ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 703, 28 April 1852, Page 3

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the “ New Zealand Spectator.” Otaki, April 21, 1852. Sir, —In your report of what occurred at a meeting of the members of the Church of England, at Wellington, given in your paper ot the 14ih inst , I am represented as saying—“ The English Ecclesiastical law was not applicable to New Zealand, and they bad therefore nothing to do with it, but the Ecclesiastical law was in many ways mixed up with the common law, and so far as it affected them, he imagined a colonial legislature could easily provide a remedy.” As this •conveys the very opposite of what I intended, you will much oblige me by allowing me to state what I did say. It was this. That my objection to applying to Parliament only was that I feared we ■should not beattended to. That the colonial legislature could, and probably would, grant us everything which we required for the present. That there was, however, one point in which the powers of the colonial legislature were defective. For ■although there was no doubt that the jurisdiction ■of the Ecclesiastical courts of England did not ■extend to the colonies, it was quite clear that such part of the Ecclesiastical law as had become part of the common law of England did. This the •colonial legislature could not repeal. It would therefore be needful eventually to apply to the Imperial Parliament for this purpose. I regret that 1 did not make my meaning sufficiently clear to the meeting. But by inserting this in your paper at your earliest convenience you will very much oblige Your very obedient servant, Octavius Hadfield. We have been favoured with some Sydney papers received by the Champion which, arrived last night; from these we have extracted some of the latest and most interesting intelligence. The Scotia, Marmora and Despatch were advertised to sail for Wellington. A letter from the Commissioners of the •Great Exhibition is published in the Sydney Morning Herald, expressing their sense of the important services rendered by many of her Majesty’s colonies to the Exhibition, and announcing their intention of presenting to eleven of the colonies (in which number New .Zealand is included) a series of the several medals distributed by them, together with a copy of the jury reports, illustrated with photographs of articles exhibited, and also a copy of the Illustrated Catalogue. DARING PIRACY. [From the Sydney Morning Herald, April 10.] We mentioned in our Shipping News yesterday, that the ship Nelson had been robbed of 8000 ounces of gold. We have since ascertained the following particulars : —The Nelson, Captain Wright (formerly of the Trafalgar,) loaded with wool, &c., at Geelong, and took on board 8,000 ounces of gold ; she then proceeded to Hobson’s Bay to take gold from Melbourne, and procure a crew. On the morning of Friday, the 2nd instant, about 2 o’clock, a number of armed men, said to be twenty, some of them being dressed as women, proceeded on board, overpowered the crew and officers, wounding the chief mate, and took away 23 boxes of gold, worth nearly £30,000, with which they got clear off. The Captain was ashore at the time. From the readiness with which they went to the place where the gold was stowed, it was evident that some of the parties engaged m loading the vessel must have given some information, and we hear that one of the lumpers’ boys at Geelong had been apprehended. A boat containing arms had also been fotind on the beach, so that the detection and conviction of Some of the gang appears pretty certain. The gold is said to be insured in London Insurance Offices. The following is from the Geelong Advertiser, of the 3rd instant:— “ The information has been officially conveyed from Meibom ne to Geelong, and the police are keeping a sharp look-out for the perpetrators of this audacious robbery. It is to be hoped that they will soon be able to give a good account of them, for their escape with impunity would sink Port Phillip to a lower level than San Francisco, and create an uneasiness not felt on the roads leading from Mount Alexander. It is as well, however, that the

act has been committed in harbour, as it will doubtless lead to the adoption of more precautionary measures, and thus prevent future attempts of a like kind. The whole of the gold stolen belonged to Geelong shippers, but the loss will tall on the English Insurance Companies.”