THE WANGANUI CHRONICLE AND RANGITIKEI MESSENGER. "Verie sans peur." WANGANUI, Nov. 21, 1861.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 5, Issue 269, 21 November 1861, Page 2

THE WANGANUI CHRONICLE AND RANGITIKEI MESSENGER. "Verie sans peur." WANGANUI, Nov. 21, 1861.

The irumourS which preceded the arrival of the Auckland mvail 'yesterday',"as; to Abe : probabilities ofi-peaee, do not .'seem-to ifa vft? been warranted by anything that appears ’ to have been done. ■ Sir Geoi ge GreyVplati is known, - and will be- found in another column under, the Auckland news. It is substantially that 'propounded by the present ministry,, the excellence of' Which we have before, this advocated. But there is nothing in the Auckland papers to show that the King movement has been counteracted. Sir Geo. Grey has gone to visit the Ngnpuhi tribe at Tamati VVaka Nene’s-in-vitation. Part ,of the' Ngapuhi tribe is k .own to have favoured- the King move* ment,. but Tamati Waka, with his followers, has. been; a staunch adherent uf the Govern--:: meut fur many years, and lately offered his' assistance, should, the Government' undertake operations in'.theJf'aikato. " Being an old ally 1 of-the. and •• a warm •“ friend of ;Bjr George .Grey; itljere-is ! nothing ; - iit hi* visitor j Hyi tatioii,ito<shb«ditfte*pressii t ; ‘ drift of • the, ;o urreut--in:th e; mi irl o f the King natives* :' Chiefs : from otheiy. quarters have • also -visited ; the Governor,.from the; lower Waikato ; ainong the rest; ••Well, here also, there, has always been a lukewarmness toward the King-movement,''the tribes in this locality being divided in opinion as tbit. We should .like to have heard, if any information had- been received as to the feeljng of the Upper Waikato, which has been all aloiig the strength Af the:' Kiug party:. There ilie difficulty will.lie... And in justice to the Governor,;; should he remove; it: without drawing.:;thersword;:the difficulty of Abe task should;uot , be; underrated.. No doubt some of the frieu.dly ; ;chiefs.: are now preparing the .way, for the King-natives accepting the terms, that may ;:be offered to them. And. the fact of .these chiefs having finally separated; from themvjnay have considerable weight with the secessionists. So that with ’ Siv. .George influence peace may ber.obtained,' We-'know now little more than what might -well have been anticipated^—that the GUVefnor is Using his best- exertions for; the' amicable settlement of the difficulty,:aml it is to be hoped that his efforts will be crowned with success. . A more hopeful sign than the intelligence from Auckland conveys, lias ‘ been given this, week from r Taranaki through the :natives. By them- it is reported, that the Ngatiruanui, at the request of the king, are to allow the mail to pass between this and Taranaki: and they permit the " Bishop of. New Zealand to visit them",;; The Bishop has been paying a visit to’the king, and thence came down to Taranaki, proceeding..south iufttil, by last accounts,' he had reached .Weri- Weri; a place •neat'" 1 V?' aimate,>. about; 'half-way d>dt^ebn~Ahis : '' and Taranaki. • Should he coixie to Wanganui, as is expected, he may bring us some later ..and more definite intelligence. If otherwise, we may have another month to wait., in suspense, and even theft ,a com- 2 plete settlement inay not’have been obtained. There are now, however, reasonable grounds for believing that war will be avoided.

The statement of Exports and Imports at this port for the quarter endings 30th September, given in another , column, shews very clearly the injurious effect on trade, of the doubtful relations in which we have -been standing to the natives. The exports, are not 3-sths of what they Were during-'the' saihs’period of last year. It is ffiie that the last year. same state.;ojf A armed peace .was ip; existe>hoe here, but '*: the war was going on at Taranaki;' and we were sending supplies to the army there ; this year not only has tins source of emolument ceased, the troops being, supplied chiefly from the resources of; Auckland; but less native produce has .come into the cultivations not having been carried on so extensively by the maoris during the war; ;TKe (difference in the export of wheat may also to a certain extent be accounted for by the fearful effects of the gale in January last, which destroyed more than two-thirds of the grain crops inrthis district, as well as by our having a few niore troops in the place. That, the deficiency in the exports/ from this district is chiefly attributable to the disturbed state of the epuntry seems to be borpe..out by..the statement of; the exports .bf "fhe/whole country for the quarter ending 30th June. last. The total value of . the exports for that quarter is. £229,229. or £54,234 moie than in the corfesponding period of 1860 ; •and/ ,of these exports the value of New Zealand : produce 1 amounts to £224,202 or £7O, 527 more than in the same quarter of 1860. The increase is very cheering and if it arose generally from the articles of export would shew that our trade has not suffered so much as might have been expected from the native disaffection. But when we come to examine the sources of the increase this idea is dispelled, and the real amount of deficiency in the general trade begins to be apparent. ’ The total increase of exports is £90,991 ; the total decrease. £20,464. Of the,increase £BO, 095 arises, -from .wopl; about £2OOO from timber; about 2000/ from . oil; about 1000/ from horns and bones; 3,290/ froth gold (Nelson) and the rest from ■ a few miscellaneous articles. Of the'decrease 5000/ arises from butter, 1000/; from chrome ore; nearly, 5000;. from grain, 5,500 from potatoes, 40C from flax cordage, about 500/ from Kau gum. Setting aside the wool, there is decrease in other products of s 20,000/ an an increase of 10,000/. ,/Tlie. decrease partly' attributable ho. doubt to the i creased consumption 4 by the 3 ‘.*rmy, b> when the exports from the North <fc:Sou' k

ara compared- ; the ; connexion! between the impaired -state of this part of our tirade and the native disaffection are fully apparent, : ..In the southern island the exports haye increased from 97,257/ in 1860, to 163,035/ in 1861 or 67 p. c. In the northern island the exports - have decreased lroni 77,808/ in 1860 to 66, 263/in 1861, or 12 p.c.' It is a remarkable ..circumstance,. that the only, province in - v thc: north..'island, whose exports shewan .increase, -is. Wellington;, which does not come far behind her southern neighbours, the:increase being 49 p.c, or nearly a half.’ This surely shews how well established the prosperity of this province is. ; JD.uring a period, of .what has beenfelt as great depression, occasioned by intestine discontent, which was only prevented from-breaking out into open hostility between the. European and Madri population by. great prudence on the-part of the former, our., export trade advances at an almost equal pace with that of the southern provinces which have been allowed to. continue in the even tenour of- their prosperous growth, without either fears from without or apprehension from within.lt also shews the propriety of that moderate: tone, which the -.executive of this province assumed in • respect- to the native disturbance, and of. the quiet attitude,;Counselled by. them: and ‘persevered in. by the inhabitants, which, thdiigh the progress of improvements was temporarily stopped j allowed the settlers to-go on in the peaceful pursuit of their avocations and: saved us. from any of those- panics which have been felt in other parts of the island. ,

The imports into the whole island have risen , from 329,359/ in the second quarter of 1860 to 484,762/ in the corresponding period of this year, or 47 p.c., the increase in the two islands respectively being .51 p.c., in the north and 43 p. c. in the south, the greater proportionate increase in-this island being no doubt attributable to the troops resident here.

Of course the accounts for such a short period as three months do not shew as accurately as those for the whole - year, the . difference in the state of -trade between two years even throughout: the whole island, much, less in any-of- theprovinces. Still it is very satisfactory to know from,, these returns, that on the whole the prosperity of the whole country is increasing, and .that notwithstanding the adverse circumstances influencing trade in the north island, the growth of this province has been going on in a manner which gives very pleasing antici-. pations of its progress when the apprehension of native disturbance is removed.

It would be a great improvement on these returns, and. would make them much more useful, if the trade coastwise were also summarised in similar tables. The resources of the various:parts of the country, would be .more . fully shewn by the. addition of these returns,, and the nature ,of. the internal trade of . the coun-try,-which iia almost .entirely carried oii by coasting traders fully revealed.'