AUCKLAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 246, 3 October 1862, Page 5

AUCKLAND.

(fkom our ows corresponi>ent.)

. Auckland. 23rd September, 1862.

i Since the date of my last letter, we have passed from winter into a beautiful spring, so much so, indeed, that I feel very-doubtful'whether any one leaving Ocago for Auckland at the present time (supposing such a thing were possible) would not give me an , exceedingly doubtful character, as far as -truthfulness is concerned, when he compared what"" he would see around him with the accounts which have appeared from time to time, from my pen, in. your columns. I need, however, scarcely tell any one who has ever seen this Province, and experienced its climate, that the change wrought upon its roads and general appearance by a return of .fine weather, has an effect but little short of miraculous. As the* Superintendent has now returned by .he Airedale, which arrived on the 20th, tfic Provincial Council is sure to meet next month ; but by that time the roads will have returned to an appearance not very much the reverse of good, ami I much fear that a great deal of the salutary effect produced upon all minds by the miserable results of former party strifes will have worn off, and be too nearly forgotten by those, at leasr, who wore the offenders. Since my last date to vessels have arrived, bringing the first detachment of Nonconformist Pilgrim Fathers. The first division of these came in the Matilda Wattenbach, and arrived after a fine passage of about 100 days; the second in the Hanover, about ten days later. The passengers were about equally divided between the vessels, and number in all close upon seven hundred souls. To the first arrivals it fell to obtain all the welcoming which finds its natural vent in memorials and speeches, although I daresay the Hanover's people have suffered no very material injury in consequence. Upon the arrival of the j Matilda Wattenbach, a meeting was got upland; they were received and entertained by speeches in ! an open-air assembly in front of the Parliament buildings. I fear, however, that, in sp'te of welcomes and addresses, there has been some serious mistakes made, such as is likely seriously to embarrass and retard thn advancement of the settlement. In the first place, the bond of union between the settlers is one altogether nominal. It seems ■at first sight to be a religioin bond that is aimed at; , but, if so, is a complete failure. Ibid it been a Roman Catholic settlement, or a Baptist settlement, this would, indeed, have given some coherency to its parts, and might present some resistance to the colonial tendency to separation ; but a Nonconfortnint settlement may mean anything, and therefore, is this case at least, seems to mean nothing. People cannot work upon an entirely negative basis, and what else is Nonconformity ? As a consequence, we find it in practice include every shade of opinion, from Roman Catholics to Quakers. The second error, which I am afraid they have made, is that of taking a larger proportion of moneyless men than was at all wise, probably with a view to the swelling their muster roll ; already 1 hear of a good nriny of these men who refuse to go up to Albertlaud, finding they can get plenty of work in Auckland and its immediate neighbourhood, while they are not in a condition to wait until the new settlers can employ them. These instances will probably render the progress of the new settlement much more gradual than was anticipated by many both here and in England. They have, however, many things in their favor. The land allotted to them is well situated and generally of good quality. The district must, ere long, be a very important one, and if they keep together, " Shoulder to shoulder," their success is certain. The prosperity of the settlers from Nova Scotia, in the Waipu district shows what may be done. Tne Provincial Government has done, and is doing, its part to put the Albertland settlers in the most favorable position, the result depends on themselves.

We have now once more a small steamer plying in our harbor and gulf. The Tusmanian Maid has been purchased by an enterprising firm here, and is now trailing daily between Auckland and Coromnndel. 1 presume, when the days become longer, she will make the voyage up and down in the same day, and on the alternate days make trips to other settlements within a moderate distance of Auckland.

A ten-stamper crushing machine has just arrived for the Keven's lleef Quartz Crushing Company, and as preparations have been making at Coromandei for the erection of the machine, &c., we may expect that the great problem of Corohiandel success will soon be solved, and I have no doubt the solution will be a favorable one. A second quartz crushing machine was ordered some time ago by another company, and may be expected shortly. Pending the arrival of the crushing machines, but little comparatively has been done, although valuable leaders have been found almost daily; some of these, indeed, have been so . rich that they have not been worked until the settings up of a crushing machine shall make it possible to secure all the quartz as they excavate it. The return of really Hue weather has put the miners apparently in excellent spirits, and ihe work of excavating and prospecting -goes on apace. I also hear of a good deal of crushed quartz being brought to town for sale, but owing 10 its being hand crushed, the quantity must be small indeed, when compared with what we may look for as soon as even one of the quartz-crushing machines begins to work. Auckland people, at all events, are as sanguine as ever, and confidently expect that some of our late digging population, who were attracted by the first reports of the Dunstan fields to try their fortune at Otago, will either return, or heartily wish themselves back again before very long. Another quariz-crushing company has been formed, and will, doubtless, send for a machine directly, so tiiat no great dearth of machinery is likely long to retard our progress. The indignant remonstrance of the Argus has. I have no doubt, created almost as much amusement at Otago as it has here. I should imagine the weathe/ must have been unusually fine at the time in Melbourne, or the editor could never have ventured to promulgate BUf.-h a doctrine as that the climate of Victoria was superior to that of New Zealand ; if he-really believes it is he is certainly much benighted, on that subject at least, as I should suppose there is no spot of land from our North Cape to the extreme point of Stewart's Island, which cannot boast a climate iv which a man may live with tolerable comfort all the year round. Any Melbourne resident who can say as much for Victoria, must be of a peculiarly contented and withal salamandrine habit of mind and body It is however, no small tribute to New Zealand!s prospects as a gold country, that such a paper as the Argus should be terrified into these misrepresentations. And we may rest very sure that if our gold can bear but half as good a comparison to that of Victoria, as our climate can and does, we are on the eve of becoming the wealthiest of colonies. It is still expected that the troops will march to the front to continue their road making, on or about the first of October. So far as present appearances go, they seera likely to have good weather, and we may hope they will succeed in doing a great deal more than last season, owing to their beginni gin such excellent time. I suppose the province will have eventually to pay for this work, and I have no doubt that all parties will gladly agree to do so, as this is sure to be ai investment which will pay well soouer or later very different in that respect, irom the now de^ funct scheme for planting military settlements on our frontier. The loss of the Lord Worsley steamer at Taranaki, has caused considerable excitement here; this is now the fifth steamship that has been wrecked on the ooast, and in no single instance has any satistactory cause been assigned for the loss so detrimental to the interests of the colony. It might easily be supposed that wrecks would frequently occur upon our stormy and rockbound coasts, but of all these disasters, not one can, I believe, be attributed to the agency of storms, and so far as people not professing any nautical knowledge can see,.attributable, to little else than culpable negligence. lam afraid this last disaster will greatly disarrange the postal service between the provinces, and that unfortunately just at the time when their rapid improvement and development was urgently required. I trust the Postmaster-General may find the means to put other steamers upon the service at no distant date. . . ... Business in Auckland is in a very flourishing state, and the value of property continues to increase ; building sites wbochTonly a, few moa#ui

ago, were.certainly nob worjh^bdve'£6ooor47o6 have been recently sold' 'for" up>arti§"?6f *2lbUo. Such a rise in price will appear a mere nothing to the Dunedinites, but to us it is very satisfactory. At the sams time, we have suffered a complete relapso into our normal c mdiiiou with regard to atnusemen'u. We had recently negro melodists, poly phonists, or at» least, one such, a queen of song—really a very creditable limited monarch—aud now we are left without any public amusement whatever, so much so that certain pleasure-loving gentlemen have comforted themselves by complai.iiug of their forlorn condition to the newspapers, so you see they must be very badly. off indeed

From the Waikato there is no news, and that under the circumstances, we take, to be the best of news ; the less the King Natives do the belter, for they are only, kept alive by making-a noise. So soon as they subside into quiet ways as of old, so soon will the reign of King Potatau second, or rather of those who govern ia his name, be among the things that have been.

Our members of Parliament have got safely back to us at last, after all their perils by sea and land. I don't know that they can all be said to be sound ; however, after having been pitched out of a railway truck on the Dun Mountains. In ray opinion, and I believe that opinion is general the most momentous work of the Parliamentary session now closed, in as far as the Northern Island is concerned, has been the passing o. the Native Lands Bill. When I say this is the general opinion, I by no means iutend to intimate that we are all of one mind as to the wisdom of that act, or as to the'result's, to be expected from it. A good many laud it to the skits, and expect great benefits to flow from it, while I and man; others fear that the results will be disastrous, inasmuch as before long it must necessitate a change in our Waste Land Regulations, and put an end to that system which has been the-great stimulant to a healty immigration into this Province. Perhaps, however, we may ail be mistaken and find that, after ail, little, either of good or evil, results from it. 1 for one shall rejoice to iiad that I have beeu mistaken ia my forebodings.

CANTERBURY. (From the Lyttelton Time*..) Coal.—An importation- of a novel character hasi just-- been made by Messrs ~\- Ha!', lUtchie and Co., in the sha P 9 of-some 200 tons o AuckUud coil. The quality of the coal will ensure it a ready sal; where fuel is so difficult to he obtained as in Canterbury. Of is comparative merits with otuer colomul coal we cannot speak, but it posses**'in itself the of an excellent' household Ssti. well" 5 qulckly ' «m'g out a good heat, and WHAUNG.-The boats belonging to Mr Wright's whahng staMon Island Bay, have captured their fourth whale this season; -the boats were fast, to another whale, but met- with an accident, oth rwise tliey might have counted five for four.—At Air Buchaiiaa'B fishery, Ikolaki, although only launching one boat, they have succeeded in captuiingtwo whales the last of wmcii was caught on the 25th: this wili make a show in the exports from Canterbury Synod.-On Wednesday la<t, a session' of tho Diocesan Synod of Canterbury, was opened at thFreemason a Hall. On the opening day, Dr Harper JiuJiop of th« diocese, delivered a lengthy chare*' parr if not the whole of which we hope to be aWi* nextweek to lay before cur readers, together with a bnet report of the labotirs of the Synod. Tiie business on the brat two days was exclusively of a preliminary character. J

Another Fatal Accident. —An inquest was held at the Plough Inn, Riccarton, nn.Thursday to inquire into the circumstances attending the death of a youth about 14 years of age, named John Cowan, who died on Monday last. The deceased was iv the service of Mr- Middleton, farmer itace Course Hill On I'riday last he was sent to fetch in a horse and having cauglit the animal, he waain the act of scrambling on to his ba..-k, when he fell, and the hoise trod upon the upper part of the boy's abdomen, but he did not appear to he seriously hurt. Dr. Richards, who happened to be in the neighborhood, exunineti bitn, but failed to di-cover any sighs of ir.ju-y Tlie boy, however, not appearing to be well was're moved in a dray on Monday, to the residence of his parent* on the south bunk of the Waimakariri, and died tlu< same day, it is supposed from inflammation of eouw of the abdominal yUcera. A verdict of " Accidental death, was returned.