WELLINGTON.

Otago Witness, Issue 626, 28 November 1863, Page 6

WELLINGTON .

(PROltt THE DAILY TIMES CORRKBPONCSN*.) Wellington, 20th November, 1863. There is every probability of the mail leaving without a line of intelligence from Auckland, in consequence of the West Coast steamer due on the 28th not having yet arrived. The West Coast service is one that sets time tables at utter defhnce, and seldom a trip is made but wlnt the bar at Wanganui, Baglan, or Manakau, upsets the fixed dates, and when none of these do so, the state of the Taranaki road«tead is sure to accomplish it. We undevstanJ thnt there wa< a probability of a Company o>- so of troops being sent from Manakau to Raglan, as after the scat ering of the Mere Mere occupants, it was feared that the long threatened attempt to clear Baglan of its settlers, might not unlikely be put into execution. Either the conveyance of these troops or the strong winds we have had lately will have probably delayed tho Wonga. The Storm Bird is detained unt'l midnight in the hope of the Wonga's arrival, otherwise she would have started at daylight. Obliged to leave under contract to day, tl.eSteam Company would very much prefer that the Northern mail should first arrive, and go bi sent on South, They cannot detain her longer under a penalty. I mention this b 'cause while it must be most annoying to you to get no news, yet it does not arise from any want of a disposition to do all that the Steam Company can, to renter the service available. The course of events here just now is of the most ordinary hum-drum character conceivable, and the publication of some Otaki Kingite doings or rather threatenlngs, last Saturday was most opportune. By one of thos u strange coincidences that do sometimes occur, the Magistrate for that district hnd made a hurried visit last week into Wellington on family niatttii .•?. and was to return on S Uurday. As he Started soon after that morning's West Coast Mail came in, of course rumors of something: being up Boon spread, and when it wad known that the Inspector of Pclice was shortly to follow, and to be accompanied by the Interpreter, the t üblic not unnaturally concluded that these minors were really correct — the Inspector and Interpreter were going, however, simply to CDliect evidence for the prosecution of a man in custody for selling ammunition. The medical attendant at Otaki, Dr Hewson, appears to have been foolish enough to buy some land of the natives lately. Happening to want money very badly they have beeu importunate to sell small pieces of land, aud although perfectly illegal their importunity has proved effectual. The keeper of one of the accommodation houses there, ATr Dodds, was also said to have done the same thine:, but I believe that he only advanced money, on the lease of a paddock adjoining his premises, to the family of the owner who had been long ill and has since died. The King natives resolved to prevent the occupation of these pieces of land. I believe Dr Hewson gave back his deeds and forfeited his money, and Dodds's being found tt be only a lease was not objected to. The following Is the notice served :—: —

•'Nov. 12, 1863. " This is a proclamation of the Laws that are laid down by tho runanga of Tainui for a crime that has occurred at Otaki. The crime is that land has been sold by the natives to the Doctor (Hewson) and Thomas Do'ds. " First Law. Those Europeans must go to Wellington. •'Second Law. You mu9t not disobey during these da3s— even till Monday, (i.e., meaning that the jjartie." mentioned would be allowed until Monday to go away.) " Tiiird law. On the Tuesday, t"?at is the day upon whwh the fences and the houses will be broken ap. "N.v Herimia te Tnir. " Na Tonihi te Ra. " Na te Peiha Taeipara. " Na llohi te Tiai, and all the Runanga of the King." Depend upon it we shall have a scrimmage yet with these West Coa"-t native 0 . Patience is being tried to the utmost, but the whole lot are as saucy us you please, wi»b very fesv exceptions. The police inspector t-> d me ye-terday that he saw the king natives at Waikanae at drill under Wi Tako ; about forty were present but some with very old flint inusktts. Ulue serge coat°es turned up with white, ditto trousers with a white stripe, and caps to match comprise the nuiform. At Otaki the impudence of ihe youngsters was almost unbearable, and though fcfaeie is abundant evidei cc to convict the man Thomas for carrying on a regular trade in arms and ammunition for a long time past, it i 3 doubtful whether it can be brou'li 1 up to court. They have received accounts of ih» evacuation of Mere Mere, after a daughter of Bb'O troops, and though some know better, yet many of those in up-country pahs are just as ready M believe these tale«. as bumpkins jn i-ngland are thos,e which make the Queen curl her hair in ten pouud nrtes, and the prince never light his pipe with auything less than a fiver Native news is quiet both from WaDganui and Wairarapa, At this season everyboiy is so bu>y snowinc, shearing, ho., that there is little time to attend to other m^tteis and the greatest complaint everywhere is atrainst the nuif a-ce of milirary diill. It is only th>s a'ternative of volunteering or having the mlitia culled out that keeps tue Wairarapa corps together— a c ear iudication that they fear no ill. Still we oa' not i_elp feeling very ai xious relative to (the f (K-cr of th" Gene al's movements, whether as he ttivaiiees the i aiives will o_- will not resolve to come iouMj, Bo we owe the infatuation of th- natives in regard to (heir ho'rting the to a Mticif.il P) ovidence, ot .ire they demented. No cou te seems to us moie sdvant geous to tt.fm or p obahle than t]i .r they hould rdid fie South, tbatthry.-houldch in:->e the fitH and ei'ardoterof tha war — and y t we are still able to Icon at .-uth a course as to nil '.ppearauce a> far (ffk- ever it was. M.ijor Gorton is making a tour of thf E; st Ocast with a view to militia and general defence purpsses, meanwhile the town companies are r«' joicing in their freedom from tlieir Saturday afternoon battalion drill. The five to six hundred _ men in town lm c only fired off even blank cartridfes once, not ;a single ball cartridge having yet been giren to us. I dare wag> r that numbers of the mi-itia who arc quite pioficient in the " loading ~' by motion" would not know how to use a cartridge. Upwards of twenty years ago I was at the Wairau, and can s>tate for a ia^t that some of the settlers we helped to buiy had loaded their musk'ts with the ball fir&t and the powder afterwards. Fancy how iittle use tie militia would prove to be, while it contained numbers such as those who formed the army parly at the Wairan massacre — and yet we learn to •receive cavalry and £ don't know what else insteal of of learning distances and the use of the rifle. i'fae venerable the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand will probably bring their silti' gs io a close to-day. I understand a brief report will be in a fe\vda\s communicated to the aewspspcrs, to which I mustrefer }ou, for I know 3it<Ae of what they are dcirg. I went there the other day for a short time, and heard sundry " overtures" a*ead "anept" all sorts of matters, and found the proceedings dreadfully dry, but have very little doubt as to their conducing largely to the great objects, for •which this revision oi' to many .sections of the Scottish -Clm'.ch was brougiid abou f . The sittings or "sfdfrunfs"as I think they a?n termed, are held in the House of Representatives every day from 10 to 1 nnd3too\ The Key. Mr Dun:an of fcfananatu is the Moderator, and among the members are several dxidediv able men. The great gun is theßev. Mr Mac&ay ot Auckland, and next to Mm conies Mr Bruce alsp of Auckland j though perhaps the one most liked b7 the Knglißh is Mr Frazer of Christchurch, about whose speech, theie is nothing Scotch and whese whole deportment is more like that of an earne&t English clergyman than any thing else. 7he pulpits ..of all the Scoieh, Wesleyan, Independent and Primitive churches in Wellington aitfl its neighborhood were occupied by our Scotch visitors last Sunday, and on Wednesday evening thpylield a soiree in the Oddfellows Hall which was densely crowded, and a *cry pleasant gathering it wa.«. After what I lia-1 heard of tlie horror with which the Scotch regarded « Whistling kirks" I was rather surprised to find the «;.teches inteispersed wish music. Glees and well known aiis alternated wilh addresses, sometimes grave and sometimes characterised by , the dry wit *br Which the Scottish clergy used to be and apparently still i.re distinguished. •' Auld lang syne " and "Ye tanks and Braes" were listened to and enjoyed as Mcotchmen only can enjoy them ; but when towards Ihe chse t ! .e Caledonian Quadrilles were commenced, I certainly thought more'raettle would have been put into the heels of the audience than was at all desirable -on such an occasion. Fortunately or unfortunately the lady's mantle had been inadvertent'y Jaid on the opened wires of -the grand piano, and so ■being unaccountably prevented from getting out the *one to her liking, the Caledonians were brought to A close jubt at the time when some bra' lads had w°ll woiked themselves up to the "reeling" poiut. The meeting w«b a very happy one. and being essentially BQcip.l, produced a very good effect. I may properly add that the church returns show that proportionately \Vellington stands first in the amo-nt of its contributiens to the general schemes of the Union The Chamber of Commerce held their usual meetng on Wtdnesdav, At it a communication was read rom Capt. Rhodes, M.H.It., stating that the Committee on th- Marine Boards Act inte:.ded »o recommend the abortion of local boards, placing the appointment of hurbir master ns well as pilots &c in the hands of the General Government. A communication from Auckland was also read stating the intention of the Government to propo-e n scheme of telegraphic communration, including a cable across Cook's ; Strata. The unsatisfactory Government Wharf Regulations, whi'h I h.-ive betore-mentione'l are to be atones altered, and the buoys for mooring to be removed from their j resfnt objectionable posiJions. As it is, the Wharf is almost deserted owing lo the inconvenieuc which mojiio^ to buoyi at to great a distance rcca&ion 5 ". Oaptiiu Mundie, of the Storm Bird, received the other day a very handsome si'ver vase from the officers^ and crew of hi 3 Jato \e«el Ihe Storm Bird, he having been appointed to the Rangatiri.-. It is just as welt to mention these circumslances, because wmje trivial in themselves so far as the public w concerned, yet when they relate to the commanders of vessels co constantly plying between the New Zealand

tJorts, it becomes of interest td the travelling portion of thd various «dlnmutiities to know the characters of the commanders.

Afew of the officers of the Orpheus a short time since made a slight acknowledgement to Captain Renner for services rendered at the wreck by the steamer Wonga, and some of the good people of Picton have now presented him with a ring. J wonder the Admiralty have never acknowledged those services in any way, and yet I need not wonder, when I remember that the officers who went home to the court-martial did so before the narrative of the services rendered by the Wonga was published— they being under the impression that the Wonga had not used the diligence she ought to have done. This impression found its way at the time in o the .Sydney papers in a letter from one of the officers, and probably Captain Kenner's services aro not regarded by the Admiralty in the most favorable light, an injus tice which I wish could be rectified in ' some way or other.

We are about to lose our R.W. again, Mr St Hili bong desirous of re-visiting Germany, where he foun i so much benefit fr.^m the Spas on his trip two or three year 3 ago. It is believed that Mr Dudley Ward, a barrister, and formerly a M.H.R. for this province, will obtain the appointment. Mr St Hiil had not resigned before the change of Ministry ; had such been the case I believe it ha 1 been bespoke for a gentleman belonging to the Upper Hou^e. I see the information I supplied jou ith relative to a contemplated amalgamation of the Dunedin Steam Company with the New Zealand, was negatived by Mr Cargill, "the secretary of the former, in a letter lie wrote to you. All I need say is, that either Mr Cargill or the company here must be laboring under some delusion. I have been told in reply that when tho secretary's brother passed through Wellington on liis way to the Assembly, he was far more willing that a proposition for amalgamation sh mid be mutually entertained by the two companies than the fcecieta-y would lead you to infer. A few lines injudiciously written by me just now might be productive of mischief, and though I might injustice to myself give such details as have come to my knowledge, I think it would be the wiser course for me to refrain for the present.