AUCKLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 177, 23 December 1854, Page 4

AUCKLAND.

The following is extracted from the "New Zealander" of the Bth ult. The truthfulness of the remarks we leave to the judgment of our readers : — We have received by the " Nelson" very full intelligence from the Southern Provinces as to the state of opinion and feeling there — with regard to the proceedings of the first meeting of the General Assembly. At Otaeo all the news arrived at once ; and the firsrimpression was unfavourable to His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government. The only facts there known were, that, somehow or other, the most serious differences had taken place between the head of the Government and the Representatives of the people ; that Ministerial Responsibility in the ] General Government was overturned ; that the first meeting of the General Assembly had,been next to fruitless; and that for this unhappy issue of proceedings at Auckland, a large majority of the House of Representatives had cast all the blame on the Officer Administering the Government, and the old members of the Executive Council. Naturally, therefore, the first impression was one of disappointment and anger. No sooner, however, had the leading politicians time to read the various Messages and Addresses which passed between His Excellency and the two Houses of the Legislature, than a total reaction of sentiment took place ; and though there was' far from sufficient time before the departure of the " Nelson" on her return for learning in any authentic form the views of the people on the whole subject, jet we are assured that amongst those to whom the facts had become known, there was an unanimous expression of thanks to Mr. Macandrew for his conduct in the Assembly, and a similar condemnation of Mr. Cutten. The Otago settlers are more of one mind than those of any of the other Provinces; and some who know them well, and on whose cautious judgment we can rely, tell us to believe with confidence that their ultimate verdict on the questions which now agitate the Southern Provinces will utterly condemn Mr. FitzGterald and the

other leaders of the majority in the House of Hepresentatives as the true and sole authors of their own downfall, whilst it will acknowledge that His Excellency and the minority which supported him spared no pains to avert the downfall of Responsible, and even Representative Government, for New Zealand as a whole, which has resulted from their grasping ambition and excessive folly. This last fact is the hardest to believe. An Otago correspondent says, " We can see that Colonel Wynyard was most liberal in his concessions, and deserved cordial support throughout his proceedings; but we have a difficulty in comprehending the blind folly of men so clever as FitzGerald and Sewell. Our only doubt in the whole matter is, as to the stark madness with which they seem to have ruined themselves and the cause of Responsible Government for the Colony."