The New Zealand Herald SPECTEMUR AGENDO. AUCKLAND, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 1865. THE RAKE'S PROGRESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume II, Issue 440, 11 April 1865, Page 4

The New Zealand Herald SPECTEMUR AGENDO.

AUCKLAND, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 1865. THE RAKE'S PROGRESS.

" Give every man thine ear, but few thy rolco: Take each, man's cenauro, but roaorto thy judgment. This above nil,—To thilie owrsolf be true ■ And it munt follow, as the nlf;ht tho day,.'. Thou canst not then be ftolso K> »dt man/'

As we said yesterday, " while '.Rome burns, Nero sits fiddling on the housetop." The days of power pass merrily to the Ministry in Wellington, and the warning sound of the crackling of the fern, as the flames of insurrection _ and superstition sweep over the North, is music'to their car. Every outsettlement destroyed in the Province of Auckland, is a stab given to a feared and hated rival. Meanwhile, in Wellington iobbery and corruption hold high festival." "Eat drink,andbemerry,"isthemotto,"forto-mor-row wo die." A few months at most, and the meeting of the Assembly must witness the disrr race and downfall of the most vicious and corrupt, and at thesame time, the most incapable ministry that ever, like scum in the sething pot, 'came uppermost in the crisis of a country. Each mail that arrives from the South brings us some new tidings of the corrupt doings of tho Weld ministry. These men like the worst portion of ,a crew when the ship is in danger, have broken into the spirit room and are ready for any excess. The purchase of a site for the Governor's residence appears, now that we are in possession of the details, a far more flagitious "job" than it did when we condemned it a few days ago. £9000 has been given for Home 500 acres of Shush land situated on lite opposito side of the harbor io Wellington where the bay is about five miles across. Fancy Government house on Raiigirbto, for instance, but with this difference flirt for five days out of the seven on theavoragcitis blowing* so hard that a boat cannot cross, that there is no local steamer nor no chance of there being encouragement tor one, unless the Government maintain cuo_ solely for the Governor's use. Then, again, this now site is, by land, fifteen miles from the City of Wellington, and a gentleman well acquainted with that Province, just arrived from there, informs us that the real value of the estate is about £1800. There is no road to it by land, and to make one would, from the nature of the countrv, cost at least £1000 per mile. 33ut bad as the bargain was, the manner of making it was worse. The Government settled all tho preliminary arrangements, and concluded the bargain privately with the vendor, and then, because it would be unseemly for a Government to be chaffering and peddling in such a matter, openly place their business in the hands of an influential Wellington man, giving him one per cent, for doing what was already done. The former owner of (he properiy and the agent, curiously enough, it is said, cannot speak too highly of the virtues of the prp?en! ministry. It is bad enough for a Governor to bury himself in an out-of-the-way village like the city of Wellington, but what would be the result of his residing on such a spot as this, himself on one side of Port Nicholson, his Executive Council on the other? Notice of an emergency of moment having arrived even at Wellington, a further delay perhaps of three or four days, till the prevailing wind had blown itself out, would make "confusion worse confounded." The fact is, we believe, Pit/chatter and his colleagues thought to entrap the Governor into buying the place from them for a private residence, like Kawau, and that in such case they might make sure of his continuance at Wellington. Sir George Grey, however, was not so easily to be duped. Mr. Pilzhcrbert, it seems, is not up to the work got through by preceding Treasurers. and has handed over a portion of his duties to Major Richardson, who will henceforth be Commissioner of Customs as well as Postmaster, and as the time for serving friends is drawing nearer to a close every day that the inevitable meeting of the Assembly approaches, two of the most mischievous men who have ever dabbled in New Zealand politics and done their part to hinder the colonisation of the country, Dillon Hell and Mantel], are to be provided for. We are not yet in a position to state what bone is to be thrown to tho former, it is something in the Native Department—but the latter is to be saved when the Ministry goes out, from a resort to " a demned horrid mangle, with the demnition grind, grind," by being appointed to the permanent ofliee of Native Secretary with a seat in tho Executive Council, and with a Minister's salary ! ! ] What may bo the next little bit of states- I manship it would be diflieult to say —another ' mail or two may perhaps reveal it—some ' new stimulant for Wellington at the expense ■ of the colony, or tho making friends of the j mammon of unrighteousness in a fresh ; direction. Wore Wellington an improvable j place, we could forgive the outlay of a little more than legitimate expenditure upon it, i but every penny spent in attempting to l force Wellington into prosperity is money l thrown away, ft never can be more than a small fishing town, for it lacks that which would render it really prosperous — a back country. With the exception of the Jiutt Valley, a few farms wide, it has none. In spite of all that can be done for Welling- " ton even Wanganui will in a few years be c far, very far, in advance of her, and would "■ have been so ere now had iis inhabitants . caused the district to be constituted into a f separate Province. The simple fact ofWWe- r lingtou being possessed of a good second ] class harbor will not alone cause her to lie- vl- - a first-class city. The harbor, like (■ others in New Zealand, is a fine natural gift v rendered valueless—just as the magnificent lands of Tarauaki are depreciated in value " for the want of a harbor. Jntiie latter ease, ! s liowever, art may afford a substitute, but no i, unount of expenditure, skill or labor could ;( 3\cr make the country around Wellington f< ■vortliy of the harbor of Port Nicholson."" "

The alternatives presented in Mr. Fitzgerald's letter to Mr. Adderley, for the future action of Britain as regards the mana^ment "** -o vi new Zealand, has called forth an able article from the St/dney Morning Herald. It is clearly the opinion of that journal that of the two alternatives Britain can only clioose the one—-tile resumption of undivided government in the Northern Island. As we have always said the withdrawal of the troops means war to the knife between the colonists and the natives, a struggle by the former for life, in which they must succeed, but at such a sacrifice as would be an indellible disgrace on the mother country to have exposed us to. The Herald of the 22nd tilt, thus enters on the question;— Wo may repeat for the hundredth time what is notorious on the spot —first, that the colonist 9 never had the power to take one inch of the land of the natives; second, that the natives never,had one inch of land taken from them but upon a bargain made or ratiPcd by the Crown, and of lato years at priecs paid by the Queen's representative alone; third, that the war has originated in the restless spirit of the natives, stimulated by an alarm awakened in their minds by weak colonists, who told them that tiieir land was coveted, and that they must not sell one rood for the purpose of colonization, although immensely beyond their cultivation or even cognifourth, that the Maories never having hud any royalty among them, but as petty tribes prosecuted an internecine war, have uuited in setting up a Maori king in opposition to the Queen's authority; imposed tuxes, issued interdicts stopping the execution of laws, killing in cold blood some who were engaged in the service of the Crown, and fairly declared war, open and deliberate; fifth, that the colotiista never had ahy power to make war themselves —that they werb called forth by the Queen's representative and compelled to serve in the field, and did f0 in large numbers, that they have made great [sacrifices in money and public credit to sustain these measures in which they had no initiative—all dictated and carried out by and under the authoriiy of the Governor, instructed by the Secretary of State ; sixth, that the wur with its vicissitudes has always been under the control of a General appointed by tho C'rown, having no connection with or submission tn any authority whatever of colonial origin, and that all failures and successes, so far as they are attributable to management or control, are solely due to the administration of the Crown itself; seventh, that upon tho call," of the Crown by the Queen's representative the colonies of Australia rendered large assistance to the New Zealand Government without receiving or expecting any return for that service, hi sides encouraging the migration of young and valuable coloi i<ts, brought out at the common cost of the community, in this cause of general defence. All these facts are known to every man who is in any way infoimed on the New Zealand question. Kvcryone knows that whoever made war, it was not the coloi.ists; (hut whoever tool: tho land of the natives, it was not the colonists ; that whoever directed military proceedings, it was not the colonists ; that whoever prevented or postponed the peace, it was not the colonists. All this is known. It may be disputed and sneered at; it may bo met with threats and insults, but it will remain as a final voice of history whenever the transactions of the day shall be calmly and impartially written from the archives ol' the Government itself. But the proposition is either to abolish representative institutions and to govern by the sole power of the Crown, or to throw the war, with all its burdens, upon the people who live in its vicinity. Of course every one must see what is the meaning of the lust proposition. Had the colonists been permitted to act from the beginning the war would have been ended in as manv weeks hs it has required vea's. The only clear policy for a long period was to screen the natives from the consequences of their rebellion—even to deny its existence or to excuse it by imputations of ciuelty and injustice, all imaginary —all unsupported by details—till contrary to tho la;'t, This is nuw no longer possible ; but it is possible to desert a community futiled under the authority of Enuland —wliofc landed projerfy was bought from its hands, wlio:-e interests are those* of older and peace. It is possible to surrender this community to the dangers of a war. with a resolute and exasperated enemy, whom England has piovokid both by her weakness and by her strength, and who will understand before a soldier quits the shore, that the withdravmcut is a chutige of policy—a renunciation of the authority of England, and the surrender of colonial interests to the chances of a war in which the col■ 'ilists will stand alone. We do not see how either of those alternatives can be expected in tho present state of things. If peace were restored and government, set upon a basis of reasonable strength, then the eolonists would bo glad to accept the challenge and throw off the incumbranca of a supirviMon which has embarrassed and disstressed them, As to the profit they gain by the Commissariat it is simply the jirofit of individuals made from the mere importation and sale of goods. \Y e know that the loss almost counterbalances tho gain by this trade. But, at all events, it is limited in its eifects, and for the time must retard all that solid commerce which must be based npon steady industry and the securstry of property and life, imgland, however, will have offered an example to the world, of a policy as mean as it is unjust, and will have forfeited tor ever in the eyes of every dependency of the Empire the slightest confidence. It will be said that having made the outlet of population and the sources of her trade generally, with out spending one shilling in the enterprise, she turns U|>on them in the first moment of distress, and abaudoivs them to the enemy which her own instruments and agents oulv have excited or encouraged to make war.