Our Auckland contemporary, the New Zealander, has evidently a grain of vice in his composition, and is beginning to kick. Hark to the following:— _the only Bound argument in our opinion* fo r Wellingtdn being the capital was—on its establi.hmenr, the great number of most respectable Euro - peans, in comparison with any other Ssttlement; but its disadvantages, in other respects, have tended wholly to counteract such plea j lor one fifth of the number landtd at Wellington, from England, have left it for some other settlement. While, on the other hand* the European population of Auckland, on account of its excellent position, has been steal dilv increasing, and (he number of inhabitants, at each settlement at the present time* are nearly equal, being about four thousand. Therefore the question as to the future seat of government, depends solely, in our opinion, on the local advantages as regards commerce and internal agriculture, as well as to the proximity of the native population. With a harbour equally difficult to approach or leave, encompassed by huge and precipitous mou n . tains ; having but lime available land in its viciniiy, and no internal communication by land or by val ter, with tae fe. tile d.stricta of the interior ; now deluged with rain—now the spo.t of the dmion of the storm, as if it were the very arena Lr the pranks of the elements-—Wellington will never be the capital of New Zealand, and Lord Stanley has very properly set the matter at rest. Willi regard to the above, we would merely remark that when parties descend lo the vulgarity of making use of such expressions, it is an evident and sure sign of weakness. Auckland may be all that its supponers affirm it to be; ii may be the best position in the islands for* tLe capital; and by some " Ts'ew Zeahmder " process it may be termed central; but ihe learned Editor cannot make Auckland other than It really is, for unforlui.ffely (or his assertions, Port Nicholson on the map is equidistant from any one extreme point in JN'ew Zealand? whilst Auckland is not so central, nor so well adapted for the seat of Government, as the Bay of island?} In the harbour, which the worthy scribe lias made appear so difficult to approach, 1,215 vessels, amounting to 123,186 tons, aid manned by 8 685'nen, have dropped anchor, in a little more than six years. We have no occasion to reta Hate by asking where ih- flocks and herds of the Auckland tsettle/s are? for* no d> übt the intelligent srribe would seriously discilss the question" whether the vast flocks and herds in the Wairarapa district did not belong to the four thousand ! !!! settlers at * Hobson's Choice,' '' since from Hie "hugeand precipitousmoun'ains which surround the port, it is impossible to communicate with the fertile districts in the interior. In the same manner* and for the same reason, the agriou'turists in ths large and fertile valley of the Hutt, and the agriculturists and sto.k k>epers within the Port .Nicholson district, and from hire to Manawatu, Wanganui, and Taranakij extending over a country three hundred miles in extent, are off shoots from Auckland. Oh rare and vinaous we regret exceedingly that Fitzroy has departed. With such excellent recommendations for a Councillor, your success would have been commensurate with your penchant for making assertions whether true or false, and your speedy rise certain. But as it is, we pity, and laugh at, you, for your sttipidi y and folly, and for your very peculiar method of *• uttering state ments in the teeth of facts."
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Bibliographic details
Wellington Independent, Volume I, Issue 52, 25 February 1846, Page 3
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596Untitled Wellington Independent, Volume I, Issue 52, 25 February 1846, Page 3
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