THE WELLINGTON INDEPENDENT

Wellington Independent, Volume I, Issue 5, 16 April 1845, Page 2

THE WELLINGTON INDEPENDENT

Wednesday, April 16, 1845

The Militia Ordinance has passed the Legislative Council, and we may daily expect a proclamation from his Excellency for the purpose of enrolment of the Militia in this settlement. When his Excellency introduced this measure into the Council, he observed —'• that his own opinions upon this subject were perfectly unchanged; he disapproved of its plan and principle, but he brought it forward now in compliance, with public demand and alarm, and bad as the system was, it was better than no preparation. He was in daily expectation of military support, not only from the neighbouring colonies, but of a permanent nature from Home. Uuder all these circumstances he would lay the bill upon the table, and would not allow his own views to interfere with the general opinion of the Council. He was not desirous to pass such an important measure rashly, but the Hon. Members were competent jndges of the necessity, and he would abide by their opinion. The bill itself had been prepared with the greatest caution, upon the model of the best precedents, but still the peculiar circumstances of the colony required that the greatest care and circumspection, should attend its introduction." An ordinance for the embodying of Militia, should have been introduced long ago. Lord Normanby and Lord John Russell repeatedly pressed upon Captain Hobson the necessity for such a measure, but their instructions were disregarded, and we have never been able to understand how the Local Government, with only a handful of troops, should have suffered five years to have elapsed without having a Militia organized, for internal security and protection. Had a Militia been formed so soon as her Majesty's ment was established in New Zealand, we should by this time have had fine effective bodies of men in the different settlements, which would have awed the natives, and prevented the disastrous consequences at Wairau and the Bay of Islands. If those who accompanied the Police Magistrate to the plains of Wairau, had been under military discipline; had been properly organized, it would have been next to an impossibility that so many valuable lives should have been sacrificed. This fatal catastrophe should have acted as a warning to the Government, An ordinance should then have been passed for the embodying a militia, instead of doing what the Government did to put a stop to military training. The native population fully alive to all the acts of the Government, perceiving the restriction put on the settlers by the proclamation at Wellington, became emboldened and it is only when further loss of life at the Bay of Islands, accompanied with great loss of property and irretrievable ruin to the oldest settlers and pioneers of New Zealand, that the Government has awakened from its lethargy and given us a Militia Ordinance. The Government after the fatal affair at Wairau should have organized a system for any future exigency, should not have rejected the lessons of experience and procrastination which were then presented to it, but should have formed local regiments atKororarika and the other settlements. Had a militia existed at Kororarika on the late fatal incursion, it would have assisted the officers and men of H. M. S. Hazaid, and the detachment of the 96th., in such a mannei as to have turned the scale of victory there in favour of the settlers, and the natives would have learnt that they could not in future molest the settlers with impunity, The real use of a militia force is to suppress violence and to repel foreign invasion, and when such calamities overtake a colony

or a settlement, reliance should always be placed in the first instance upon the great body of the community, whose services will be available in proportion to the pains which has been bestowed upon them. Had this measure been introduced in former Sessions of the Council, and its clauses carefully de« gested and deliberately considered, whilst the colony was at peace, the Legislative Council would have escaped the charge of having hurried the measure through its different stages of first and second readings, and committee on one and the same day> expedition however seems to have guided their operations, and we shall on a future occasion present our readers with some comments on the Ordinance as it has passed the Council.

NELSON,

By the Sarah Jane, which arrived from Nelson on Sunday last, we Have received an Examiner-of the sth Apr;!. A meeting was announced to be held on the 7th of April, to prepare an address of condo-* lence with the ejected inhabitants of the Bay of Islands, and to express an opinion of the conduct of the officers and crew of H.M.S, Hazard and troops engaged in the late conflict. The friends of Charles Erapson, Esq., were to give that gentleman a dinner on the 7th April, with the purpose of expressing their opinion on the Law of Arrest, and their sympathy with Mr. Empson as the first victim to it in that district. The Directors of the Flour Mill Company were advertising for tenders from persons desirous of taking the mill for a term hi six or twelve months. Mr. A. M'Donald, the new Manager of the Port Nicholson Bank, a most worthy man, and who cannot help becoming a universal favourite among the settlers of Port Nicholson, was entertained, on the 28th, by his personal friends, and on the 31st March by the working classes, in a manner gratifying in the highest degree to every man who, like himself, has his heart in the proper place. The Examiner's leader is a reply to a printed letter from a Mr. John Jefferson, Secretary to the -'London Peace Society," which was so well answered some time since, in the paper of this place. Tbe Examiner's article is excellent, and while it excites hear:y laughter, augments the contempt all reasonsable men must feel for the maudlin nonsense put forth in these days by such societies as that of which Mr. John Jefferson is Secretary. Several meetings had been held at Nelson, in consequence of the disasters at the Bay of Islands, on the Uth March. It has been determined to put the Fort, in complete repair ; the inhabitants are to be regularly drilled, and Messrs. Fox, M'Shane, Elliott, Fell, and Coates, have been nominated a Committee of Safety, to whom the details of the defences are to be sent. : The autumnal exhibition of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society, took place on the 2nd April. Mr. Fox as chairman stated, " The recently published statistics proved that Nelson, though founded last of the settlements in New Zealand, and with a population 1,000 less than that of Wellington, had more cultivation, more sheep, and, he believed more horned cattle than any other settlement. The horned cattle at Wellington certainly, by the returns, exceeded the Nelson ; but as no return of goats was made at Wellington, and they were specifically returned here, he verily believed they had there calculated them as horned cattle. However, be that as it might, in sheep and cultivation we beat them all; and he believed that our success was considerably owing.to our Horticultural and Agricultural Society, which both created an interest in agriculture and afforded information to those who stood in need of it; which, in a community where many engaged in agriculture who kuew nothing of it before emigrating, was a very important aid. He was happy to say that the .productions of Nelson had not been confined during the past year to eatables and drinkables; he had now a pair of excellent trowsers made from wool grown,.spun, wove, and made up m the settlement; he had shoes'made of excellent leather, also raised, tanned, and made up m the. settlement; he had seen cigars and negrohead exhibited that day, grown and manufactured in Nelson; and he need not run through the list of useful articles which we were now able to prepare for our own use. Bnt before concluding, he must advert to his late visit to the Wairau, which district he was happy to say far exceeded the expections of. the whole party. There were full 250,000 acres of the richest natural pasture; grassfrom end to end, sufficient to rear sheep and stock to make the fortunes of all the settlers who had come-out and might come out for years to come. It had also ample agricultural resources, and was a pleasant, cheerful

! district to make a home in ; and he hoped it ; would not belong till justice would be done, 1 and the flockmasters and stockholders of Nelson find their way into it. And now it was established that it would have for its harbour one of. the finest in the world, Queen Char- • lotte's Sound." Every man who has seen the Wairau district, must agree with Mr. Fox, respecting the capabilities of it, but he must feel at, the same time it is dependent on Port Nicholson, and that its produce will be brought here.