Dunedin, Saturday, January 10,1852.

Otago Witness, Issue 34, 10 January 1852, Page 2

Dunedin, Saturday, January 10, 1852.

We have again to record the proceedings of a public meeting in Otago, held for the purpose of considering the steps to be taken in the present disgraceful state of affairs; — disgraceful indeed

when, after the community with half its present number had produced a surplus revenue of £1,100, the SubTreasurer is compelled to refuse payment of the salaries of the Government officers, and cannot find cash to the amount of £6 (only six pounds !) to cash the notes of the Colonial Bank of Issue, and these notes by law a legal tender too! And wherefore this disgraceful state of matters ? to maintain a system of bribery and corruptkra by which the hardworking and industrious are taxed to support a host of unnecessary and useless officials, many of whose characters by no means add lustre to our public departments or private society, and those characters rendered none the more conspicuously respectable by the "leetle" inconvenience of an unpaid salary. This, then, being the moving cause for expressing the opinion so often reiterated of the absolute necessity for Local Self-Government, the public have met and decided upon adopting the Petitions to the Imperial Parliament and Sir George Grey, put forward by the Otago Settlers' Association ; and we cannot but remark with extreme satisfaction the perfect unanimity with which all the main motions were carried. Not one dissenting voice ; all were agreed ; all expressed a resolute determination to govern themselves ; and we almost doubt the possibility of finding one man in Otago who does not hold these principles. There may be some whose short-sighted view of their own personal interest mayinduce them to desert the cause of their adopted country, or to enslave their fellow-colo-nists ; but even they dare not come forward to defend Sir George's policy. But thus far the excitement of opposition and the interest of politics having ceased, we must not, slumber under the belief the victory is won and our toils over. There is no doubt but that the firm avowal of opinion of every settlement in New Zealand must carry its object. The unanimous voice of a people organised, as we have become, by our home training, and the struggle for the last twelve months, is a power no Governor, no Statesman, ever did or ever can resist, except for a time; and to shorten this time is now our object : even the timid and apathetic must see this; uncertainty is the bane of the colonies,, it stagnates everything, and produces that sinking of spirits under which no colonist succeed?. Then let every maji in the settlement who is not influenced by the hope of reward, or

the fear of punishment, put Jhis name to these petitions, and obtain for himself and his posterity those institutions pledged to us before we left our native land, — be himself a man worthy of those ancestors who sacrificed their wealth and ease, their peace and blood, to obtain for him the blessing of freedom.

"We are glad to learn that the ' Titan,' which left this port in June, arrived all well at California after a passage of 65 clays, with her cargo in good condition. We understand that the Otago lime, of which she took a considerable quantity as ballast, has realised about 14s. a bushel.

A further reduction in the price of flour has taken place this week, being now selling at 15s. per 100 lbs.