THE "Wellington Independent." Saturday, May 11, 1850.

Wellington Independent, Volume VI, Issue 478, 11 May 1850, Page 2

THE "Wellington Independent." Saturday, May 11, 1850.

From an article inserted in our present number, it will be seen that the Times is warmly espousing the project of the Canterbury Association. The great natural advantages of the site fixed upon for the Settlement, comprising as it does an excellent harbour, with an almost unlimited amount of land fit for either agricultural or pastoral purposes—the preparations made for receiving the first body of emigrants, a sum of more that £20JO0O having alreaciy been most judiciously expended under the Superintendance of Captain Thomas, in laying out towns, making roads and a first rate wharf, in building emigration barracks, in surveying, &c., the selection as the leader of the expedition of one so thoroughly conversant with 'Colonial affairs, and so staunch antl able an advocate of SelfGovernment as Mr Godley—the names, character, and influence of the Directors of the Association—and last though not least, flic extreme glut in the money market at home—all augur well for the speedy carrying out of the scheme. But although under such favourable circumstances, a certain amount of land may in the fi»st instance he sold, and a considerable population be planted at PorfCooper, the members ofthe Association may rest assured, that the ultimate success of their great undertaking will depend entirely upon the first band of Colonists bringing out with them a Charter of Self-Goverii-ment. For from the high price (£3 an acre) demanded for the land, and from the position and wealth of those under whose auspices the Settlementis launched, it is fair to presume that the majority of the purchasers will all be men of a superior station, intelligence, and education—men wlio of all others are most capable of appreciating, and most warmly at-

Indie il 10, those political privileges which they have ever heen accustomed to regard txs their birth-right. Such men may come out—but'they will never take root in ■the colony,if they arc to be denied all voice in the management of their own affairs, if they are to be subjected to the every day annoyances of petty despots—to be ridden rough shod over by a host of official upstarts. The Times in an article printed in our last number, alluding to 'this very point, admits that to live under a Colonial Despotism is a nuisance of such an intolerable nature, that few men can long submit to it. "We would ask," says the Times, " any of the independent members of the Select Committee of the House of Commons, whether they can imagine any greater insult or outrage which could be offered to such men as Mr.GodIcy, or Dishop Selwyn —men who have devoted tlieir lives to the conscientious discharge of the duties which they havo undertaken—than the capricious imposition of a rash and violent novice like tho 'Governor of Ceylon—or of a testy and foolish 'disciplinarian like the late Governor of Guiana—to represent her most gracious Majesty in the community in which their lot is cast. And the only cause that saves tlieui from such an infliction is, that the salary allotted to the Governor of New Zealand did not come ii}) to the value which Lord Torrington and Sir H. Light themselves set upon tlieir services !" The reason here given by the Times for the Bishop and Mr. Godley being free from the infliction complained of, is far- from satisfactory. If salaries of £4.000 and £7,0.00 a year fail to secure the services of competent men, surely the conclusion is irresistable that salaries of half the amount will only command the services of still more incompetent Governors. Surely if the competency of Governors was (as is apparently implied in the extract above quoted) in an inverse ratio to the amount of their -salaries, the remedy would be easy, pleasant, and efficacious. Nor is the Times more fortunate in the examples adduced in support'of its assertion—The chief difficulty with which Lord Torrington htid to contend when he assumed the government of "Ceylon, was the dilapidated state of the finances—and yet he hasboth grappled with and overcome it. By introducing ti system of rigid economy in every department—by using the pruning knife with an unsparing hand, he has reduced the expenditure to considersiderably within'" the income, having now,, according to the last accounts, a surplus revenue of many thousands. Governor Grey, on the other*hand, whom Lord John Russell termed the solver of a great financial problem in Australia, (the solution of the problem in question being in reality entirely to the lucky discovery of the copper mines,') has gone on completely the opposite tack—he has, created a host of useless officials—he has 1 squandered away the large Parliamentary Grants, given' for the express purpose of making roads, and developing the resources of the colony, in providing siuig-j sinecures for friends and has for instance, the cost of governing this settlement from £7,000 to above £ 16,000 a year—lie has.iii short, by his reckless and profligate expenditure, 1 ofthe funds, both Colonial aud Imperial, reduced the Local Government of both Provinces to a state, if not of perpetual, at least of constantly recurring bankruptcy. Nor is this all—by the trickery ho has displayed in every transaction, great' or small—by the deception he litis practised both upon the settlers and the Home Government—by his systematic; misrepresentations to the Colonial Office he has not merely lost the confidence and respect of the settlers,, but he has compelled them in every settlement, together with the Missionaries, to denounce him as utterly untrustworthy. We can scarcely imagine p.*iy comparison being instituted between his Excellency and any other Governor, without the comparison proving' most df-r.-g'ng to Sir. George. And the very fcci'of his beim. Governor of New Zealand ought te oper ate with thepromoters ofthe Canterbury Settlement, as an additional reason for insisting upon the fullest powers of selfGovernment being conferred upon the Colony.