THE "Wellington Independent." Saturday, March 5, 1853.

Wellington Independent, Volume VIII, Issue 772, 5 March 1853, Page 2

THE "Wellington Independent." Saturday, March 5, 1853.

. . A Government Gazette of rather an 'important character was piblished on Monday last, the 28th ult. ; It contains a proclamation, whereby tie, limits of each of the six provinces, iniojwhich the colony of New Zealand was; by the provisions contained in the second clause of. an Act passed in the last iessiou of the Imperial Parliament, granting a Representative Constitution to this Colony, divided, are defined and decltred. The first step towards bringing ibis Representative Constitution into "operation was the proclamation, in accordaice with the provisions contained in it, cf the above mentioned Act in January last. The j next step is the proclamation issued on Monday last proclaiming aid doclaring the limits of each of ths Provinces. A great amount of hushess yet remains to be done prior to the measure being brought into full, and active operation.. There must.be a fresi registration under the new Act, preparatory to any election taking place whether of the Siiperintendentsj o>r for members for either of the Councils. The number of members to be retimed to the different Provincial' CmncilSj aiid

to tho Representative Aeeembly and Aβ time when the elections are to tale place, must also bo declared. Sir G. Grey appears to be veiy slow and tardy in taking the necessary sgp and measures relative to this new Con stitotioh, and seems desirous <> defeirmg the bringing of it into operation, to> as late a period as he possibly can- By tje provisions of the Act, the E eetione must ake place within six months from tho day of the date iof the P.oclamat on. About two months, or one-third of that time, has already been allowed to pass between the proclamation of the Act itself and that issued on Monday last, and we suppose it will be three, if not four, more before the elections are proclaimed and concluded, and before the first meeting of the General Representative Council! as also of the Provincial Councils, takes place. On a reference to the proclamation itself, which will be found published in another part of, todays paper, it will be seen that the country included within the limits of' the ifrovice of Wellington is very extensive. # The district included within the limits of the Province of Wellington is very considerable and comprises the greater part of the country South of the 39th parallel of S» Latitude, logethei with all the island adjacent to each Coast. The whole ot Hawkes Bay, together with the various settlements now springing up there, are included within the Province of Wellington/and a line, drawn from the north side of the Bay, across the country to Wanganui, would form the northern limits of this Province. The possession of so fine and valuable a tract of country will doubtless prove an incalculable advantage to the Settlers in this district, and it is the more likely to prove so now that the control of the waste lands is, by the provisions of the new constitution, vested exclusively ill the hands oi the representatives, and Provincial Councils. If this control be judiciously and wisely exercised by our future representatives, we should not be at all surprised to see the Province of Wellington .become in the course of a very few years by far the most populous and wealthy of any of the provinces. The nature of the country included within its limits affords every facility and opportunity of its becoming so, from its being much more adapted for agricultural thari pastoral pursuits, the advantages of the former over the latter consisting in the fact that for agricultural purposes such extensive tracts of land are not required as tor pastoral occupations and sheep runs ; auJ if the province is parcelled out into smrll farms or homesteads varying from 50 I<> 200 acres, there would be greater inducements for persons of limited capital, to I invest it in the purchase of a small quantity of land, as there are but very few of I those who emigrate to the colonies, that [have the means of purchasing a flock of 500 or 1000 sheep, in addition to the rent they would have to pay for the occupation of the run. By offering such iuduce- | ments to bona fide settlers, and by creating opportunities to small capitalists for the investment of their limited means, the advancement of this province in welfare and prosperity,'would be certain; and the provinoe, we confidently prediel, would in a short time beoome both populous and wealthy.

Another Gazette was published on the 26th ult, containing among other things a very important and interesting letter addressed to Sir George Grey by Messrs. Money Wigram & Co., on the subject of an extensive system of emigration to this colony. • Messrs. Wigram &■ Cos. letter, whioh will be found in another column, will, we have no doubt, be read with very great interest. The Gazette also contains the following official appointments. Captain Simeon to be Commissioner of Polioe at Port Cooper, Mr. Walmsley, acting Postmaster at Nelson, to be Sheriff for that district in the place of Mr. Tinline, resigned, and Mr. John Sharp, to be Clerk of the Bench and deputy of the Supreme Court for the same district. Mr. Edward Spenser Curling, has been also appoiuted a Magistrate for this Province.