ACTUAL STATE AND PROSPECTS OF NEW ZEALAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 44, 20 March 1852, Page 1

ACTUAL STATE AND PROSPECTS OF NEW ZEALAND.

Under this title an article appeared' in thu' "New Zealand Journal" immediately after the receipt of the " Wellington Independent" of June 22nd, which contained the report of the proceedings in the Legislative Council on the Provincial Councils' Bill, together with the exciting gold news from Australia. From' this' article the following extracts' will be- interesting :—

, " A writer in the " Wellington Independent" is of opinion that New Zealand will be able to

> contribute but a small quantity of grain or flour ' to the emergent demand. At present, this is 1 doubtless the case, but will it continue so ? ' Years ago the ordinary demand in Sydney , called into existence a considerable quantity of ; New Zealand wheat, grown by natives, before i there was any European settlement. Will the colonists be less enterprising and industrious than the natives ? If the gold of New South Wales prove a deposit sufficiently rich and extensive for continuous working, the new demand for flour will continue and increase. A motive will be afforded to the colonists of New Zealand to bring lands more rapidly into cultivation. The demand for continuous labour will increase; . the produce of that labour will find a ready ! market, and opulence will increase ; natives and squatters will have less leisure to breed disturbances, and, from increased comforts, less inclination. The progress, therefore, not only of settlement, but of order and good government, will be accelerated. New Zealand will participate in the increased wealth of Australia, without participating in the irregularities unavoidable in newly-opened mining districts under a feeble executive. Its eligibility as a field for emigrants will increase." 1 The writer, after speaking of the native disi turbances at Auckland, alludes to the attack of the Governor-in-Chief on the Canterbury Association, and observes that " The conduct of the ; Governor towards the Canterbury settlers affords more reason to fear an interruption in the progress of the colony than the petty native broils at Auckland. If, by his insidious misrepresentations, he could array district against district, ' he might establish a despotic power for himself, but at the expense of the settled industry and prosperity of the colony. It is, however, con- | sola'tory to reflect that the colonists see through ' his Machiavelian policy. The truth is, that the ' insincerity of Sir George Grey (in political matters — what he may be in private life we j neither know nor care) is so notorious in the : I colony, that no man attaches the least weight to anything he says. They know that Canterj bury and Otago are the only two settlements that have any immediate prospect of increase by immigration ; they know that the pouring I of fresh settlers into these districts must open i new and better markets for the others ; and j they know that, even did the Canterbury Association and its colonists entertain the ambitious 1 views attributed to them by the Governor, they have no means to put them into execution. Sir George Grey, therefore, can only expose him- ; self— he can riot set the colonists at loggerheads.

I " Last of all comes the General Legislative Council. What this knot of nominees may enact, in the way of laws is of little moment. I The Provincial Councils' Bill may or may not \be sanctioned by the Home Government ; its' existence can only be a short one. It is as a 1 a straw thrown up to show the direction of the j wind that the General Legislative Council is of \ importance. Its meeting at Wellington is' a 1 good symptom : that is a reluctant recognition I by the Governor of the fact that there is the natural seat of central local government. That being decided, it will follow as a corollary that tbe division of the islands into provinces has been at least premature. Municipal administration, with municipal elective councils, and one Governor and an elective general council at Wellington, will bo 1 sufficient for the six settlements for many years. " The unanimity of opinion in the colony in javour of a Constitution which, must freely an fairly embody the representative principle must make any earnest effort here to obtain justice for it irresistible ; and when we take into consideration the feebleness of native turbulence, the failure of the Governor to excite dissensions among the settlers, the enriching and tranquil-,; ising effects of the extended market for New Zealand agricultural produce in Nefy South'' * Wales, it is clear that simple, efficient,- popular"; 1 ' arid' cHeap political institutions are ; ,^U*tli'aFare r wanted to 1 coufpleteljthV prosperity of*Jtlw i *-ct>a' %) lony." . ,