The New Zealand Herald AUCKLAND, MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 1861.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 56, 18 January 1864, Page 3

The New Zealand Herald

AUCKLAND, MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 1861.

smrnmni AKKXOO. (Jive every msiu Ihine car, tail lew tiiy voice: Take eiieh man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. This above all,—-To thine ownsolf be true; Anil it mast follow. as the the <t:iy. Thou canst not then bo false to any man."

Thf. barque ' Xovelty,' Captain I'. .loncs, arrived from Sydney yesterday morning. She brings Sydney papers to tlie Nth inst., :u\«l later and important; English and Aineriean news. The ' Otago," a new steamer which has arrived in these seas to tal;e lip a position in the inter-colonial trade, made an exceedingly quick run to .Melbourne, and brings English papers to the -l-th Xo\ember, and American news to the 2(ith October last.

111 Ivurope the horizon is overcast, by the same political clouds. The insurrection in Poland is being carried on with varying success, but in the main favourable to the Poles. The .Russians have received signal overthrows on the Chimebuck, and the Kielce. and at (ioscieranow. At "Warsaw the tvrannv of the Russians is as cruel as ever : secret arrests are made throughout the night, women ill-treated, and all the horrors of uncivilised civil war perpetrated on the Polish population. In (ireccethe new lung has arrived at the capital, and a new order of things is being inaugurated. It was expected that the treat v for the cessation of the' lonian Islands would be signed in London early in November.

The Kmneror of the French was about to open the session oi the Legislative Corps for 1801 in person, and his speech on the occasion was being looked lor with great interest. A ship canal is to be cut trom Dieppe to Paris, at an enormous expense. General Bodcau is dead. The principal topic of note in I'jitgland. and one which created ihe greatest sensation there, was an impending trial in the* Divorce Court, in which Lord Palmerston is the corespondent, the lady being n Mrs. O Kiel, the wife of a clergyman. A prospectus has been issued by the Australian land and linancc company, with a capital of a million. The proprietors of the' Great Eastern have authorised the raising of .LOO.OOO for the purpose of placing that vessel in the Indian or A.usfralian trade—probably the hitter. A circumstance which may give rise to serious difficulties between Fug',and and Federal America has occurred at the Cape. The Yankee steamer ' \ anderbilt. ' had been in search of the 'Alabama,' which had just left Svmond's bav before her arrival, when, tailing in pursuit, the' \ anderbilt. fell foul of n .British ship, the 'Saxon,' formerly the American banptc ' Lucy,' on suspicion ol her being a Confederate privateer. It is said that the mate of the ' Saxon,' Mr. Gray, was shot by an ollicer of the ' A anderbilt. ! The truth'of this fatal occurrence is con- : tinned, and subscript ions for the wife and 1 family of poor Grav are raised in Cape i Town, and are headed by the owners ot the : " Saxon ' with a sum of £50. ! At the time that the "Otago lelt home ; further reinforcements were being shipped ! lor New Zealand.

In I'russia the King is said to have gained nothing bv his late parliamentary dissolution. The new chamber contains ail overwhelming majority of liberal*. The Amaricau news is ol a very different complexion to that which ('alifornian papers and the pretended la!o news by the ' Uoslyn endeavoured to propagate. So lar Iroin Virginia having been abandoned by the ( < >ilfederates. Washington is in actual danger from the military strategy ol Lee, who .seems to lie more than a match for the l.'ederal General Meade against whom lie is opposed. The Federals have never yet been able to make good a position south ol the Jvappahaunork. Each time that they have crossed the stream, once at Fredericksburg under Burnside. and again at Chaticellorsville under Hooker, they met with the, most, disastrous defeats. Lee had retreated to this | stream with the intention ot drawing .Meade j south, so that by outflanking him, Washington might be threatened. Ibr even though all actual "attack on the .Federal capital might not be practicable, the threatened danger was such as greatly to embarrass President Lincoln, and would' prevent any considerable portion ol" the- army of the Polom-ac Irom being detached to the relief of the army of tin; Cumberland. Jiosencrans, defeated at Chattanooga, has been deposed from command, and is under the. ban of popular disgrace. Grant, of Vicksburg notoriety, succeeds to his command. No further movement had taken place with regard to the investment of Charleston. The English obituary contains the names of Mr. Stewart, the Editor of the Ulii-if rated London Xnrx, ami of Mr. Clibit t, M. P. The match between the All England Eleven and the Victorians was going forward. The batting of the All Englanders and the fielding of the Victorians was much admired.

VJUiIVAL OF THE ' PI HEBE' F.ROM THE SOUTH. Tin-: I. C.K.M. Co.'s s. s. ' Pliiobe,' Captain Kennedy, arrived in the Manukau from the South yesterday at p.m., punctual to her time. i Through the courtesy of Mr. White, 1 Purser of the ' .Phiebe,' we have been liir- ; nislied with our usual liles of Southern ■ ' papers ; they, however, contain no intellii gence of immediate importance. Tho latest : : commercial news, &t\, will be i'ound elsej where.

Tin; volume of Xew Zealand Satisfies for the, year 18U2, which has been complied by the Registrar-General from official records, contains subject matter of congratulation to the

colony at large and also to this province. AVe find tlint tlio population of the colony on the .?lst of December, ISO 2, exclusive of the military and their families, was 125,812 ; viz., 7!),()1.S males and -10.1:32 females, an increase ol —over the population of the precedingyear. Centessimall v tliisincrease was 2-I'.!/ percent, on males, 21'5!J per cent, on females ; atul2.'MJl per cent, on the whole population. A considerable difficulty exists in ascertaining how the proportion of the total increase can lie distributed among the ; respective provinces, inasmuch as (lie oilicial ' reports ol the emigration officers as to the j numbers oi arrivals and departures between ports do not agree, and some discrepancy must always arise from the faeilty fbrpersons availing themselves of the means of overland emigration in passing from one province to another. An approximate table hashowever been prepared, and we lind the four principal provinces of New Zeland to stand thus: increase ol population in 15(52 in excess of ISO! : Otago. 15,125; Canterbury, 4.:«)2; Auckland :>.221; Southland, 1.(535, — oi'these in Otago the. males exceed (he females in proportion by nearly -1- to 1; in Canterbury by nearly 2 to 1 ; the same in Southland ; but in .Auckland we lind the numbers nearly equalised, there being an excess of only ;>X males in the whole increase of :i.22-L souls. Jn when the increase amounts only to an increase of 1,077, only 25!) of these are females —a sign which speaks badly for the real prospertiy ol'that province. Of the total populalation of New Zealand -l(5,10(i belong to the northern and 82,952 to the middle islands.

The tables on emigration and immigration (over seas) explain Ihe excess of increase in population which exists in Canterbury, and the other provinces in the middle island and also in "\Y ellington, a large proportion of it being made up of the migratory population of the gold-fields of Otago, and therefore can scarcely be considered as bona fulc population anywhere, being always subject: to the same restless nomadic movements. In actual excess of immigration over emigration. Canterbury sinks below Auckland, and Wellington subsides down to the modest: number of'.lD. Of the whole excess of immigration the numbers arc made up as follows; from the L'liitcd Kingdom, 5,:570 ; from the Australian colonies, 12,740; and from foreign states, 2 1-. The registered births in the whole colony | amounted in to 4.01)1, viz., 2.090 males I ami 1.5)74- females ; being an increase of 02:> j over the number in the preceding year. Of deaths, 1,2:51 were registered in ISO 2, an I increase over 1801 of 122, hut, an actual decrease of 19 in the case of females. Of the total n limber of deaths in 1802, 4-5)7 were children under 5 years of age. and 1-1-5 deaths were occasioned not by disease, but by drowning and other external causes. The marriages solemnized in the colony in 1.802 were 1,05)1, being an increase of 213 as compared with .1801.

The imports of the colony increased from .C 1,5 !-S.:i2B in 1800 to £2.4-5):?,Sll in 1 SOI. This was a remarkable advance, but in 1802 the progress was still more marked, reaching to no less a sum than X-4.020,082. Total value of exports from New Zealand in ISO 2 was ;C2.122,7:i 1- against £1.870.2-17 in IStil. an increase of 7081 percent. The customs revenue in ISO 2 shows .C:5515),4:50 in 1802, against X'2Go.Bo:> in ISOI ; and the total ordinary revenue a sum of 508,:W1 for 1802, against £:>25,1 10 in 180 L The territorial revenue was nearly doubled in the same time, and the Totai. Kkvkm-k in 1802 was ,1:1.115.102, being in excess over that of 1801 oi i; 1-1:5.002':

A~k were much amused the other day. in aking up the Jlrlhoitrue Arijux ot the, I.Bth tltimo. to see the sketch of Auckland there )resented from a \ ietoriau point ot view. I'hat the sketch is in many points not a ruihful one we need not stale, giving, as ,vc intend to do. the various points conained in the article in question. On the it her band, there is much in it that cannot >0, denied, and which it behoves its to look at, draight forwanllv, and for which, if it lead to mother state of things, we may be even thankful to our ill-natured critic, whoever iie may be. lie has certainly given us an opportunity " To M'O oum-ls as itlicvs seo us,

:i point of view, by-the-bye, very diilerent from the one in wiiich huuianity'is \isually inclined to indulge. We cannot quarrel with our critic's description of A uckland Irom the Bay, tor it is truthful enough and could not be otherwise than llattering.

"Auckland," lie says, "the chief town and the scat of (Joveniment in Xew Zealand, is built on a niclureM [lie site on the shores ot a hay in one ot the numerous inlets of the Uauraki (iulf. The visitor's tir.-st impression as the vessel rounds into the anchorage is, that, he is entering a pleasant little Kiurlish city. The trees about- are Knirlish-lookint;-, ami so are the white houses; there are churches of Kntflish appearance, and an old fa.-hioucd Kii}?li>h windmill ( l-owns the hill. The "-round rises on all sides, so that the whole of the city can he seen at a glance. The town is at the head oY the hay. Ju the middle are For! Uritomart —an earthen fortification, mounting ot heavy callibre —and St. 1 aid s Church, a jjoml sized and substantial brick erection. To the lett is (iovermnent, house, a two-storey wooden building, the residence of Sir fioonjo (trey. Still further in the same direction and oil the shore of the bay is I'arnell, the South Varra of Auckland, from the scattered houses of which three spires rise, while immediately at the rear of the space between the suburb and the city, Mount l-'.den, a barren-looking mass, rears itself, 1100 feet in lieiyht." Here, however, the good nature id' the. An/its'* " special " evidently deserts liini. Probably he. has been overcharged by tho waterman who landed him, or possibly ho hits refreshed himself when once on term j Jirma, and the " buttermilk " ot' the country lias disagreed with him, and so lie writes: —

" At Auckland it is certainly distance that lends j enchantment to the view. The white houses which 1 irlcam so prettily in tin- sun turn out to be woollen j structures, not made pretty with verandahs nor smart i with paint; the streets are narrow, sonic of them aro tortuous in the extreme, and very few of them an: .straight. Then; are no public erections of any pretension, and not a single building ol any kind which could claim to be considered handsome. To anyone accustomed to the bustling thriving towns of Victoria, Auckland .seems in every respect behind tho age. Th'oro is not a -street completely formed in it, and tho main thoroughfare—< >uecn-.sheet—was in some places during the r- wet weather a slough ol despond. til many ..fthi- roads the footway has not been 7nade, and tlagniiiii' is completely unknown. The "buttermilk 7 ' alluded to has evidently had the etl'ect ot Highland whiskey, and produced that remarkable phenomenon • second sight,' for with prophetic truthfulness, though with an uttter disregard tor things as they were then before him, he goes on to say : — " There is no attempt to light the city, even with oil lumps; After nightfall pedestrians must either

stumble about in the dark, or must incumber themselves with lanterns."

The following is the impression conveyed j to this mind on visiting Queenstreet: — " Queen-street, the principal thoroughfare inns in a zi<i'zadirection along a valley in the middle of tlio town. It is about three parts of a mile long, anil terminates at a steep hill. The other streets run oil' it In the right anil left up hills, about as high as those Melbourne is built upon, but much more abrupt. There would be a considerable amount of cutting down required before these roads could take a largo traffic witli safety. The shops are small, nothing like those to be seen in such places as Castlemaino and Sandhurst, towns of about the same size. The banks, too, are poking little places. The Bank of X™ South AVales, however, is putting up a dashing two-story brick and stucco structure, which when completed will be the most showy edifice in town, and some of the merchants have large brick stores." "We scarcely know whether to smile most at the idea of the abrupt termination of Queen-street at the foot of an overhanging preeipice, as the words above would seem to imply, or at the comparison between the Auckland shops and those of t'astlemaine and Sandhurst. We can only say that if the shops in those Victorian towns surpass in appearance such establishments as those of Messrs. D. (jlraham. ilorrin and Co., Newman and 15wen, Varty, Cruickshank and Smart, the Bank of New Zealand and liank ol" Australia, and many others in progress in Queen-street, that Victorians may well be proinl of their towns, for, from our recollections. neither of the above establishments would appear out of place in Regent-street itself, either as regards the outward appearance, or their roominess, style, and the quality and quantity of the stock within. We cannot deny, but must plead guilty to the fact, that " The Houses of Parliament, the Tost (Mice, and the public buildings generally are wooden elections, mostly of dilapidated appearance. Tim Houses ol Parliament look nothing more than a range ot shopping and private houses; one and all, lroni tile governor's downwards, ale likewise constructed ol wood,"

hut when our friend, in the course of his perambulations amongst tin* Auckland hotels, renilereil hazy peVhaps from the effects which will follow the rumbles of an idle man whose thirst of knowledge, or something else, leads him into such localities, states that: there are "Only two brick hotels, our of which was at rarnell. That tin: hotel accommodation is very indifferent, the two best places, the Masonic ami Koyal, being only small wooilcn buildings," he must forgive us if we deny these assertions in fo/o. as we count, as wo write, ten hotels of hrick in the city of Auckland alone ; neither is the " .Royal " a wooden building. Once, however. that our tourist leaves tin; hotels behind him, and gets away into the fresh country air, it: is wonderful how the haze lifts oil'from his mind, and how clearly and sensibly he writes. Alluding to the country round Auckland lie says — " The amount of agricultural land in the vicinity is considerable, anil facilities for internal navigation great. To the north then: arc streams which lead through the Kauri districts almost to the J!ay oi Islands ; and to the south, the Thames anil AVaima rivers leail into the very heart of tile province."

~\Ve recommend the following to the notice of the Governors of the Australian colonies, and. with a better opinion of our critic's judgment- than we sat down with, take leave of him with the concluding paragraph of his description of the harbour of Auckland : — " The position of Auckland is as favourable in a commercial as it is in a picturesque pointful' view. !t is 1 milt upon a narrow strip of land which separates the waters of the Manukan Hull' 011 the one side, of tin: island from those of the Itauraki (.Jul! oil the other. This neck of land is nut above three miles broad, and Itv mems of the aitcniata river, upon the hanks of "which the town may he said to lie, the two waters ilow within half a mile of each other, so that there is direct communication with the open sea equally 011 the one hand as on the other. Auckland harbour is one of tin; most secure on tin? New Zealand coast. Its inner waters are well sheltered, and its mouth is completely covered by islands in tile gulf. The most conspicuous of these is Kangitoto, 'which is three miles and a-half in diameter, and, rising to the height of 9'JUl't., displays a crater-like summit of three nipples, visible for many miles. Kangitoto is almost destitute of vegetation. The pass:nre through the heads is about a mile and a halt in width. The Southern Head is a smoothly-rounded promontory of no great height. The Northern Head is a hill about :ii)t)ft. in height, as smooth and as round as a plum pudding, and, remarkably enough, there is a second hill half a mile to the eastward, almost a lac-simile of the first, liver the lowland which connects the two the visitor obtains his tirst view of the citv. When 1 arrived the harbour was quite busy with shipping. A full-rigavd ship came in at the'same lime from Knglatid, and besides the leviathan ' Himalaya ' there were three men-of-war in the bay. At thi' Queen-street pier a schooner was discharging fruit from lite 'South .Sea Island, two or three, vessels were landing coinmissari.it supplies, and several intercolonial traders were tying at, their moorings. The pier is about half a mile in length, and has a sutlicient depth of water to allow the corvette ' Miranda ' to go alongside."