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Wellington Independent, Volume VII, Issue 586, 24 May 1851, Page 3

We must apologise to our Hutt readers for giving so imperfect and meagre an account of their public meeting; but uot being able to send our own reporter such a distance, we are necessarily compelled i to trust to the accounts we receive from others, who are not quite au fait in taking down all that passes, and is said at such meetings. We are thus prevented discussing with them many points, on which [ wo know they would "gladly hear our opinion. We understand that Mr Ludlam, (whom, it is generally understood, Sir George primed for the occasion) attempted to take the lead at the mooting and to lay down the law in a somewhat dictatorial manner; bat if we can believe a tithe of what has been told us, we fear that his Excellency will have little cause to congratulate himself, upon having entrusted such a delicate mission, as that of " bamboozling," the Hutt settlers, to one so utterly unfitted for the task, as the progenitor of the 'rising statesman of some future day. . Unless the son should lie able to make a better appearance on the platform than his sire did on Thursday night, he will, wa venture to predict, stand but little chance, in a contested election, against either aycungM'Ewen,. a young Renal!, a young M'Hardie, a! young M'Dowall, a" young White, or against any other offshoot of the present ilutt farmers. He must possess infinitely greater tact, than was evinced by his respected parent, when he indulged in so stupid an attack upon the Independent, and called down upon himself a severe reprimand from his audience, before he can hope to realise the prophetic visions in which Sir Georgo Grey indulged respecting him, at the recent great "Hutt feed." There is however! one quality in which Mr. Ludlam is preeminent ; he has the most unlimited faith in the gullibility of the Hutt settlers; otherwise, he would scarcely have had the assurance to promise on the part of his friend Governor Grey, that, if they would accept the proffered Corporation, his Excellency would make them a present of 500 acres of good Government land within the Huttdistrict,asan endowmentfor an Hospital of 500 acres of land of the same description, as an endowment for s. Grammar school; of 500 acres of the same sort of land, "in trust for the River" making a total, of 1500 acres of land, promised in the Hutt district, to say nothing of the bonus to the Corporation itself, of one third of, the monies to arise from the sale of all the unsurveyed lands within the same district. Now, is it possible that Governor Grey or Mr. Ludlam seriously expected that the Hutt settlers would be taken in by such sheer downright humbug ? Did they-imagine, that men who have traversed the whole district over and over again, who have visited every hole, corner and nook in it, without finding a single acre, which they considered worth selecting in respect of the Compensation Scrip which they had in their pockets, will bo simpletons enough to believe, in the existence of 1500 acres of good land, at the disposal of the Government, simply because it suits his Excellency to offer them as a bribe ? Are settlers not aware that not long since the Government paid £300 for one liundred acres for the natives ? If the Compensation Scrip holders were unable to find a single acre worth selecting, even at the time when scrip was only selling at the rate of five shillings an acre ; if the Government (who now offers a present of 1500 acres) was not long since, uot only unable to find land (either at their own or the New Zealand Company's disposal) which the natives would take, but were actually

compelled to purchase a section for them at the cost oi , £.300, by what tnngic has the Govc'rnnieiit now discovered within the Hutt district at least 1500 acres of good land ? We should we confess very much like to bo present when the Hutt Deputation esk his Excellency to point out their 1500 acre?—and also whoa they put some of the following queries, viz.—by what funds in the Hospital and Government School to be erected—when erected, supposing no revenue to arise from tho land, by what funds arc they to be supported? by what funda, in the event of its -500 acres producing nothing, is the River to be kept within its proper bounds ? By what funds are the police to be supported—the roads, bridges, drains to be made and kept in repair ? Are the Hutt Settlers to be called upon to raise local rates for any purpose whatever, and if so, —for what purpose ? Has your Excellency any idea of appointing a paid Resident Magistrate—and if so, ha 3 your Excellency a friend already in your Excellency's eye ? Is your Excellency's friend to be paid by the Hutt Settlers of out of the General Revenue, &c, &c.