THE WELLINGTON INDEPENDENT

Wellington Independent, Volume I, Issue 7, 23 April 1845, Page 2

THE WELLINGTON INDEPENDENT

Wednesday, Apru. 23, 1845

The receipt of news since our last paper has been great,.and of an interesting and satisfactory nature. We have endeavoured to make the number really a newspaper. Our neighbours have shown that the right kind of blood flows in their veins. The sympathy shown by the Australians is gratifying, and demands a response. We hope a public meeting will be called, to pass resolutions, thanking the Government and people of New South Wales for their active and considerate conduct.

The Sydney Herald blames Sir George Gipps for not having dispatched forces at an earlier period to the north, but the extract from Captain Fitzroy's dispatch which was furnished to that paper, and appears in our fourth page, is a justification for the delay. Sir George Gipps has necessarily depended upon Caf.tain Fitzroy's information as a guide. Under it he could not feel warranted in incurring any expenditure which the necessity of immediate aid would alone have sanctioned.

Captain Fitzroy's position is indeed most unenviable. He is not chargeable with the events prior to the Wairau Massacre, but all that has occurred sine- his dealing with the authors of that foul murder are undeniably at his door. From this charge he cannot escape; and they must prove fatal to him as a man and a public servant. He stated to the natives that, upon hearing of that catastrophe, he contemplated bringing from Sydney force sufficient to cause justice to be done. This statement does not admit of the plea he has recently set lip as the ground for what we are obliged to call his policy, lacking any suitable term by which to characterise it. He now pleads that he has temporised, because without the support he believes to he on its way from England, in consequence of the urgent demands he made upon the Home Government in July last, he would have been unwarranted in attempting to maintain British auihority. But the assistance rendered to the Colony by Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales, immediately upon hearing of the Wairau Massacre, was proof, that while the power was within reach, the will was alone wanting to secure a result which must have been attended with results as favourable to the natives as to the Europeans. Subsequently Captain Fitzroy did make an application to New Sou h Wales, which was immediately responded to, to the extent stated to be necessary. Just six months have passsd since he applied for aid from Australia to punish John Heki and his followers, and the destruction of the oldest settlement in New Zealand. It came, and had he availed himself of it, the Bay of Islands would not now have been in ashes. Further, had he passed the Militia Bill, which not only he, but those who had held power over the islands years before him had been instructed to make the law of the Innd, the colonists, of themselves alone, would have been more than a match for the Bay of Islands- Captain Fitzroy's conduct cannot be excused ; he has taken every opportunity of being offensive to the settlers, and he has brought ruin at last upon a most important settlement. The despatches • he now states he wrote Lord Stanley so far back as July, instead of justfying his course do but condemn him ; for they admit the necessity of that force all the settlers have throughout maintained, as it were against his opinion, ought to have been here long since. But while he pretended that force alone could be.supplied from England, every succeeding event proves it has long been at his disposal in this part of the world, with which fact he was as fully acquainted as any man could, be. What then is the inference? why that he was determined first to endeavonr to carry out some fanciful notions of ignorant enthusiasts in England adopted by himself, or to which he had in the search after power, rendered himself a slave. And truly he has carried them out with a" vengeance, but we hope the result will rid us of the modern quackery, and will not only be beneficial to New Zealand, but to the Colonies of Great Britain generally. The assumption that all

European Colonists must be bad in heart and all aboriginal tribes good will now be exploded. Truly, v.itfi all the boasted civilization of the day, cant and quackery have been cruelly in the ascendant ; but events have proved favourable to these being discountenanced, and we presume that nothing less than the wrongs which British subjects in this colony have for five years had to endure, attended with two massacres, would make the sympathisers of Exeter Hall satisfied that they were urging a course alike destructive to the best interests of aboriginal tribes and of their fellow countrymen.

We have no hope in Captain Fitzroy, experience forbids it, and would warrant us in being looked upon as madmen if we had. His latest acts in the Council only conSfiii his unfitness for the office he fills. For instead of exhibiting contrition for his miserable management of our Colonial affairs, he plays the part of an injured man. It is impossible to regard the freedom from self-reproach exhibited by his acts and statements, without feeling he is pitiably deficient either in his moral or mental character, and for the consequences of which the New Zealand colonists will yet make the Colonial Office responsible.

New Zealand Company.—Under the head English news a paragraph will be found the effect that—

" Amon? the private bills of which notice was given in the London Gazette, was one to give other and fuller powers to the New Zealand Company, and regulating the sale of land by the Company."

It is reported that Lord Stanley was about to become President of the Board of Control, and Mr. Gladstone, Colonial Minister-. The latter is favorable to the New Zealand Company's scheme of colonization.

Mr. C. Buller, one of the Directors of the Company was about to introduce a bill for the encouragement of emigration and colonization, with the support of the Government.

It will be seen under our shipping head that the lyne was advertised for Wellington, Nelson, New Edinburgh, and Auckland, This looks like making another movement.

Sheep Farming.—Sheep fa-ming is becoming the fashion. We hear that four or five stations are about to be formed in the Wairarapa.

We call attention to another communication from Rusticus. This letter is upon agriculture, and is well worthy of perusal. We, however, differ with Rusticus in respect to this country nof having first rate soil and climate for wheat. Valparaiso has no chanco with New Zealand in the Sydney market, this we state from experience. New Zealand would be able to supply New South Wales' before her want was even heard of in South America. The distance is a drawback equal at least to £6 per ton, or nearly half the price at which we shall be able to sell flour for in Sydney in a few years. The present low prices of wheat and flour, we are convinced, will be found no criterion of what they will average over the next ten years. Sudden influx of comparatively enormous capital to Australia led to the wildest speculation in agriculture, at a period when extraordinary prices were paid for flour, owing to the failure of the crops, connected with a very large influx of population Good seasons followed, and the production was immense, which, combined with the monstrous importations from all parts of the world, and the general crash, explain the,present depressed state of prices for agricultural produce. These prices must have caused * large quantity of land to be thrown out of cultivation ; and, if experience be a guide, Australia will soon have a recurrence of unproductive seasons, and the consequence must be a most material advance in the price of .flour at no distant date.

All acquainted with agriculture, agree with Rusticus respecting the merits of this as a barley growing com;ay; and not only is barley useful for feeding with, but we may export it an dbeer, and will certainly find a large and certain market for it in the neighbouring colonies. If therefore Rusticus should prove correct in his opinion respecting wheat, it will not be of material consequence tj New Zealand. We wish, as Rusticus recommends, some good practical farmers here would take the trouble of communicating the knowledge they have acquired in their adopted country ; but this .settlement has always been remarkable.for the circumstance of a general reluctance to making communications to the press, and we fear it still exists to the great detriment of the progress of the colony.

Public Sales.—To-morrow, at 12 o'clock Messrs. Bethune and Hunter will sell by auction extensive freehold land, &c., likewise the well known bri; amine Hannah.

On Friday, at 11 o'clock, Mr. It. Waitt will sell by auction a quantity of Hutt grown wheat; and, immediately after Mr. Waitt's sale, Mr. W. Fitzherbert will sell by auction, an extensive assortment of goods and mer-

chandize, ex Bee. For particulars see bills and advertisements.

The Coast Natives.— Bishop Selwyn left Waikanae last week, accompanied by Te Rauparaha and his son, and as many more Maories as could obtain horses. They proceeded to the Mauawatu, but with what object we have not heard. It is reported that the Bishop has greatinfluence at Waikanae, his present plare of residence. ~,■.. Several of the chiefs have been building .rood houses on the coast with the money paid them for the land, they still refuse to concede. Rangihaeata says he would have as good a house as any of them, could he only be certain he would not be disturbed. He is anxious to know why the (forts) pahs as he calls them, are being built, and so many soldiers are coming, and all the people here are being taught to use arms. He .'ooks upon Major Richmond's address as an attempt to set aside his anxiety with a view the more easily to take him, and says he does not know how soon he will find it necessary to go to the bush.

The usual weekly muster of Volunteers was held on Thorndon Flat, on Monday night. There was about 160 on the ground, all armed. The following notice was read : —

Police Office, Wellington, April 21, 1845.

Memorandum. —His Honor the Superintendent has desired it shonld be made known to the Volunteers to whom muskets have been supplied, that about 4,000 rounds of ball cartridge are now in readiness for their use ; and as there are at present no cartouche boxes, it is proposed to furnish 2 rounds to each man, and to have the remainder at the three undermentioned places, so that each divison of the Volunteers may repair, on the alarm being given, to the nearest Depot, to receive a further supply, viz., —rhe New Zealand Company's offices on Thorndon Flat. — Messrs. Johnson and Moore's Stores, Lambton-quay, —and at the Barracks, Te Aro.

Hutt Natives.—On Sunday afternoon various reports reached town to the effect that the natives were threatening an attack upon the Hutt settlers ; and great was the excitment in consequence. At night the brig Bee sailed across the harbour and quietly landed the troops she had arrived so timely with, at the Hutt, Since then all. has remained quiet, and we hope thatpiomptitude will be attended with good consequences. We think the authorities should abstain from taking any steps to dislodge the native intruders on the Hutt, until we have heard of the proceedings in the north, which may be expected to arrive now in the course of a few days.

Disarming the Natives.—lt has been suggested to us that some effort ought to be made to disarm the natives; we are not prepared to offer an opinion as to whether such a step would be feasible, but some stringent law might be parsed against supplying the natives with guns and ammunition, and before long the natives would be rendered powerless by the expenditure of their powder and the destruction of their fire arms, which we are told, they rarely preserve in an efficient state.

Shepherds.—Shepherds get £15 p er annum in New South Wales, and rations • here they get £40 and £50 and rations. But iho shepherd - s not only so much better paid, but he has not one third of the trouble, and has numerous advantages over the shepherd of Australia in the facility of getting variety of food and vegetables. Shepherds are now getting very scarce in New Zealand.

Boiling Down.—The following is the list of charges at the Glendon Steaming Down Establishment, which we extract from the Sydney Herald : — For Cattle, per head, the hide or 7s. For pigs, per head, the skin. For sheep, per head, Bd. For fellmongcring the pelts, washing and sorting the wool, packs included 4d. Salting the hides for exportation 2s. 6d. or for Sydney use Is.

Tongues, one half will be pickled for the other half. Casks at cost price. The tallow and wool will be delivered free of expense at Morpeth. Rations for the men in charge and the use of the paddocks gratis. The tallow and wool will be sold in Sydney

or shipped, advancing upon it in proportion-to its value, to England at the option of the owner. This advertisement affords two important pieces of information. First that the expense of boiling down is covered by the sale of the pigs skin ; consequently the first expense curred is in providing casks. The second is that boiling down for the pigs skinjs so profitable to an establishment that it "can afford to deliver the lard at Morphet, the distance to which from Glendon we are not acquainted with—it can provide rations for the men taking stock to be boiled down, and paddocks for the animals, free of all charge, and finally it can afford to undertake to ship to England and get advances on the produce without making any charge in the shape of commission for these services rendered in Sydney.

On the coast in New Zealand pigs may be obtained from the natives at about one halfpenny per pound cash ; maize at less than one shilling per bushel and potatoes at five shillings per ton. How can there be any doubt about the result of pig boiling down in this colony ? The man who cau command £100, and is industrious and will select out a good position for obtaining pigs and the food, combined with tolerable facility of sending the lard o a shipping port, cannot fail to make a fortune in a few years. Who is game to go and lead the way ?

Instructions at great length for breeding and fatting pigs and providing their food, Were copied by the -Wellington Spectatnr, last month from the Sydney Herald. They are nearly unnecessary in this colony and go far to show the numerous disadvantages under which the settler in Australia labours when his position is contrasted with that of a settler in New Zealand. Taking these instructions as our guide we really believe it will prove ten to one more profitable to manufacture lard in this colony than in New South Wales. It will not be long after half-a-dozen boiling down establishments have been formed here, that New Zealand is found exporting lard to the annual value of £100,000.

Lead. —It is reported that Lead has been found at Kai Kora's, distant about forty mile* from this port, and that some excellent specimens have been brought up.

Lime. —Lime of the finest quality is in abundance, near the White Rock, Paiiser Head, or Wairarapa Bay.

Hops.—We believe it is generally understood, that New Zealand will prove to be zn excellent country in which to grow hop«. Not only will they be in great demand for home consumption, but cannot fail to prove an important export to the- neighbouring colonies, judging by present prices there. The Sydney Herald, of the 7tlv ; April, gives the prices of Hops. Bnglish, 2s. 9.1. per lb. and American Is. One shilling per Ib. is £112 per ton, and 2s. 9d. is £308 per ton. Surely ihese prices are sufficient to pay for growing hops for export.

Accident.—There is a small bridge across a fissure some forty feet deep on the Tinikoriroad, which ha* long been in a most delapidated state. On Sunday a soldier of the 58th proceeding to his barracks, we believe in an intoxicated state fell through it. He was taken up and carried to his barracks in a senseless state. We have not heard whether the accident will be attended with fatal consequences. The state of this bridge has long been a disgrace to the authorities. The expenditure of five pounds would make the road near the spot in question perfectly practicable, aud the passage by a bridge would then become unnecessary. Nothing short of an accident of the' kind we fear would the authorities to perform their duty to the public,