AUCKLAND.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVI, Issue 1693, 13 December 1861, Page 5

AUCKLAND.

By the Wonga Wonga, we have received a few stray Auckland papers but the mail is still at Nelson. Governor Sir George Grey and his Ministry were actively engaged in solving the native difficulty; and with every prospect of complete success. Our Auckland friends seem most active in the collection of articles to be forwarded to the Great International Exhibition of 1862. The Register of the 9th inst., says — "On Friday and Saturday last the doors of the Odd Follows' Hall were thrown opeu to allow the public to view the collection that had been made, and we are glad to find that they will oontinue open during this day and Tuesday ; we would therefore recommend our readers to profit by the opportunity, as we feel persuaded they will find themselves very agreeably surprised, as well with the natural productions of the Province, as with the energy displayed by their fellow citizens in turning these productions to usefal) tasteful and ornamental purposes. The exhibition may, with truth, be designated the useful, the ornamental, the commercial, and the piotorial ; for, in all olasses, there is much to gratify the eye and command the judgment." The catalogue embraces a 128 articles, and the Register gives a description of the most prominent objects. In the New Zealand Gazette printed yesterday evening, we find that the.'General Assembly of New Zealand has been prorogued until Wednesday the sth day of February next, The Gazette contains amongst other matter the amount and value of the gold exported from New Zealand from the Ist April, 1857, to 30th June, 1861: — Auckland 354 ozs., value £1372; Wellington 5124 ozs., value £19,856; Nelson 30,451 ozs., value £141,248; Dunedin 23,178 ozs., value £89&U.— Totals 56,107 ounces of the value of £252,290. The Register of the 9th inst., in its summary of news from the south, says : — ." A sharp controversy as to the condition of affairs in that provirioe occupies two local journals the Independent and the Advertiser ; the latter insists with great obstinacy that Wellington is going to the dogs, politically and commercally; the former maintaining the negative with an array of facts and figures which convince every one but the Advertiser. Having witnessed here in Auckland, in times not long past, the performance of this game of "fouling one's own nest " for factious purposes, and having also witnessed the retribution whioh overtook the reckless operator, we do not doubt that a discerning public will fitly reward the devotion of the 'opposition 'journal. to the interests of the Empire City." The Sixty-Fifth — The inspection of this fine regiment took place on Wednesday last, not as we stated in the Albert Barrack square, but in the Government Domain, to which spot the regiment received orders to march at an early hour that morning. The community consequeutly was taken by surprise, and the spectators were few ; this is to be regretted, for the day was fine, and, as we learn the evolutions were numerous, and executed with much steadiness and precision, Lieutenant-General Cameron, C.8., putting the old "Tigers" through a variety of interesting manoeuvres. On the following day, the inspection was renewed by the gallant general in the Barrack square, captains drilling their men in independent companies. The regiment, we are given to understand, will march to the Domain on Monday next at 3 p m., where they will go through a good deal of that outpost work in which, at this time last year, they were so earnestly and so sanguinarily engaged. The troops in camp at Otahuhu — 12th, 14th, 40th, and 70th — have all undergone their inspection, and, we are told, in a highly satisfactory manner. [From the New Zealander, November 30.] Whilst we have a Governor and a Ministry anxious to solve every Native difficulty in a peaceful, statesman-like manner, it appears that we have, likewise, certain furious and inconsiderate men eager to meet offences more than half way, to undertake the parts of Colonial Sempronii, to snatch the reins of government into their owu hands, and not only to compel a" vigorous prosecution '' of a war now all but extinct, but to force a new and needless outburst on. 1 hitherto uutrodden holds.

We are led to such observations in consequence of the extraordinary movements of Mr. Bousfield, of Napier, who seems to be the veriest incarnation of our New Zealand war spirit. The Native Grass question has long been sufficiently intelligible to save us the trouble of recapitulating its details. The native lands, say the aggrieved settlers, are unfenced, our cattle trespass upon them, and the Natives seize them and detain them until compensation is made. This is no doubt a very sore subject; but, viewing it dispassionately, are there not causes of grievance as well to the trespassed as the trespassers ? In the unfenced lands of Australia, were there no heart- burnings because of the impoundings of erratic stock ? Did men in those colonies have recourse to the violent rescue of their impounded stock, and vaunt of the prowess they displayed in the exercise of their horsewhips ? We trow not. Tf, the Law between the Natives and the Settlers be less defined in New Zealand than in Australia, it -is, in our opinion, the more incumbent, especially in suoh a juncture as the present, to exercise the Utmost forbearance and to abide with patience the development of the policy of a Governor selected to deal with the peculiar condition of the country, and to restore it, if possible, to its former state of peaceful prosperity. It should be the anxious and earnest endeavour of e\ery true colonist to strengthen His Excellency's hands, not to complicate his difficulties by such turbulence 03 that in which one or two settlers of Hawke's Bay have indulged. We trust we shall hear no more of such escapades. It is no very difficult thing to plunge a district into war, has Taranaki has unhappily found. It is, however, a very different and a very perplexing matter to extricate it from the consequences of such mad- brained impetuosity.