AUCKLAND. (from our special correspondent.)

Otago Witness, Issue 549, 7 June 1862, Page 2

AUCKLAND. (from our special correspondent.)

Auckland, May 24th.

There is not much news of interest to send you from this place. The absence of Sir Geo. Grey naturally makes things dull, and the prospect of the Session being held at Wellington, has prevented the political excitement to which we have been accustomed here since 1854, during the last few weeks of each recess, when speculation was always rife as to what was going to be done in the General Assembly. Now, one hardly hears anything about it. K\en the account of your Separation meeting has not stirred the public mind, which is as apathetic on all questions not of provincial concern, as it i-, in Dunulin.

With regard to Coromiuidel, I can hardly give you much information. The Colonial Secretary paid a long visit to the natives there, and is going again to them next week, in order to get them, if possible, to gi\e up the reserve, which lias hit h< rto been obstinately maintained by them, and which ,is supposed to contain the most auriferous quartz reefs. You will remember that when the Government, last October, made their i'rijingement with the natives ior allowing the land to be prospected, it was not known that the '• Reserve," which they then said they w.'s'.ied to make, was a little territory 70 miles square. It was only when the Otago diggers who came up, set seriously to work to find the gold, that the extent of the reserve and its value became fully known. I very much fear that trouble will come of it some day. The digge-s have begun later- to set up their tents on the very edge ot' the forbidden ground, and spend the night in forays, with considerable success. A good deal of gold has already been got, though I have not been able to ascertain the exact quantity : and every day's experience seems to add to the reasons for believing that there does, after all, exist a rich field for quartz reefers. As to alluvial diggings, I do not yet lvlieve in any being found. I hc.ird a <iay or two ago, that some of the Otago men at Coromandel had secretly sent over to Australia for machinery. If this becomes known on the other side, I dare say a rush will take place, especially when the results of the clandestine working on the native hind are fully ascertained. A good deal of mystery prevails, but it will all be cleared up, I "expect, before next mail, and I shall be able then to write to you with fuller information. Until I can do so, I refrain from giving you the various details I have heard about the success of individual diggers, or doing more than caution you not to believe much of what you read in the* papers.

The tiouble to which I referred will come quickly, if these night visits to the native ground continue to be profitable. There are not more than GO souls I belie* o, who can be called the true ownero of the reserve. The natives at the neighboring settlements would, therefore, have no proper claim to interfere. let I look upon two things as certain— first, that the diggers as they increase in numbers will cross the line and take the trold ; secondly, that the natives, not merely of Coromandel harbor, but also those settled in thcucinity will resist them. Nothing could have exceeded tho quiet, good conduct of the diggers up to the present time, but it is presuming far too much upon human nature to suppose that if the p'-osent expectation of the richness of the gold on the native land he verified, the diggers will long stand being kept out of it. The Government arc blamed for not getting a settlement of the question, but the blame is very unjust, for they have offered the natives £10,000 without success. Llo,ooo to sixty soul»! Sir George Grey tried his personal influence on scvcial occasions, and now Mr. Fox is making a strong effort to induce them to come to terms. Before the Airedale leaves on the Bth June, it is just possible something may lime been done. I wanted to get a fine specimen of highly crystalline quartz to send to Dr. Hector, but the price asked for it was too high/ The quartz showed on the outside only a few thin streaks of gold, but on being fractured the stone was found to be throughout thickly powdered with fine particles, as if the gold had been passed through a pepper castor. I have not had time lately to go and look at the many specimens which luive been sent up, but I will do .-jo before I write again.

The Waikato natives are perfectly quiet, and one hoars little or nothing about them. "We should be deluding ourselves, nevertheless, if we assumed that the King movement was going to he abandoned even now. Strong personal attachment to, and reliance upon, Sir George Grey keeps things quiet among the native chiefs in Waikato, but the end of it remains to be seen. I will not, however, bother you with native matters now, because the Assembly will soon have all the facts before it. and as nobody knows Sir George Grey's mind but himself, it will be time enough to talk when he says what it really is. One thing, however, has just happened, which may lead to much mischief, and possibly involve the Government. A dispute has existed for several years between some of the most important chiefs of different sections of the Ngapliti tribe, who live to then orth of Auckland, and chiefly at the Bay of Islands, respecting the title to certain land at the Kaipara. The Government has had the greatest difficulty in preventing the feud from bursting out openly, and at last it has cometo fighting. 'Die pi incipal parties are Tirarau, a powerful chief of the ancicn regime, who has always been a great friend to the European settlers of Wangarei, and Matin, a chief who lives in the Bay of Islands country. Mutiu some time ago sent Tirarau woid that lie was coining down at last to cut the boinulisry-lines he claimed through the forest. Tirarau acknowledged the courtesy of the police, but mentioned incidentally that the first man who - cut the line would certainly be shot. Sir George Grey strongly urged the two parties to agiee to un aibitration, but Tirnruu paid he was the judge of his own title. Matin came down, and made preparations for business by building a pah; Tirarau only knocked up a few "sticks round his own place. At length, on lust Friday, the IGth May, after ineffectual attempts on the part of tho resident magi&tiata and a native assessor (who has done great seivi'ce before now to the settlers) to reconcile the chiefs, one of Matiu's people crossed the line which had been agreed upon as a temporary boundary which neither .side should overstep, and was immediately shot by one of Tirurau's ir.cn. A fight ensued, which ended in three of Tirarau's people being wounded, and five of Matiu's being killed— besides half-a-dozen being wounded. Since then reinforcements are joining the belligerents on both sides, and it is impossible to say how the affair will end. Tirarau's people, having Wangarei Harbor as their base of operations, and a fair road to convey .supplies on horses, have a great advantage over the noithern natives, who are a longdistance fiom their own cultivations. On the other hand, the Bay of Islanders are likely to be supported in larger numbers than Tirarau, who may get the worst of it, and retreat on the English settlement at Wangarei, which is rapidly growing into great importance. If this should unhappily take , place, the settlers may become involved, just as the Taranaki settlers" were, by the desperate and bloody feuds between William King and Ihaia ; and their peaceable cultivations may be invaded, and natives massacred under their eyes, as happened in the case of Kafatore on the Bell Block, at Taranaki. The absence of Sir George Grey at this moment is keenly felt ; and I should not wonder if he had to return litre after all. •When buttles have taken place between natives in purely native districts, as has so frequently happened, we have been apt to look on with indifference ; but this one is at the very doors of a flourishing English settlement, and it will hardly be possible for the government to permit ts going on. The Resident Magistrate and a European clergyman, who, with great devotion, tried to stop the shedding ot blood, had a narrow escape of their lives, if the native accounts I have heard are to be relied on.

The military road to Waikato river is all but finished. It would have been done now if there had not been so much rain of kite ; but the weather has sec in fine again, .ani 1 hear on the best authority that a fortnight more will finish

the woik. The troops have beliavcd splendidly about it, working thioiigh weather which has literally, in some of the camps, left no dry spot day or night for the men. The 65th has been conspicuous for the amount and character of the work done ; but all the regiments have txecutcd a duty not very agreeable to soldiers, with alacrity and good nature. As soon as the last metalling is on, the army will move into winter quaitus. The General liars not only stuck to the work himself, having his head quarters all the time at Drury, but be has made the officers stick to it too. The nativcr have got on capitally with him, and say he is a fine fellow : they call him the Tiiniwha (the name of a fish given to great warriors) and say he is just as likely as not to cross the Waikato river of his own accord, if he once takes it into his head.

You will see by the March debate in the House of Common", thai they arc beginning to be very uneasy at home about the old imcstion of colonial militaiy expenditure. E veiy now and then there is sure to be a return of the chronic complaint, in anticipation of the army estimates: and I had a letter yesterday from a man who knows all that is going on at the Colonial Office, which says that ii serious move will be made to reduce the force now iv New Zealand. There is no doubt that the Colonial Minister will try it on: but in my opinion you won't see a man out of the countiy if Sir George Grey can help it, and at any rate not for some time. There seems no doubt that the Imperial Government rely on the contribution of -£5 a-he.ul from New Zealand as being peunanent; but it is not the less true that our guarantee exphes in a year, and that it must therefore come formally before the House of Representatives this session for lcncwnl. In many letters by this and the January and February mails. I am assured that Dowinng-strcct has niide up its mind to have a peace policy here, and will back Sir Ctcoige. One of our own colonists, whose position gives him peculiar means of learning what is said there, tells me by this mail t^at Sir George's plan of native institutions was being favorably received in colonial circles, in the expectation— Ist, that the Colony was to find all the j money ; and 2nd, that it would enable the troops to be- immediately reduced lo a large extent, One docs not know what to say about the prospects of the coining Session at Wellington. Ministers will hold their ground, if for no other reason, for the very good one tint there is nobody to take their place."!. It is openly reported that Mr. Crosbio Ward i.s going home immediately after the Session ; but otherwise, so far as one can judge from jolly faces, Ilis Excellency's advisers have no idea of leaving the treasury bench, nor the least notion that there is any chance of it. Their standing or falling o f cou'se depends entiiely on what the Middle Island says in the house •. and now that the Separation question has been formally initiated by Otauo, it is not so easy to predict what the Middle Island will say. 1 gather from the Canteibury Press that unless Clnistchurch is to be made the scat of government, the pilgrims will oppose Separation ; but we rniisr wait to see whether Mr. Moorhou^e or Mr. Fitzgerald arc coming up to the House. The Auckland people don't seem to care much cither way, but you will see, nevertheless, that the majority of the Auckland members will go with Wellington, which, of course, gives no quarter to the scpamtionists "Wellington knows very well that tho separation of the islands is a doach blow to her claims for the soat of government. Auckland's interest, on the contrary, lies in promoting separation, so as finally to settle the capital of this isjand, and the seat of the Governor's residence in this city,- Still, I think thst Wellington will get her own way ; for I suppose Ministers will naturally decline against separation, and your Otago members were among their warmest supporters in the House. By the time next mail goes out I shall be able to tell you more tbtm I can now, after the lapse of only a clay or two since your separation meeting was known, of how public opinion here is likely to go. The Sout/ieruCros* has come out as a daily since last Monday, f don't think the time lias yet come here for a daily paper, and unless the pioprietors of the Cross know bow to work it on a system like yours, they will very likely make a mess of it, as the first d-iily journals in Sydney did. It is true that this city is growing fast, and prices ofland still ranging very high. £100 a foot is given in the good parts of Queenstreet (the principal street here, as Princes-street is at Dunedin), and suburban or country lots are readily purchased at high rates. There is nothing here of course like the "townships" which the Otago diggers so willinglygo in for every week. Indeed no one in Auckland, who has not been in Otago Province since the diggings, can at all realise what is going on with you. There is a kind of wonder that little Otago," which in 1853 bad a revenue of X 1,290,, 290, should be taking the lead of all. I remember in 185fi, when the Otago members offered in the House to take the whole of the New Zealand Company's debt, they were looked upon ascn.zy : it was whispered that " It was just like their d d impcitinencc ;" people put up their glasses, and quizzed that memorable deputation of the Old Identity. So now, when the Aucklanders hear of the Otago Province having a quarter of a million to spend, and of a separation meeting declaring for independence 1 , they look upon it all as a kind of frenzy and lunacy, and are Inclined to say in all cliaiity, " Poor fellows — poor" fellows." When they .see it is real, take care that they don't call to mind the old fable, and unite with other people to keep you down, when the House goes into Committee of Supply.