme Judicature to a safe, salubrious, and becoming site.

Masonic.—The regular monthly meeting of tho Lodge V.": lit em: ita win be held this evening, at halfpast seven o'clock.

High School.—The annual Christmas examination of the hoys of this school take place on Tuesday morning next, commencing- at 10 o'clock, when the friends ot the scholars and persons interested in educational matters nro invited to attend. *We rtro informed that tho ahove .school is conducted on the same excellent principles as those, of the higher classes of schools in Scotland.

Confiscation".—This good work of the present govermnmeut has already begun, and amongst, the first pieces of laud confiscated by the government is a portion at Remucra, belonging to the arch-rcbcl Taniati Ngapora, and which was leased t-o and in the occupation of Mr. Cheesemim. The government has now claimed possession, and Mr. Cheeseman, we believe, considering himself entitled to compensation for improvements has put in a claim, which is, we hear, to be satisfactorily settled bv arbitration.

Tin; Queen-stoekt Whauf.—On Friday last Mr. Patrick Coyle narrowly escaped a. severe accident from the crowded state of the wharf where stacks of timber are allowed to be piled in a most unsafe manner, and to reim.in day after day and week after week. Passing by such a stack of sawn timber, Mr. Coyle was knocked down by its sudden fall, and his legs were covered by the fallen boards so (hat he was unable to extricate himself. It was with some little difficulty that ti cart passing at the time was prevented from passing over him. "We are glad to say that Mr. Coyle, an early Auckland citizen, was unhurt. AVe take this opportunity of drawing the attention of the authorities to the fact, that the wharf is now used by many as a timber yard, and unless something is done to prevent this practice it will soon become impossible lor one cart to pass another upon it. Tin; state of the Auckland Gaol during the downpour of Friday night was miserable in tho extreme. It is well known that the voof leaks like a seive, but on this occasion the water overflowed the basement Moor, and there was as much as four feet of water in the prisoners' cells. The Maori prisoners (some It inciters of rebellion in Nelson) were placed for security in the guard hou.se ; the male European prisoners were handculled and confined in the Sheriff's ofiicc, while room was found for the women in the jury room.

Hobsox's Bkidok was lifted bodily away by the water-kelpies on Friday night, and found by an astonished pedestrian upright, and in its proper position at some little distance down the stream.

Navai, Volo'teehs. —On Saturday sixty of the Naval Volunteers, under Captain Copland, and Lieutenant Guilding, arrived in the 'Miranda,' from the Thames, alter an absence of five weeks. Previously to their coming on shore a pair of colors, worked for No. 2 Company, were taken on board and presented. The men on landing were paraded opposite St. Paul's Church, and the order to break oll'being given, the men separated with three cheers. Thirty men of this corps yet remain at the Thames under Sub-licut. Williams and Sergt. Mahoney, and will remain there until relieved by some other act achment.

TirE late C.vrTAiN" PirELrs.—The intelligence of the death of this gallant officer has boon received with much sorrow by a numerous circle of friends ill Sydney. Captain Phelps was born in this city, ami his father and mother are residing on the l'aterson. Having studied medicine in Sydney, he joined the army in a medical capacity. As assistant surgeon ill the 57tli Kegiment, he was present at the second attack oil t.':ie Kedan, and distinguished himself by his bravery, for which he wa&yinentioned in one of the despatches. After that Captain Phelps obtained a commission in the 57th Kegiment, and subsequently exchanged into the 14th, with which Kegiment lie went to New Zealand. The following is from Hart's Army List:—" Captain Phelps served at the siege of Sebastopol (as assistant surgeon from November lltli, 1854), and at the attack on the Redan on the 18th of June (mentioned in the despatches) ; also, at the bombardment, of Kinbourn (medal and clasp sth class of the Medjidie and Turkish medal) ; served in the field during the Maori war of 18(>(J-l." Captain Phelps win in his thirty-fourth year. He was related by marriage to the Messrs. Jlangar of this city.— Sydney Herald, Dec. 7.