THE WELLINGTON INDEPENDENT Wednesday, July 15, 1846.

Wellington Independent, Volume II, Issue 79, 15 July 1846, Page 2

THE WELLINGTON INDEPENDENT Wednesday, July 15, 1846.

Several persons, to whose opinions we defer, have asked us, " How is it, now that the Governor is here, you do not urge the necessity which exists for forming •roads? You do this on occasions when there is less the appearance of a desire to benefit the public, than of a desire to draw off public attention from attacks upon the Government. Why not do so at the present time when Captain Grey is in this settlement, and can examine into the matter ?" Our answer was simply because Captain Grey is here a»d can see for himself how much the settlers are crippled for want of roads. If he <enquires why the sections bordering upon our very imperfect and limited roads are mot cultivated, he will be lold iihey are ['disputed by the natives, or-Hbelb^lg; to Absentees. If he ask, further, where are the sections belonging to the settlers, he will be told .they ane scattered in the bush, that to many of them there are no roads, and common experience teaches all but the wilblind witness, that to commence clearing at a distance from any road, is a hopeless task. For this reason there are but few sections, belonging to settlers, which a just Government would tax, the others being for want of roads not available. It must also be evident how great are the hindrances occasioned to the troops for want of roads, and how advantageous that circumstance is to the rebels. Abo, how dangerous very imperfect bridle paths, like the Porirua Road, are to troops or passengers, from the density of the bush on either side. The state these are always in from wet, renders travelling at the best of times anything but agreeable, but in winter abominable. In fact the work of the military forces has been less occasioned by the actual power of the enemy, than by the obstacles which are thus presented. For want of roads the different settlements are isolated, the Government disjointed, the public expences multiplied. <-~ A severe lesson is about, at some Convenient time, to be taught the rebels, that their ignorance of British power may be removed. The formation of roads'..jtf'll be to the loyal natives an. earnest of the benefits they may expect from their acquiescence and support to the British Government. Much of their produce, which cannot now be conveyed to Wellington, may then become-marketable, in exchange for taxable commodities. There can be little doubt that were good roads established, and persot:s enabled to go with convenience to the interior of the country, some means would be found of putting a large amount of Maori labour into a merchantable shape, The employment of Maories on the roads, if such a measure shall be found practicable, would bean admirable means of breaking them in to regular labour ; and shewing them.how muoh more they may earn by regular labour, would be an inducement to them to regard the land with less jealosy than at present. But those who have had to deal with them must have seen that their anxiey on this* head depends greatly on

their jVnorance of other r«ady means for obtaining those articles which-the arrival of the settlers has taught them to value. , If ihe native population can be convinced of the advantages to be derive I j from regular labour, and habituated to it. by work on the roads, not only will one; of the inducements to dispute the occupa-? tion of*the land be removed, but an amount of disposable labour will be created for the colony, to supply the place of that which has re-emigrated for want of employment, or has-been absorbed by settlement on the: land. By roads, and the en)plo>ment they may afford, the whole maoi i population may become a source of strength and support to the Government, instead of be-, ing, as unhappily they are at present, a source of anxiety and expense, for which little or no return is made. The'formation of roads might be urged,, on the ground of the great facility it will give to the occupation of the country now almost impraciicable: of the great facilityalso, that it will afford to the employment: of the increasedSapital whioh maybe expected to be sent to the colony, so soon as Captain Grey's measures and their results are known at home. And such increased capital may then with safety be employed in producing articles for export, undeterred by the fear that the expense of conveyance to the water-side will eat up the create* part of the price. It does not need argument to show that, in this oountry, having no gold mines to rely upon, labour and labour alone must support the Government. The militiamen have been taken away from their occupations just when the crops ! should have been put in, and will be without food unless some employment is found for them after their services in the militia are dispensed with. It seems but fitting that some assistance, in employment of this kind afforded by the Government, should relieve their necessities, and confer a great public benefit at the same time. It would be tedious to dwell upon the many hindrances the settlers have met with ; to relate how the capital of the most prudent has been waited, waitingfor better times; to state how repulsive ihe bu*h in New Zealand is under the most favourable circumstances, when staring the settler in the face, is ihe fact that hemust lay out upon it twelve times the original price in tder tagive «. a: value. Let absentees emselves consider that the want of roads, oir; the badness.of .the,. bridle-paths -dignified by. the name of roads, has increased the labour and expense of clearing from l-3rd to double that rate, and may they be • lieve that even prudent, sober, people, however energetic,strong,and industriously inclined, might hesitate to create a property for which they would be required to pay the full value when cleared. But that the Government necessarily existing at an expense sufficient for ten limes the number of settlers now in this settlement, may have that increased number of settlers under it to contribute to the taxation of the colony, and to its defen- c, it is needful that roads should be made through the property of absentees; We do most sincerely echo the opinion of that friend to the colony whose words wie have recently quoted, " that Captain Grey is the exact man for the colony." And this confidence, with the fact that the necessities of the settlers, the militia, the troops, and the Government, all so plainly call upon ihe Government which only can do the work to do it, have hitherto restrained us from noticing the subject, which we can only now do with that difficulty which attends the demonstration of a truism. r