LATEST HOME NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 76, 30 October 1852, Page 4

LATEST HOME NEWS.

We have received English News to the 10th June, for which we are indebted to the Melbourne papers : — The Mail Steamer " Australian" arrived at Port Phillip about noon on the 2nd Sept., and was literally crowded with passengers. Her latest dates are to the 2nd June. The barque " Bangalore" also arrived at Port Phillip on the 4th September, bringing English news to the 10th June. The Ministry still continued in office. The rumour was that Parliament was to be prorogued about the end of June. The debates were not of importance, except the passing of the Income Tax Bill, and a long discussion on the New Zealand Bill. Lord John Russell had addressed a long letter to the electors of London. The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company had announced that their new steamship "Formosa" would be despatched from Southampton on the 7th August for Sydney, calling at the Cape of Good Hope and Port Phillip. The " Queen of the South," a screw steamer, belonging to a private company, was to leave England for Australia in the middle of June. The Wool Sales were going off very favourably. The following is an extract from a letter to a mercantile firm in Melbourne :—": — " I drop you a few lines to state the advance in wool of 4d. per lb. on February rates. Sales commenced on 20th May- — the first day a penny up, and kept stiffening gradually till sth day of sale, when I sold 800 bales of Port Phillip wool, all fine favourite clips, at 4d. per lb. advance ; the owners were present and fully satisfied with the result. — Emigration has now commenced in earnest, and you will probably receive between this and Christmas 30,000 souls, half of whom are to be females. Government alone takes up twelve ships per month — eight for Port Phillip, two for Adelaide, and two for Sydney, with the above proportion of sexes ; besides, all private emigration going on at same time by Mrs. Chisholm, Sydney Herbert, &c." Prince Albert had become the patron of an emigration society, the object of which was to transfer the redundant and destitute population of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland to Australia. The Government Emigration Office in London was completely besieged by applicants anxious to procure a passage to Australia. The New Zealand Bill had been read a second time in the House of Commons. The Militia Bill had passed the third reading in the House of Commons. There have been 843 petitions, containing 308,565 signatures, presented against the Maynooth grant. Emigration. — The demand for passage to Australia on the part of independent emigrants has during the past few weeks become very active. All the best sailing ships are speedily filled at high rates. Among those who are joining in the movement to the mines are many of the junior clerks in the London banking establishments and counting houses. Several have already made their arrangements, and others will follow, either immediately or as soon as they shall receive accounts from those who are now leaving. The extension of the shipping trade, and especially with screw vessels, is likewise becoming more observable, irrespective of the impulse imparted to it from Australia. There are now 44 vessels advertised in the Post-office Packet List to take out private ship letter-bags to Australia, and all of which are to sail by the middle of July next. The aggregate tonnage of these vessels amount to above | 30,000 ; 13 of these vessels are for Sydney ; and ' 22 for Melbourne. The London correspondent of the " Oxford Herald" states that the return of Mr. (exArchdeacon) Manning from the Church of Rome to the Church of England may be expected to take place shortly. The electric telegraph operations which have for some time been in progress in the Bank of England are now completed, and a perfect system of communication is effected between the various offices. The immense docks at Great Grimsby were opened on the 27th of May with much ceremony. The " Gladiator," steam-ship, Capt. Adams, arrived at Spithead on the 30th May, from the Cape of Good Hope, having on board General Sir Harry Smith, Bart., G.C.8., late Governor and Commander-in-Chief of that colony, and Lady Smith. The Rev. J. P. Gell, the newly elected Bishop of Christchurch, New Zealand, recently gave a lecture on the colonies, embodying his own experience in Australasia, to the members of the Liverpool Collegiate Institution. Mr. T. F. O'Meagher, the Irish State Prisoner, who escaped from Van Diemen's Land, has arrived safely in New York, where he was publicly received by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen on the 10th of June. The Right lion David Boyle, of Shewalton, has resigned the conjoint offices of Lord Justice General of Scotland and Lord President of the Court of Session, which he has held since the retirement of the late Right Hon. Charles Hope, of Granton, in 1841. It is said that the Queen intends to confer a baronetcy on Professor Alison, the historian, and also on the Right Hon. D. Boyle. Emigration is going forward ot* an extensive scale in Fifeshire, consisting chiefly of respectable tradesmen, country labourers and their families, and a few small farmers. The greater number direct their course to South Australia, a few to America, and two or three families to New Zealand.

The English papers devoted to monetary and commercial interests are now eagerly criticising the phenomena caused by our Australian gold, and making conjectural estimates as to what will be the result of the new state of things which have arisen. The Bankers' Magazine, which is edited by a gentleman holding a confidential situation in one of the leading London | banks, remarks, that the Bank of England holds a larger stock of specie than it has ever held before within its coffers ; but the gold is not obtained from the other banks. The bank of France holds far more than its ordinary supply; the banks in America never were so full of gold. Our country banks have more than an average quantity; and it is evident, therefore, that the increase of the amount in the hands of the bank has not been the result of a drain on the other banks, but has taken place concurrently with an increase of the stock of the precious metal in almost every part of Europe and America. The banks will necessarily be more liberal in their advances than hitherto. The public will be anxiously on. the look out for any new forms of investment which, like the railways _in 1845, promise them a higher return for their money than they can obtain on ordinary securities. "We cannot help thinking that we are on the eve of another mania, although it is very difficult to say in what direction it may manifest itself.— Geelong Intelligencer. The 40th regiment was in Cork, ready for embarkation for Australia. Mr. W. H. Murray, who was many years manager of the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh, died very suddenly on the 20th May at St. Andrews, in the 63rd year of his age. He occupied a prominent place in the local history of Edinburgh, his name and his talents having been in some degree associated with nearly all the celebrated Scotsmen whom the last half century has produced, and his professional career having been marked by a success which his rare abilities and his upright, judicious, and generally praiseworthy conduct, merited. Mr. Roebuck, M.P. is so seriously ill as to create no small anxiety as to the result, on the part of his friends. He has been visited by a paralytic affection, which for the present entirely unfits him for attending to business. The subscription list of the proposed Australasian Pacific Mail Steam Packet Company was closed on Thursday. The total of shares to be allotted -was 12,500 of £20 each, and the number applied for was 40,253. It is expected that the vessels of the Company will commence running in a year or 15 months. They are to be of about 1400 tons burthen, on the auxiliary principle, with 300-horse power. A deputation, on the subject of the New Zealand Bill, had an interview with Sir John Pakington on the 31st May, at the Colonial Office. The deputation consisted of Mr. C. B. Adderley, M.P., Sir Thomas Tancred, Mr. Wakefield, Mr. H. Sewell, Mr. Moir Crane (Otago), and Mr. Fox. The General Assembly of the Established Church of Scotland met at Edinburgh on the 20th May, the Earl of Mansford being the Lord High Commissioner. The levee of the noble Earl at Holyrood was attended by about 600 of the nobility, gentry, and clergy of Scotland. The Submarine Telegraph between England and Ireland is progressing towards completion. The " Northern Whig" has the following relative to the laying of the electric cable across the Irish Channel : — " The Scotch contractors are bound to use the utmost diligence, and we have authority to state that the trench along the road from Dumfries to Portpatrick must be fully opened by the 31st May, at farthest. As to the deposition of the wire from Portpatrick across to the Irish coast, from the entirety of the preparations made, and the aid which the company have at hand in the way of powerful steamers and other accessories, it is probable the cable will be laid down by the sth June, at all events, not beyond the 10th. The opening of the line to Belfast will be celebrated by a f§te on a scal9 of great magnificence." The Glasgow " Scottish Guardian" (June 1), makes the following electro-telegraphic announcement :—": — " The ships laid on here foxAustralia fill most rapidly. Emigration is much on the increase, principally among the educated and intelligent classes, many of whom are leaving comfortable "situations in the City." The Liverpool correspondent of the " Manchester Guardian" thus writes :—": — " Our Australian discoveries are exciting us much interest in New York as here. Several vessels had been taken up to load with emigrants, and many more will follow. The most extraordinary spectacle of the present day is the fact of the two most enlightened countries of the age almost simultaneously making these gold discoveries, wh'ch seem destined to do more towards bringing the different nations of the earth together, than any event which has occurred in the history of man. In a very short time we shall doubtless see Australia and South America containing a large Chinese population which must eventually bring that large empire j into active intercourse with the rest of the world." No less than 12 ships will be found in the bill of entry this morning loading for Australia, the aggregate tonnage being 12,000 tons, and they will accommodate upwards of 6000 passen- ! gers. Extensive charters have been entered into to bring back coolies from Amoy to Australia, San Francisco, and Havana. It is said ■ that the engagements amount to upwards of 50,000 souls. Truly the shipping interest have at length fallen on their feet. The agitation about the navigation laws may, like Maynooth, be consigned to the " tomb of the Capulets." The elevation of Lord Colonsay ,to the office of Lord-President in the Court of Session has

led to several very important changes in the administration of the law in Scotland. It was the intention of the present Government to offer the Outer-House judgeship, vacated by Lord Colonsay, to Sheriff Alison, of Glasgow, who has done so much as a writer in " Blackwood," and otherwise, to promote the cause of the party ; but it was found that the office of a judge could only be conferred upon a practising barrister, which he was not. Under these circumstances, the office has been bestowed upon Mr. Adam Anderson, the Lord Advocate. He is succeeded, as Lord Advocate, by Mi*. John Inglis, the present Solicitor-General, whose vacant office has been conferred upon Mr. C. Neaves, who has to resign the Sheriffship of Orkney, which has, it is said, been given to Mr. W. E. Aytoun. — Home News. Ireland. — The most cheering accounts of the crops are given from all parts of the country. Never before did so much farm work appear to be completed at so early a period of the season. The potato is planted in great breadth, and the green crops look beautiful ; 1852 promises to be a most abundant year, and may raise up Ireland from many of her difficulties. It is understood that Dr. Cullcn will be appointed by the Pope to succeed Archbishop Murray in Dublin. The " Belfast Newsletter" says, — " We have been informed, on the best authority, that Lord Glengall is about to be appointed to the gover-nor-generalship of India, vice Lord Dalhousie." PARLIAMENTARY. On the second reading of the New Zealand Bill, on the 21st May, Sir William Molesworth rose to recite an elaborate detail of objections to the Bill. He objected to the division of the colony into its two parts — a native part and an English pale ; the native laws to be maintained in the one, when not inconsistent with " humanity." He objected to the division of the English part into six provinces, each with a population ranging from 1500 to 7000, and each possessing not only a municipality, but also a real Legislative Council, with power to make acts on general subjects; and a governor or " superintendent." There was also to be a General Assembly, comprising a nominated Legislative Council, and an elected House of Representatives. Surely this nest of colonies would be a most complicated machine for the government of 26,000 Europeans and 100,000 savages. There would be nine distinct and conflicting codes of law — the six independent provincial codes, one General New Zealand code, the Native New Zealand code, and the laws of Great Britain ; a confusion aggravated by the powers of repeal or veto reserved to the General Assembly, the Governor, and the Colonial Office, extending in the latter case to a period of two years. To the Superintendents chargeable on the civil list Sir William objected, as likely to be most intolerable jacks in office. He objected to the condition which clogs the surrender of control over waste lands to the General Assembly of New Zealand — the condition that five shillings for each acre purchased be paid to the New Zealand Company, until the sum of £268,000, with yearly interest of 3§ per cent, be paid. The New Zealand Company established in 1839 to carry out certain views on colonization, and to make money, has proved a failure ; to prop it up, it obtained a loan of £100,000, at 3 per cent., in 1846, and in 1847 it obtained a second loan of £136,000 without interest; its claim is now made the first of the three charges on the waste lands of New Zealand ; surveys and emigration being postponed to that. Sir William cited memorials and petitions from Wellington, Nelson, New Plymouth, and other places, with the opinion of the Lieuten-ant-Governor, and in part of the Governor, to show that, on the whole, they approved of his (Sir William Molesworth's) plan for a constitution — making New Zealand one colony, with one Legislature, but with Municipal Councils, to elect their own officers, and make local byelaws, on certain definite and enumerated subjects. He advocated a steamer as the great key to prosperity for New Zealand, and said that he should propose amendments in Committee. Mr. Adderley contended, that the worst thing which could happen would be delay ; as the colonists are at present deprived of power for necessary works by the suspension of their legislative machinery ; they cannot make roads, harbours, nor lighthouses, nor establish a militia for defending themselves at their own expense. He showed, that in a Colony like New Zealand, with separate settlements along the coast, large local powers are required. In the very documents cited by Sir William Molesworth, of which he seemed only to have read the first paragraph in each, the colonists used the term " municipal powers" in the large sense given to it by our North American Colonies in their infancy — as when they established the constitution of Rhode Island. As to the New Zealand debt, the colonists are willing to pay it. Mr. Frederick Peel elaborated the local point ; showing that the separate settlements carry on their exports or imports directly with Australia, England, or California, and would be hindered by too great centralization. Mr. Gladstone advised the House to consider the measure as a whole, for acceptance or rejection ; and not in seeking speculative niceties to hinder the gift of a Constitution for New Zealand, if the measure could possibly be put in a shape within the present session. He proceeded to deliver a calm but earnest and dignified thesis on the true relation of Colonies to the parent state ; showing that the present principle of reluctantly and gradually giving local freedom is fundamentally wrong, and wholly opposed to the whole system, under which high-minded men, who had received the real " training for freedom," went forth, and,

demanding no assistance, but overcoming obstacles with miraculous facility in those days of imperfect commerce, founded the great States of America — the basis of that Union, the strength of which depends so much on the independence of its States. Mr. Gladstone applauded the Government Bill, because it made a beginning in dispensing with the sanction of the Colonial Office for local measures, and because it discarded in the local Councils the principle of nomination, that absurd plan of endeavouring to keep up " Crown influence." He thought, however, that " concurrent jurisdiction" of the general and local bodies would, as usual, prove to be conflicting jurisdiction : their powers, as in the case of Parliament and minor bodies in this country, should be more strictly limited and delegated. The paid Superintendents should be.erased from the Bill ; and the Colonists should be permitted to elect unpaid men, like mayors, who would command their confidence. With a general caveat against the intervention of trading companies in executive administration, Mr. Gladstone objected to altering the present pecuniary position of the New Zealand Company : he would at least keep their mortgage as the THIRD of the ! charges on the land. On this point Sir James Graham also insisted. Sir John Pakington urged the passing of the Bill, to avoid the inevitable alternative of again passing a suspending act ; because he could not allow the Act of 1846 to be revived. Enforcing many of Mr. Adderley's positions, he showed that the real opinion of the New Zealand colonists is singularly attainable, as they have many representatives now in this country ; and persons who promoted the very meetings cited by Sir William Molesworth are now urging Sir John to legislate. He explained that the native population — advanced in civilization, advanced in Christianity, and rapidly taking their places side by side with the European emigrants, are as desirous as the British for the enjoyment of Free Institutions. There were several minor speeches. Mr. Vernon Smith would reject the Bill ; Mr. Anstey would cut out portions of it ; Mr. Evelyn Denison would amend it ; Mr. J. A. Smith and Mr. F. Peel would heartily and thankfully cooperate in perfecting it, and supported the bill on the grounds of necessity, and danger of delay. Mr. Mangles explained that the New Zealand Company, desiring no alteration of their position, bad been deprived of the land which was their security for £1^68,000 to other parties. The Bill was road a second »ime ; to bo commit! Ed to committee on the 3id June. KEY," ZHAI.AXD CO3IFANY. On the 2-' th May, Sir James Graham inquired whether theie would be any objection to the production of the opinion of the law officers of the Crown upon the quostioij, whether onetenth of the minimum price of land fixed by law was the limit of the proportion payable to the New Zealand Company. Sir John Pakington declined to produce the opinion, on the ground of inconvenience to the public sen ice ; aud he had the less hesitation in giving this answer, as he believed the opindid not refer to the question asked, but to another, namely, whether the whole 10s. per acre payable on land sold by the Canterbury Association was to be retained by the New Zealand Company, or a portion of it to revert to the Association. While the New Zealand Bill was being considered in Committee on the sth June, the following very important statement was made by Sir John Pakington :—": — " He mentioned the changes which he had resolved to introduce into the details, after consultation with several gentlemen of great influence in New Zealand, and now in this country; and after anxious consideration of the suggestions which had proceeded from influential members of the House. These suggestions referred mainly to two points. — the mode in which the Superintendents should be appointed, and the course to betaken with the New Zealand Land Company. In reference to the first point, his proposal now was to make the Superintendents elective by the same constituency which would elect the members of the Provincial Legislatures, instead of being appointed by the Governor- in- Chief. It was also proposed to strike out the provision relative to the £500 of salary to be allowed toeach of the Superintendents, and to leave to the Provincial Legislatures the option of paying them salaries or not. With regard to the New Zealand Land Company, Sir John Pakington deemed himself bound to abide by the adjustment which was ratified by the Act of 1847. Should it be the opinion of the House, however, that the stipulation of ss. per acre was not a judicious arrangement, he was quite willing to stipulate that the Company should have a fourth of the sum derived from the land sales. There was another point to which Sir John was anxious to advert. As there was no determining where gold might not be found, he proposed to insert a clause, providing that, in the event of gold, or other precious minerals, being found in New Zealand, the profits should go to the Provincial Legislatures. He had already acted upon that rule in the case of the Australian colonies, having intimated by Thursday's mail that all the levenues derived from the gold fields should be unrestrictedly placed at the disposal of the Australian legislatures." It is scarcely necessary to say that the paper announcing this important step in the right direction adds, that " these announcements elicited expressions of approval from the members present." — Melbourne Argus.