THE WELLINGTON INDEPENDENT Wednesday, June 25, 1845.

Wellington Independent, Volume I, Issue 25, 25 June 1845, Page 2

THE WELLINGTON INDEPENDENT Wednesday, June 25, 1845.

We have inserted at some length the proceedings against Mr. Waitford, and the conduct of. the Government towards that gentleman has been characterised by harshness and persecution. From all we can glean from the reports which we have heard and the statements we have read, it appears that suspicions were entertained by the Government that Mr. Waitford had, on board his vessel the / Don't Know, ammunition, ■with which it was suspected he was going to supply the natives. The vessel is boarded, seized, searched, and brought under the charge of H.M.S. Hazard to Auckland, when, lo! the suspected cargo is not discovered. Upon a:rival at Auckland, Mr. Waitford demanded of Lieutenant Morgan of the Hazard, who was in charge of the / Don't Know, his reasons for detaining the vessel. Lieutenant Morgan stated he had orders from the Governor to retain charge nf the vessel, and allow no communication with the shore -except under -the Governor's order. On the same day Mr. Coates came on board, and Mr. Waitford begged him to communicate to Mrs. Dudley that he had some books and a picture belonging to her, which would be. sent to her so soon as he could leave the vessel. The effect of Mr. Waitford's communication to Mr. Coates, was an application to the Police Magistrate to arrest Mr. Waitford on a charge of felony; and Mr. Waitford was removed from the vessel in custody the same evening. , A system of inquisition is now adopted, secret investigations and enquiries are instituted, and Mr. Waitford is eventually committed to prison for having stolen goods in his possession—bail being refused. The alleged stolen goods consisted, as we have stated, of two or three books and a picture and it is most improbable that Mr. Waitford would have stolen them, as we have heard that Mr. Waitford had assisted in saving a portion of Mr. Dudley's property, which he had previously sent free of freight to that •gentleman. A bill is preferred against Mr. Waitford after he had been in jail five weeks, at the sittings of the Supreme Court, Auckland, which as a matter of course is ignored—and Mr. Waitford is then told he is discharged. Such is an outline of this harsh and unjustifiable proceeding on the part of the Government. And it must have been known to Mr. Waitford that the penalty of assisting natives with arms and ammunition, or of aiding and abetting them in their rebellious acts would have subjected him to instant , death as a traitor. It can hardly, therefore, be supposed* that he would have jeopardised himself by any act that would have subjected himself to capital punishment; and surely if suspicions were rife against him, the fact of the object of the search of the Go. verument not having been discovered, should at once have caused the Government to have desisted further. But the fact of a gentleman having been committed to prison on a charge of felony, to ensure -his appearance in the event of a treasonable act being discovered by the Government (and who can doubt but that it was done at the request of Captain Fitzroy), may be conduct which his Excellency might have exercised on quarter deck, but which he must refrain from doing in New Zealand. The whole subject requires investigation; it is one of those arbitrary acts of Government which must be resisted, and we do hope that for the benefit of the settlers Mr. Waitford will make representations in the proper quarter at home, that Captain Fitzroy may be compelled to give, an explanation of his hitherto inexplicable conduct in this affair.

The despatches of Colonel Hulme and Major Bridge, furnishes us with their verion of the particulars of the late encounter

at the Bay of Islands, and a more sorry affair than the despatch of Colonel Hulme was never published. That Colonel Hulme an old officer should have acted so improvidently and unmilitarily as he himself represents he did, and have made such inefficient preparation to ensure the safety of those under his command, is a subject that must be investigated. It appears that, being so war-mad, he with a recklessness which ought only to have characterized his juniors; butaman of his years ought never to have laid himself open to so serious a charge as that of making a march into the interior without proper provision for his men. We have been informed on the best authority that the total loss on the part of the natives at the seiging of Heki's pah was twenty-nine, and not too hundred as has been represented.

His Excellency Captain Fitzroy, since.the commencement of Heki's pranks with the Flag Staff has, we understand, expended not less than the enormous sum of £11,300 in the charter of vessels. He has, at this time, the Slams Castle unde charter for three months, at £500 per month, and the British Sovereign at £600 a month; in addition to these he has taken up the Velocity, Vixen, Albert, and Aurora. Will the Treasury at home sanction this expenditure, or will it be made a charge upon the Colonial Revenue? We fear the latter, and thus this infant colony will be saddled with a debt, which in the present state of its revenue will take years to discharge. ♦ v We call attention to an advertisement of James Smith and Co., for 100 tons of New Zealand flax and 10 Hinau bark. We are pleased to find these products are in demand. Major Mathew Richmond has been gazetted in London, as Superintendent of the Southern Division of New Zealand. ♦ The first draft of the Militia received their pay on Monday and Tuesday last. There was a great deal of confusion in consequence of the men being paid in £5 debentures.' The officers ought to have procured other monies, and then all would have been satisfied, as it was, there was plenty of wrangling. o> There is a rumour afloat that two native tribes ate fighting in the Upper Wairarapa.