ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. To the Editor of the "New Zealand Spectator." Wellington, October 29, 1849.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 443, 31 October 1849, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. To the Editor of the "New Zealand Spectator." Wellington, October 29, 1849.

Sir, — The following extracts may throw some light upon the subject proposed in the qifery, How about the Otago Newt? If you can find room for the offensive article the case, on one side, will be complete. Quotation from Nelson Examiner — " We have perused and reperused this article, but after all we are at a loss to discover why it should give offence, even to so jealous a bashaw as Captain Cargill. The writer believes that Otago is essentially a pastoral district, and that agriculture can only be a very secondary pursuit — and this, we thought, was the opinion of every one who had seen the district. Was it wrong to make this fact known ? It is certainly far better that persons emigrating to any settlement in New Zealand, should come prepared to find the country what it really is, rather than with expectations not likely to be realised, whatever the Captain Cargills may think to the contrary. We think the proprietor of the News is much to be commended for the manly and independent stand he has taken, and we have no doubt but his conduct will be appreciated by the Otago settlers." Remarking on this passage, the Editor of tha Otago News says :—: — "In contrast to the above, we have this week received a letter from Wm. Fox, Esq., agreeing with the conduct pursued by Captain Cargill hi this case, and condemning the article in question from his own ' personal observation,' in which he is more strongly ' confirmed by the Memorial' which he has received ' from the Resident Agent, signed by a very large majority of the adult male population of the settlement, which states that nothing could be further from the actual truth, or more calculated to mislead than the article referred to.' 1 At length the mystery of the whereabouts of the • Memorial' is solved. It has been smuggled out of the colony, and will, doubtless, be published, in due course, hi England and Scotland as the opinion of the majority of the Otago settlers ; instead of the paltry ebullition of a party spirit, and, in many cases, the compelled signatures of men who had never travelled two miles beyond the limits of the town. We shall have to refer to this ' Memorial' in a future number ; and we can safely leave the great truth embodied in * No. 5' to the decision of Time nd further experience/ ft

Note here that the opinion derived from "personal observation" differs from the opinion of " every one who had seen the district" according to the notion of the Nelson Examiner. Persons who have had good opportunities of examining the Taiari district state that not more than ten per cent, of the sections laid out there are suitahle for agricultural purposes. For stating his view of this fact the Editor of the Otago New* was mulcted £45 per annum. Strangely enough, the local Agent of the Company when speaking his own thoughts, and not acting a part, confirms the statement. " His (the settlers) main investment for other purposes and fructification of capital will be in sbeep. His investment in land should be but a third or fourth of his means, or even less, in proportion as his capital is large." — Captain G. " Any capitalist coming out to Otago should be* ware of investing too large a proportion of his capital in land before he leaves home, for that is far from being the most profitable investment. Sheep stock may be bought here at £1 sterling per head, and for much less by sending to Australia for them, " — &c. — Landowner, p. 58. Any remaining doubt as to the inaccuracy of opinion penned " from his own personal observation," must give way before the following extract from Bishop Selwyns Journal, p. 14 :—: — " Cape Saunders, Pikiwara, (Saddle Hill) and the ridge near Dunedin, appear to be masses heaved up by volcanic action, through the great alluvial plain which forms i the Eastern face of the Middle Island. Of this plain the Taiari and Matau (Molyneux) districts form a part, over which the sections of the Dunedin settlers are spread. The fault of the settlement is its dispersion ; its advantage will be the range of downlike hills, which open to the Southward, sometimes of great height, but often of small size with flattops of uniform elevation, as if a sea of lava in a state of wavy motion had been cooled under the pressure of a solid plane resting equally upon it ; or to use a simple description, as if a dish of rolls in an oven had been baked with a tray lying on the top of them. The whole of this wavy country as far as the eye can reach, will be found, no doubt, admirably adapted for sheep pastures. The plains, such as that of the Taiari, seems to be swampy, but the fall of the rivers is generally sufficient to secure a complete drainage. In the Taiairi plain a single clump of "Kahikatea" (white pine" contrasts with the bare appearance of the country in general. The want of firewood will be the chief inconvenience at the sheep stations in this island ; but Otakou itself is abundantly supplied from the wooded banks of the river." These extracts exhibit one side of the question. When the other is given the public will be able to judge. Failing any reply, the conclusion will probably be that the influence of the Company has (unintentionally, perhaps, j hut not the less really) "been used to suppress the truth, thus misleading persons who under the Company's auspices are disposed to settle in New Zealand. The evils experienced in this settlement from a similar cause should operate as a warning to che Otago settlers. I am. Sir, your obedient Servant, O.